posted
Hi Tincup: Longtime since I have been on but I have a question and knew just who could help.
I have a friend whose mother in-law was just diagnosed with Ehrlichliosis but no mention of Lyme Disease was made. This puzzled me because I thought they went hand in hand. She is rather ill and in the hospital.
Any thoughts on this would be helpful.
Lynne Posts: 215 | From PA | Registered: Feb 2003
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Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
Wow.. it IS you!!! Good to see you old friend!!! Hope you are doing all right.
Sorry to hear about the mother-in-law in the duck motel! So sorry!!!
My thought on this would be...
If someone is in the hospital with Ehrichiolos.. it must be pretty bad. I don't know if there are other complications.. like maybe she doesn't have a spleen... is older.... or is diabetic.. or what ever... but..
Basically if she is being treated for Ehrlichiosis.. and there may be liver/kidney things going on too because of the infection (?)... she is .. and YOU KNOW I hate to say this..
Probably in the best place she can be at this time.
The prefered treatment for Ehrlichiosis.. if she isn't allergic.. would be doxy. Chances are they didn't know at first what it was she had.. so it is possible they MAY have given her other antibiotics first before they were able to diagnose her? Or nothing.. cause they were thinking it a virus?
I am sorry I am trying to guess the details related to this situation and cover any and all possibilities that I am unaware of... but suffice it to say..
If she is being given doxy for Ehrlichiosis.. chances are if she has Lyme.. and you CAN get Ehrlichiosis without having Lyme ... that she is probably covered for Lyme treatment for NOW... IF she has it... by being treated for the Ehrlichiosis... since the early treatment is the same.
Ehrlichiosis usually hits much harder and faster than Lyme would normally. Higher fever usually... and weird blood work.
I doubt a Lyme test would come back positive unless they did it before they treated with antibiotics and did it at least 3-4 weeks after she was infected.... and if they are treating her with antibiotics now.. they BETTER be as it can be fatal... chances are a Lyme test won't become positive anyway for a while.
Usually if you have Ehrlichiosis or Rocky Mountain Spotted fever... they treat.. or should treat for at least 3 days after the fever breaks. And that is a MINIMUM!!!
But yes.. you can have Ehrlichiosis without Lyme. Treating Erick is the thing that MUST be done for now.. as it can quickly become a dangerous situation and life-threatening.
Please send my best to the family and I HOPE the mother in law is feeling better soon.
If I can answer anything specific.. do let me know.
So nice to see you!!!!
But you BETTER stop by more often. It has been TOO long!!! You are missed.. for sure!
posted
Does ehrlichia need to be treated long term like Lyme does? Or can you knock it out pretty quickly?
I had a fever of maybe 101.6 maybe back in 1998 - sweats, shaking chills. Coincidentally, I had a house full of pets and worked for a vet at the time.
I was just reading up, too - in dogs anyway, enlarged lymph nodes are a sign of ehrlichia - and pale gums.
My gums looked BLUE last year around this time. Enlarged lymphs in my groin were one of my hallmark complaints. They went down some for awhile, but they are on their way up again.
Also, I became severely anemic following my hysterectomy - they said I did not lose a lot of blood, so they were confused.
I also read in a Lyme brochure that ehrlichia flares May, June, and July.
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posted
this reminded me of an article i had cut out of our local newspaper a couple months ago.A little girl and i think she was about 7 or 8 had gotten very ill and died after 10 days of intensive care from ehrlichiosis.This was in northeast Missouri.The article said that the state health dept had 16 reported cases of ehrlichiosis so far this year but of course it's quite possible that there are far more.I was just glad to see it being acknowledged that tick borne disease does exsist in this area after repeatedly being told it does not.it's sad though that it takes extremes to open peoples eyes.
-------------------- AND NOW THESE THREE REMAIN: FAITH,HOPE,AND LOVE. BUT THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE. Posts: 35 | From Springfield, Mo. | Registered: Feb 2005
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Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
You take care of you and yours! Just stop in when you can and know we are thinking about you!
Ehrlichiosis can become chronic if not treated properly from what I understand... like RMSF.
posted
Many are treated for Erlichiosis and still have Lyme. Erlichiosis can persist just like Lyme, especially in someone who had Lyme, even asymptomatic Lyme, before they got Erlichiosis. How many die of "unspecified fever" that have Erlichiosis?
Posts: 422 | From Luck home | Registered: Sep 2005
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