With three stunning kids, a cheerful marriage and an exceptionally shut bond along with her sister, Billie Shepherd seems to dwell a charmed life. However behind the grins, the previous TOWIE star has been coping with a prognosis that has left her bedbound, which she describes as “horrendous”.
As Billie and her youthful sister Samantha Faiers make their long-awaited return to our screens of their new ITV actuality present, Sam And Billie: Sister Act, Billie sits down with OK! to disclose how she is slowly rising from a battle with Lyme illness, a bacterial an infection often brought on by the chew of an contaminated tick. Signs embrace excessive fatigue and joint ache which may final years.
The TV star opens up for the primary time about her battle with Lyme Illness -Credit score:Alex James
“It’s been a very, actually robust time,” Billie admits. “I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve by no means been challenged with well being points, I’ve by no means needed to face that. And individuals are coping with issues 10 instances worse, however it has been terrible.” Billie, 35, says she first began noticing signs in January.
“Sooner or later I used to be effective, the following I wakened with actually dangerous pains in my elbows and my arms,” she explains. “I assumed I should have slept humorous. I attempted to disregard it however as the times went on, the ache went throughout my physique to the purpose the place I couldn’t even get away from bed. It was horrendous.”
Billie says she went “forwards and backwards to the docs” and but nobody might work out what was mistaken along with her. However the signs solely acquired worse. “I had exhausting, purple lumps throughout my legs, which have been so painful, a horrible rash on my again and excessive fatigue,” she recollects.
“However worst was the reactive arthritis — probably the most intense, terrible ache in my joints. It was agony. My immune system was attacking the wholesome tissue in my joints. I had so many blood assessments however nobody might determine it out. One physician stated she’d by no means seen something prefer it. It was irritating. This went on for about two months earlier than we learnt it was Lyme’s.”
Billie admits it has been a ‘actually robust time’ -Credit score:Alex James
Docs consider Billie was bitten by an contaminated tick, presumably so long as three years in the past. However the an infection lay dormant till her immune system weakened, seemingly because of bouts of tonsillitis final 12 months. As Billie’s discomfort elevated, so did the prescriptions. Programs of antibiotics and steroids have been provided in a bid to manage her ache and scale back the irritation.
“My physique wasn’t responding to antibiotics any extra,” Billie says. “After the final course, I really acquired worse. I used to be so unwell. It was solely after Sam launched me to a holistic physician and I began taking pure medicines that I began to note a distinction and issues slowly started to show round.”
Billie needed to depend on her husband Greg, Sam and their mum, Suzanne Wells, for every day assist. “Some mornings I couldn’t even get away from bed. I must crawl,” she recollects. “Going to the bathroom, I used to be in bits, I used to be hysterical, crying, as a result of I used to be in a lot ache. It was exhausting for me to sit down on the bathroom with out Greg serving to me. It was so scary.
“How might I’ve been effective in the future and like that the following? Greg was so frightened, however he’s been actually good. And my mum, too. She might see I used to be in agony. She was spherical each day. Clearly I confided so much in Samantha, too.” The large dilemma for Billie was the way to clarify it to her kids, Nelly, 11, Arthur, eight, and Margot, two.
The mum-of-three wonders if the stress of her youngsters’ well being points might have exacerbated the illness -Credit score:Alex James
“Children are adaptable, however I used to be so poorly there’s no means they wouldn’t discover,” Billie tells us. “I defined actually why I wasn’t very nicely. Nelly understands, she’s on the ball and can ask if it’s Lyme illness that’s making me drained once I’m not feeling good. However equally I don’t need them to ever really feel frightened about me.”
Billie now wonders if the illness, which additionally impacts Justin Timberlake, Avril Lavigne and Bella Hadid to name a few, was exacerbated by the very fact she was stressed by her kids’s separate well being points. Within the opening episode of Sister Act, which begins this week, Billie will be seen in tears as she tells Sam, 34, concerning the terrifying second Margot was rushed to hospital by ambulance after suffering a seizure.
“That complete state of affairs was actually, actually scary,” Billie says. “As a mum or dad, you by no means assume it’s going to occur to you — you wouldn’t even need to think about it. And when it does occur you go into battle or flight mode. I used to be petrified.
“Margot hasn’t had a seizure since, and that was again in January. So I’m praying and hoping she’s grown out of them. However it was such a worrying time. As any mum or dad who’s skilled their youngster having a febrile seizure will inform you, you’re on edge a variety of the time. It’s exhausting to cope with when it occurs. It’s made me realise how a lot stress can have an effect on your physique.”
Billie additionally postponed an op for son Arthur amid her well being woes -Credit score:Alex James
Billie continues, “It was a vicious circle. I feel I used to be holding in a variety of fear and nervousness concerning the youngsters and never realizing on the time what was mistaken with me. I feel all of it led to an enormous immune system crash.” Arthur had well being points, too. Like his mum, he’d had tonsillitis for months and had been resulting from have them out — however Billie didn’t assume it was a good suggestion.
“My intestine feeling was that it was all dangerous timing and Arthur actually didn’t need to undergo that,” she says. “It’s not a pleasant operation — the aftermath is tough for kids. So we spoke to a surgeon who urged suspending it, particularly as I used to be so sick on the time. “I ultimately acquired Arthur on pure drugs to attempt to clear his immune system. He’d had a variety of antibiotics for a number of bouts of tonsillitis, which isn’t preferrred — it’s not nice on your intestine well being — and the pure drugs actually helped. Contact wooden, he’s not had any issues since.”
Whereas Billie says the holistic method is working for her household, she is eager to emphasize that she’s not preaching or encouraging others to attempt it. “Once I acquired sick I felt like my complete life had modified in a single day. I frightened about how I used to be going to get by way of it,” she says. “Issues had been getting worse and worse by the day, however inside two weeks of taking the holistic method I used to be feeling higher. I’m not saying that might be the case for everybody, in fact. However it was proper for me.”
Billie’s now feeling so much higher, although she stills suffers from fatigue, mind fog and occasional aches and pains. She’s hoping her story will increase consciousness as there are an estimated 2,000 to three,000 new circumstances of Lyme illness a 12 months within the UK. It performs out in Sister Act, which, though stuffed with drama, additionally focuses on loads of positives, together with a cameo from Amanda Holden and, in fact, Sam and Billie’s unbreakable bond.
Sister Act sees Billie tackle her Lyme Illness, but in addition reveals her shut bond along with her sister -Credit score:Alex James
“We’ve completely beloved filming collectively once more,” Billie gushes. “It’s really easy, so pure. We’re so shut anyway, so to do that collectively once more has been good. The timing was proper for Samantha and I, in order quickly as the chance got here up we thought, ‘Why not?’” Billie admits she and Sam had loads of fights whereas rising up — “often about garments, or footwear, that type of stuff” — however now they’re finest pals.
“We don’t argue or bicker in any respect,” she insists. “We simply get one another. We know what the other one’s like. Now, when Sam comes over, now we have huge sleepovers with all the children. Greg will make himself scarce and depart us to it. Me, Mum and Samantha have the perfect time when it’s the three of us collectively. We’ve got different family and friends, however when it’s simply us, it’s the perfect. We love being in one another’s firm.”
However whereas Sam and Billie are having fun with a harmonious sibling relationship, the identical at the moment can’t be stated of Nelly and Arthur. “Oh my God, they battle so much,” Billie says, half laughing, half sighing. “It’s really very stressful in our household. They chase one another across the kitchen as I’m making an attempt to make dinner. Margot simply watches and takes all of it in. However that stated, there can be a day once I miss all of the loopy carnage in the home, now they’re all getting older.”
She says she and her sister do not argue – and simply ‘get’ one another -Credit score:Alex James
Nelly begins secondary faculty subsequent month and Billie has already seen huge modifications in her eldest. “I’m moving into the following part of parenthood,” she says. “I’ve seen Nelly has actually grown up within the final six months. We acquired her a telephone for her birthday, her first one, and he or she walks round the home FaceTiming her little pals. That’s all they do. It’s hilarious.”
Billie lights up when speaking about her kids. Given what she’s been by way of, it’s a surprise she’s capable of keep smiling, however, as Sister Act will present, she’s nothing if not resilient. “Individuals have it far worse than me,” she says. “However it’s vital, being on actuality TV, to be sincere and actual. All of us undergo issues. Being open about what we’re going by way of is the one option to be.
“If you’re within the public eye it may be good to share issues. It may be a consolation to different people who find themselves going by way of related conditions. I’d by no means heard of Lyme illness earlier than I acquired it. So now, if I can increase consciousness and provide others consolation on the identical time, I’ll be blissful.”
Sam And Billie: Sister Act premieres on Tuesday 19 August at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX
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