I have a chronic rocky mountain spotted fever infection. I have been on antibiotics for 14 months now and i have tested positive IGM and both IGG's fours times over the past year. In
fact the tests are showing the rmsf infection to be worse now than it was when i started treatment. I am currently taking 400mg doxycycline daily and 2 gram daily of clarimycyn. Could anyone give
me any ideal what is going on as it seems a chronic RMSF seems to be extremely rare, I also do have Lyme and multiple other cronic infections too. I have been all over the
internet and have only found a couple of other chronic rmsf infections and in each case the person has also had lyme disease to. So i'm assuming theres a connection there. If anyone
on here has had lyme and rmsf could you tell me if your rmsf became chronic or not or any treatment advice that may help. thx
Posted by Tincup (Member # 5829) on :
Hey SpotKing...
Sorry to know you have been sick for so long. And you are right... RMSF staying chronic that long is not something we hear much about.
I believe Hopkins had a report on chronic RMSF. Will check.. and if so.. will post.
I've had RMSF at least 2 times.. the first time it was not diagnosed for a good while. I was one sick puppy too!
I did note the blood tests between exposures did become negative.
Here is an abstract... and not much good as it doesn't have anything in it.
Leave it to Hopkins and the IDSA author who wrote it to not put the information out there.
Dumler JS, Walker DH.
Rocky Mountain spotted fever--changing ecology and persisting virulence. N Engl J Med. 2005 Aug 11;353(6):551-3. No abstract available. PMID: 16093463 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Will check out more later. Slipping into a big time sleep about now.
Hope you feel better soon!
Posted by SpottedRocky (Member # 11970) on :
Hi tincup
thx for responding wih the article reference you refered too. Yes if you have a copy of it please post as i googled the article and i can only access it if i pay for it with a credit card, which i don't have right now.
Posted by Dawnee (Member # 15089) on :
I have RMSF but not sure if it's considered "chronic"... I'm looking at my test and the notes my LLMD put on it... he has it circled next to IGM and wrote down "ACTIVE"... so I assume my RMSF is still active. I had not been bitten since 2003 that I know of. So maybe it is "chronic RMSF" Dawn
Posted by SpottedRocky (Member # 11970) on :
Hi Dawnee, How long were you on antibiotics before you tested positive for your active rmsf infection? Supposely only ten days of antibiotics are needed to get rid of it but when lyme is involved its probably a whole different story.
Posted by Dawnee (Member # 15089) on :
I didn't even know I had RMSF until a few months ago when I got tested for Lyme and everything else. So I had not been on any abx. I either got the RMSF in Arkansas when I was 10, or got it in TN in 2003 (at age 25). To be honest..I don't know much about RMSF...and I didn't get the rash.
This is starting my 3rd month of antibiotics...Zithromax.
Posted by lymeparfait (Member # 14268) on :
What are your symptoms of RMSF? Especially tell me if anything has changed since your treatment? My daughter was just diagnosed with it, but during previous tests was positive for Lyme and Ehrlichiosis. Her Ehrlichiosis is gone, but Now was just tested positive for RMSF, and we live in NJ. All of the symptoms seem the same for these things, except on line, pictures of RMSF has lots of spots on the body and face...she has none. But she has acne on her face, neck, back and chest. could this be related? She has no fevers now either. I am wondering if it is cronic and will it ever go away? Any thoughts?
Lyme Parfait
Posted by SpottedRocky (Member # 11970) on :
Hi yeah i have alot of acne in the same places. But i don't kknow if theres a connection with that and RMSF. RMSF is some serious stuff I hope
your daughter is ok. The acute infection of it can be deadly and do some major damage in a hurry. But i know in my case it didn't really
make me very sick when i first contracted it. In fact it took 4 and a half years before it started making me severly ill and caused some
temporary paralysis that would come and go. Once i started treatment 14 months ago my immune system crashed and still has not recovered. And i know have alot of other chronic infections to go with it. But
i'd say in the most part my symptons are pretty consistant with that of lyme. Although i do have some very weird symptons that i haven't seen
people with lyme have. The only rash i had was on my ankle but it never spread. Also i never ran a fever at all. Was your daughter on antibiotics when she tested positive if so how long?
Posted by lymeparfait (Member # 14268) on :
She has been on antibiotics for 8 months.
Specifically to get rid of Erlichiosis, and lyme. Has mycoplasma and manyother
virus/bacterias as well. OUr LLMD tested her for RMSF only because the Dr. is seeing many
undiagnosed cases of RMSF in New Jersey. With this recent test, she is positive for RMSF.
Since it's summer, she is not on Doxy, but on Biaxin as she is outdoors daily. OUr LLMD says
that Doxy is the best for RMSF. So I"m not sure if we're treating it correctly, or if possibly
it just shows up as positive because she is being treated in general...kind of like having lupus show positive without it being truely
lupus, but caused only by lyme. And maybe will go away when lyme is resolved as I do not know what symptoms to look for that are the deadly
ones for RMSF. She has had some mild fevers off and on for many years, and those are now under
cntrol after her original herxing type fevers from original abx.
This is so darn confusing! And try getting a teenager to take all these meds and supplements.
Her acne is out of control, but she is 16. IT doesn't seem like normal acne to me. Many hive
type breakouts, bright red, and pinples and skin colored small rash lie pemples mixed in. Her
skin feel like a reptile sometimes on her upper arms , back and neck. This all got bad when treatment began.
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