Hi Guys, I haven't been on in a while, so discouraged these days.
Anyway, I've been getting a fever and very weak feelings almost everyday for the past 2 weeks.
I have never had a fever with Lyme and Co. I'm always low body temp 96.7
or so since Lyme screwed that up almost 5 years ago. What could be causing this fever,
it only lasts about 2-3 hours a day usually around 9-12 in the AM.
I was on Minocycline & Zithromax and my doc said to stop taking the Mino
for now, does that make sense? This crap is getting worse, my poor toes are
all red from neuropathy now....I am so done battling with insurance companies
....Thanks for any answers....Rich
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Been treated for babesia??
Posted by FYRECRACKER (Member # 28568) on :
I was just going to ask about Babesia. You sound like me and I'm treating that co-infection now.
What is your temp?
I run fevers on a regular basis almost daily, but not all day. It's a sign you are fighting infection. What kind is a little difficult to pinpoint, eh?
I've been treating slowly with A-Bab, my fevers have been getting lower back down into 97's again (my normal used to be 96.8 ish).
Still, low grade temps and weakness/fatigue have definitely accompanied my A-bab treatment.
Not sure about abx, my doc doesn't want me on them just yet because i got severely ill last month and we will probably never know why. Perfect storm I guess.
I take my temp daily. It spikes after hot showers/saunas/warm foods, etc. It goes away for a while but it comes and goes randomly. Sometimes I don't even realize i have a fever.
Recording your temp can be helpful to find a pattern and track progress.
Posted by merrygirl (Member # 12041) on :
I have had fevers up to 101 every day for about three years
Posted by Beagle (Member # 29698) on :
Low grade fever constant for last 8 + months. Only NSAIDs bring it down. Do most with Lyme NOT have fever?
Posted by randibear (Member # 11290) on :
hmmm, don't want to alarm you, but i just saw a show called "mystery diagnosis" where this woman ran fevers of 102-105 almost every day. they gave her abx and it would go down.
but she kept getting sicker. she finally went to a specialist and she was diagnosed with endocarditis and she was septic.
course you've probably had all kinds of tests but do some research and see what you find.
lyme has lowered my temp to as low as 95-96, i'm never ever over 99.
so please check it out to be safe. and yes i believe most people go low temp rather than high.
Posted by CherylSue (Member # 13077) on :
Sounds like you have an infection. Your doc should run some blood tests to find out what infection is triggering it and then prescribe the correct abx. Fever goes down with the right treatment.
You probably need to rotate abx, too. They lose their effect after a time.
Posted by Fordace (Member # 14874) on :
Thank you for all the comments. I am scheduling an ECHO next week....
I have had some chest pain and shortness of breath, but I've had it off and on for years
since LYME)....this disease sucks...
Posted by momintexas (Member # 23391) on :
Not to alarm you but Lupus can also cause fevers.
Mino has also been known to cause drug induced Lupus.
From medicinet "People with SLE can develop different combinations of symptoms and organ involvement. Common complaints and symptoms include fatigue, low-grade fever, loss of appetite, muscle aches, arthritis, ulcers of the mouth and nose, facial rash ("butterfly rash"), unusual sensitivity to sunlight (photosensitivity), inflammation of the lining that surrounds the lungs (pleuritis) and the heart (pericarditis), and poor circulation to the fingers and toes with cold exposure (Raynaud's phenomenon). Complications of organ involvement can lead to further symptoms that depend on the organ affected and severity of the disease."
Posted by merrygirl (Member # 12041) on :
Yes i heard of drug fevers. I know they ruled it out for me. They think its babs, but no pos test.
Posted by seibertneurolyme (Member # 6416) on :
Just curious as to whether any of you have elevated WBC along with the fevers?
Hubby had not run a fever except for maybe a couple of times in the entire 10 years he has been sick with tickborne illnesses -- until he tried IV flagyl. Since then (mid March of this year) fevers have been an ongoing problem.
Hubby has been in the ER and hospitalized 4 times in the last nine weeks with high fevers -- the highest was the first one (105.8 rectal) and the last one was only 102.69 I think -- but that was after 2 doses of 1000 mg of tylenol.
During the bad fevers he also has chills and usually vomits or has dry heaves and may become confused as well.
2 of the 4 times hubby had posiitve blood cultures for serratia marcescens bacteria. Has had his PICC line replaced 2 times. Has done two 10 day cycles of the antibiotics which tested to work against the serratia.
Anyway -- the bottomline is that for him he seems to have two factors contributing to the fevers. When he has a major babesia die-off (RBC, hemoglobin, hematocrit and platelets all drop and usually RDW goes up) he runs a high fever. WBC is elevated only about 1/2 the time.
The microbiologist at Clongen is convinced that the serratia or whatever other bacteria is causing the fevers is sequestered in his RBC's along with the babesia and the aggressive babesia treatment is bringing out the other bacteria. In theory that makes some sense.
We finally got a clean bloodslide from Clongen in December, 2010 before we started the aggressive babesia treatment. At that time there were no bacteria seen in the bloodstream -- the bartonella or BLO or myocplasma or whatever mystery pathogen we had been fighting was finally gone after about 3 years of continual treatment. Had shown up in multiple bloodslides from both F lab and Clongen.
Hubby and I feel like getting rid of the bartonalla or BLO made his immune system more active and allowed him to run fevers that he had not done in the past.
After taking 1000 mg of tylenol 1 or 2 times daily for a couple of weeks and still ending up in the hospital for the 4th time we decided something had to change. Hubby didn't take the tylenol until his temp got to 99.5 or 100.0
Anyway the new strategy seems to be working for now. Hubby did go back on Cipro for the serratia, but within a week the low grade fevers started coming back so I added in some herbs specific for that infection -- seems to be working for now as his WBC has not gone back up.
Plus I decided to try Buhners approach for babs and added in boneset. Hubby was already taking redroot -- has been on that for a couple of years. Actually it was increasing the malarone from 3 pills to 4 pills daily that started the fevers back this time. And then starting on artemesinin also seemed to make them worse.
Here is a very good article that explains more about fevers than any of the medical sites I could find. Hubby was already on prickly ash and yarrow and feverfew and they were not working for the fevers. But the BONESET HAS WORKED.
The brand I got is Natures Answer from Vita Cost. 15 drops of the tincture 4 times per day for 3 days and then I decreased it to 10 drops 4 times per day the last 2 days. It will definitely increase sweating, but that is a sign that it is working.
Hubby only took 1 dose of tylenol on the 2nd day when his temp got to 101 but other than that day it has been staying below 99.5 and frequently even in the 97 - 98 range for almost the entire day.
If you have an elevated WBC then I would be looking for a bacterial infection as the possible cause of a fever, but if the WBC is normal then I think it is highly likely that babesia or another tickborne infection is the cause.
Although we use lots of herbs, we honestly were not expecting the boneset to work so dramatically and so well. A very pleasant surprise.
Hubby will finish up round 6 of quinine and clindamycin next week. Plan is to continue on the malarone and artemisinin and switch the quinine to larium. Will probably do one more month on clindamycin as well.
As long as the serratia stays out of the picture we seem to be making progress. In our stash of meds we still have 7 or so IV flagyl bags. When we get around to using them that will be the real test on his progress against both the babesia and serratia.
If you are running fevers and have not tried boneset then I would definitely give it a try. Add the drops of the tincture to hot water and let it cool some before drinking it. Hubby takes it with meals and combines it with all his other supplements and herbs. So it works for him without having to do anything special as far as dosing.
Bea Seibert
P.S. Boneset is also called eupatorium perfoliatum.
Posted by Fordace (Member # 14874) on :
Since I stopped the Mino, the fevers have stopped....great posts here....Thank you