[shortrounddev2]

Disclaimer: not a doctor (obviously), ask someone who is qualified, but this is what the ID doctor told me:

Lyme is a bacterial infection, and can be cured with antibiotics. Once the bacteria is gone, you no longer have Lyme disease.

However, there is a lot of misinformation about Lyme online. Some people think Lyme is a chronic, incurable disease, which they call "chronic lyme". Often, when a celebrity tells people they have lyme disease, this is what they mean. Chronic lyme is not a real thing - it is a diagnosis given to wealthy people by unqualified conmen or unscrupulous doctors in response to vague, hard to pin symptoms

[cogman10]

To add a few things.

The late stage of lyme disease is painful. Like "I think I'm dying" painful. It does have a range of symptoms, but those show up like 3 to 6 weeks after the initial infection.

A lot of people claiming chronic lyme disease don't remember this stage.

Lyme disease does cause a range of problems if left untreated. But not before the "I think I'm dying" stage. It's basically impossible for someone, especially with a lot of wealth, to get lyme disease and not have it caught early on.

Consider the OP's story. They tried to not treat it but ended up thinking "OMG, I think I have meningitis and I'm going to die!".

Lyme can kill, but it rarely does. Partially because before it gets to that point it drives people to seek medical attention.