Episode 578: From a Missed Bullseye Rash to Lyme Recovery: My Lyme Success Story | Hannah Green
What happens when a young woman who grew up surrounded by horses and the outdoors develops a mysterious red ring after spending a summer working at a horse camp in West Virginia—but no one recognizes the possibility of Lyme disease? In this episode of the Tick Boot Camp Podcast, we sit down with Hannah Green, a Lyme disease survivor, advocate, and author from England whose international Lyme journey stretches across the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia. Hannah is the author of My Lyme Success Story, a book documenting her personal experience with chronic Lyme disease, the research she conducted while searching for answers, the approaches she believes helped her recover, and the lessons she learned about listening to her body along the way. Tick Boot Camp first met Hannah after she traveled from England to Connecticut for the Lyme Warrior 10th Anniversary Gala, where patients, researchers, clinicians, authors, advocates, and Lyme community leaders gathered for an evening centered on science, advocacy, connection, and hope. Hannah's story is ultimately about much more than one treatment or protocol. It is about missed warning signs, years without answers, becoming her own researcher, learning to trust herself again, and refusing to give up on the possibility of getting better. Growing Up Around Horses—but Knowing Almost Nothing About Ticks Hannah grew up in southeast England and spent much of her childhood outdoors. Horses became one of her greatest passions, and she eventually trained professionally in riding, horse management, dressage, and eventing. She was also deeply interested in animal health. Hannah spent time working around veterinary medicine and learned about fleas, lice, worms, botflies, equine influenza, strangles, and other conditions affecting horses. Yet one subject was almost completely absent from her education: ticks and Lyme disease. Despite spending years around horses, dogs, cats, veterinary environments, fields, and the English countryside, Hannah remembers receiving virtually no meaningful education about ticks or the infections they can transmit. The West Virginia Horse Camp and Hannah's Possible Lyme Exposure At approximately 19 years old, Hannah traveled alone from England to the United States to work as a riding counselor at a horse camp in West Virginia near the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was a major adventure for someone who describes herself at that age as extremely shy. Hannah suddenly found herself responsible for a cabin of young campers while teaching multiple horseback riding lessons each day. She loved the experience. But the camp also introduced Hannah to something she had never encountered before: ticks. Hannah remembers discovering engorged ticks attached to horses grazing in long grass. After asking what they were, she and other staff members were shown how to remove them. Removing ticks from the horses soon became part of their regular routine. What Hannah does not remember receiving was comprehensive education connecting those ticks with the potential risk of Lyme disease in humans. She recalls being warned about hazards such as poison ivy and rattlesnakes, but she does not remember meaningful tick-bite prevention training for counselors or campers. There was a Lyme disease pamphlet in the staff area, but the information Hannah remembers most strongly involved severe neurological complications such as seizures and paralysis. She did not come away understanding the broad range of symptoms that could develop or recognizing how important an expanding rash could be. The Red Ring That Was Dismissed as a Spider Bite Years later, while reconstructing her medical history after finally learning about Lyme disease, Hannah remembered something important from that summer. She had developed a distinctive red ring on her lower leg. At the time, Hannah says someone told her that it was probably a spider bite and that she should simply keep the area clean and watch it. The rash did not significantly hurt or itch, and it eventually disappeared. No one, according to Hannah's recollection, asked whether she might have been bitten by a tick. She did not connect the rash with the ticks she had been routinely removing from horses, and she did not connect it with the Lyme disease pamphlet she had briefly seen. Hannah believes today that this may have been the event that began her Lyme disease journey. For practical prevention and early-action information, read the Tick Boot Camp Tick Bite Blueprint. The First Sign Something Was Wrong Hannah initially remained extremely healthy and active after leaving the United States. She returned to England and attended Aston Business School near Birmingham. But approximately six months after her time at camp, she began noticing unusual problems with her knees. She was a runner and initially assumed she had simply overtrained. Her knees would ache and sometimes lock, particularly when walking down gentle slopes or moving at certain angles. Cold weather could make the discomfort worse. Because Hannah had been a competitive runner and lifelong equestrian athlete, healthcare professionals often attributed the symptoms to physical activity and wear and tear. She was told variations of the same explanation: runner's knee, overuse, muscle imbalance, or consequences of years of athletic activity. Yet Hannah was still a young woman, and the symptoms continued. Over time, joint problems began appearing elsewhere. Her elbows became involved. Her lower back became increasingly problematic. A diagnosis of scoliosis provided another seemingly logical explanation for some of her pain. Hannah kept adapting and pushing forward. She even completed the London Marathon, although afterward her knees became so painful and locked that she struggled to walk normally for approximately a week. When Her Health Finally Collapsed After university, Hannah continued traveling internationally, including spending time in Borneo and eventually completing a round-the-world trip. Then, around 2006, everything changed. After developing what appeared to be a significant viral illness, Hannah says she never fully recovered. Her shoulder became extremely painful and effectively froze. What followed was no longer an isolated problem with her knees or back. Hannah describes developing a growing collection of debilitating symptoms that included: Severe fatigue and exhaustion Joint and musculoskeletal pain Digestive problems Insomnia Anxiety Depression Episodes of intense anger or rage Memory problems Progressively worsening neurological and systemic symptoms Difficulty maintaining normal work and daily activities She describes the illness as feeling like a combination of flu, glandular fever, and malaria. Instead of resolving, her symptoms continued getting worse for approximately six years. Trying to Keep Working While Becoming Increasingly Ill Hannah attempted to continue working despite her deteriorating health. She worked with horses and also painted portraits professionally, but even limited morning work became increasingly difficult because of overwhelming fatigue. She frequently needed time off and struggled to explain what was happening because she did not understand it herself. Later, while working in a tea shop, Hannah began noticing that her memory was also being affected. She describes 30 or 40 symptoms gradually accumulating, with insomnia, chronic fatigue, and mood changes becoming some of the most difficult to manage. Meanwhile, repeated medical testing failed to provide an explanation. Several doctors told Hannah that her results were normal and that they could not find anything wrong. She says she did not necessarily feel directly accused of imagining her illness, but over time it became easier to stop discussing what she was experiencing because she felt that people were not truly hearing her. Moving to Australia While Searching for Answers Hannah eventually moved to Australia, hoping that a different environment and lifestyle might improve her health. She would spend approximately a decade there. Initially, the excitement of the move helped her keep going. She settled in tropical Darwin and started a graphic design company. Then her health crashed again. During the first wet season, Hannah became severely ill and spent significant periods in bed. Eventually, even working a few hours per day from home became too difficult, and she had to close the company she had built. She developed severe food reactions and describes being bedridden for seven to ten days at a time. Her relationship also ended during this period. Hannah describes eventually losing her business, her apartment, her ability to ride horses, much of her independence, and a significant amount of weight. At her lowest point, she says she would sometimes visit the stables and simply hold herself against a rail while watching the horses because she no longer had the strength to ride or even interact with them normally. The Chance Conversation That Changed Everything One day at the stables, another person noticed how ill Hannah had become. Hannah explained what was happening, and the woman told her about another horse rider with similar symptoms who was seeing a doctor who periodically traveled from Perth to Darwin to work with patients experiencing chronic fatigue and unexplained illness. Hannah and the other woman both scheduled appointments. After reviewing Hannah's extensive symptoms, the physician told her he believed she had late-stage Lyme disease. Hannah says subsequent testing through Australian Biologics was positive for Borrelia. The diagnosis triggered a flood of memories—the ticks on the horses, the pamphlet in West Virginia, and the unexplained red ring on her leg years earlier. For the first time, Hannah felt that the scattered pieces of her story might belong to the same puzzle. Lyme Disease, Co-Infections, and Alternative Testing Hannah continued exploring her illness through a combination of conventional and alternative approaches. She describes undergoing PCR testing through Australian Biologics as well as bioresonance and autonomic response testing. During the interview, Hannah says these alternative assessments suggested possible Borrelia strains, co-infections, active viruses, heavy metals, parasites, yeast overgrowth, gut inflammation, and other abnormalities. Among the infections discussed during her journey were Borrelia, Bartonella, Babesia, Rickettsia, Ehrlichia, Anaplasma, and Chlamydia, as well as viral findings including Epstein-Barr virus. It is important to distinguish Hannah's personal experience from established clinical diagnostic standards. Bioresonance and autonomic response testing are not established replacements for validated medical testing for Lyme disease or tick-borne infections. Hannah is sharing what practitioners told her and how those results influenced her personal recovery decisions. Choosing a Different Lyme Treatment Path After receiving her Lyme diagnosis, Hannah says the physician treating her wanted to begin an aggressive multi-antibiotic protocol. Hannah decided not to pursue that approach. She was already extremely weak, her digestive system was severely affected, and she was concerned about medication side effects. Instead, she asked whether there were other options and ultimately chose to spend several months researching Lyme disease treatment approaches around the world. Her family and friends were frightened by the decision, but Hannah says she felt strongly that she needed to find a different path for herself. That decision became the beginning of the recovery strategy she would later document in My Lyme Success Story. Building a Staged, Whole-Person Recovery Plan Hannah describes her recovery not as one treatment, but as a staged process. Working with naturopathic practitioners and combining their guidance with her own research, she focused first on what she describes as improving her body's overall terrain before directly targeting Lyme and co-infections. Her personal strategy included: Reducing environmental stressors Simplifying her lifestyle Changing her diet Supporting gut health Addressing issues practitioners identified as heavy metals and parasites Reducing inflammation Using herbs and supplements Using binders and detoxification strategies Experimenting with bioresonance Meditation and nervous-system calming practices Emotional and trauma-focused work Creating an environment where she felt safe enough to recover Hannah emphasizes that the sequence mattered to her. She believes preparing her body first made it easier to tolerate later interventions. The Diet Change That Gave Her Hope Diet became one of the earliest major changes in Hannah's recovery. Based on the recommendations she was receiving at the time, she adopted a highly individualized, low-inflammatory Paleo-style diet. She says that after approximately four weeks of changing her diet and focusing on cleansing and lifestyle interventions, she felt better than she had in four years. That improvement became a major psychological turning point. For the first time in years, Hannah had tangible evidence that something she was doing might be helping. From there, she continued gradually working through the other areas she believed were contributing to her illness. Herbs, Bioresonance, and Individualized Treatment Hannah experimented extensively with herbs and natural products. She describes using BioPure Quintessence, a herbal tincture containing ingredients including Japanese knotweed and Andrographis, after another product did not feel appropriate for her. She also describes using binders and other detoxification strategies while gradually increasing the intensity of her treatment. Bioresonance became another major part of her personal approach. Hannah says she used a portable device at home for approximately six months and also used bioresonance testing to help guide decisions about foods, herbs, and supplements. She reports that, through the overall combination of approaches she was using, she went from being largely bedbound to symptom-free in approximately 11 months. That is Hannah's personal account and should not be interpreted as evidence that the same interventions will produce the same results for another person. The Story Behind Hannah's "Lyme-Busting Drink" One memorable moment in the interview involves something Hannah jokingly calls her "Lyme-busting drink." Hannah says she gathered several antimicrobial ingredients in her kitchen and intuitively selected ingredients to combine into a homemade preparation. She later took the mixture to her naturopath, who tested it using the bioresonance method they were working with. Hannah says the mixture tested strongly for her. The larger takeaway from this part of the story is not that listeners should reproduce Hannah's homemade mixture. Rather, Hannah uses the story to illustrate just how individualized and experimental her own recovery process became. She repeatedly emphasizes listening to her own body and adjusting what she was doing based on how she felt. Learning to Trust Her Body Again One of the strongest themes throughout Hannah's interview is intuition. Years of unexplained illness can cause people to question themselves, especially after repeated normal tests or medical appointments that fail to provide answers. Hannah says she never entirely lost the belief that her body was telling her something important. When she was told nothing could be found, she continued searching. When one explanation did not make sense to her, she kept looking. And once she finally received a diagnosis, she approached recovery with the same determination. Rich identifies this as one of the most powerful parts of Hannah's story: despite years of confusion and dismissal, she continued trusting her own observations enough to keep investigating. Mindset, Spirituality, and Asking for Help Hannah also describes a major shift in her mindset and spirituality. For much of her life, she had been fiercely independent and believed that she could solve any problem herself. At her sickest, that changed. Hannah remembers lying in a dark room, sometimes barely able to lift her head, and finally looking outside and simply asking for help. She describes this as a turning point. A housemate later gave her a book about the Law of Attraction and introduced her to meditation. Hannah says these ideas reawakened something she remembered from childhood: a strong belief that mindset, intention, and action could help shape the direction of her life. She began meditating regularly and eventually built up to approximately 45-minute sessions. Whether listeners share Hannah's spiritual framework or not, the interview makes clear that hope and belief became important psychological resources during a period when her physical circumstances gave her very little reason to feel optimistic. Trauma, NLP, and Emotional Healing Hannah's recovery eventually expanded into emotional and trauma-focused work. She describes exploring Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP, after reflecting on experiences from earlier in her life. One particularly powerful realization involved her premature birth. Hannah was born approximately three months early and spent significant time in an incubator, separated from her mother. During a later meditation experience, Hannah says she suddenly connected that early experience of illness and isolation with what she was experiencing as an adult. She later participated in NLP-based work that involved revisiting and reframing those experiences. Toward the end of her recovery, Hannah also explored Faster EFT, combining tapping and other emotional-processing techniques. She says she realized that even after becoming physically healthier, she had developed significant fear about leaving her home and becoming ill again. After working through some of those fears and other emotional experiences, she felt more capable of re-entering normal life. For Hannah, physical recovery, emotional recovery, mindset, spirituality, and lifestyle became deeply interconnected parts of the same journey. From Bedbound to What Hannah Describes as Fully Recovered Hannah says she eventually went from being largely bedbound to symptom-free over approximately 11 months. She attributes that change not to one single intervention, but to the sequencing and combination of approaches she personally used. She emphasizes reducing inflammation and other stressors first, then gradually addressing the infections and other issues she believed were affecting her. Her experience shaped one of the central messages she now shares with other Lyme patients: recovery does not necessarily have to happen through the most aggressive approach available. She encourages people to work with knowledgeable practitioners, move carefully, and allow the body time to recover. As she says during the interview, she believes there is value in "slow, steady, gentle" healing, while also emphasizing the importance of appropriate medical supervision. Why Hannah Wrote My Lyme Success Story Once Hannah had recovered, she began organizing everything she had documented during her illness. Her background made that process unusually natural. Hannah had experience in graphic design, photography, writing, editing, and copywriting. She had also meticulously recorded what she tried during her illness—partly because she wanted a record in case she ever became sick again. Eventually, people began encouraging her to write a book. That became Hannah Green: My Lyme Success Story. Hannah says she wrote the book for several reasons: To document what happened to her To explain her experience to family members in England who had been thousands of miles away during the worst of her illness To process the trauma of what she had been through To organize the research and strategies she had collected To help other Lyme patients who might find value in her experience The book includes Hannah's story, the approaches she personally tried, her research, and practical resources including meal plans, shopping lists, checklists, and educational information intended to help patients and families better understand Lyme disease. Learn more about Hannah, her book, and her resources on her website: Hannah Green: My Lyme Success Story Meeting Hannah at the Lyme Warrior 10th Anniversary Gala This Tick Boot Camp interview began with an in-person connection. Hannah traveled from England to attend the Lyme Warrior 10th Anniversary Gala on May 9, 2026, at Saybrook Point Resort & Marina in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. Tick Boot Camp partnered with Lyme Warrior to help photograph, document, and amplify the event. The gala brought together Lyme patients, advocates, researchers, clinicians, authors, families, and supporters for a night focused on research, advocacy, humor, music, community, and hope. Hannah attended alongside other members of the Lyme community who traveled from England, including Kirstie Haysman, Ms Great Britain 2026. The night included appearances from leading Lyme voices including Dr. Eva Sapi, Dr. Monica Embers, Dr. Richard Horowitz, Dr. Myriah Hinchey, Nicole Bell, Jesse Ruben, and many other advocates and community leaders. Read Tick Boot Camp's full coverage of the event. A Lyme Story Across Three Continents Hannah's Lyme journey crosses three continents. She grew up in England. She believes her Lyme exposure may have occurred while working with horses in West Virginia in the United States. Her earliest symptoms emerged after returning to England. Her illness eventually became severely disabling. And in Australia, Hannah finally received the Lyme diagnosis that gave her a framework for understanding what had happened. Australia also became the place where she developed the personal recovery strategy she later documented in My Lyme Success Story. Hannah eventually returned to England in 2019 to spend more time with family. Her international experience underscores an important reality: Lyme disease does not respect borders, and gaps in tick awareness, diagnosis, and treatment can follow patients across healthcare systems. What You'll Learn in This Episode In this episode of the Tick Boot Camp Podcast, Hannah Green discusses: Growing up in England surrounded by horses and the outdoors Why she knew almost nothing about ticks despite extensive equestrian experience Traveling alone to America as a shy 19-year-old Working as a horse-riding counselor at a West Virginia summer camp Removing engorged ticks from horses without understanding the possible human health risk The Lyme disease pamphlet she remembers seeing at camp The red ring on her leg that she was told was probably a spider bite Why she now believes her Lyme exposure may have occurred in West Virginia Developing unusual knee problems after returning to England Years of migrating joint and back symptoms Running the London Marathon despite worsening knee problems The viral illness after which her health dramatically deteriorated Digestive issues, insomnia, chronic fatigue, anxiety, depression, rage, and memory problems Trying to continue working while becoming progressively sicker Repeated medical visits that failed to explain her illness Moving to Australia and eventually becoming largely bedbound How another horse rider helped connect her with the doctor who diagnosed Lyme disease Borrelia and the co-infections discussed during her journey Her experience with PCR testing, bioresonance, and autonomic response testing Why she declined the multi-antibiotic protocol initially proposed to her The three months she spent researching treatment approaches around the world Her staged approach to lifestyle, diet, gut health, and other interventions The low-inflammatory Paleo-style diet she says produced an early improvement Her use of herbs, binders, naturopathic care, and bioresonance Her homemade "Lyme-busting drink" Creating an environment dedicated to healing Learning to trust her intuition Meditation, spirituality, and asking for help Trauma work, NLP, and Faster EFT The fear of leaving home even after her physical health improved Why she believes mindset is critical to recovery Why she wrote My Lyme Success Story Her advice for people newly diagnosed with Lyme disease Why she believes patients should not give up on the possibility of healing Hannah's Advice for Someone Newly Diagnosed With Lyme Disease Near the end of the conversation, Hannah shares several lessons she wishes more people understood early in their Lyme journey. First, she encourages people not to panic. She believes a recovery mindset matters and that people benefit from knowing that others have gotten better. Second, she recommends finding a practitioner you genuinely trust and who looks at the person as a whole rather than focusing on only one symptom. Third, she emphasizes consistency and persistence rather than continually jumping from one protocol to another. And finally, Hannah advocates for a gentler approach when appropriate, saying that the body may need time and a sense of safety in order to recover. Her advice reflects her own experience rather than a universal medical prescription, but the underlying message is powerful: stay engaged, keep learning, work with qualified support, and do not surrender hope. Why Hannah Green's Lyme Success Story Matters Hannah's story is not presented as a universal Lyme disease treatment protocol. It is one person's experience of becoming severely ill, searching for answers across multiple countries, experimenting with approaches that felt appropriate for her circumstances, and eventually reaching a level of health that inspired her to describe her journey as a Lyme success story. Her experience reinforces several important messages for the Lyme community: Tick education matters before a bite ever happens. Not everyone remembers finding an attached tick. An expanding red rash deserves careful medical evaluation. Lyme symptoms can evolve and involve multiple body systems. Migrating joint symptoms can be an important part of a patient's history. People with unexplained chronic symptoms deserve to be heard. Recovery journeys can be highly individualized. Emotional and psychological support can coexist with treatment of physical illness. Community can help replace the isolation that so often accompanies chronic illness. Hope matters. Healing is possible. Final Takeaway Hannah Green's Lyme disease journey began long before she knew she was on one. A young woman from England traveled to America to teach horseback riding, encountered ticks for the first time, developed a mysterious red ring that was dismissed as a spider bite, and returned home feeling healthy. Then the clues slowly appeared. First her knees. Then other joints. Then her back. Eventually, after another illness years later, her health deteriorated dramatically. What followed was a long search for an explanation that eventually took Hannah across the world and into an intense process of research, experimentation, self-advocacy, emotional healing, and recovery. Today, she has transformed that experience into My Lyme Success Story in the hope that what she learned can help others ask better questions and feel less alone. Her exact path will not be everyone's path, and the approaches Hannah believes helped her should not be interpreted as medical advice or a universal treatment plan. But the larger message of her story belongs to the entire Lyme community: keep asking questions, keep learning, find people who take your experience seriously, and do not give up on the possibility of healing.
