Episode 199: Resistance Fighter - an interview with Kaitlyn Oleinik

Kaitlyn Oleinik is a 27-year-old psychology student, musician and equestrian enthusiast from Orange County, California. Ms. Oleinik is also the daughter and granddaughter of WWII era Jewish resistance fighters.

Starting at the age of 10 years old, Ms. Oleinik began to treat with medical doctors for Lyme disease symptoms including severe fatigue, knee pain, and joint pain. Despite visiting “dozens of doctors,” her symptoms did not result in a diagnosis until she and her parents watched a television show that profiled a young woman’s Lyme disease journey.

The parallels between Ms. Oleinik’s symptoms and those of the television heroine inspired her to take control of her childhood diagnostic journey. First, she researched and located the CanLyme symptom guide. When she discovered that she exhibited the overwhelming majority of the traditional symptoms listed in the guide, she petitioned her parents and her doctor to treat her for Lyme disease. She achieved remission with antibiotic treatment prescribed by her primary care physician.

Several years later, during her senior year of college, she suffered a series of traumatic events while at the same time residing in mold infested student housing. The combination of immune disrupting events caused her to suffer a Lyme relapse that was misdiagnosed by doctors as mental illness. Realizing that her symptoms were potentially indicative of Lyme disease, she ignored her family, friends, and doctors and took control of her second diagnostic journey by locating a Lyme literate medical doctor (LLMD) who diagnosed her with Lyme disease.

Ms. Oleinik and her LLMD utilized IV antibiotics, IVIG therapy and stem cells to treat her Lyme disease relapse. Ms. Oleinik described the $30,000 stem cell therapy as “lifesaving.”

If you would like to learn more about how a young woman tapped into her resistance fighter spirit to overcome the doubts of family, friends, and doctors to take control of her Lyme disease diagnostic journeys, then tune in now!