Photos of my swollen fingers/hand

The edema in your hands could be from the lymph nodes under your armpits. I saw that you are changing doctors, but missed why. I hope you find healing soon!

CajunGrl, what is this swelling from?

nefferdun,

That is very interesting. I was clinically diagnosed with Bart but my test came back negative. I have all of the Bart symptoms though, including painful soles of feet, rage, depression, and a few others. I also noticed last year that my ankles would swell up real bad when I was on my feet too long but I thought that was just because I was overweight and running around the hospital for clinicles. I've pushed on it and it does not stay in.

Oh and yes, my fingers do hurt. They hurt before the swelling though. They get real stiff and painful. My hand does not hurt as far as I can tell.

Was there anything in Dr. Schaller's book that said what to do to get the swelling down?

On certain residents, who it was made sure there were no blood clots, and when the therapist gave us the program, we massage and push the fluid back up the arm and have them flex and extend the fingers, wrist, elbow, and shoulder. Also forward and backward circles of the wrist and shoulder. One set of 10 reps each. If the resident is not able to do the exercises, we do it as passive range of motion, just very gently and slowly. I am not a doctor or therapist, so nervous about telling you to do something without your doctor's okay.

There are over 30 strains of bart but the labs only test for 3 so it is very common to have a negative test and still have bart. Mine was also negative. You have all the symptoms of bart. Swollen lymph nodes is another one. Schaller's book is worthless unless you are in denial that you have bart as it describes the physical details pretty well. You can see the pictures more clearly by going to his web site where many of them are in color rather than blurry black and white. He does not tell you anything about "the cure or treatment". For that, you must fork out another $500 for a half hour consultation. The treatment most people have paid for, is to take 20-25 HH capsules a day. Zhang now makes HH-2 which is twice as strong so you only have to take 10-12 capsules a day. In his book Schaller says none of the abx drugs work - none!

There are so many people on this forum that have bartonella symptoms but tested negative and are not getting treatment. Yours are classic and a lot worse than what I exhibited. You will feel so much better to knock it down with something. It takes a long time for the swelling to go away completely but you should have reduced pain a lot sooner. My ankles are still slightly swollen but until I started the new capsules (I think I am herxing) the pain was gone. Some of the other symptoms I have that you may want to check for, are hard lumps along my shin bone and painful nodules here and there under my skin. Also look for, spider veins, pea size dark brown spots and tiny blood blisters as well as what appears to be purple or red stretch marks. Migraine or headache is common, shin or foot pain, hot flashes, feeling the urge to urinate or feeling you have an infection when you don't, muscle spasms or twitches, and eye sensitivity and dryness.

It really affects you emotionally, not just extreme irritation, anxiety and depression but the feeling of just not being connected to the world or yourself which expresses itself as lack of motivation, apathy to life in general - and the urge to just sit things out in a dark closet ( my analogy).

I have read lyme disease always lowers your body temperature but with bartonella your temperature will go up and down. It is usually higher in the morning. When I have a hot flash my temperature is higher than normal. There is a 2 degree difference for me. Looking for the skin changes (like the swelling and swollen lymph nodes) and then taking your temperature several times a day might help you determine it is bartonella and not just lyme - most people are co- infected.

CajunGrl, I have no idea if your swelling is a serious as this, but I did just a precursory search on lymphodema last nite because my father has this. He had it in his legs, and mostly ankles and feet for over 10 yrs before asking the Dr about it.

One piece stated it could begin as a result of an injury or illness. Although it is most likely your Bart, maybe you'd want to look at this.

I have minor swelling in my ankles and feet at the end of the day, but surely it is related to TBI. And do you know that while waiting tables for almost 20 yrs, my feet NEVER hurt. But now they hurt most of the time.

nefferdun,

Wow, that is me to the tee. I have most of those symptoms. I don't know about the lumps on my shin bone but I do feel something that is bumpy when I run my fingers up along it. It doesn't hurt or bother me though. I have these bumps under my skin that my ex internist said were fatty nodules. They hurt though. I had one that stuck out where you could actually see it. It is finally going down after about two years. It's still sensitive in that area though.

I have the purple/red stretch marks, foot pain, hot flashes, Migraines, feeling the urge to urinate! I've had bladder infections off and on for years and I get them every 2-3 months BUT, when I don't have an infection, I still feeling like I do and I've been running to the toilet almost going on myself recently. I have a pressure down there too after I urinate.


I also have muscle spasms and twitches, eye sensitivity and dryness(my doctor thought I had sjogrens). And of course, the swollen lymph nodes.

I am definitely very emotional, especially while on treatment. I have rage outbursts and depression. I was just telling someone yesterday that I have no motivation. I was supposed to book a hotel for our stay in Florida and I just have no energy/motivation to even deal with it right now. And YES about wanting to be in a dark place. That's me!

Wow, I didn't realize how much of a freak I was. It is kinda scary typing all of that out!

CajunGrl, if you were sitting in the LLMD's office that I saw, he would tell you there is no question that you have bartonella and he would be writing you out a prescription right now!! You can also have a 15 minute free consultation with Dr. Zhang (when you buy his book for $20) and he will confirm that you have bartonella. Things are only going to get worse if you don't do something. The HH-2 capsules are $38 for bottle of 45. You begin by taking 3 a day and then work up. If you were taking the full amount that Schaller recommends it would cost you $200 a month. Levaquin is $300 a month. Don't start with a high dose though. It will be too much. Before I knew I had bartonella I ordered some HH capsules and took 3 a day. I got insomnia and felt like I had a bladder infection which I thought was a side effect. Zhang tried to tell me it was a herx reaction but I wouldn't listen. I was taking the other herbs for lyme but after 5 months I started to really deteriorate so I quit everything and it was shortly after that that I went to see the LLMD who diagnosed me. I am so glad I found out that I have bartonella. When I bought Schaller's book and saw pictures of the skin abnormalities, there was no doubt at all.
Hope you are on the way to recovery -

Yikes! I'm going in for hand surgery on both hands for severe carpal tunnel. I had a raging lyme test 4 months ago and was put on 100 mg oral doxy twice a day, my test amonth later for lyme and other tick born (Western Blot) came back negative. My hands were excrutiating at night and useless during the day even after the doxy. My knees got worse when the doxy stopped. Mds said I was cured! I was crippled. I've been to 4 MDs, a neurologist, a rhumatologist that was supposed to be Lyme Literate and now a hand surgeon. It just so happens I got an upper respiratory infection. I don't recommend this but I took SulfaTrimethoprim 800 mg 2X per day for the upper resp. I can now run and jump and am gaining strength and sensation that I haven't had in 5 months!!! OK Docs out there, why is this happening and so sudden after only 4 days of therapy!!!

notwell,

It was a little bit more painful but it was already stiff and painful before it got swollen.

Good luck with your hand surgery. I hope your hand feels better after surgery.

I have all these symptoms and the doctors and tests came back negative...

I have questioned the pee sized brown spots on my legs and arms but
no one seems to tell me what they are...

Maybe this is a symptom on Bart that they say I dont have. Hmmm.

Learn something new everyday on this site...

Thanks Everyone!