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Lyme disease is a medically recognized infection that can cause pain, fatigue and muscle aches. But many celebrities — including Hadid, American singer Justin Timberlake and Canadian singer Justin Bieber — who claim they have Lyme appear, on a closer look, to be describing chronic Lyme disease, a condition that isn’t recognized by conventional medicine.

It's a controversial term used by some alternative practitioners to describe pain, fatigue and neurological symptoms they attribute to a persistent Lyme infection. Often, patients have never tested positive through a regulator-approved Lyme disease test.

Despite the shaky validity, identifying otherwise-unexplainable symptoms as chronic Lyme can seem like a path toward getting better, Dr. Paul Auwaerter, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told CBC News.

“They are looking for answers to something that many times they get short shrift from their regular physicians or from consultants.”

The disease is on the rise globally, including in Canada. There were 5,809 reported cases of Lyme disease in this country in 2024, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada. It has been trending upward nationally since 2009, according to Health Canada — in part due to climate change and a greater awareness among the public and doctors.

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[-] stinkytofuisgood@lemmy.ca 4 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

Celebrities, AI, Reddit, lemmy - a short and incomplete list of places to not take medical advice or diagnose from. Doctors have doctorates in their field of expertise for a reason. If I want to complain about my achy joints here, I will. But I sure as hell won't trust my personal health decisions to somebody without proof of competence.

[-] CanadianCarl@sh.itjust.works 4 points 16 hours ago

You can call 811 in Canada for health questions. Use a walk-in clinic, or make a doctors appointment with a family doctor. Or an emergencies, go to the ER.

[-] stinkytofuisgood@lemmy.ca 3 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

To add to this: pharmacists are able to prescribe medication of certain classes, for certain conditions, depending on the province. Here is a list with more details for anyone interested:

English: https://www.pharmacists.ca/cpha-ca/assets/File/pharmacy-in-canada/PharmacistPrescribingAuthority_EN_web.pdf

French: https://www.pharmacists.ca/cpha-ca/assets/File/pharmacy-in-canada/PharmacistPrescribingAuthority_FR_web.pdf

[-] Bluegrass_Addict@lemmy.ca 8 points 23 hours ago

if you get medical knowledge from celebrities... you're an idiot.

[-] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 2 points 20 hours ago

Things wouldn't have been so bad if Health Canada and provincial healthcares had done something sooner.

There is a reason the stats only go back to 2009. :/

this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2026
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