posted
Since his fevers started back in March hubby has been walking in the local mall rather than his regular walking route. He has a PICC line in and that is always a conversation starter.
Last Sunday an elderly man asked him if he had cancer or if he was getting IV antibiotics? Hubby told him that he was being treated for Lyme disease and babesia and bartonella.
The man told him an interesting story about his grandson who is now around age 20. When the boy was 10 years old he had rocky mountain spotted fever. The docs recognized it quickly and treated it pretty aggressively and the kid seemed to recover and have a pretty normal life until he went off to college.
The boy got a sports scholarship to college in swimming. During his freshman year he was fine until the 3rd swim meet of the season. After the swim meet he felt funny and so the coach sent someone with him to the locker room. He thought he would be ok to shower off before going home. He stepped out of the shower and collapsed. The other person could tell he had a high fever. The EMS took him to the ER and he was admitted to the hospital. Not really sure why they even ordered the test, but he tested positive for rocky mountain spotted fever.
Since it was the middle of the winter and the kid had not been sick until the day he collapsed the docs were totally confused as to how or when he contracted rocky mountain spotted fever. Someone decided to do a full body MRI. They found a fairly large cyst on his shoulder. The radiologist couldn�t say how long the cyst had been there but felt that it was not new and could have been there for quite a while. When the cyst was drained they tested and found rocky mountain spotted fever infection in the cyst.
The boy had to sit out for a year from swimming but has resumed his collegiate swimming career. He once again seems to be fully recovered from the rocky mountain spotted fever. The best guess is that the more aggressive training in college somehow allowed the encysted infection to get out into his bloodstream.
Hubby did not get the mans name or the boys name and we are not even sure if he is from Virginia or maybe North Carolina.
But I felt that this was such an unusual presentation of chronic or relapsing rocky mountain spotted fever I felt we needed to share it.
Bea Seibert
Posts: 7306 | From Martinsville,VA,USA | Registered: Oct 2004
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When I was first sick with sudden onset of arthritic symptoms and malaise, developed a cyst on my back. Had the cyst drained, and was put on antibiotics for e-coli (cultured from the cyst). Arthritic symptoms improved with antibiotics.
Later, the plastic surgeon removed the cyst and had it cultured. It was positive for gram negative bacteria and e-coli.
I always thought this was related to whatever infectious process was occurring in my body. It felt like this bacteria was trying to find a way to get out. I also experienced multiple urinary tract infections during this time too, even when on antibiotics.
Posts: 964 | From san diego | Registered: Oct 2009
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map1131
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 2022
posted
Very interesting reading you two. It just goes to show us....just because they treated us for RMSF or someother bacteria that is in their opinion quite easily killed by the almighty abx from BIG Pharma....
don't buy the goods they try to sell us on how "easy" to cure and impossible this all is.
I've given you enough abx to kill a horse, they might say. Wrong!!!!!!!!!!
Pam
-------------------- "Never, never, never, never, never give up" Winston Churchill Posts: 6478 | From Louisville, Ky | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
And hubby just got proof that RMSF can persist -- he had never been tested for it in the 10 years since he got sick with tickborne illnesses. Since the fevers started in March and he did have a mild rash during one of the 4 recent hospitalizations we requested the test.
He has a 1:64 positive IgG antibody test for RMSF. He took doxy for a couple of months in the past and minocycline for over a year and high dose rifampin for 9 months I think. I think it was the 6 days of vancomycin in the hospital that brought out the infection. It was probaby hiding in the RBC and the die off from the aggressive babesia treatment also brought it out.
Bea Seibert
Posts: 7306 | From Martinsville,VA,USA | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
Pretty interesting. Wish that case had been written up by the doctor and published in a medical journal.
Posts: 8430 | From Not available | Registered: Oct 2000
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