It all started with a tick bite: EVZ-Bengtsson: Illness almost ended his career

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When Lukas Bengtsson looks back on the most difficult years of his career and talks about them, he gets goosebumps himself. Sometimes he struggled with his fate. At the same time, he is proud that he fought through adversity that made him stronger.

Due to his illness, it is not a given that the new EVZ defender can now pursue his passion without restrictions. This makes him grateful and humble. But from the beginning:

In 2016, the Swede turned to the NHL. The Pittsburgh Penguins signed him. “It was my dream,” he says today without sadness. Because he ended up in the AHL with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins instead.

A few months earlier, he was bitten by a tick while playing golf at home and developed Lyme disease and was treated with antibiotics. But certain symptoms, such as signs of exhaustion, persisted. When Bengtsson wanted to recommend himself to the Penguins camp with good test results, it happened on the exercise bike: “After just one minute my legs couldn’t handle it anymore.”

He was given antibiotics again. When he was still single, he lay alone in the hotel room, doomed to do nothing because he had no energy. “I tried to slowly return to the ice.” But after a few games, shortly before Christmas, the symptoms returned. “In the first third I felt dizzy and somehow not quite there.” A warning sign. His new agent advised him to seek a second medical opinion.

“There were some low points”

In a renowned specialized clinic in Rochester (Minnesota), it turned out that the defender did not suffer from Lyme disease, but – probably from the beginning and for several years – from postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS). This is a rare autoimmune disease that disrupts blood circulation. The blood pools in the legs.

Symptoms include dizziness and palpitations, which patients experience when they sit up. “It was scary. But I learned a lot about it in this clinic.” That’s why the 29-year-old is grateful that this happened to him in the US and that he was able to benefit from the medical support of the NHL organization.

Nevertheless: “They were the two most difficult years of my life. There were some low points. I didn’t have a normal life for eight months.” He spent most of his time in bed and could barely perform daily tasks such as showering. In these times, the national player did not think about hockey: “I didn’t want my career back first of all, but just my normal life.”

Joie de vivre and hockey are back

But Bengtsson is a fighter and has overcome several injuries and illnesses in the early years of his career. The specialists suspected that shingles suffered as a teenager and that glandular fever had caused POTS.

He learned to get it under control, including with adapted off-ice training and a new fitness coach. He pays attention to nutrition and rest. He wears compression stockings and tights for competitions and training. “The disease has made me stronger and more focused.”

Bengtsson has rediscovered the joy of hockey – and of life. In October 2022 he became father to his son Vince and in the spring he celebrated the SHL title with Växjö. And now he’s ready for big things with the EVZ.

Source : Blick