Serena Williams‘ husband Alexis Ohanian says he has received a diagnosis of Lyme disease, which came as a bit of a shock to him.
The Reddit co-founder, 41, explained his health situation in a series of posts on X/Twitter Tuesday, saying that doctors told him about the diagnosis after he underwent multiple medical procedures.
‘Doing a full battery of health scans, tests, etc, and found out I have lyme disease,’ said the tech entrepreneur, who is father to two children with the tennis icon. ‘Wild. No symptoms, thankfully, but gonna treat.’
Ohanian explained some of the intricate details behind his diagnosis: ‘Good cholesterol is too low. Bad cholesterol is just OK. Gotta work on that. On the plus-side: 822 ng/dL total + 162 ng/dL free testosterone.’
Ohanian said that while he has a family history linked to the ailment, he was caught off-guard by the diagnosis since he did not fall into the group that is typically exposed to the condition geographically.
I’ve got a loved one who had it a few years back, showed tons symptoms etc and just couldn’t figure it out until they tested him for it and then found it (treated it successfully, too),’ Ohanian said. ‘I spend so little time in the wilderness/northeast this was quite a surprise.’
Ohanian said he was ‘gonna grab some antibiotics’ to combat the ailment, adding, ‘Can’t keep me down, tick!’ with a picture of The Tick cartoon character.
Ohanian stressed to his 563,700 followers on the platform that he was in no way dispensing health advice to the masses in regard to Lyme disease: ‘Please talk to a doctor!’ he said. ‘Do not listen to me for any health advice!’
The Mayo Clinic describes Lyme disease as ‘an illness caused by borrelia bacteria,’ adding that ‘humans usually get Lyme disease from the bite of a tick carrying the bacteria.’
The clinic noted that while ‘ticks that can carry borrelia bacteria live throughout most of the United States,’ the ailment ‘is most common in the upper Midwest and the northeastern and mid-Atlantic states’ domestically, and ‘also common in Europe and in south central and southeastern Canada.’
People are at higher risk if they ‘spend time where the ticks live, such as grassy, brushy or wooded areas,’ and the best means of prevention ‘is to avoid tick bites when you are outdoors.’
The CDC said that ‘476,000 people may be diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease each year in the United States,’ adding that the total consists of people who are ‘treated based on clinical suspicion but do not actually have Lyme disease.’
The governmental agency said that most cases ‘can be treated with 10-14 days of antibiotics,’ and that doing so in the ‘early stages’ of the disease leads to a rapid and complete recovery.
The disease has been a controversial topic at times, with a January 2023 report from the American Medical Association stating that ‘a lack of evidence-based guidance for how to care for people experiencing persistent symptoms and growing misinformation makes treatment challenging.’
The AMA noted that ‘some patients may believe their persistent symptoms to be due to Lyme disease, even without evidence of ever having had the disease.’
Grace Marx, MD, MPH, who is an epidemiologist with the CDC’s Vector-Borne disease division, said that ‘the clinical picture becomes much less clear when patients present without typical manifestations of Lyme disease but report persistent symptoms.’
Marx said that ‘the term “chronic Lyme disease” is much less clearly defined and is sometimes used as a catch-all term that is used broadly by patients, clinicians and the general public and often includes people who never had a clear diagnosis of acute Lyme disease.’
Ohanian is one of a number of prominent names who have publicly emerged about their health battles with Lyme disease.
Others include Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Yolanda Hadid and her daughter, model Bella Hadid, both of whom have been outspoken about their respective battles with the ailment.
Yolanda in 2021 said that she had suffered deep depression amid a pileup of symptoms for the better part of a decade.
‘I can’t begin to describe the darkness, the pain and the hell I lived through every day,’ Yolanda told British Vogue in February 2021. ‘This disease brought me to my knees.’
Bella last year said that she had undergone 100 days of treatment amid a battle with the condition that stretched nearly 15 years.
Musical artist Justin Bieber in January of 2020 said that doctors had diagnosed him with Lyme disease after being at the receiving end of nasty remarks about his appearance.
‘While a lot of people kept saying Justin Bieber looks like s***, on meth etc. they failed to realize I’ve been recently diagnosed with Lyme disease, not only that but had a serious case of chronic mono which affected my, skin, brain function, energy, and overall health,’ the Grammy-winning artist said on Instagram.
Actor Ben Stiller told The Hollywood Reporter in 2011 that he’d been diagnosed with the ailment in 2010.
‘I got it in Nantucket, Massachusetts, a couple of years ago,’ Stiller told the outlet. ‘My knee became inflamed and they couldn’t figure out what it was, then they found out it was Lyme. I’m symptom-free now, but Lyme doesn’t ever leave your system. It’s a really tough thing.’
Comic Amy Schumer said on Instagram in September of 2020 that she had caught Lyme disease, informing her followers of the medication she had been taking.
‘Anyone get LYME this summer? I got it and I’m on doxycycline,’ Schumer said. ‘I have maybe had it for years. Any advice? Can you have a glass of wine or 2 on it? I know to stay out of the sun. I’m also taking these herbs from cape cod called lyme-2. I also want to say that I feel good and am excited to get rid of it.’
Ohanian and Williams – who are parents to two daughters, Olympia, six, and Adira River, 11 months – were at the ESPYs in Los Angeles last week, with Williams doing hosting duties.
The tennis superstar made headlines after she took a jab at NFL kicker Harrison Butker during the ceremony.
She made the comments in the wake of a controversial graduation speech he gave May 11 at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, touching on sensitive topics ranging from abortion to Pride Month to women in the workforce..