Episode 17: Lyme Disease, Being Gaslit, and Getting Your Mojo Back, We Hear Amy Down's Four-Year Fight for Truth 🩺

About this episode

Episode 17: Lyme Disease, Being Gaslit, and Getting Your Mojo Back - Amy Down's Four-Year Fight to Be Believed 🩺

Amy Down spent four years being told there was nothing wrong with her. Exhausted, foggy, gut in revolt, running on adrenaline while raising two small children and working full time in wellness.

Test after test came back normal. Doctor after doctor suggested it was probably just stress. This week Amy joins Lee and Irene in the cabin to tell the story of what it actually was, and what four years in the medical maze taught her about being a woman who knows something is wrong and cannot get anyone to listen.

Amy is a certified nutrition, health and life coach, a master hypnotherapist, and an EFT and NLP practitioner who spent over a decade at Australia’s biggest natural healthcare company before founding Living Mojo. She is also one of Lee’s closest friends, so this is less a polished interview and more two people who have walked a long road together finally telling the whole thing out loud.

Her diagnosis, when it finally came, was a tick-borne illness. In Australia that opens a genuinely contested conversation, and Lee and Irene handle it the way the show always does: warmly, honestly, and without pretending the science is settled. Irene, who went in convinced Lyme was something you only caught in the Hamptons, asks the questions everyone at home is thinking.

Then Justin arrives with a Womansplain for the ages (froyo versus gelato versus ice cream, with receipts), and Lee closes with a rave about the most underrated wellness tool there is. Not a supplement. A boundary.

✨ In this episode we chat about:

● Why four years of normal test results does not always mean nothing is wrong

● What a tick bite can actually do, and why Lyme is so contested here in Australia

● The MOJO framework Amy built to climb out: Mindset, Oxygenation, Optimisation, Joy

● How to advocate for yourself when you know something is wrong and you are not being heard

● Justin’s three-day froyo bender and the great gelato-versus-ice-cream-versus-froyo shootout

● Lee’s rave on boundaries, and the difference between a wall and an instruction manual

🎙 What’s Popping: Amy Down on Lyme, Being Heard, and Getting Your Mojo Back

Ten Years, and a Friendship That Started With Gut Health

● How They Met: Lee found Amy before Amy found Lee. Amy took Lee on as a gut-health writer at Blackmores, then started feeling unwell herself and came to Lee for coaching. Lee helped her feel seen and heard. Roughly ten years later, they are still at it.

● An Unusual CV: Fitness instructor and marketer in Sydney, then PR and comms in London (with a stint in India studying yoga and a meeting with the Dalai Lama), then nearly twelve years at Blackmores while she qualified in what she does now.

● From Mummy Mojo to Living Mojo: Amy started Mummy Mojo in 2014 with her Mother’s Group friend Debs, running detox programs and helping overloaded mums find some rest. When Debs moved to Queensland, the business was reborn as Living Mojo, because the one word Amy could never let go of was mojo.

The Superwoman Complex, and the Silent Thief

● The Plates Kept Spinning: Two kids under five, a full-time corporate career, study on the side, the household, community groups. Amy wore the Superwoman cape with pride and kept every plate polished on the outside while she was quietly falling apart inside.

● A Silent Thief: In Amy’s words, the illness stole her vitality, her joy, her clarity, and eventually her health. Her body was whispering long before it started shouting.

● The Line That Landed: Tired, foggy, gut playing up, running on empty, still spinning the plates. As Irene put it, that list is basically every woman over 40, which is exactly why this story travels well beyond ticks.

Four Years of Being Told It Was Just Stress

● The Medical Maze: Four years, specialist after specialist, bloods, MRIs, colonoscopies, screenings. For the most part everything came back fine while Amy was visibly falling apart.

● The Punch in the Stomach: Some doctors landed on ‘you have two young kids and a busy life, maybe it’s just stress.’ For someone genuinely unwell, not being believed is its own kind of injury.

● The Great Imitator: Along the way she was handed different labels, including chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and mast cell activation, because so many of the symptoms cut across so many conditions. Part of her also did not want to admit she was sick in her mid-thirties, so pushing through felt easier than stopping.

Getting to the Diagnosis

● Where It Started: Late 2010. Amy was bitten by around forty tiny grass ticks after being in the ocean (they were so small the family first assumed sea lice), developed a bullseye rash and flu-like symptoms, and was told at the time that it could not be what she thought it was.

● Finding a Lyme-Literate Doctor: It took relentless persistence to find a doctor willing to investigate. Testing was done through Australian Biologics here, with further samples sent to a specialist lab overseas to build a fuller picture.

● More Than One Passenger: The results pointed to a strain of Borrelia plus co-infections. A thorough workup also picked up a reactivated Epstein-Barr virus (from a bout of glandular fever at twelve), a dormant cytomegalovirus that had switched back on, and a parasite. These opportunistic infections often ride along in complex chronic illness.

Why Lyme Is So Contested in Australia

● Not Formally Recognised: Classic Lyme is well known overseas but poorly understood here, and doctors who diagnose and treat it can face professional scrutiny, which keeps the number of willing practitioners low.

● The Official Term: Authorities describe this patient group as having DSCATT, Debilitating Symptom Complexes Attributed to Ticks. Amy notes there can be around seventy-seven symptoms attributed to this kind of illness, which is why it is nicknamed the great imitator.

● The Cost Barrier: Because much of the specialist testing has to be sent overseas, with no Medicare rebate, it can run to several thousand dollars, precisely when many sufferers have had to give up work. The full clinical picture and current Australian position are in the Nerd Notes below.

Ticks 101: What Every Australian Should Know

● Not Every Tick Carries Infection: Most tick bites, including the grass ticks that come off children, carry no infection at all. Amy’s situation was partly a numbers game: out of forty bites, it may have taken only one infected tick.

● Time Matters: It takes roughly thirty-six hours for an infection to take hold, so prompt, safe removal counts.

● Removal: Keep proper tweezers or a tick-freezing product at home if you live near the bush, or go straight to a GP to have it removed safely. Amy’s own first attempt (fully clothed in the bath, husband on tweezers) is not the recommended method.

● Alpha-Gal Is Different: A tick bite can also trigger alpha-gal syndrome, also called mammalian meat allergy, a serious allergic reaction to red meat. Unlike DSCATT, alpha-gal is well recognised and can be tested for on standard pathology.

Amy’s Recovery and the MOJO Framework

● Antibiotics Were a Start, Not the Whole Story: Early on, a few brave doctors prescribed milder antibiotics such as doxycycline based on the clinical picture; after formal diagnosis she was able to access IV antibiotics. But killing the infection begged a bigger question: why did it take hold in the first place?

● It Was the Terrain: Amy traces it to the ground the illness grew in: a mouldy house plus a genetic sensitivity to mould, chronic unadmitted stress, a sick child, and years of broken sleep. Around twenty to thirty percent of people go on to develop chronic Lyme, and terrain is a big part of why.

● The MOJO Framework: Out of all of it came four pillars. Mindset (nervous-system work through hypnotherapy and EFT). Oxygenation (gentle detox, movement, clean products, reducing EMF load, her Oura Ring for feedback). Optimisation (good food, a healthy gut microbiome, the foundations Lee lives and breathes). And Joy, which when you are bedbound can be as small as the dog and a good friend. The magic, she says, is stacking them: a walk by the ocean with the dog covers several at once.

● Drainage Before Detox: A cautionary tale. Amy once threw herself into a big detox program in Cyprus and ended up in hospital, because she had not opened her drainage and lymphatic pathways first. Detoxing too hard, too fast can flood a body that is not ready. Order matters.

Advocating for Yourself, and Parenting Through It

● Trust the Intuition: Amy’s first step is listening to that inner signal that something is off, and refusing to override it.

● Bring Receipts: Keep a written record of symptoms and timings. You are far less likely to be waved away when you arrive with facts in hand.

● Get More Opinions, and Be Relentless: If an opinion does not sit right, seek another. As Amy puts it, no one will advocate for your body better than you will. Lee’s take: every woman should get a pre-printed fortieth-birthday card that reads ‘advocate for yourself and get multiple opinions.’

● Present, Not Perfect: On mothering through an invisible illness, Amy’s message to guilt-ridden mums is that there is no such thing as a perfect mother, only a present one. Prioritising yourself teaches your children that they matter too. Her own kids came out of it more empathetic, more tuned in to their bodies, and better at honest conversation.

Where to Find Amy

● Living Mojo: livingmojo.com.au, with coaching programs, a newsletter full of free recipes, and a free three-day Mojo Reboot that works for anyone wanting a reset, not just those managing chronic illness.

● The Book: Amy’s first book, Back from the Brink: How to Get Your Mojo Back, is a memoir and self-help guide in one. It shares her Mojo Method recovery blueprint (with gut-health input from Lee) and is written to help others get help sooner than she did.

🧠 Womansplain: Froyo vs Gelato vs Ice Cream, With Justin

● The Question: Justin loves ice cream, gelato and froyo equally, ‘like my children.’ After a new froyo dealer took him from a $10 serve on Friday to $14 on Saturday to $16 on Sunday, he wants to know: if he is going to skip essentials like toothpaste to afford one, which is the best choice on value, experience, and least-worst for you?

● Irene’s Conflict of Interest: As an Italian, Irene declares gelato is not a dessert, it is heritage, so she will be ‘completely impartial’ and of course pick gelato.

● The Froyo Trap: Self-serve froyo is priced by weight, the cups are enormous, and low-fat desserts are less satisfying per spoonful, so the hand just keeps pulling the lever. Once yoghurt is sweetened, flavoured and frozen, the sugar can match or beat ice cream and the ‘live cultures’ on the poster are doing next to nothing. In Justin’s words, the froyo was farming him.

● Lee’s Verdict: Gelato takes first place. It has less fat than ice cream, is churned with far less air so it is denser, and is served slightly warmer, so more flavour hits your tongue per gram and a small cup genuinely satisfies. Quality ice cream is a respectable second, where the higher fat content actually works in its favour for satisfaction, plus calcium from the milk. Froyo finishes last in every category.

● The Nutritionist Tip: Order a gelato or ice cream with nuts (Lee’s pick is hazelnut). The fat, fibre and protein blunt the blood-sugar spike, so Justin’s instinct for a bit of crunch is not entirely wrong.

✨ Rave: Boundaries Are Information, Not a Wall

● The Rave: Lee spent most of her life treating ‘yes to everything’ as kindness, as though saying no required a doctor’s certificate, a written apology and a character reference. The result was a lot of yeses to things she did not want to do, and a slow simmer of resentment underneath.

● The Reframe: A boundary is not a wall, it is information. ‘This is what I need to stay well, and I trust you with that.’ People are not mind readers; swallowing a no just leaves you resentful while the other person carries on with no idea anything was wrong.

● Who Pushes Back: The people who love you adjust. The ones who get cranky about a boundary are usually the ones who benefited from you not having one. That reaction is data.

● The Live Demo: Lee and Irene role-play a Sunday ‘can you help me pack up my kitchen’ ask, and Lee models a warm, early, guilt-free no that protects her rest without rejecting the friendship. The point: you do not have to announce your boundaries, you just have to hold them kindly.

📝 Lee’s Nutritionist Nerd Notes: Episode 17

Lyme Disease and DSCATT: The Australian Picture

● The Term: In 2018, following parliamentary inquiries, the Australian Department of Health proposed ‘Debilitating Symptom Complexes Attributed to Ticks’ (DSCATT) to describe patients with a chronic debilitating illness that many associate with a tick bite. Authorities are clear that DSCATT is a descriptive term, not a formal disease or clinical diagnosis in itself.

● The Official Position: Australian health authorities hold that there is no conclusive evidence classic Lyme disease (infection with Borrelia burgdorferi) is acquired within Australia. Lyme is well documented overseas, in parts of the UK, US, Europe and Asia, and travellers can return infected. The Australian paralysis tick is responsible for more than 95 percent of local bites and is the leading cause of recognised tick-borne illness here.

● Where Things Stand Now: The Senate Inquiry into access to diagnosis and treatment for people with tick-borne diseases published its final report in March 2025, and the Australian Government published its response in November 2025. A government-funded DSCATT Clinical Pathway now exists to guide clinicians, and research into the cause and mechanism is ongoing.

● What the Research Shows So Far: A published Australian case series of DSCATT patients found high overlap with chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia and reactivated Epstein-Barr, with no laboratory evidence of acute Lyme infection. Researchers describe DSCATT as, for now, medically unexplained, meaning a cause has not been established rather than that patients are not genuinely unwell.

Co-Infections and Reactivated Viruses

● Borrelia and Friends: Borrelia burgdorferi is the bacterium behind classic Lyme. It is often called stealth-like because it can move into tissues and evade a straightforward immune response, which is part of why presentations vary so widely.

● Opportunistic Passengers: In complex chronic illness, latent viruses such as Epstein-Barr (EBV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) can reactivate when the immune system is under sustained load, and parasites or other infections can take advantage of a dysregulated system. This is why a thorough workup often uncovers more than one thing, as it did for Amy.

The Testing Controversy

● The Australian Reality: Standard NATA-accredited serology in Australia is generally not diagnostic for locally acquired Lyme, so patients often turn to private labs such as Australian Biologics, or send samples to overseas laboratories, at significant out-of-pocket cost and with no Medicare rebate.

● A Word on CD57 and Overseas Panels: Tests like the CD57 count and some overseas Lyme panels are used in this space, but their reliability and interpretation are debated internationally, and results can vary between labs. Given the cost, it is worth going in with clear eyes and a supportive, informed practitioner rather than chasing a single test.

Drainage Before Detox, and the Herxheimer Reaction

● Why Amy Got Sicker in Cyprus: When you kill off infection or mobilise stored toxins faster than the body can clear them, symptoms can flare. A well-recognised version of this in infection treatment is the Herxheimer reaction, a temporary worsening as bacterial die-off releases inflammatory material.

● The Sensible Order: This is the mechanism behind the naturopathic principle of opening drainage and lymphatic pathways, hydration, elimination and gentle movement, before pushing hard on detox. Aggressive cleanses on an unprepared, unwell body can backfire, which is exactly what Amy learned the hard way.

MOJO, the Nervous System, and Why Foundations Win

● Fight or Flight Keeps the Loop Going: Chronic stress and illness keep the nervous system in sympathetic (fight or flight) overdrive, with elevated cortisol and adrenaline. That state drives inflammation and a trigger-happy immune response, which in turn worsens symptoms, a self-reinforcing cycle. Calming the nervous system is not fluffy; it is part of breaking the loop.

● The Unglamorous Basics: For chronic-illness recovery, the foundations do the heavy lifting: an anti-inflammatory way of eating, stable blood sugar, gut support, adequate protein, real sleep and stress regulation. Not exotic, but as Lee puts it, this is the soil everything else grows in, and it belongs alongside proper medical care, not instead of it.

Froyo, the Health Halo, and Blood Sugar

● The Nerd Note: Frozen yoghurt’s health halo is largely marketing. Commercial froyo is usually heavily sweetened, and freezing plus low surviving-culture counts mean any probiotic benefit is minimal. Pairing a small dessert with nuts adds fat, fibre and protein, which genuinely blunts the post-sugar glucose spike, so Lee’s hazelnut suggestion is sound.

📌 Episode 17 Links

Living Mojo - Amy Down

Back from the Brink: How to Get Your Mojo Back by Amy Down - her memoir and recovery blueprint, available through Living Mojo

Supercharged Food - Lee Holmes

Supercharge Your Gut - Lee’s Products and Books

Clean Nectarine - Irene Falcone

Referenced:

Lyme Disease Association of Australia

Karl McManus Foundation

Australian Centre for Disease Control - Tick Bites and DSCATT

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