A woman has told how she weighed just five stone and ate only 800 calories a day as an anorexic teenager – but a diagnosis of Lyme disease was what finally helped her recover.
Danielle Van Kay, 29, from Amsterdam, Netherlands, was 18 when she started to restrict her diet and rapidly lost weight in 2006.
She was diagnosed with Lyme disease while at university, which triggered her eating disorder to get worse, and her weight plummeted to just 5st 11lb.
But when she began suffering from ‘unbearable’ eye pain, the 29-year-old was inspired to recover, saying: ‘My mother kept repeating, “An underweight body can’t heal itself”, so I decided to eat and eat and eat and take the leap of faith.’
Danielle Van Kay, 29, from Amsterdam, Netherlands, was 18 when she started to restrict her diet and rapidly lost weight in 2006 (pictured during her anorexia battle)
While at university, at the age of 21, Danielle (pictured suffering from a chronic illness) started feeling ill with unexplained symptoms and was diagnosed with Chronic Lyme Disease
An insecure teenager, Danielle’s developing body, along with the trauma of her parents’ unstable marriage and some wayward comments from others about how her size stacked up and compared to her slim mum, left her self-conscious. She tried every fad diet under the sun to lose weight.
One diet in particular began to give the desired results and before long, Danielle was obsessed with her calorie intake, portion sizes and exercising.
For three years Danielle’s weight played on her mind but finally, at the age of 21, she began to study nutrition and dietetics at university, which she claims silenced her eating disorder until she started feeling ill with unexplained symptoms.
She explained: ‘The eating disorder slowly became background noise when I started university. Unfortunately, the universe had different plans for me.
Danielle now says she feels she can be spontaneous, having finally ‘given into her insatiable appetite’ (pictured at a healthy weight)
‘Within that first year of my study I started getting extremely exhausted, brain fogged and the main issue was getting these extreme muscle pains.’
She said: ‘I did my absolute best to ignore all the pain and exhaustion and powered through that first year of studying, exams, parties and so on.
‘I knew there was something wrong with my body, but no doctor had the answers. My blood panels constantly came back with good results.
‘After I finished my first year of nutrition and dietetics I completely broke down.’
After a year of multiple doctor visits and expensive blood tests, Danielle finally got a diagnosis: Chronic Lyme Disease.
Unlike Lyme Disease, which is a bacterial disease caused commonly by tick bites, Danielle’s condition is a persistent and painful strain of the infection, which is the result of an immunity to any of the conventional treatment methods.
At a young age, Danielle had been bitten by a tick on her left knee. The tick was removed by her mother and Danielle carried on as a relatively healthy girl for much of her young life. The diagnosis triggered Danielle’s eating disorder all over again.
At her lowest weight, Danielle weighed just 5st 11lb and some days only eating 800 calories.
Danielle (pictured while suffering from Lyme disease) was diagnosed with Lyme disease after feeling constantly tired at university with brain fog, fatigue and dizziness
Her diet consisted of mostly fruit, vegetables and protein bars but it was her mother who urged her to get better to help ease the symptoms of her chronic disease.
She explained: ‘I had a successful recovery attempt prior getting ill with Lyme, but once I got sick and was bedbound, anorexia came back.
‘I believed I wasn’t going to have a normal life anyways due to Lyme, so why would I give up control over the only thing I knew: food and my body?’
Danielle went on: ‘I wasn’t committed to recovery until the worst day of my life came knocking on my door.
Danielle (left during her anorexia battle and right in a recent photo) says that the road to her recovery was difficult and that she worried that she wouldn’t be able to stop gaining weight due to eating up to 10,000 calories a day
‘I started having insane eye pain, which turned into the most unbearable pain ever. Docs couldn’t figure out what it was, and they blamed (the) Lyme.’
But her mother inspired her to ‘take the leap of faith’ by telling her that her body couldn’t heal itself if it was underweight.
Danielle said that the road to her recovery was difficult and that she worried that she wouldn’t be able to stop gaining weight due to eating up to 10,000 calories a day.
Danielle called anorexia ‘a demon’ and begged other suffers to stay committed to recovering from the disease (pictured left, before her recovery, and right, having recovered)
She said: ‘I was scared sh**less, but I had nothing to lose and that’s how I gained back all the weight in seven/eight months.’
‘It was mainly lots of nuts, peanut butter sandwiches, coconut butter, chocolate, bread, pastas. You name it, I ate it.
‘I finally gave in to my insatiable hunger.
Danielle finally began to recover after suffering from ‘insane eye pain’, which she went on to seek the help of a holistic healer to manage (pictured, being treated with homeopathy)
She even sought the help of a holistic healer for the eye pain and gradually the pain became more bearable. This treatment, alongside Danielle’s uptake of calories saw her health and spirits steadily incline.
Danielle’s inspiring Instagram page, showcasing her work as an eating disorder recovery coach, is awash with pictures of a sunny, happy young woman who is now back to a healthy weight thanks to her sheer determination.
Danielle explained: ‘I’m spontaneous, have dinners with friends, I go on dates, had a relationship with an amazing supportive guy, let my guard down with people, go out and my body bounces back quicker from pain attacks.
Danielle said she now feels more free than ever, and feels she can be ‘spontaneous’ with life (pictured, after recovery)
The 29-year-old revealed she recovered from her illness by eating ‘mainly lots of nuts, peanut butter sandwiches, coconut butter, chocolate, bread, pastas.’ (pictured, after recovery)
‘I’ve learned to be very body positive, however I do believe more in body neutrality. Our bodies are ever changing and that’s a beautiful thing. We all have bad body image days, so do I, but also; that’s totally normal.’
She went on: ‘As scared as you might be, just do it. It will be the hardest fight you’ll ever have to fight, but damn; it’s so worth it.
‘Be committed and don’t waste your precious years on this demon that’s called anorexia.’