"IGeneX is the only reliable test."

My name is Lauren Debello. I am originally from Chicago. I moved to Nashville about seven years ago to pursue interior design, which is what I do now. I own my own business. I do residential design and really that’s my life.

I love designing. When I’m not designing, I’m reading design magazines, pouring over latest trends, things like that, and trying to get into a lot of advocacy for Lyme as well.

Tell us your story as a Lyme patient. What was your diagnosis journey like and what were some of the symptoms you experienced?
So my story is a little different than most people’s only because my younger brother was diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease before I was. He had a lot of health issues and he dealt with all of the people second-guessing him, not believing him, and having to go from doctor to doctor with different misdiagnoses and telling them, you know, we don’t believe you, all of those things.

And luckily, for me, because he went through all of that and was able to find his diagnosis. When I started to feel sick, I was able to be diagnosed a lot easier because Lyme was one of the first things that I was tested for. Had I not had him go through that before? I don’t know that my brain would have even went to Lyme immediately.

My symptoms were, at first, I started feeling really tired. I was sleeping an insane amount of hours. I gained a lot of weight that I could not lose. I started having a lot of digestive issues that I’d never had before. A lot of things that I just couldn’t explain or find a reason for. And I went to a natural holistic practitioner, a nurse who practices functional medicine.

She asked me, you know, I had shared my brother’s story with her and she asked me, do you think maybe this is Lyme? And I said, you know, I kind of do, I actually had read Ally Hilfiger’s book, which is what really caused me to start thinking this could be Lyme. I was dealing with a lot of endometriosis issues. And when Ally Hilfiger in her book talks about there being a veil over her eyes with her vision, something clicked for me. And I thought that it has to be Lyme. I never actually heard somebody vocalize the weird symptoms that I’ve been experiencing.

And those were just a few, you know, I had body aches, my neck hurt every single day and I couldn’t figure out why. I was word searching a lot. I couldn’t really speak properly anymore. Reading became really difficult. If I look at a page full of words, I couldn’t focus on them, but like I said, the book really helped me to understand that other people were going through some of that because I’d never vocalized it.

I was always there for my brother and I wanted to be there for him, but I never thought of it as a possibility for myself. And I was diagnosed with the IGeneX test.

Looking back at your Lyme journey, what is something you wish you knew when you were newly diagnosed?
I, like I said, my story’s a little different because of my brother going through the process before me. So I consider myself very lucky to have had someone walk through that path before me. I kind of knew what to expect. I followed his treatment plan. The whole path was laid out in front of me, but there’s so much more to it than just that. I wish I knew when I was diagnosed that there was such a big community.

Through this horrible disease, I’ve met some amazing people and I wish I knew to reach out to people who have the disease as well sooner because I would have found a lot more comfort earlier.

How did you hear about IGeneX?
So, I heard about IGeneX through my mom and my younger brother. My younger brother was diagnosed with the IGeneX test and immediately when I said the words Lyme in relation to myself, my mom said, only IGeneX.

IGeneX is the only reliable test. And I did my own research, of course. And that was what I came up with as well. And even the nurse who, who diagnosed me, she said that IGeneX was the only way to go.

So immediately I had been told and had researched and found on my own that it was the only reliable test and really the holy grail of testing for Lyme.

What does accurate testing mean for you as a tick-borne illness patient?
Accurate testing means that people can be treated and find healing. The fact that there has yet to be a reliable test from the CDC and something over 40 years is just about the most disappointing thing I’ve ever heard.

I just think about how many people are out there and haven’t been diagnosed and are suffering, or have no idea about the disease and could find healing if it was only for a reliable test or at least, you know, information being out there for them to be able to find a reliable test. I hope that made sense.

How did being diagnosed properly with tick-borne disease impact your life?
Well, being diagnosed and having a name and a reason behind my illness really has helped me and I struggled for so long. I would go to doctors… the first thing that I tried to treat for myself was these, my digestive issues. I’d never had any problems at all like that before. So I told my doctor, my general practitioner and she really didn’t give me the time of day.

She just nodded at me and said, anything else? And I said, well, yeah. And she just, you know, every doctor that I told this to would tell me to take Imodium, or just give me a blanket diagnosis of IBS. And I was always looking for the root cause of my symptoms. So I went to, I referred myself to a gastroenterologist and he still couldn’t find a reason behind anything.

So I wanted, it really was important to me to know why these things were happening. And once I got that, you know getting a diagnosis of Lyme can be so scary. But for me, it was almost a relief because I knew that it wasn’t all in my head, but there was a reason. And now that there’s a reason, there’s a solution, there’s treatment, there’s healing, and there’s a community and I can find some relief in all of that.

Tell us why you would recommend IGeneX to a friend?
I have recommended it to many friends, just because it’s the only reliable Lyme test. And I remember when I was diagnosed with it through IGeneX, my nurses received the results. And she wasn’t quite sure how to read the results because she’s not Lyme literate. So she called IGeneX and she relayed all this information to me, and she said that they were incredibly helpful, walked her through everything so that she didn’t miss anything or misinterpret because my diagnosis was equivocal.

So, you know, by the CDC standards I don’t have Lyme, but by IGeneX standards, I do have Lyme and that’s also a great thing because the CDC obviously having outdated guidelines for what consists of Lyme causes people to not heal and not get better and not seek out treatment.

But IGeneX is helping people who, you know, don’t have 10 bands of Lyme, but still have Lyme present and active in their bodies to heal and find treatment.

Can you give any viewers, any parting words of wisdom?
I would say, you know, I get a lot of people every day or every week calling me or reaching out to me on social media saying, thanks for sharing your story. You know, I think I could have Lyme or my kid might have Lyme. And I always say, you know, first things first find a doctor who practices functional medicine.

They just do more in-depth tests. Find a good support system and people who will really listen to you and believe you and trust you and have a shoulder to cry on or lean on, whatever you need. And reach out to people in the community because nobody gets it quite like other people suffering with the disease.