Ralph de barrelo

About me

Hoi Ik ben Ralph van Barrelo en ik ben sinds 2015 Lyme patiënt met co-infecties. Voor mijn ziekte was ik een vrolijke jongen die van het leven hield.

I especially loved traveling. Socializing and just enjoying life.

Sports were my thing, especially kickboxing, jumping rope and running. I often walked the Blue Poles in dunes of Soest and when I was at home in Amstelveen I often walked along the Amstel or I could be found in the Amsterdamse bos.

Sometimes I participated in running events such as the Zandvoort circuit run, the Amsterdam marathon and a race run in Hengelo. The biggest distance I covered was 24km during one of my training sessions. My ultimate desire was to run an entire marathon.

Before I got sick, I worked on an oil rig in the North Sea and had a lot of free time to travel when I wasn't working. Motorcycling was also a passion of mine.

In the year 2015 I became anxious, had severe panic attacks and became tired. After a long search for the cause and treatments of this, I was labeled by GGZ/UMCU with the diagnosis of schizophrenia. A conclusion that is often made in Lyme patients. It's supposedly between your ears.

Gezien dat mijn klachten hevig waren en niet alleen psychisch maar ook lichamelijk en ik via alternatieve geneeskunde de diagnose Lyme met co-infecties had gehad, was ik het niet eens met de diagnose en besloot mijn bloed op te sturen naar de BCA kliniek in Duitsland. De conclusie van de uitslag “Lyme met co-infecties”. Een erythema Migrans (E.M.) heb ik nooit gehad en ik had ook niet van de ziekte van Lyme gehoord.

In the meantime, I have deteriorated so much that I am no longer able to work. I do not pay attention to my limits and always end up in a storm with complaints where the Lyme takes over. I can't stand stimuli and hardly sleep. A wash can be too much. Whenever possible, I volunteer at the SKS store in Soest. On the outside you don't see anything about me at all except sometimes fluctuations in my weight.

I find it difficult to be around people and yet I am socially constructed and have to get out from time to time. I am bad at guarding my boundaries, indicating what I want and indicating when I have had enough I find difficult, this is due to wrong patterns that arose in my childhood due to trauma. My goal is to get the disease under control so that I can provide for myself and get back to work. For this I need help, I use a coach, homeopath/therapist. I also want to be able to work, travel and enjoy life again, become independent again.

I have hope for the future. And that there will be recognition for this disease so that patients are helped faster, and not just stand for their incurred medical costs.