Justin Bieber confirms Lyme disease diagnosis: ‘It’s been a rough couple years’

THE POP STAR SAYS HE'S 'GETTING THE RIGHT TREATMENT'

JORDYN TILCHEN 01/08/2020

Following an earlier report from TMZ today (January 8), Justin Bieber took to Instagram to confirm that he's been diagnosed with Lyme disease and chronic mono.

"While a lot of people kept saying Justin Bieber looks like shit, on meth, etc. they failed to realize I've been recently diagnosed with Lyme disease," Bieber wrote alongside a screenshot of TMZ's article. The pop star also opened up about having chronic mono, which impacted his "skin, brain function, energy, and overall health."

… In line with TMZ's earlier report, the "Yummy" singer shared that these diagnoses will be "explained further" in his YouTube docu-series, Justin Bieber: Seasons, which will begin streaming weekly on January 27. "You can learn all that I've been battling and OVERCOMING!!" he wrote.

Bieber's caption didn't go into detail about the contents of the series, but according to TMZ, it will dive deeper into the "scary symptoms he endured in 2019." Bieber closed out his lengthy Instagram caption by noting to his Beliebers that while Lyme — an infectious disease caused by a bacteria spread by ticks — is "so far incurable," he's been "getting the right treatment." And he also promised fans that soon he will be "back and better than ever."

https://www.mtv.com/news/3151850/justin-bieber-lyme-disease/

The Lyme Disease Expert’s Analysis:

(Disclaimer - Mr. Bieber is NOT a patient of mine and my analysis is based only on what I’ve read about the case and the opinion is mine alone, based on many years of Lyme disease practice and experience)

Lyme disease is a curable infection; I’m quite troubled that not only does Mr. Bieber apparently believe that Lyme disease is incurable, but he has now spread this misinformation to a huge number of his followers. I’m also very troubled that he may have gotten this information from an unreliable source; if it is from the internet, that is a common myth; but if it’s coming from his practitioner it suggests to me the possibility that his treatment may be coming from a person who may not be fully aware of the science behind Lyme disease patient management.

One area that may have led the diagnosis astray is the fact that patients with “mono” (as the article claims he has) often have falsely positive Lyme antibody tests.