My Struggle with Babesiosis

Syren pro-staffer Kate Ahnstrom shares her story about a battle she’s been fighting for years with Babesiosis, a tick-born disease. Find out what she does to prevent tick bites, and how she has progressed through treatment to become disease free.

Babesiosis caused by babesia is a debilitating, misdiagnosed and common disease caused by ticks. According to the Cleveland Clinic, it’s only found in a few states and presents with a few thousand cases per year. That information couldn’t be any more wrong than if someone told you that drunk driving is limited to a few deaths per year and is seldom a problem.

This disease is a serious issue and one that is spreading through our population like wildfire, in almost every state in the union. The worst part is that modern, Western medicine refuses to engage with better, proven methods of detection and treatment. My personal journey with the parasitic invaders in my bloodstream was nothing short of an exhaustive, desperate search for answers and a random course of events that has led to my cure.

My career as a sporting clays and wing-shooting instructor and huntress have me outdoors every day the weather permits. Naturally, I’m encountering nature and all its inhabitants, good and bad. Ticks are part of my daily routine. I’ve never thought much about them other than the after-bite itch can be brutal. Looking back and knowing what I do now, I wish that not only I was better educated, but also, that modern medicine was better educated.

This is story was my answer to my personal struggle. I am in no way a medical professional, nor am I able to give any medical advice. You must make your own decisions about what is right, what is safe and what is in your best interest. This story needs to be shared though as so many people are struggling unnecessarily.

The Beginning

In my mid-twenties, I noticed symptoms such as fatigue and muscle and joint aches. I asked my GP for some labs to be pulled. My panel wasn’t terrible, but it had some concerns. He sent me to a rheumatologist as one of the items that was elevated was my ANA, antinuclear antibodies. The reference range is 0.0-0.9 and mine was 5.1. The rheumatologist ran some more tests that confirmed my body was pretty upset but there were no truly definitive marker screaming Sjogren’s, lupus or scleroderma so he said and I quote, “It’s probably just fibromyalgia, you’re a woman”.

He was fired on the spot.

I mean, tell me you don’t give a damn without telling me you don’t give a damn. I went to another rheumatologist a few months later and was given the same, exact, dismissive attitude and told again, “You’re a woman.” As women, we have been subjected to centuries of abuse and dismissive attitudes and we are still dealing with it and worse, it’s often coming from those that we have sought to help us.

At this point, I was done. I gave up. I felt neglected, dejected and defeated. I concentrated on the symptoms as it was the only thing I could control.

In 2016, I was having more and more issues with muscle and joint pain. My GP knew my path to this point, and he was very kind and very receptive to my requests. He ran tests and ultimately called with a diagnosis of lupus. Yes! I’ve never been so excited to be labeled in my life. It finally had a name which meant now I could attack it and win the battle. Ha! Foolish girl.

Life continued and so did the pain, fatigue, brain fog and more. In 2022, my panels were showing elevated issues with my liver and my A1C was pre-diabetic. While I do enjoy a bite of “bad” food here and there, the majority of my diet is centered around lean meats, veggies and teas. I’ve always been “hippie dippie” as I call it and hate taking a pill. I would much prefer chewing a twig or leaf.

As the months rolled into years, I knew that I couldn’t continue with the fatigue. It had become debilitating. I was fine standing in front of a student and teaching, but as soon as I would get in the truck to come home, I would literally start falling asleep. It was at a dangerous point, and I had to do something. The problem was though, I had no idea what to do!

The Breakthrough

In the spring of 2025, through casual conversation, I learned of a doctor that specialized in TBIs. This doc wasn’t for my health; he was for my husband who has suffered several serious TBIs. The email I sent to his office was seeking guidance and answers for Mike, but it was about to lead me to the answer I have been seeking for over 25 years.

This doctor started talking about brain fog and muscle aches and joint pain and elevated blood panels and I couldn’t sit still any longer. He said that he has found most of us are walking around with a tick disease and those tiny blood-sucking demons are literally draining our lives away from us. He wanted to test Mike for babesiosis. It was probably rude, but I shoved my finger out and said, “Me too! Me too!”.

The nurse came in, pricked our fingers, smeared a few drops of blood on the glass plates and 10 minutes later we were BOTH the proud parents of raging parasitic colonies. It wasn’t because I am female. It wasn’t because I’m getting older and “changing.” It was because I was a walking buffet.

The doc explained your blood should be bright red, but mine was dark – darker than my hair – and thick. He explained that I’ve had this disease for a long time and that while he can cure me of the actual disease, I will have residual effects from the damage to my body and organs. Mike had been a host for several years, but wasn’t as bad.

The Cure  

The nurses started IVs on both of us, then wheeled in a fairly unassuming box. It obviously did something electrical but nothing that seemed too impressive. I learned it was a Weber machine. The Germans have created this incredible gift for all that suffer from so many ailments and yet virtually no doctors in America are using it. Thank God for the doc that I found!

Light therapy is quickly taking over the beauty markets. The medical markets are still ignoring it and the only reason I can think of is that it puts a serious dent in profits for pharmacies.

Once Mike and I completed our intravenous laser light show, we made additional appointments for more light therapy and also for IVs of medical-grade hydrogen peroxide. Now, some of you are wondering what in the world am I doing and others are curious as to whether or not this actually works.

It took six rounds of treatment, alternating the Weber and IVs of peroxide to flush the buggers out. I dealt with Herxheimer’s and six weeks of travel. Mike and I enjoyed having the time together, though, since our schedules are always so busy.

As I mentioned earlier, I have been battling this for over a year. So, if the treatments can cure a person and I did six weeks’ worth, why is that math, not mathing? Simple. I keep getting bit. After my initial diagnosis and treatment, I was clean from October until March. Note the timing also coincides with no ticks.

Mike and I went back in March to see about therapies for his ailing knees. I mentioned that I had pulled four ticks off as we had some particularly warm spells in Virginia and the fatigue was back. I did another blood smear and yep, the party was back in my blood. So, back and forth to Maryland I go for another four weeks. I waited two weeks after my last treatment and in the interim, got bit again. But wait, there’s more! I ultimately would recontract the disease four more times after my initial diagnosis.

That puts us here. It’s August and I am clean, again. I’ve learned quite a bit in my personal journey and endless research.

The Future

You must be your own advocate. Doctors are stretched thin and can’t concentrate on individual specialties like you would think. American medicine doesn’t embrace anything it can’t shove into a pill bottle and that’s very sad. Antibiotics will NOT cure you of parasitic infections. They only treat some of the symptoms and tear up your digestive tract. You need to do your own research and understand all the positives and negatives of ANY treatment.

Although I’m clean, for now, it takes four months to rebuild all my red blood cells. They are still very enlarged and gasping for air. My legs still feel like I’m wearing weights around my ankles and the fatigue, muscle aches and joint pain are prevalent. Every week that prevalence dissipates a little more.

My morning coffee is replaced with blood-building herbal teas. My diet is still clean but more concentrated on non-inflammatory foods. I take a nap when I can, have acupuncture weekly and I meditate. Most importantly, I keep spray cans of permethrin and bug spray littered around the farm and in both trucks like I’m expecting an all-out invasion of ticks.

I’ve also added a small spray bottle of hydrogen peroxide to my gear and pocketbook. If I get bit again, I’ll soak the spot with the peroxide after removing the tick. Taping on a soaked cotton ball is even better. This method is highly recommended to prevent the parasites from taking up residence.

I hope my story has answered your question. It’s not because you are a woman nor is it because you’re getting older. It’s because you love the outdoors and not all monsters are visible.

Keep up with Kate on Syren’s social media platforms, including Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.

Enjoying this post? Read more just like it on our Syren Savvy Blog HERE.

*This article was originally posted in our column on WomensOutdoorNews.com written by Kate Ahnstrom and edited by WON Publisher/Editors.