Tyler Rodgers Battle with Lyme Disease

The Journey:

Tyler’s journey with Chronic Lyme+ began back in October of 2020. He started getting some tongue numbness and issues speaking clearly and thought it might have to deal with the coffee he was drinking or a food allergy. He was in peak physical and athletic shape so it was a bit unexpected. In December of 2020 he got Covid-19. He had a fever, lost taste and smell, experienced heart palpitations and was utterly exhausted. After a few weeks he thought he was in the clear. He resumed exercising but something was off. As a former professional triathlete, he knows his body incredibly well and can normally detect when something is even just slightly off. 

Over the Summer Tyler’s health got worse and worse. He began developing a severe jaw pain, was having random episodes of his entire body shaking (even if he wasn't cold), and his tongue kept going numb and was making it very hard to swallow. By the middle of summer, he also had a low grade fever for over 90+ days, tried jaw rehab for "TMJ", and ran numerous blood tests and other tests just to be told "everything looks fine, go home and rest". It was incredibly frustrating as any doctor he went to would test him for Covid-19 due to his symptoms and he would test negative and then be told to go home without further discussion of anything else it might be. He even had a doctor scream at him (literally) for asking what other disease could cause this BESIDES Covid-19. Another told him to take anti-depressants and it’s all in his head despite him making it very clear that was not the cause of what was going on and leaving very frustrated. Unfortunately, this is not uncommon for Chronic Lyme patents to be told this prior to getting a Lyme diagnosis.

By August, he found a naturopath doctor who discovered he had Epstein Barr Virus reactivated again. Tyler got this in high school when he went to Ecuador for a mission trip in 2010 and missed most of his senior year if sports due to it. On the scale 1-40 is normal, over 40 is positive. Tyler’s antibody test was 600+ and the chart literally stops at 600. However, his only symptom the first time was major fatigue so he found it strange he had so many other symptoms. Each month continued to get worse. Tyler started EBV treatment that included changing his diet completely, cutting out all refined sugars and most processed foods, cutting out all coffee and caffeine, cutting out dairy, cutting out wheat, and taking numerous vitamins and natural supplements to help his body recover. After a few months of 2 steps forward and 4 steps backwards, he had a brutal week where he couldn't swallow hardly anything (including water) for about a week and needed an emergency surgery to stretch his esophagus again.

After this, Tyler began researching more into rare diseases and told his wife that he was convinced he had Lyme Disease. One of his former teammates and also his former Coach had recommended Tyler look into Lyme because another former teammate in Charlotte, NC got Lyme Disease. In January, Tyler tested positive for Lyme+ and some co-infections and by March he found a Lyme literate doctor in California (not many exist!) to begin his treatment.

Lyme treatment is incredibly expensive and some people pay up to 100k a year trying to get their former life back. That is not a exaggerated number. Tyler believes every decision requires an analysis of the pros and cons both physically and financially before making a decision. There are some extremely expensive treatments out there that he will not be doing because he cannot justify it financially even if his wife and him did have the money. Going from a very elite level athlete to being barely able to walk for 20 minutes is a harsh wakeup call. The longer someone waits to treat Lyme+ the harder it is to reverse. If left untreated, it can get to the heart and become fatal. That is the harsh reality of this disease.

Tyler worked four separate jobs at one time during grad school, over 45+ hours a week while on an athletic scholarship for Triathlon and taking classes full time so he is not asking your hard earned money due to laziness. Tyler and his wife both work full time and do have some money saved to attack the Lyme+ treatment as a result. They have also been saving up for as house and may even move to another state (partially due to Lyme) in the near future where they believe their chance of beating this vicious disease is better. However, because multiple people have reached out, if you feel called to help support Tyler and his wife financially it would be an enormous help and such a blessing as this is going to be a very difficult financial burden for them.

The first doctors visit alone was over $2,500 in tests, first month of supplements, and consultations and there are many more days like it coming in the future. Last year they spent about $8k of our hard earned money trying to get an answer for what disease Tyler even had and now they can finally attack it. Between herbs, supplements, ozone therapy, and antibiotics their projection has them most likely looking at about $12-15k in treatment alone over the next 12-15 months and has set the campaign goal at $10,000. If that number ends up being more or less they will adjust the campaign quickly and be transparent as possible. Thank you so much for your help. For more details of Tyler's journey visit his blog here: https://www.criticalpodcast.blog/blog/categories/lyme-disease