Yolanda Hadid has been struggling with Lyme disease for many years. She was officially diagnosed with the severe, chronic neurological condition in 2012, when active infection was discovered in her brain. After four years of treatments, Yolanda underwent a TVAM of Transvascular Autonomic Modulation which uses a catheder insertion into the jugular vein to relieve patients of debilitating symptoms, including fatigue and brain fog.
Some of this arduous journey was captured on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Yolanda fluctuated between periods of feeling well, and periods of flare up of her condition. This nature of this chronic disease was beyond the logic of some of her cast mates. Most shockingly was Lisa Rinna’s uneducated diagnosis of Munchausen syndrome, basically accusing Yolanda of faking her symptoms and gas-lighting her suffering.
Yolanda left the show to focus on her health, and has enjoyed periods of feeling well again. Sadly, after a nine-month social media hiatus, the mother of three returned to say that she had suffered a relapse.
Page Six reported that Yolanda took a break from Instagram following the death of her mother, Ans van den Herik, to “reevaluate” her life
“After the loss of my mother i really struggled with depression followed by a lyme relapse…. the emotional stress and grief strongly effected my immune system,” Yolanda wrote alongside a photo of the former model in a summer-friendly outfit of white shirt, denim shorts, and a straw hat.
Yolanda wanted to work on the presence of mind as a means of healing. She identified her time on social media as a hindrance to it. She explained, “My phone addiction didn’t help either, it started to take so much time away from being present in my life … I realized that we are slowly starting to lose the art of communication and its creating a deep loneliness within us.”
Yolanda credits the hiatus as a chance to “break the habit of picking up [her] phone 50 times a day,” a change that she described as a “wonderful reset.”
And the benefits to her physical body have been tremendous. “Learning to focus on myself, my health journey and being present in this moment of my life,” Yolanda added. “Time has slowed down and feels a lot calmer, more time to just sit and actually read a book, time to reconnect with people, be creative and most importantly time with my family. I am excited to be back and see what you’ve all been up to.”
It’s great news that Yolanda is in a better place. Earlier in her battle with the chronic illness, the RHOBH alum was so desperate as to contemplate suicide. She detailed her journey in a memoir titled, “Believe Me: My Battle with the Invisibility of Lyme Disease.”
Describing her turmoil at the time, Yolanda wrote, “I’m such a fighter, but I had to surrender. God please just take me away in a wave. I can’t live like this one more day. Please carry my body away. I just want to disappear.”
Yolanda credits her love of children Gigi Hadid, Bella Hadid, and Anwar Hadid as what gave her hope. She revealed, “My next thought is a clear image of my three children. It shifts my consciousness immediately and that’s the only thing that keeps me from letting myself drift and drown.”
Yolanda’s two younger children, Bella and Anwar, also have Lyme disease.
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[Photo Credit: Charles Sykes/Bravo]