Billie Shepherd said she was told she was “older than her mum” after battling Lyme disease. The reality star revealed she was informed her biological age is 59, as she suffered from the symptoms of the condition.
Billie, who previously appeared on The Only Way Is Essex, receives her bacterial infection diagnosis in a fresh ITV reality programme called Sam And Billie: Sister Act.
The 35-year-old features alongside her sister Sam Faiers in the show, where they balance being mothers with their professional lives whilst embarking on a “wellness journey” together.
Billie explained to ITV’s This Morning: “We also go on this kind of wellness journey, some parts are emotional, but some parts are really interesting for the viewers to take home. So we did this biological age test.”
Various methods exist for testing “biological age”, which represents a fresh approach to measuring age by focusing on different bodily indicators.
Billie said her age came back as 59 after a series of testing.
She said: “Afterwards, she explained to me about how the test is measured on inflammation in your body and at that time, I wasn’t very well when I’d had the test done.
“So I’m kind of looking forward to maybe having the test done later on this year, and hopefully I’ll be my actual age, rather than older than my mum.”
Discussing Lyme disease, she continued: “They say it can come from an infected tick bite. I think with Lyme disease, it can really vary with symptoms from person to person.
“So for me personally, back in January, I was really unwell. It kind of happened over the space of a week.
“I had something, well, reactive arthritis, so severe joint pain, and then I had something called erythematosus, which is like red lumps all over my legs. I had a rash.
“I was so unwell, like I’ve never felt like that in my life. I’ve gone from being a healthy person to this happening, and it took about six weeks of testing to finally get a diagnosis.”
She added: “As much as I was a bit shocked (about the diagnosis), which you see in the series – I was quite shocked with it – and obviously there’s been some adjustments to my lifestyle and everything.
“But it was actually a relief, because I was getting myself in this sort of hole, if you like, of like Googling stuff and not knowing.”
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that can be transmitted to humans through infected ticks, and treatment is typically more effective when caught early, according to the NHS website.
Some individuals also develop flu-like symptoms several days or weeks following a bite from an infected tick, whilst others experience persistent symptoms including fatigue, aches and loss of energy that can continue for years.