Miranda Hart, Lyme disease and the doctors that don’t think it exists

In a candid interview this week, Miranda Hart described a particular type of loneliness. open image in gallery Hart in her mega-hit BBC sitcom ‘Miranda' Over the years she’s also divulged her issues with depression and “acute anxiety”, wherein she’s found herself “wading through treacle”. One paper found that around 5 per cent of patients experience long-lasting fatigue, pain and muscle aches after a course of antibiotics, known as “post-treatment Lyme disease” – a term that is rejected by large parts of the Lyme community for its connotations that the illness has passed. One day your knee hurts, then it’s your shoulders… One of the worst things for me was my brain – I couldn’t remember my birth date or fill out a basic form.” Metcalf also claims to have been diagnosed with bipolar and schizophrenia during her search for a Lyme disease diagnosis, despite never having symptoms of mania or loss of reality. “There’s a question of whether it exists,” Metcalf says, “and we don’t actually have a test for cure – it’s not one of those illnesses where you can test to see if it’s gone away.