I’ve had Lyme disease for a decade — Bella Hadid made me hopeful

Kirstie Haysman has been battling debilitating Lyme symptoms for nearly a decade, but says she finally feels optimism about recovering after supermodel Bella Hadid openly talked about being diagnosed with the same disease.

Haysman, 35, was diagnosed with the chronic illness in 2013, after years of debilitating muscle and joint pain.

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that’s transmitted to humans through the bite of infected black-legged ticks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If left untreated, the infection can spread to joints, the heart and the nervous system.

Hadid, 26, recently updated fans on her struggles with the chronic illness, saying she’s “finally healthy” after nearly 15 years of “invisible suffering” from the disease.

Haysman, who lives in Hertfordshire in the UK, says she hasn’t been able to work since she first started feeling unwell.

“I started to get poorly about 10 years ago,” she explained to South West News Service, saying initially doctors thought the problem could be lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. She was tested for those conditions in 2015, but the results all came back negative.

“I was having fatigue and joint pain and muscle pain, and I just felt really poorly all the time,” she explained.

Haysman continued to search for answers, seeking out opinions from multiple doctors. She was prescribed different types of medication, including steroids, which she claims hindered her recovery.

“If I’d have had antibiotics instead of steroids from the start, I probably would never have had all this joint damage and I wouldn’t be bedbound now because it would have killed it early on,” she said.

Haysman has also been given different trial drugs over the years, which she said has affected her liver and kidneys and made her feel worse.