Glamour girl, 24, says infection from blood-sucking parasite ruined her modelling dream and love life
Model Michelle speaks up for sufferers after migraines and shocking weight loss
A GLAMOUR model says her career has been derailed and her love life ruined after she was struck down with Lyme disease.
Sexy Michelle De Feo, 24, always dreamed of posing topless in The Sun - but says her Page 3 dream could be over after contracting the bug.
Michelle, from Boxted, Essex, has appeared in Nuts and Zoo magazine and was a contestant in The Sun's Page 3 Idol, but has put her glamour career on hold after being bitten by an infection-carrying parasite on her farm.
At her worst she was bed-bound, her hair began to fall out, and her weight plummeted until she was shockingly thin size-4.
She began to suffer memory loss and would jumble her words, often sending friends nonsense text messages.
Michelle said: "I have been single since I got sick two years ago now.
"I was dating a guy but he didn't understand it because I looked normal but felt terrible.
"There were days when I couldn't get out of bed."
Michelle had to quit work because she was too weak to pose for the camera or travel to shoots.
Michelle said: "I lost so much weight that my body changed.
"I was too weak to travel away on shoots and just needed to take a break."
She claims to have spent more than £10,000 on private treatment fighting the condition and was forced to seek help from experts in Germany and America.
Now the Essex girl has become a voice for the afflicted and has slammed the NHS who missed her symptoms and wrongly diagnosed her with depression.
Michelle said: "It started with really bad migraines about two years ago.
"They just got worse and worse and then I began to lose my balance and by the end I couldn't get out of bed."
Keen horse-rider Michelle had to quit her favourite hobby and found painkillers had no effect on her crippling headaches.
But when she sought help from her doctors they said her symptoms were down to anxiety.
She said: "They did tests and couldn't see anything wrong with me.
"They told me it was anxiety even though I had no history of any mental illness.
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";The doctor prescribed me anti-depressants. I trusted them and gave them a go, but they only made me worse.
"I started to feel suicidal."
Doctors sent her to counselling which also didn't help.
Then her friend told her about a news report she had seen on Lyme Disease - a bacterial infection spread to humans by infected ticks.
Michelle added: "I'd never heard of it but it made sense because I live on a farm.
"I went to the doctors and told them about it but they just ignored me. They didn't want to talk about Lyme Disease at all."
She refused to leave the surgery until they gave her a blood test - only it to come back negative.
She said: "I looked it up and that can happen even if you have it.
"I was really bad then and convinced I had it.
"I spoke to people on Lyme Disease forums and they told me about this special test you can get in Germany.
"I sent off a blood sample and the results came back positive.
"Even then the UK doctors didn't believe the results and told me it was 'a con'.
"It's not a con, it's an epidemic. I told them to shove it and decided to go private."
Her parents helped pay for costly treatment, with bills racking up to £10,000, as she required IV treatment and oxygen for four hours a day.
Treatment stopped in January as Michelle couldn't afford it and she manages symptoms with a strict diet which bans alcohol, gluten and sugar.
Michelle said: "I have to be my own doctor.
Lyme disease - the deadly infection spread by blood-sucking parasites
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection spread to humans by infected ticks - tiny spider-like creatures found in woodland and farms
It's estimated there are 2,000 to 3,000 new cases of Lyme disease in England and Wales each year
About 15 per cent of cases occur while people are abroad
It can be treated if it's detected early on, but there's a risk you could develop severe and long-lasting symptoms
Early blood tests can be negative
Treatment includes antibiotics by capsule, tablet, liquid, IV or injection
Symptoms include:
- Headaches
- Neck stiffness
- Flu-like symptoms
- Swollen joints
- Paralysis of facial muscles or numbness in limbs
- Heart problems
For more information visit the NHS website
"The NHS needs to sort this out because there are thousands of people like me out there who don't know what they are facing.
"I don't know why they won't recognise it - it's like some kind of conspiracy."
Michelle feels better these days but needs treatment to keep her symptoms at bay.
She is back up to between a size 6/8.
It is estimated 9,000 Brits could have the infection without knowing it.
Michelle hasn't given up on her modelling dream and is looking to use her assets to shine a light on the hidden condition.
Lyme light: Five celebrities who have been affected by Lyme Disease
- Avril Lavigne.
The "Complicated" singer was diagnosed last year.
She said: ""I had no idea a bug bite could do this.
"I felt like I couldn't breathe, I couldn't talk and I couldn't move.
"I thought I was dying."
- Ashley Olson.
The former child star, 28, famed as one half of the Olson twin actresses is rumoured to be battling the bacterial disease which caused by a tick bites she received several years ago.
- George W. Bush.
The former US president was treated in 2007 after finding a rash on his leg.
- Alec Baldwin.
The 30 Rock actor told New York Times he had a "chronic" diagnosis in 2011 and said: "I get really tired."
- Ben Stiller.
Star of Meet the Parents was diagnosed in 2010.
He told the Hollywood Reporter: “I'm symptom free now but Lyme doesn't ever leave your system."
On 21st July she has arranged a to raise funds to seek specialist treatment in Washington DC in America.
She said: "I read about this place called the Jemsek Clinic in Wsshington where they are doing a lot of research.
"It is mad that it's cheaper to fly to America than seek help in my own country."
Michelle said her goals are to get healthy, get her career back on track and get a full-time day job.
She has set up a Go Fund me page and hopes to raise £4,000 to help pay for her treatment.
You can donate by visiting
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