Do I have Lyme Disease/ Bartonella?

Over the past few months I've been experiencing some strange symptoms and I've had a really hard time trying to figure out what's causing it. It all started with a petechial rash that I noticed, a day after I had flu like symptoms that only lasted a day. This rash was all over my feet and ankles and was getting worse by the day. There were literally hundreds of red dots and various hives scattered around. I went to the doctors (live in the UK) and they sent me to the Hospital for emergency blood tests/work. After hours of waiting for the results, they came back normal (I know they tested for Leukaemia and Meningitis, didn't tell me the others), and they sent me home with some medication for cat scratches, because I mentioned I'd been scratched a few days earlier on the shoulder. After a few days the rash turned a rusty colour and faded away. 

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I was mainly fine for two months, although I did experience an upset stomach and a couple of enlarged nodes under my armpit (which might be related, although they went down after a few days). At the end of April the rash came back, mildly and with it were a few spider veins on my heels and spider angioma (just the bodies), when you put pressure on the dots, they refill from the centre rather than the outside. A couple days later I noticed a brown ring on my groin, flat and wasn't itchy (definitely not ringworm or a fungus).

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I then noticed that my scars were getting brighter and more noticeable and that I was finding a lot of moles and freckles appearing. I found red/purple stretch marks all over my waist and buttocks, the more I think about it, the more uncomfortable it becomes to sit down.

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I've been sweating on and off recently, and on one particular day there were bruises appearing out of the blue e.g. on my knees and there were petechiae appearing over the course of 5 minutes. I remember seeing one dot appear on my hand and blotting it out with my fingernail, lol. I started taking Cetirizine Hydrochloride which is an antihistamine and it seemed to control the petechiae. I've been sweating on and off and feeling a little too hot lately but that could just be hormones, I'm only 17. I was feeling quite strange in May. My birthday was at the end of may and I went to stay with my Aunt in London. Got on the train, 30 minutes in and the nausea kicked in, I always felt sick but never actually was and going on the tube was an absolute nightmare, every time the train stopped you feel slightly sicker until it reaches a pinnacle and I had to get off twice, everyone on it could tell I wasn't feeling well, lol. That nausea lasted the whole time, I even had to miss my birthday meal :(, standing outside the restaurant in the middle of London, refusing to take the tube was like a nightmare come true. I do think that anxiety had a bit to play in that aswell, and I couldn't of been suffering motion sickness, as in February I went and I was feeling fine. I lost a lot of my appetite and I had to go to the toilet a lot with diarrhea, and I swear at one point that my stool was green. That nausea lasted for a few weeks more, the stretch marks got worse and everything I was wearing was making indents in my skin (and still is).

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I am finding weird marks and lines, like horizontal red and white marks on my chest or raised vertical streaks on my abdomen that appear and disappear out of the blue. The other week I had a headache that lasted a whole week and the pain was kind of at the front and at the top. I was feeling dizzy and had difficulty concentrating on things, e.g. watching the tv. I felt as though my thinking was all foggy and that I was having short term memory loss, e.g. forgetting names. + A feeling as though my head weighs a few bricks.

In terms of sleep, I keep waking up in the middle of the night or sleeping in till 9, normally before all this I used to wake up at 6 and decide whether I want to lie in, but now I sleep all the way through and never feel refreshed in the morning, instead I feel as though I'm getting up at 6am. Sometimes my eyes hurt and on one morning they were red.

For over a month now, I've been getting twitches all over including eye twitches, some days there's less than others, but on average it's about 10 every 5 minutes, which is a lot. I also get paraesthesia every now and then and also the sensation of burning or a sting once in a while. Not to mention the sudden onset of tremors and shaking and continuous need to itch.

I've noticed that my skin is a lot more sensitive now and even the slightest itch or pressure makes my skin go bright red, was wondering about histamine response, although it still does it on antihistamines. I even wrote on my chest, but it's not raised like Dermatographism. My nails are also changing colour at the edge, in a curved way and it's freaking me out. I've already been to the doctors 4 times this month.

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My mum thinks it's anxiety, I don't agree. I don't feel anxious or have much to stress over (it's the summer holidays)! I started taking colloidal silver on the night and the next day my twitching had rapidly decreased, most of my gastro problems are gone, although I kind of feel as though I'm suppressing the symptoms rather than getting rid of them. However the physical symptoms on my skin are still there and the twitching hasn't really gotten better.

I thought that I had cushing's and that it had caused a candida infection, but now I'm not convinced (I'm having a cortisol blood test in 2 weeks). Just the other day I found Lyme's and Bartonella and was hoping that it was that, just so I could put a name to my problems.

My FBC/CBC is normal, Glucose normal, Thyoid etc normal, Coeliac negative, U&E normal, LFT normal, H.Pylori negative (surprised the lab didn't do other tests considering the stool was orange).

I was wanting to go to the doctors again, there's no Lyme specialists in my area and just ask for 300mg of rifampin and doxycycline just to see if it works, I mean there's no harm in doing it, is there? The colloidal silver is an anti-fungal/ anti-bacterial, so surely if that helps then antibiotics would be the solution. (I was planning on seeing a dermatologist, but even though a referral through the doctor is free, it can take 1-2 months for an appointment, unless if you're urgently referred 1-2 weeks).

 If anyone reads this, just a suggestion would be nice. I've tried Dermatalk, but even with 500 views, no one responded, guessing that they don't know what it is.

(Also wondering if anyone's experienced speech problems e.g. making mistakes or numbness in fingers, pulsating stomach sensation (not AAA)?)

Post Edited (CaspianS) : 7/10/2015 2:37:33 PM (GMT-6)

Don't worry about not getting responses - you will on this site for sure!

No, you're not a hypochondriac. You have something wrong - and your symptoms are troubling.

We know how you feel - believe me - many, many of us here have had symptoms for several months - to many years before finding out it's lyme disease. By that time, our symptom lists are so long - we feel like we're going crazy!!!

Hi CaspianS

Some of the images aren't clean (you need to zoom out to take a photo of not just the rash but the area around the rash to provide context for comparison. However, some of the photos are very clear and the "stretch mark" like lesions and the petechiae look to me very much like Bartonella skin marks. Combined with your symptoms and sequence of events, I would follow Girlie's suggestions for testing. My LLMD tested me with Fry Labs test for Bartonella.

Also, I would also post in search of an LLMD near you. We do have UK posters here, not many, but someone may be able to lead you in the right direction. While you're waiting to get in to see someone, I would study as much as you can about lyme & co. Please read the "New to Lyme?" thread at the top of the page. Takes awhile but the more educated you are, the better chance you'll have to navigate this crazy path toward the right diagnosis, treatment and support.

Let us know how things go!

-p

$206 is about right.

Several people here have noticed that they don't get the common illnesses after they contracted lyme. I haven't had a cold or flu in over 15 yrs, despite being very ill. We've had a couple of interesting discussions about what is happening with the immune system after contracting lyme… I have a couple of theories:

Typical cold and flu sx are actually the immune system kicking in as it attacks whatever bug it finds, the sx are a mechanism of the immune system killing and/or eradicating the infection. For instance, inflammation is a natural function of the immune system trying to "eject" a microbe or foreign being. And coughing, sneezing and other phlegmy type sx are designed to get rid of stuff. Very unscientific terms, but I have a headache today. ;)

So one might argue that you don't really know if you're getting colds or flus, because you're not experiencing the normal sx. And the reason for that is your immune system is under functioning. But it must be functioning in some way, think how sick we all really are, and if our immune systems weren't functioning, we'd be dead. So likely there is some in-between level of immune function.

My other theory is that the lyme & co infections are so consuming and dominant that they create a very inhospitable environment for other pathogens, microbes, infections…

-p

Caspian - I'm thinking you should start a new thread and in the title identify that you are from the UK...that way the members we have from the UK will know you are looking for help....