In 2018, over 33,000 people had confirmed cases of Lyme disease in the U.S.. This tick-borne illness is one of the conditions that is actually quite difficult to diagnose. Most patients are able to treat the symptoms with an antibiotic. However, according to the Lyme & Tick Borne Diseases Research Center at Columbia University Irvine Medical Center, around 5-20% of patients with Lyme disease will go on to have chronic symptoms. Those odds become higher, the longer an infection goes undiagnosed.

Bustle spoke with New York based comedian Tori Piskin, who has been living with chronic lyme since her senior year in college, to understand why getting a diagnosis for lyme is anything but a direct line.