{"id":2943,"date":"2020-10-06T15:09:30","date_gmt":"2020-10-06T19:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=2943"},"modified":"2020-10-15T17:05:25","modified_gmt":"2020-10-15T21:05:25","slug":"nicole-sommavilla-the-lyme-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=2943","title":{"rendered":"Nicole Sommavilla: The Lyme Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jason Klaiber<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nicole Sommavilla dedicated herself to spending countless hours outdoors during the first half of her freshman year at Ithaca College, oftentimes staying active by hiking near the school\u2019s campus.<\/p>\n

That was until Valentine\u2019s Day morning in 2013, when she woke up with serious flu-like symptoms.<\/p>\n

She spent the ensuing week in the hospital, flushed with antibiotics and released with assurance that she would feel fine from then on.<\/p>\n

Instead, Sommavilla struggled through four years of reoccurring and unexplained brain fog, exhaustion, muscle and joint pain, headaches and soreness in her throat.<\/p>\n

Some days, she could only summon the energy for a short trip to the grocery store, even if she otherwise appeared externally healthy in the eyes of her peers.<\/p>\n

Those years revolved around what she called \u201cthe guessing game.\u201d Some doctors she saw pinned the symptoms on depression or an overload of stress resulting from her full plate of class assignments, but those were evaluations she rejected outright. Other medical professionals had trouble boiling down the range of symptoms to any firm conclusions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really frustrating,\u201d Sommavilla said. \u201cIt just got to the point where it was a broken record. You know in your heart that something is wrong. You\u2019re just not getting the answers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually an assessment of her blood work revealed that her white blood cell count was off to a noticeable degree. This led to Sommavilla being diagnosed in January 2017 with Lyme disease, a tick-borne illness known as \u201cThe Great Imitator\u201d because it can mimic afflictions such as fibromyalgia or multiple sclerosis.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The fact that she never found a bull\u2019s eye rash, which can be an early indication of Lyme disease, decreased the chances of early detection even more.<\/p>\n

Despite that four-year waiting period, she still considers herself lucky to have been diagnosed when she was.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe longer it goes missed, the harder it is to get under control,\u201d Sommavilla said. \u201cSome people go more than four years without knowing.\u201d<\/p>\n

To avoid contracting Lyme disease, she recommends conducting frequent and thorough tick checks immediately following nature excursions, especially ones steered deep into the woods.<\/p>\n

Upon a diagnosis, treatments can be hard to come by and expensive if available according to Sommavilla, now a reporter and weekend anchor for NewsChannel 9.<\/p>\n

However, she said she found her \u201cgolden ticket\u201d in the spring of 2019.<\/p>\n

After previous regimens proved too harsh for her body, she said a dozen rounds of Bicillin injections administered by Connecticut-based specialist Dr. Steven Phillips improved her health greatly, a sudden breakthrough she attributes partly to her prayers asking for healing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Lyme, it\u2019s throwing darts and hoping one sticks, because everybody reacts differently to different treatments,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

To raise awareness and reach out to others battling Lyme disease, Sommavilla now openly shares her experiences living with the illness through her social media accounts. She also produced two on-air segments titled \u201cLiving With Lyme,\u201d both of which are available on her website.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more people you can surround yourself with who understand what you\u2019re going through, the more hope you\u2019ll find,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

To learn more about Sommavilla\u2019s insight into living with the disease, visit the \u201cLiving With Lyme\u201d page on her website\u00a0nicolesommavilla.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cLyme\u00a0almost killed me, but God gave me a second chance,\u201d Sommavilla writes on the site. \u201cMany doctors believe there’s no cure, but I’m working diligently with mine\u00a0to fight my way\u00a0into remission.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jason Klaiber   Nicole Sommavilla dedicated herself to spending countless hours outdoors during the first half of her freshman year at Ithaca College, oftentimes staying active by hiking near the school\u2019s campus. That was until Valentine\u2019s Day morning in 2013, when she woke up with serious flu-like symptoms. She spent the ensuing week in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2944,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1135,1134,968],"class_list":["post-2943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-special-feature","tag-lyme-disease","tag-nicole-sommavilla","tag-survivor-edition"],"gutentor_comment":0,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/nicole-sommavilla-pic-1.jpg?fit=1836%2C2448&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3312,"url":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=3312","url_meta":{"origin":2943,"position":0},"title":"Inspire – Nicole Canavan: A Story of Self Discovery","author":"Alyssa Dearborn","date":"September 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"By Kate Hanzalik Nicole Canavan grieved the loss of herself for the past thirty years. 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