Exploring Life & Business with Alyssa of Lyme Advise

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alyssa.

Hi Alyssa, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My story started long before Lyme Advise existed. In 2007, I became extremely ill with Lyme disease and Babesiosis, eventually developing neurological complications that completely changed the course of my life. Due to a severely delayed diagnosis of Lyme disease and Babesiosis, I developed meningoencephalitis and was given two weeks to live. We found a Lyme-literate physician, Dr. Steven Bock, who saved my life through years of intensive treatment. I went from being a healthy, active person to living with and navigating a complicated chronic illness that very few people seemed to understand.

Over the years, I learned firsthand how overwhelming it can be to piece together information about Lyme disease, co-infections, treatments, specialists, testing, symptoms, and the many conditions that can overlap with chronic illness. Patients are often left trying to become researchers, advocates, and care coordinators for themselves while they are also very sick.

My professional background is in marketing, digital strategy, content development, and social media. I spent years helping health and wellness companies build audiences, educate consumers, and grow their businesses online.

Interestingly, that path also grew out of my illness. I learned how to become a marketing director because I needed a way to create a livelihood that could work around the realities of living with a chronic illness. In many ways, my professional life came from being sick. What initially started as a necessity became a skill set that eventually allowed me to build Lyme Advise.

I created Lyme Advise as a place where patients and caregivers could find understandable, practical information about living with Lyme disease and the conditions that so often accompany it, including mold illness, POTS, MCAS, chronic infections, and other complex chronic health issues. What began as a way to share what I had learned gradually grew into a much larger educational platform and community.

Today, Lyme Advise reaches tens of thousands of people each month through the website, email, and social media, and I work with physicians, laboratories, supplement companies, and other health-focused organizations on educational partnerships.

I never planned to build a career around being sick. But in many ways, Lyme Advise became the intersection of everything I had experienced personally and everything I knew how to do professionally. Lyme Advise is much more than a job or a business to me. I consider it a soul mission. My goal has always been to take what I have lived through and use it to make an incredibly confusing health journey a little easier for the person coming behind me, because I never want someone else to have to go through what I did.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has been heartbreakingly difficult. There really is no other way to describe it.

Fighting for my life and health was only one part of the struggle. There was also the constant search for answers, the confusion surrounding tick borne illness, and the sheer number of doctors and medical professionals who made an already frightening situation so much more difficult. When you are very sick and also being told that what you are experiencing is not possible, exaggerated, or misunderstood, it creates a level of isolation that is hard to explain.

One of the most devastating parts of chronic illness is how much it can take away from you beyond your health. It can remove your ability to work consistently, earn a normal income, plan for the future, or support your family in the way you once did. That creates enormous financial and emotional barriers, especially when the illness itself is unpredictable. You can want desperately to work, build, and move forward, but your body may not cooperate.

My son was diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease about a year after I was, and he became incredibly ill as well. Being a sick parent while trying to care for a sick child was one of the hardest experiences of my life. There is something uniquely painful about watching your child suffer when you already know firsthand how frightening and complicated the illness can be.

There were years when life felt like it revolved around doctors, treatments, symptoms, setbacks, and simply trying to get through the day. At the same time, I was still a mother, still responsible for a household, still trying to work when I could, and still trying to figure out how to build some kind of future.

That is also a large part of why Lyme Advise matters so much to me. I know what it feels like to be overwhelmed, scared, financially strained, dismissed, and unsure where to turn next. The road has been anything but smooth, but everything I have been through has shaped the way I approach this work and the people I hope to help.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
My work with Lyme Advise sits at the intersection of patient education, digital media, and health and wellness marketing. I create practical, easy to understand educational content for people navigating Lyme disease, tick borne infections, mold illness, POTS, MCAS, and other complex chronic health conditions.

A large part of what I do is take information that can feel incredibly technical, fragmented, or overwhelming and make it accessible to the person who is actually living through it. That may mean writing educational articles, developing patient resources, interviewing physicians and experts, or creating content around testing, treatments, symptoms, and supportive products.

I also work with physicians, laboratories, supplement companies, and health focused brands on educational marketing partnerships. Because of my background in digital strategy and content development, I understand both sides of the equation. I understand what patients need in order to trust and understand information, and I also understand how companies need to communicate in order to reach people effectively without making everything feel like an advertisement.

I think what Lyme Advise is most known for is trust. I have spent years building an audience by being very protective of that relationship. I do not want people to feel as though they are constantly being sold to. Education always comes first, and I am selective about the companies, products, and experts I choose to feature.

What sets me apart is that this is not something I learned only from the outside. I have lived it, and am currently living it. I know what it feels like to be the patient searching desperately for answers, and I also have years of professional experience in marketing and audience development. That combination allows me to communicate in a way that is both strategic and deeply patient centered.

What I am most proud of is the community and credibility Lyme Advise has built over time. But more than the numbers, I’m proud when someone tells me that something I shared helped them ask a better question, find a resource, understand a symptom, or feel less alone. That has always been the heart of the work and the reason I created Lyme Advise.

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I think the need for patient education and support around tick borne illness is only going to grow exponentially over the next five to ten years.

Rates of tick borne diseases continue to rise, while the number of medical professionals who are truly well versed in the nuances of these illnesses is not keeping pace. That creates a growing gap between the number of patients who need help and the number of providers, resources, and support systems available to them.

I also think we are going to see much more overlap between conversations around Lyme disease, Long COVID, POTS, MCAS, mold illness, chronic infections, and other complex chronic conditions. Patients rarely fit neatly into one diagnostic box, and the healthcare system is going to have to become better at recognizing how these conditions can intersect.

Another major shift will be the role of patient education. People are already doing much more research on their own, asking more sophisticated questions, and seeking information outside of the traditional doctor’s office. That creates both opportunity and responsibility. There is an enormous need for trustworthy, accessible information that helps people understand complicated topics without overwhelming them or making unrealistic promises.

I also think technology and AI will play a much larger role in how patients find and interpret health information, which makes credibility even more important. The challenge will not simply be having more information available. It will be helping people determine what information is useful, accurate, relevant, and appropriate to discuss with their healthcare providers.

For Lyme Advise, I see that as an opportunity to continue expanding into a larger educational resource for people living with complex chronic illness. As the patient population grows, the need for clear information, vetted resources, experienced voices, and trusted guidance will grow with it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lymeadvise.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lymeadvise/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lymeadvise/