I have lyme and am contending with what feels like sand trapped underneath my scalp. I constantly grimace to get whatever it is to drain. It will drain in any direction down face, back of head, etc. Have any of you ever contended with this? What did you use to eliminate it. I have only seen this symptom mentioned once in connection with lyme disease. I am submitting the reference in hope that it aids in identifying this symptom.

Author Tan back in the swim


Rocky Mountain News
Amy Tan's last book, 2003's nonfiction collection The Opposite of Fate, closed with an essay about her struggle with Lyme disease. Tan described increasingly alarming symptoms, including joint pain, difficulty with organization, and visual hallucinations, and she left her fans with a cliff hanger: When she wrote that essay, it wasn't clear if she'd ever be able to write another novel.

With the publication of her new novel, Saving Fish from Drowning (her first since 2001's The Bonesetter's Daughter), Tan's admirers can breathe easy.

In a phone interview from her San Francisco home, Tan said that during the worst days of her illness, "It's like pieces of my brain were sand, just rolling out, and I felt I was trying to gather the sand before it completely leaked out."

She worried that she'd never be able to complete another book, but added, "What's kind of strange, however, is that you feel apathetic. I would be anxious about my not being able to think that well and work, but on the other hand, I didn't have the energy to fight it that much."