Can anyone help me out with determining if these marks that have appeared on 2 different family members are bartonella rashes or stretch marks? Both of them have marks across their mid back and one has them on the back coming out from under the armpit. Thanks!
Posted by little_olive (Member # 28063) on :
Well, stretch marks tend to stick around while bart rashes flare up and go away, then reappear, etc...
Posted by Hoosiers51 (Member # 15759) on :
I would just go by what their other symptoms are, independent of the stretch marks. If someone has symptoms so bad that they need antibiotics, you usually "know," and you aren't looking for marks to prove it.
Also, if the stretch marks appeared at a time when they grew a lot, they are probably just stretch marks. My husband has some HUGE stretch marks on his back, but they are from when he grew like 5-6 inches in a few months, and he remembers them appearing then.
They look SO much like Bart marks, but I just remind myself of what made them show up!
Other Bart symptoms you would want to look for are just general, debilitating illness, or ....brain issues, rage issues, psychological issues (but probably not depression), etc. Psych issues can occur in the general population, so it can be hard to sort it out.
The goal of the antibiotics is to lower the level of infection anyways, so if the immune system is handling the illness, no sense in giving a healthy person antibiotics, is my two cents.
Posted by Hoosiers51 (Member # 15759) on :
Also, if they just recently appeared, you'd have to think if they've been in the woods, around cats, etc.
Sometimes Bart will cause a high fever at the onset of symptoms (babesia can too). Also, Bart multiplies quickly, so the marks would have probably shown up really soon after exposure.
I got Bart from a tick bite (likely, impossible to prove), and I had a fever of over 102 while the tick was still attached, and I felt like I was acutely ill with something, like the flu. So that gives you an idea of how soon the symptoms can show up, unlike Lyme or babesia which may have a delay of a few days to a few weeks before you see symptoms.
Anyways, that bite was when I was a child, and after that, I became an even more difficult child than I already was.....OCD, lots of crying and drama, lots of rage, for a child. Like I would totally destroy/trash my bedroom, in fits of rage, if I was sent there.
That's just an example of how it could manifest. I also had a period where it was in remission for years.
Posted by pepperspeck (Member # 18837) on :
Well, we definately have the tick exposure. The one I know has bart. The other person has had lyme in the past (probably not properly treated. Last November had a flu like illness. Since then has had reoccurring back pain, hip "clicking" and a worsening of OCD and concentration symptoms to the point that he begged me for help. Then, 2 months ago the marks appeared. He is growing, but there was no growth spurt. The marks (3 of them) on the mid back are not parallel...and I do not know why, but it made me say hey!?? could these be bart?
Thank you so much for sharing. It sounds like I will not sleep well until I get a llmd appointment to see what is up.
Posted by 17hens (Member # 23747) on :
My husband had a bart streak appear for a few days across his back a few weeks into bart treatment.
He had them vertically on either side of his spine and also a big one horizontally (a bit of an angle) across the middle of his back.
And my son, who has had bart streaks on his hips for 5 years (just like the pic when you google "bartonella rash") now has them under his arms too.
Posted by elizzza811 (Member # 24713) on :
Bart rashes don't necessarly come and go. I have a bart rash on my outer thigh which hasn't budged, even with antibiotics. I know it could not possibly be a stretch mark, too, because it first appeared when I was severely anorexic-looking.
Posted by pepperspeck (Member # 18837) on :
17 hens, my daughter's rash sounds similar to your husband's. It too showed up after treatment started. She got another one on her shoulder, but it now gone.
elizza811, that is what I thought when my daughter's first appeared. She is very thin and I do not think anything was stretching! (especially where the mark was)
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