A musician with Lyme disease hopes Justin Timberlake’s diagnosis will boost awareness of the condition.

Ten years ago, Luke Pickett, then 26, was bitten by a tick while at a friend’s wedding in Canada and was left with a circular rash.

At that time, his single Somebody Else was being played on BBC Radio 1Xtra, he was meeting with labels in America and was preparing for a UK tour.

Once he returned home to Hertfordshire he experienced a range of severe symptoms including a flu-like illness, heart palpitations, constant muscle spasms, and rapidly deteriorating eyesight.

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection spread by infected ticks and according to the NHS it is easier to treat when diagnosed quickly.

Symptoms can include fatigue, joint pain and a circular shaped rash.

After an initial run of antibiotics, UK-based doctors, with limited knowledge of the disease, struggled with how to treat him.

“It was scary,” he recalled.

“Especially as at that point in time, I didn’t really know anything about it and everything you read is obviously not exactly positive so that kind of sends you spiralling as well.

“It was definitely tough, especially those first six months where I was deteriorating, and also feeling like I’m not getting the treatment that I need.”

The symptom he struggled with most was the fatigue, making it difficult to build on the momentum he had gathered and negotiations with the American label fizzled out.

After six months, the singer took it upon himself to find a specialist in Winchester who prescribed medications that stopped his symptoms worsening.

“She told me if I had left it I would have eventually lost my eyesight,” said Mr Pickett.

A year after meeting the specialist, Mr Pickett’s condition had drastically improved.

He has continued to work in the music industry, mainly for other people as a songwriter.

Last year he attracted a new fan base when a band he was part of in his youth, Her Words Kill, went viral on social media.

He had planned to launch a fundraiser to start making his own music again, to build on that surge in popularity, when he contracted Lyme disease again.

“I was in Tring (Hertfordshire) walking my dogs. I got home and noticed this bite looked kind of suspicious and then it slowly developed into this bullseye rash again.”

This time he managed to quickly get the medication to clear it, leaving him only with occasional muscle spasms today.

In July, pop star Timberlake revealed he had been living with the condition, and suffering from nerve pain and fatigue.

“It’s pretty amazing that he managed to get through that, but I was in a very different scenario because I was just on my own in my van doing it much more DIY,” said Mr Pickett.

“Spending the whole time on your own trying to go from venue to venue – it’s exhausting.

“That took a huge amount out of me and I spent a long time just recuperating from that.”

But he was hopeful celebrities like Timberlake being open about their own experiences would help increase awareness and help others.

Mr Picket said: “There’s a lot more people in the mainstream who are talking about it now. So that’s good.

“I still think there’s a bit of a way to go just from my previous experience.

“You can’t expect GPs to know everything but I did need to explain a lot of things to mine.”