If you tell me to close my eyes and find a happy place, I will always go to the woods in my mind. I will sit on a rock by a quiet stream and listen to the sounds around me, savor the smells of nature and soak in the color green. Or I will ride on the back of a horse, until a peace settles on me.

I'm paranoid about many things, like high bridges and the spiders in my basement, but not ticks. Somewhere in the back of my naive mind I imagined I had a deal going with mother nature; I was somehow immune from being attacked.  To be on the safe side, I would only use organic, natural, herbal based insect repellent, free from dangerous chemicals. You know, those toxic chemicals that actually repel ticks.

Six years ago, on a Wednesday afternoon around 2:30 I got a headache. Two months later, sitting in a neurologists office, following CAT scans and MRIs, blood tests and several attempts to kill the head pain with migraine medications, I was diagnosed with New Daily Persistent Headache. Basically, I've had a headache (give or take a few days here and there) ever since. 

I was tested for Lyme several times over the years. I complained of muscle and joint pain, but my neurologists (there have been many) insisted it was unrelated. I've tried at least a dozen medications as well as a dozen holistic treatments, with little success.

This past fall I started to slow down. I couldn’t keep up with the pace of my life no matter how hard I tried to push through the pain. I thought I was run down and overtired. My mind became foggy and I had difficulty concentrating. Then the twitching and tingling started in my legs. Then it moved to my arms, then face.

My doctor seemed convinced that my symptoms were a reaction to stress, but he tested me for Lyme just in case.  I tested positive and began treatment on New Year’s Eve.

The more I learn about Lyme, the deeper my conviction is that this has been the problem all along. And it may be hard to believe, but I think I'm lucky to have finally made this discovery, before my symptoms became even worse.

I've been struggling through the treatment so far, experiencing the "Herx" or Herxhiemer Reaction. As the antibiotics begin killing off the microbes, it causes them to break into smaller pieces, flooding your body with toxins and making your symptoms worse.

So, they're slaying microbes called spirochetes (pronounced spy-row-keets), which I prefer to say with an Italian accent (think speero-chi-et-ays) because it sounds friendlier, like a lesser known pasta. And I can handle a mean pasta. The spirochetes even look like pasta, or long screws, which is entirely appropriate, considering how they make a person feel. And they literally screw themselves into various systems of the body wreaking havoc. How sweet.

I’d like to think the worst is over (there’s that naiveté again). At least I know what I’m fighting now. It may take many months for me to be symptom free, but after six years of a supposedly incurable headache, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I just have to slay some more pasta and I’m home free.

The big question for me is, will I go back into the woods? Will I still let my kids go camping in the summer? Will I still let them wade barefoot in the stream behind our house? Can I get over the absolute terror I now feel when I look at these little blood sucking, disease peddling bugs, who introduced me to the dark world of daily chronic pain?

It's a struggle for the nature lover inside me, stretching up to be heard over the noise of fear, with a calm yes.

Bring on the chemical repellents. I'm going back in.

If you suspect you may have Lyme Disease, even if you have tested negative in the past, seek out a Lyme Literate Medical Doctor (LLMD). For a better understanding of why patients are often misdiagnosed, watch the video above Under Our Skin.