Avril Lavigne tells People magazine about severe case of Lyme disease

TORONTO – Canadian pop star Avril Lavigne says she’s recovering from a months-long battle with Lyme disease.

The Napanee, Ont.-raised singer-songwriter tells People magazine she was diagnosed with a severe case of the disease last fall.

In an exclusive cover story on the magazine’s website, the 30-year-old says she was bedridden for five months.

She says she could barely eat, had trouble breathing and moving, and thought she was “dying.”

Lavigne says she thinks she came down with the disease when she was bit by a tick last spring.

She’s been recuperating at her home in Ontario with the help of her mom and her husband, Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger.

Lavigne says she’s now feeling “80 per cent better” and plans to release the new single “Fly” this month in support of the 2015 Special Olympics.

“There were definitely times I couldn’t shower for a full week because I could barely stand,” Lavigne told People. “It felt like having all your life sucked out of you.”

The tick-borne disease has symptoms including fever, headache and fatigue.