If you get a tick bite and within a few days start to get sick... this is IMPORTANT.. so remember it please.
Go to a doctor and tell them you were bitten... save tick if you can and take it with you... and the first words out of your mouth should NOT be Lyme... but should be ....
ROCKY MOUNTAIN SPOTTED FEVER!!!
Forget the fight and arguments... don't even mention Lyme.
Jump up and down singing Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever!
Why?
1. RMSF usually hits faster and harder than Lyme symptoms.
2. They have an obligation to treat RMSF immediately if it is even suspected. If YOU suspect it is a possibility and tell them so..... and they ignore you... they are in BIG trouble.
3. The treatment for RMSF is doxycycline.... same for Lyme, Ehrlichiosis, Bartonella, etc.
4. If they test you for RMSF that soon... just like Lyme... the test would be negative. And they are not allowed to wait for test results to treat it.... as RMSF can kill.
5. The CDC, NIH and all governemnt agencies say to treat immediately if RMSF is even suspected. So does Yale, Hopkins, Hold-the-Mayo and all other places literature.
6. The US Department of Army in Aberdeen, Maryland just discovered a new strain of the same organism that causes RMSF. It is not able to be picked up on tests.
Soooooooooooo..
What are you going to say when going to the doctors office?
ROCKY MOUNTAIN SPOTTED FEVER!!!
Got it? Good!
Posted by laura j (Member # 14257) on :
Is RMSF everywhere? I almost hate to ask. I'll be more paranoid than ever!
Posted by daise (Member # 13622) on :
Tincup,
Could we do that, even out West?
As I understand it, the new strain of RMSF has been found out East--so far. How could we convince a doctor, if we live out West?
daise Posted by Tincup (Member # 5829) on :
If you have symptoms after a tick bite... yes.
Storms coming again... sorry!
Posted by Marz (Member # 3446) on :
Doesn't RMSF always have the spotted-all-over rash?
So wouldn't they just tell you that you can't have it?
I've thought I might have had it decades ago when I was 13 and after a family trip to the Rocky mountains. I was diagnosed with Rheumatic Fever and in hospital and home for 3 months.
Actually, my symptoms then seem similar to the way kids get lyme. Lyme wasn't even known back then.
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
-
I'm not quite in a research mode, so I'm stopping at this.
I googled "RMSF, rash" this is just one hit:
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
The rash of RMSF usually occurs between the third and forth day of fever, but may occur later. The rash often begins on the wrists and ankles, ...
When I was bitten in Tennessee in 2003 and got SOOO sick I was hallucinating, and couldn't lift my head off the pillow without severe pain, high fever... I think that was when I got RMSF!
I went to the doctor, was told I have "Scarlet Fever" and sent on home!
I never had any sort of strange rash except for around the tick bite on my hip.. and it was all dark pink, filled in..not bulls eye.
Posted by elle (Member # 7721) on :
I think the tendency is to associate RMSF with the Rocky Mountain region but it is a disease that is named after where it was first discovered or observed. Lyme, named for Lyme, CT is another example.
I see many more female lone star ticks in my yard (east coast) than I do deer tick. The gross thing with engourged lone star ticks is they become "paper like" and when you try to remove them they tear. Really hard to remove.
RMSF can be transported by a few different types of ticks.
Posted by shazdancer (Member # 1436) on :
dancer, thanks for the map showing where RMSF is and the numbers....
Posted by Spiderlily (Member # 15859) on :
No, Marz, you do not always get a rash.
My mom got RMSF in 1971 in Mass. and was dying from it when she was finally diagnosed by a doc visiting from Tennessee who'd seen it before.
Why didn't the Boston docs figure out what she had? Because she had no spots! She survived after being treated properly, but she never got any rash of any kind.
Even if you do get the rash, it tends to happen later, after the other symptoms.
Posted by pamoisondelune (Member # 11846) on :
I had Rocky Mtn Spotted Fever quite a few decades ago. It was endemic on CApe Cod, Massachusetts, at the time.
Posted by Robin123 (Member # 9197) on :
Tincup, you keep that up and we might have to become RMSF.net...
Posted by stella marie (Member # 7216) on :
Well TC and everyone here......
When lived in Maryland near the Eastern Shore I spotted a lone star tick crawling on a famliy member, it was not imbeded.
I got it tested and bingo, it came back positive for 'RMSF'! So it does exist east of the Rock Mts.
Now from what I can remember you can get ill just from touching the darn thing. So throw away any tweezers you may have used to pull it off.
Now if you save the tick to claim RMSF wouldn't it have to be lone star tick? They have a small white dot on it's back.
Take care everyone,
Posted by Melanie Reber (Member # 3707) on :
No, actually it does not need to be a Lone Star tick...please see the following:
...
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
Rocky Mountain spotted fever is caused by the bacterium Rickettsia rickettsii. Typically, it is contracted with the bite of infected ticks (Amblyomma americanum, Amblyomma cajennense, Amblyomma maculatum, Argasidae Ornithodoros parkeri, Argasidae Otobius megnini, Haemaphysalis leporispalustris, Ixodes pacificus, Ixodes Dermacentor andersoni, Ixodes Dermacentor occidentalis, Ixodes Dermacentor variabilis and Rhipicephalus sanguineus), but has also been acquired through blood transfusion and contamination of the skin with tick blood or feces.
The fatality rate is 20% or more in all patients.
...
An Outbreak of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever Associated with a Novel Tick Vector, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, in Arizona, 2004: Preliminary Report. Demma LJ, Eremeeva M, Nicholson WL, et al. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2006 Oct.:342-3.
Rocky mountain spotted fever caused by blood transfusion. Wells GM, Woodward TE, Fiset P, Hornick RB. JAMA. 1978 Jun 30;239(26):2763-5.
American Veterinary Medical Association "...human infection has occurred much less often following transdermal or inhalation exposure to tick fluids (hemolymph), tick feces, or crushed tick tissues." http://www.avma.org/reference/zoonosis/znrockymountain.asp
And BTW, just because a disease has not been reported by the CDC, does NOT mean it isn't there.
I would not take comfort in that map above for absolute accuracy. It seems impossible to me that a state that is highly endemic can reside right next to a state with ZERO reports.
Ticks do not stop at state borders.
As far as I know, RMSF has been reported in all states, even though you may read it has only been reported in all contiguous 48 states except Maine and Vermont... those facts are years old.
Posted by Melanie Reber (Member # 3707) on :
"As reported by the CDC, 60 to 75 percent of patients with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever receive an alternate diagnosis on their first visit for medical care.7"
7. CDC Diagnosis and management of tickborne rickettsial diseases: Rocky Mountain spotted fever, ehrlichiosis, and anaplasmosis MMWR 2006;55(No.RR-4) http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/rr/rr5504.pdf Posted by Peedie (Member # 15355) on :
search News + Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever + San Diego and you will see many articles on the outbreak of RMSF in San Diego County since 2001.
San Diego County is the southern most county in California, borders mine - Orange County.
I selected this article to share because it explains RMSF has been reported in 45 states.
Peedie
Posted by Tincup (Member # 5829) on :
I'm here between thunder storms...
Yes, RMSF can be found anywhere in a number of ticks... like Melanie pointed out.
No, you don't always get the rash. I've had RMSF two times several years apart. Neither time did I have a rash.
There may be strains other than the one they discovered in Aberdeen, MD... that don't register on tests.
There are so many diseases mice carry... I checked years ago and found 99 different diseases in mice after several days of research... so expect anything anywhere.
Posted by tdtid (Member # 10276) on :
GREAT information, Tincup! I know that avoiding the "L" word is best when seeing MOST doctors which is why I've called it Bartonella or Babesiosis and then they don't have their defenses up against me the same way.
So yes, this one is a GREAT tip. THANK YOU!
Cathy
Posted by daise (Member # 13622) on :
This has been a good learning thread for me.
Thanks everyone.
daise Posted by stella marie (Member # 7216) on :
Thanks Melanie and TC.........
I thought you could only get RMSF from a lone star tick!!!
Now I know better. Thanks for taking the time to reply.
Take care,
Posted by laura j (Member # 14257) on :
Tincup,
You said you had RMSF twice without a rash. How did they figure out what it was? What did you do for treatment? Is it possible to recover w/out treatment?
Posted by AliG (Member # 9734) on :
up
Posted by linky123 (Member # 19974) on :
My husband got a tick bite 3 years ago and after finding the dead tick on his back, began feeling dizzy and weak, that's all the symptoms he had.
He knew something was wrong and visited our PCP who suspected RMSF and began tx immediatley before lab results came back.
He took it very seriously and said people die of RMSF in Arkansas every year.
Sure enough, the results were positive and it may have been too late if we had waited for results.
My husband never had a chance to develop the rash. The rash can be one of the symptoms that show up later in the illness, when it is possible for a pt. to be too sick to recover.
It's nothing to fool around with and most docs around here know about it because it is fairly prevalent in Arkansas and Oklahoma.
As some posted above, I think you can get it anywhere now.
My daughter also was treated for it after having 3 ticks attached earlier this summer and began having aches, pains, nausea, and headaches. A lot like flu symptoms.
These type symptoms are sometimes the first to show up. So you have to be aware of the fact that you may not have the flu at all, but RMSF.
Our llmd prescribed one month of minocycline for her.
So be insistent as Tincup said. It can kill you fast.
Linky
Posted by Dekrator48 (Member # 18239) on :
I tested positive for RMSF when my LLMD did coinfection testing.
I have been ill for 22 years and I don't remember a spotted rash (or a tick bite for that matter).
Posted by WildCondor (Member # 434) on :
If you get a tick bite, get to a doctor right away, DONT WAIT DAYS, and get antibiotics right away. Save the tick, get it tested, and be alert for co-infections popping up.
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