Medicine

Yolanda Hadid made her own poop ‘lab’ to treat her Lyme disease

Former model Yolanda Hadid drew cheers and skepticism when she went public with her fight against chronic neurological Lyme disease on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” in 2013.

The cameras tagged along as Yolanda, 53, experimented with treatments and struggled to make it to social events, telling castmates and viewers that her chronic disease left her too tired to get out of bed some days. But some accused her of inventing symptoms to gain sympathy, and a few of her fellow Housewives suggested that Yolanda — who is the mother of supermodels Bella and Gigi Hadid — may instead suffer from Munchausen syndrome, a mental disorder in which sufferers feign illness.

Yolanda was first diagnosed with Lyme in late 2012, after first being told that she suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome — a diagnosis she said just didn’t feel right. Finally, a doctor in Belgium told Yolanda that her mysterious condition was a case of chronic neurological Lyme disease (a diagnosis that’s controversial among American doctors), which meant that the Lyme bacteria had set up shop in her brain.

In her new memoir, “Believe Me” (St. Martin’s Press; out Tuesday), Yolanda reveals the real-life drama behind her on-screen struggle — and the dozens of experimental procedures she underwent to fight her disease, from international stem-cell transfusions to thrice-weekly colonics, along with alternative herbal treatments, including magic mushrooms in Bali and an Ayahuasca ceremony in California.

“I had a lot of balls to do what I did — driving across the border to Tijuana [, Mexico,] in the middle of the night, and doing crazy treatments,” Yolanda tells The Post. “It’s crazy, but it was do-or-die for me. When I was in it, I had no fear.”

Yolanda’s attempts at curing Lyme — detailed in her book and below — may seem excessive, but she says that she was desperate to find something to cure her aches, brain fog, vision loss and other symptoms of the disease. “You keep thinking, ‘One more week, two weeks, 90 days of antibiotics and I’ll be back in the game,’” she says.

The stakes were raised when, a few years into her own fight, two of her children — 20-year-old model Bella and 18-year-old Anwar — were diagnosed as well.

“People see Bella on the covers of magazines looking so beautiful, [but] they don’t know the heartache she has, and pain and joint ache and exhaustion that she faces seven days of the week,” Yolanda says.

Yolanda, a successful model herself, was previously married to real estate tycoon Mohamed Hadid and, during her Lyme disease fight, music big shot David Foster. Yolanda and Foster divorced in 2016, after he reportedly told her that her “sick card was up.”

Hadid brought her kids Gigi (from left), Anwar, and Bella to the Global Lyme Alliance benefit in 2015, where she revealed that Bella and Anwar also have the disease.Chance Yeh/WireImage

But nearly six years after her initial diagnosis, Yolanda says that the financial burden of Lyme was astounding. Based on details revealed in the book and current rates for some of the treatments, she must have spent upward of $150,000 trying to cure herself.

“I never kept a tally and I didn’t count it, but I can tell you that it’s a lot,” Yolanda says. “People spend their life savings on finding a cure, and there is no cure.”

She’s even learned how to give herself IVs — setting up a temporary treatment lab in her guest bedroom — to keep her costs down.

Yolanda’s health has steadily improved over the past year, but she hasn’t given up the fight.

“I’m still on a very strict holistic plan, which really supports my immune system, because even in remission, I don’t think I can ever take my foot off the pedal and live my life the way I used to,” she says.

Yolanda’s current plan includes twice-a-week vitamin IVs, a “toxin-free” diet and medications prescribed by Dietrich Klinghardt, a Woodinville, Wash.-based doctor who specializes in chronic illness.

“I pinch myself every morning because I feel so much gratitude for being alive, and being able to be back working,” she says.

Here is a breakdown of Yolanda’s wild health odyssey, which includes some medically questionable and unnecessary procedures.

Sponaugle clinic in Florida, about $30,000

Yolanda kicked off her treatment attempts in early 2013 with six weeks at Sponaugle, a Lyme-focused clinic in Florida. Experimental treatments included IV drips, colonics, coffee enemas, chiropractic adjustments and large numbers of supplements. She felt better, she says, but it wasn’t the cure she’d hoped for.

Hyperthermia: Hadid spent three weeks at a Switzerland clinic which, among other treatments, heated her body to 103 degrees.Yolanda Hadid

Paracelsus Clinic in Switzerland, about $30,000 to $45,000

Both Yolanda and then-husband David Foster flew to the Paracelsus Clinic in Lustmühle, Switzerland for treatments in September 2013 — three weeks of Lyme-focused procedures for her, and a week of general upkeep for him. She received IV infusions, ozone therapy thought to activate the immune system and a form of acupuncture called neural therapy. She also underwent hyperthermia, spending several hours in a chamber that heated her body to 103 degrees. The heat is supposed to kill viruses and bacteria, although the treatment has only been studied in cancer patients, not those who suffer from Lyme.

“The bottom line is that Paracelsus wasn’t a magic bullet for me, and I’m learning that even the best clinics in the world cannot cure chronic Lyme,” she writes. “There is little magic in the world of the chronically ill.”

TMS, roughly $14,400 for 36 sessions

Transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, has been shown to help patients with major depression who don’t respond to medication, although Yolanda says that she underwent the procedures at UCLA Medical Center to combat her neurological fog.

“After six weeks, my mood feels calmer and my brain function is a little more accessible,” she writes. “But once again, it doesn’t last and certainly is not a cure.”

While the FDA-approved treatment can be covered by insurance in certain cases, an out-of-pocket session usually costs around $400.

Stem-cell treatment in Tijuana, $30,000

In spring 2014, Yolanda made her first trip to Tijuana, Mexico, for an embryonic stem-cell treatment with William Rader. (The treatment isn’t legal in the US, and Rader’s medical license was revoked by California authorities for negligence, professional misconduct, and false or misleading advertising, according to the LA Times). She ends up having to walk back across the border in what she describes as “a scene straight out of ‘Dallas Buyers Club,’” and says the energy-lifting results only lasted a few weeks.

Ozone therapy in Tijuana: Hadid says that running her blood through a dialysis machine didn’t have lasting effects.Yolanda Hadid

Stem-cell harvesting and transplant in South Korea, cost unknown

Going off of a recommendation by fellow Lyme sufferer Ally Hilfiger, Yolanda made two trips to an unnamed doctor in Seoul, South Korea — the first in November 2014 to harvest stem cells, and the second in January 2015 to reinject those cells back into her body once they’ve had a chance to grow. The cells boosted her energy temporarily.

“I consider the trips to Korea a big waste of time and money,” she writes.

Antiparasitic and antimalaria drugs, $15,000

New York-based Lyme expert Richard Horowitz prescribed antiparasite and antimalaria medication to combat Yolanda’s disease in November 2014, which she took for three months.

“I’m appalled and infuriated . . . by how expensive these medications are,” she writes. “Just one bottle of Mepron medication is $2,000 and my daily Bicillin shots will be $3,000 per month, and none of it is covered by my health insurance! I want to scream from the rooftops how wrong this is.”

Personal health concierge, an estimated $75 to $300 per hour

In winter 2015, Yolanda began working with a patient advocate, LA-based April Daisy White.

A former writer, actress and call girl, White tells The Post that she acts as a “frontline detective” for Yolanda and others suffering with Lyme.

“When Yolanda first brought me on board, she would say that she needed someone’s brain,” White says. She organized Yolanda’s medical information, booked appointments, kept track of her medications and even traveled with her to Mexico, Seattle and more for appointments.

“I lived through many ups and downs with [Yolanda],” White says. “She’s a wonderful [fighter].” Yolanda worked with White every day in 2015, and now the two work together on an as-needed basis.

‘I had a lot of balls to do what I did — driving across the border to Tijuana, in the middle of the night, and doing crazy treatments.’

Colonics, $390 per week

Regular colonics at the Gentle Wellness Center in Santa Monica, Calif., helped Yolanda expel a 16-inch “monster” she suspects had been living in her body for 20 to 30 years. The discovery kicks off an obsession — Yolanda begins getting colonics three days per week in February 2015, although she says she no longer does the treatment. She even sets up an at-home parasite “lab” in her guest bathroom so she can dissect her own poop and send findings to get tested.

Ozone therapy in Tijuana, cost unavailable

Yolanda headed back down to Tijuana in spring 2015 for a round of Recirculatory Hemoperfusion, or RHP, with chiropractor Louie Yu. He runs blood through a dialysis machine, which filters it and adds ozone, before pumping it back into the other arm. Yolanda marvels at the way the blood is dark when it comes out and red when it goes back in after getting an ozone wash, taking this as a sign that the treatment is working. (In actuality, all blood turns red after oxygen exposure.) Still, the results only last a few days before she feels sicker than before.

Infusio treatment center in Frankfurt, $25,000 for two weeks

At the Infusio treatment center in Frankfurt, Germany, Yolanda spent 14 days undergoing a stem-cell treatment in which the cells are extracted, grown for 10 days and then injected back into the body. Ultimately, she says, the April 2015 procedure “didn’t work.”

Yolanda HadidDon Arnold/WireImage

Adipose stem-cell treatment in the Bahamas, cost unavailable

Going off of a tip from actress Kelly Preston, Yolanda headed to the Okyanos Cell Therapy center in the Bahamas in June 2015 for an adipose stem-cell treatment, in which cells are harvested from her fat and then injected back into her eyes and nerves. Like her stem-cell treatments before, benefits were short-lived.

Explant surgery, an estimated $10,000

Thanks to full-body scans in 2015, Yolanda discovered that a burst breast implant was leaking free-floating silicone throughout her body. So she had her two existing implants, plus the silicone that had moved through her body, removed in what’s called explant surgery. The procedure, with Cleveland-based, board-certified reconstructive surgeon Dr. Lu-Jean Feng, starts at $8,250, plus hospital fees, and increases based on existing complications — such as ruptures, as in Yolanda’s case. She credits the silicone removal with kick-starting her current remission.

Tvam surgery, cost unavailable

Transvascular autonomic modulation, called TVAM, is meant to increase blood flow in patients with nervous system conditions by widening veins with a small inflated balloon, although the FDA warned in a statement this spring that there’s no evidence the surgery is either safe or effective. The FDA cautions that the treatment can lead to burst veins, blood clots, brain damage and even death, and singled out Yolanda’s doctor, Dr. Michael Arata, as promoting its benefits without any proof. Arata’s office tells The Post that he no longer performs the surgery, which Yolanda underwent in July 2016.