Get Sonia treatment for Late-Stage Lyme Disease

Hello! I'm Audrey, and I'm raising money for Sonia Rizo (Mareno)'s late-stage Lyme disease treatment. Please read through her story below. Then, give what you can and/or share to raise awareness.

Sonia is a deeply caring friend and former classmate of mine at Carleton College. We met at the beginning of our first year—we were in the FOCUS program and our Argument and Inquiry (A&I) course together, and the first memory I have of her was of us sitting around a circular table, along with 6-7 other classmates, introducing ourselves and getting ready to work through a mind-blowing math/philosophy problem involving the 4th dimension. For the next four years, we’d regularly wind up in the FOCUS study room together and bond over the common struggles of our math-heavy majors (and often over a game of Coup as well). After graduation, we kept in touch, despite moving to separate sides of the country. It was through this post-graduation connection that I learned of Sonia's horrific experience with late-stage Lyme disease and the baffling treatment she's received by medical professionals.

Sonia first began noticing concerning symptoms on October 27th, 2021: tick bite marks, along with fevers, chills, and shock sensations throughout her legs. These symptoms came and went, but after noticing a Lyme rash in November, she saw an online urgent care provider. She was told that her symptoms were nothing to worry about; taking the provider at their word, Sonia expected everything to resolve on its own.

By December, Sonia was experiencing an elevated heart rate and high blood pressure along with continued fever, chills, and shooting pains/shocks. Exercise became impossible, and within the next month she'd developed severe fatigue, regularly sleeping 16-20 hours a day. In late January, she went to the ER with extremely high blood pressure and heart rate along with numb legs, swollen ankles and knees, and a rash. She was discharged with a diagnosis of "anxiety". For the next few months, Sonia's pain became unbearable: she would swing between feeling so hot that she felt like she was burning alive and feeling so cold she felt like she was freezing to death. She couldn't sleep or function in any capacity because the pain was too great. Various doctors she consulted were all unsure what was wrong. One suggested it could be Lupus, which led to her testing positive for an ANA (a common result for people with Lyme disease and signaling an autoimmune condition); however, a rheumatologist she followed up with said she didn't have an autoimmune condition.

Sonia's symptoms had worsened again by September 2022: her heart rate was in the 130s-140s for over 8 hours a day, she had difficulty breathing, her joints were so swollen and painful that she couldn't walk or leave her bed, and she was having issues with her vision. Her mom eventually made her go to the ER, where she was admitted for 8 days after her heart rate could not be brought down below 100. Tests were run on her heart that showed it was physically fine. Finally, she was given a Lyme disease test, which came out positive. The doctors began treatment; however, after one day, the infectious disease doctor on staff essentially stopped treatment, claiming that (1) late-stage Lyme disease isn't real; (2) if it is real, it's not what she has; and (3) if it is what she has, it's not treatable. Sonia's hospitalist then discharged her with another anxiety diagnosis.

However, reading her patient rights, Sonia learned she could dispute the discharge and request a new doctor. Upon doing so, a case worker informed her that she isn't actually being discharged and asked if she'd be okay with seeing the same hospitalist as before. Wanting to give him the benefit of the doubt, Sonia agreed to see him. She then compiled all evidence of her affliction not being anxiety, including her watches' heart rate data going back through October, to present her case to the doctor.

On the day of her appointment, while waiting to see her doctor, Sonia was approached by another case worker. She was told, angrily and bluntly, that she had been discharged and that an Uber had been called for her. She tried to explain that she was expecting to see the doctor, but the case worker yelled that she'd been discharged and needed to leave by 1:00 PM. This was at noon.

Three days later, she was again in intense pain with a heart rate in the 150-170s range. She went to urgent care, where she was told she needed to go to the ER and that she shouldn't have been discharged given her symptoms. Back at the hospital, she was readmitted, as they once again could not bring her heart rate down. She spent another three days there, during which time they had to keep giving her pain medication such as morphine, as the pain was so intense she couldn't see or speak. After three days, she was once again discharged with an anxiety diagnosis.

Since this time, Sonia has found a new doctor in the bay area who has diagnosed her with Lyme disease based on clinical evaluation and lab results and who is able to provide treatment. However, the CDC does not recognize late-stage Lyme disease as existing and/or treatable, and as a result insurance will not pay for treatment. Costs to begin treatment are in the thousands of dollars, and with Sonia's inability to work for the past year combined with her already-high medical costs, she is not in the position to afford this. She is also currently on work disability and is uncertain when she would be able to go back to work. The treatment is expected to take about a year.

Please give what you can and share to help Sonia finally get the treatment she needs. Thank you!