Lyme disease: Tick bite in India reduces Adelaide man Matthew Mason to ... trends now
A man who became sick after a mission trip to India almost a decade ago is still in the grips of a monumental health battle, only managing to move in 15 minute blocks before becoming exhausted.
Matthew Mason, 37, from Athelstone, in Adelaide's east, contracted Lyme disease when he was bitten by a tick carrying borrelia burgdorferi bacteria in December 2013 in a remote part of India.
The debilitating illness has left him unable to participate in activities he used to enjoy such as attending church, working, and creating videos for his YouTube channel.
Even the simple act of walking has become a difficult task.
Matthew Mason (pictured), 37, from Athelstone, east of Adelaide, contracted Lyme disease when he was bitten by a tick in December, 2013 in a remote part of India
Mr Mason is only able to spend very little time each day looking at electronic screens, reading, or listening to audio, and can only manage a few 15-minute blocks of activity at a time.
He also has to live with his parents as he cannot work or live life independently.
'If I start to overdo it with activities, I get a tightness in my stomach, I can start sweating and start feeling very weak,' he told the Adelaide Advertiser.
Mr Mason said if he pushes himself, it can set him back for days at a time.
'It’s just this really frustrating process of just trying to do all the right things, eat all the right things, get my mind in the right place,' he said.
Mr Mason did not show symptoms of the disease until 2015 - more than a year after he was bitten.
He said he 'crashed in 2015 but was not officially diagnosed with Lyme disease until the start of 2019.
Between 2015 and
