Ehrlichia and/or RMSF?

acs73, I am not well versed in the co-infections at all. I think I had Bart and Babs, but never tested for them. I searched this forum and found that the reliability of those tests was lacking so I saved the money and then spent it on treatment for Bart and Babs.

Sorry I am of so little help.

There is this book -- Natural Treatments for Lyme Coinfections (Anaplasma, Babesia and Ehrlichia) by Stephen Buhner which might be of help to you. I only read bits and pieces of it, sorry again.

I did 30 days of Doxy last year when I first got sick and continued to get worse, but this could have been from Lyme, Brucella, Babesia and/or Bartonella; all of which I have either tested positive for or had so many symptoms for that they diagnosed it. This is all so confusing. I have been on so many antibiotics over the last year and continue to get worse, especially neurologically. The fact that I am still testing IgM positive for RMSF is confusing all of my doctors.

I have Buhner's Books, I can manage to read a little at a time before I am totally lost, the sad thing is I am a scientist so normally I would be able to understand what he is talking about.

I'm sorry you're having such a rough time acs73! This can be rough. It will get better. So, hang in there.

Erlichia can present itself in a similar manner to RMSF. Sometimes, an Erlichia rash can look like RMSF. Since the testing is so poor, good LL doctors will treat based on clinical symptoms.

You have not said what antibiotics you are on. You probably already know that Doxy treats both RMSF and Erlichia. In tough cases of Erlichia, Rifampin can be added. Rifampin is also used for Bart and Brucella.

Rifampin can severely deplete the adrenals, which can result in nausea, malaise and exhaustion. While on Rifampin, I have had to drastically boost my magnesium and/or epsom salt baths. If I slack on this, I go downhill quickly (everyone is different).

Lots of detoxing is crucial. Insufficient detoxing and/or detoxing genetic issues, such as MTHFR (there are many), can be also be responsible for going downhill with treatment. Another reason a patient can go downhill with antibiotic treatment is mold / fungal / yeast issues. Of course, there are other reasons too.

There is some really good info here on Brucella if you search "Lyme Brucella" in the search box. Buhner has a good book on Erlichia. I think he is going to release a book on RMSF soon too (don't hold me to it, but I seem to recall something on this).

Hang in there.

k07, my main symptoms are extreme fatigue, headaches, weight loss, hand tremors, blurred vision, back and neck pain, joint pain, the list goes on and on.

Lymie Girl and Girlie, I am on Omnicef, Rifabutin and Minocycline, 3 days a week 2weeks on one week off, this is after 6 weeks of these 3 abx M-F. I actually felt a little better the first week off after the 6 week protocol, I took another week off and was pretty sick again that week. Now the days I am off abx I am worse than the days on and the week off I am just completely miserable.

I do have an MTHFR mutation and some other detox mutations. I can not tolerate epson salt baths and can only do luke warm mag citrate foot baths and light dry brushing. I work with an ND and nutritionist to use my diet to help me detox, I had to cut out a lot of detox supplements and cruciferous vegetables as they were only adding to my problems. The best way for me to detox is IV Glutithione, but I am not usually well enough to make the 1 1/2 hour drive to get them.

I see Dr J himself next week, the PA I was seeing at his office said my case is too complicated for her and I need to see Dr J to try to help me sort this all out. The big problem I have with seeing Dr J is my disability insurance does not find him to be a credible doctor because of his past problems in NC, and despite my positive test results they cant figure out that Brucella is bacterial not viral and that IgM is an active infection. They keep trying to tell me that my Brucella IgM pos is like if I had chicken pox as a kid, I will always show up IgM pos for it??? They completely ignore my pos RMSF and Lyme.

Did you have an agglutination test after the IGM test for brucella? I did and it was negative. So still not sure if I have it or its a cross reaction.