Tick Boot Camp

Episode 273: Lyme Warrior - an interview with Lauren Lovejoy

Ms. Lovejoy is the powerful inspiration behind one of the Lyme community's top service organizations

4 years ago

Lauren Lovejoy is the charismatic entrepreneurial founder of the Lyme service organization Lyme Warrior. She grew up and lives in rural Virginia.

Ms. Lovejoy was living a life of a normal 20 something, working in a law office by day and attending graduate school studying Analytics at night. She filled her remaining time participating in social activities and training at a CrossFit gym.

One weekend, when she took an 8-hour road trip, she suffered a panic attack, shaking, and an out of body experience. After returning to school, she began to suffer from disorientation and vision loss. Her symptoms continued to build to the point that she had to acknowledge she “could not continue her job or her education.”

Her illness remained undiagnosed, despite visiting “piles of primary care doctors, every category of specialists (twice), and functional medicine” professionals. One renowned neurologist told her “there was nothing he or any doctor could do for [her]” and she had to accept her “life as being home bound.”

Her diagnosis arrived as a gift from a nurse at a holistic clinic that rejected her as a patient. He told her “based on your symptoms, you sound like you have Lyme disease” and encouraged her to attend a specialized Lyme clinic.

During her time studying Lyme disease, she discovered her story was not uncommon. She learned that the well documented disease was “still denied by [her] government, and most doctors.” This information inspired her to create the Lyme Warrior non-profit from her couch.

If you would like to learn more about how Lyme Warrior Lauren Lovejoy discovered that it was her job to try to prevent her Lyme disease story “from happening to as many people as possible,” then tune in now!

Tick Boot Camp is a Lyme disease and tick-borne illness podcast featuring interviews with leading doctors, researchers, scientists, patients, advocates, and experts. Explore Lyme disease symptoms, testing, diagnosis, treatment, recovery, chronic Lyme disease, coinfections, PANS/PANDAS, MCAS, neurological symptoms, emerging research, and the latest advances in tick-borne disease care. Through expert education and powerful patient stories, Tick Boot Camp provides hope, validation, practical information, and a community for people navigating Lyme disease and complex chronic illness.