I know, silly question…of course it’s foe, but it was a catchy title and I’m not sure I have the energy to come up with two catchy titles in one day.
For months after diagnosis I fought the Lyme disease with antibiotics. While I didn’t really see much improvement, my Lyme doctor felt it at least kept the Lyme at bay. I was fortunate to have a great doctor who was doing her best to treat me until I could be seen by a Lyme specialist.
When I did finally see the specialist, he diganosed me with two co-infections that are also passed through the bite of an infected tick. Babesia, which is a malaria like disease, and Bartonella, also known as Cat Scratch Fever. Once these co-infections were addressed and treated, I could begin my journey of healing from Lyme. One small catch, these co-infections can be pesky little buggers that are just as hard to get rid of as the Lyme disease itself.
While I feel my Lyme treatment has kept me on a steady track of improvement, the co-infections have flared up and caused problems here and there throughout the treatment. Right now I am being treated for another flare-up of the Bartonella. The problem with these co-infections is the symptoms can overlap with one another, making it hard to know which infection is causing what problems. That’s why a Lyme Literate Medical Doctor (LLMD) is so important, because they have the experience and knowledge to assess and diagnose you based on your symptoms. So let’s look and see what the official definition of Bartonellosis (the official term of the disease).
From Wikipedia: Bartonellosis is an infectious disease produced by bacteria of the genus Bartonella.[1] Bartonella species cause diseases such as Carrion´s disease, trench fever, and cat scratch disease, and other recognized diseases, such as bacillary angiomatosis, peliosis hepatis, chronic bacteremia, endocarditis, chronic lymphadenopathy, and neurological disorders.
Exactly, what the heck does that even mean?
Well from LymeInfo.net the following information is listed as symptoms of a Bartonella infection (taken from http://www.lymeinfo.net/bartonella.html)
There are a variety of symptoms associated with Bartonella, including, but not limited to, the following:
GENERAL: Fatigue, Restlessness, Combative behavior, Myalgias, Malaise, Liver and/or Spleen involvement, Abdominal pain, Infectious Mononucleosis-like Syndrome, Granulomatous Hepatitis
BRAIN: Encephalopathy may occur 1-6 weeks after the initial infection and is fairly common in patients with Bartonella. Note: Approximately 50 percent of patients who develop Encephalopathy can be affected by seizures (from focal to generalized, and from brief and self-limited to status epilepticus). Headaches, Cognitive Dysfunction, and CNS Lesions may be evident.
RASH AND LYMPHADENITIS: Erythematous papules (red splotches or slightly raised red spots) may develop. Such papules occasionally occur on the lower limbs but are more common on the upper limbs, the head, and neck. The papules may appear on the skin or mucous membranes. Bartonella may also cause subcutaneous nodules, with some bone involvement possible. The nodules may show some hyperpigmentation, be tender, fester, and/or be enlarged or swollen, but not always.
EYES: Conjunctivitis, Bartonella Neuroretinitis, Loss of Vision, Flame Shaped Hemorrhages, Branch Retinal Artery Occlusion with Vision Loss, Cotton Wool Exudates, Parinaud.s Oculoglandular Syndrome, and Papilledema.
BONES AND MUSCLES: Osteomyelitis, Myositis, Osteolytic Lesions (softening of bone), Myelitis, Radiculitis, Transverse Myelitis, Arthritis, Chronic Demyelinating Polyneuropathy.
HEART: Endocarditis, Cardiomegaly.
You’ll notice how closely related to Lyme disease many of these symptoms are. I point this out for those who know they have Lyme disease, but are not being treated by a fully Lyme Literate treating physician, that you need to take into consideration the possibility you have more than just a Lyme bacteria infection, but a host of other disease such as Babesia, Ehrlichia and Bartonella just to name a few. It is believed that ticks are loaded with much more bacteria now than they previously had, so they are no longer just giving us Lyme disease, but a long list of other bacterial infections.
The more knowledge you have as a patient, the more help you can be to your medical professional, so please take the time to learn about the co-infections if you have Lyme disease, you may very well need additional treatment because you have to beat more than just the Lyme bacteria.
Fore more information on co-infections contact ILADS (International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society) www.ilads.org or Dr. Burrascano’s Advanced Topics In Lyme Disease http://researchednutritionals.com/FactSheets/Burrascano’s%20Advanced%20Topics%20in%20Lyme%20Disease%20_12_17_08.pdf or google Lyme co-infections.