Brucella Anyone?

LEIGH68773 said...
Hello everyone! Just wandering if anyone out there that has Brucella has flare ups consisted of random numbness in different places of your body? Scares me! Thanks!
LEIGH

BRUCELLA/MYCO

RIFAMPIN/BACTRIM/DOXY

Sounds like those ol' Brucella bugs are fighting back, ha ha. I would say they are dying and trying to make one last stand. Go get 'um and keep after them! Don't get discouraged. If these flares don't subside after a while, then I would let your doc know. But I wouldn't get too concerned just yet. I think Bart treatment hits some turbulence part way in, so I wouldn't be surprised if Brucella treatment is similar.

In reference to your earlier post about ISIS, that wouldn't surprise me if they would try to use this. It is very easy to disperse, and is a very hardy bug. It can remain infectious for months. Since it can infect through inhalation, it makes it a very dangerous, debilitating germ.

Leigh have you had successful treatment of the brucella. I just recently got diagnosed with late stage lyme, erhlichiosis,anaplasmosis,brucella,EBV,mycoplasma thus far. He is,testing for one other Bartonella species that wasn't tested for by my other doctor. I have been sick constantly since Dec 2014 when I had a "full body" mycoplasma infection I was told by the 4th doctor I had seen when I couldn't get better. I am seeing an llmd and he said I have had lyme a long time and all the other things have been left untreated. Oh I forgot to add candida. I had went to another lyme doctor who was cold and impersonal - she just put me on doxy. I don't even think she looked at all my test results. My new llmd is amazing. He came in and shook my hand and sat right by me. He said I have brain inflammation as well. He has started me on minocycline, 2nd week we added rifampin. After a month we are adding tinadozole(not sure I spelled this right). Plus many supplements - of which I can't afford them all. Yesterday was a really bad day for me. I wonder if I will ever be able to do what I did before, I even wonder if I will be able to clean my house like I used to. I've always,been a go getter. These nasty little bacteria, etc are wearing my body down so much

Hello new members,

i just thought I give my health update to those asking. I was positive for myco/Brucella and diagnosis'd by an amazing caring ID in PGH, Pa. I had neurobrucellosis, Brucella menigitis, encephalitis, sacrilitis, endocarditis and nearly died. It was the darkest days of my life and just thinking about it all leaves chills on my spine. I was treated with 8 mos of doxy/rifampin/Bactrim. The herx type reaction was unreal and I thought it was going to kill me. Needless to say, it took well over a year for me to get back to myself. I am back to work and doing the things I love. I have some aftermath such as hip/sacral pain, occasional nausea, and some mild anxiety but that seems to even be getting better. It was like being trapped in hell like someone had made mention to. Keep your head up the best you can and know that there is happy endings out there. Best of luck to all of you.
Leigh

k07,

I can not remember my Bactrim dose. It was typical dosing though. I did not pulse the antibiotics. I had an Infection Disease Doc treating me and I don't think they do that kind of stuff. I know LLMD's do though. I did well on doxy too, but cheesh the added Rifampin (which wasn't too bad) and bacterium (made me so sick!) was rough. I actually think I am allergic to bactrim. I could only tolerate the bactrim for 3 months. I told my doc I just couldn't handle it anymore and she was ok with stopping it. She felt 3 months was a good amount of time given the neurobrucellosis. The bactrim made my heart race terribly, my stomach was so bloated and like you, I could not sleep well. After I stopped it, I felt much better. As I made mention, the first few months of being on these antibiotics was harsh. The herx type reaction was just crazy. I had no idea someone could be that sick!!! My heart did funky things too. I felt it was rubbing against my chest especially when I would lay on my side. Im sure it was all inflammatory in nature. Thats my nurse diagnosis. (r.n for 17 years)
My IGG was 25 and my IGM was 1.91 through quest. I did not use lab corp. I do believe the testing for brucella isn't 100% just like the testing for lyme. IGM turns positive after the first week or two of the infection. My ID doc didn't want me taking herbals after finishing antibiotics, but i did take Cats claw tincture, serrepeptase and raw apple cider vinegar for a few weeks. I have since stopped all except Apple Cider Vinegar.
I hope for a quick recovery!~ Im here if you need a friend!
Leigh :)

k07,
Ask away. I'm happy to help. I printed off my quest results and on the bottom it said false positives are from cross reaction with tularemia. Otherwise, I don't know why you would falsely be positive. Did you have symptons of Brucellosis? I have a list of my symptons that I would gladly share with you once I'm back home and see the list. It's long. I have no idea how I was exposed other than I love very rural with several farms around me. I don't eat unpasteurized anything. I'm a health nut and drink coconut milk and no cheese at all. I did however have a tick bite a few days before becoming deathly ill, so that's my best guess.
When I was so sick, I had wandered if I would be a success story and get my life back. I was a panic mess, I love life, I love to live it. Just keep truckin along. I would treat the brucellosis if your IGM was positive.
Leigh😊

Ko7

All of your symptoms sound very familiar. Urinary issues are classic for Brucellosis. Especially for men. Here is a list of what I went through. I seriously had a death wish and was turned away from so many doctors. :(

Air Hunger was my first symptom. Could just not grab my air.
Chest Pain
Palpatations
Rapid Heart rate
POTS syndrome
Uncontrollable shaking/tremors
Vomiting/diarrhea
severe nausea
loss of appetite
30 pound weight loss
Electrical like shooting pains across my chest and back
Arm and leg numbness/heaviness
Felt as if my chest was paralyzed
Gasp for air while i slept
fatique
insomnia
high fevers
sensitivity to sound
tinnitus
smelling wet hay often (characteristic of brucellosis. weird right?)
gastritis
could not concentrate
brain fog
vibrations/butterflys under my skin
poor short term memory
hallucinations of spiders and numbers
emotional distress, cried out of control (not like me. Im a very happy person)
sudden onset depression/suicidal ideation
cold night sweats
calf pain
flank pain
throat spasms
white spots on my arms
restless leg syndrome
lost vision in my right eye


So you sound a lot like me for certain! I live in Butler PA, about 40 mins north of PGH PA. How about you?

Leigh

Ok, after reading your list I have more on there! Like restless leg, white spots on skin and more. I do not have the hay smell though. I never had any body odor at all until after I got the summer flu which was what I assume was the tick bite. Now I know what BO is! I am out of breath but not gasping. And no major fevers.

So I will treat and hope that I have the right answers. I am so glad you are better!

Just joined because of this thread. My wife was bitten by a tick while we were on a trip in Tennessee on Labor Day weekend (we live in New York) and has been sick since Sept. 8th. It has taken many doctor visits with our PCP, an infectious disease specialist, a hematology/oncology specialist, and at one point a local ER to finally get a decent lead on what is going on with her. Only the ER doc took the tick bite seriously, paid attention to the fact it did not occur locally, and ordered tests for tick-borne infections common in Tennessee. The Febrile AB Panel she ordered to test for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever also covered Brucella and came back positive for the IgM antibody.

Armed with that result we (finally) were able to convince our ID guy (who we really need to replace) to do some more testing. We're waiting for results confirming the first result, looking for specific antibodies to B. abortus, and we finally managed to convince him to test for the right Ehrlichia (E. chaffeensis) for a Tennessee Lone Star tick bite! He looked at me like I had three heads when I suggested she might have gotten Brucella from the tick bite.

My wife had ten days of doxy immediately after we found the tick (it had been on her for 3-6 days) that seemed to help, but she relapsed (or became ill from a second infection) within 36 hours of going off that and was allowed to slide consistently dowhill for eighteen days while the ID guy dithered about. We finally went back to our PCP and insisted she prescribe more doxy and once again it helped. She's been on it again for a little over three weeks and we just had them call in a refill for another month's worth. 'Hoping' (odd to say that) for positive results on the latest tests so we can get the ID guy to prescribe the right additional antibiotic to properly treat for brucellosis.

Meanwhile we are scheduled for both a second opinion from another ID doctor and for an initial consult with a LLMD.

I'm not sure why I'm posting this except to say, "Yep. Us too." I guess the more we all share the better for everyone, so this is my part. Thanks for listening.

Pmchenry - is your wife negative for lyme? Usual treatment for brucella will include rifampin. So she may need to add that to kick it. I am having my brucella retested again this week. I was also IGG positive for RMSF. I live in NC.

Hi Pmchenry!
Welcome to our community! I'm so glad you found us - and I wish to thank you for helping your wife with the research and other things needed with these infections!

As you noted, ELISA testing is highly unreliable. I'm glad to know that you are having her take the Western Blot, which isn't much better, but at least you can see what bands she may test positive on and it may lead to clues if she has Lyme.

You said:"It was positively identified as a Lone Star tick (Amblyomma americana) and it is primarily the Ixodes genus (deer ticks) that vectors Lyme - or so we read at least."
This is misinformation. Lone Star ticks do carry the Lyme bacteria (Borrelia):
/www.lymedisease.org/lyme-south-lone-star/

/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC356874/

canlyme.com/2013/07/01/lyme-disease-isnt-just-borrelia-burgdorferi-and-lone-star-ticks-do-transmit-lyme-disease-study-proves/

But, the biggest factor is her symptoms. If she has symptoms of Lyme, or doesn't heal well from other infections, then she should be treated for Lyme, no matter what any test tells you. We simply don't have reliable enough testing to ever rule out Lyme.

And, I'm really glad you insisted on 3 weeks of Doxy, but do stay on the watch for any symptoms that might be related to these infections, particularly during/after stress.

Please do keep asking questions! We have a great number of "citizen scientists" (because we have been forced to become this) and we do love to share our information if it will help others!

And yes, when most people say Lyme, they mean "Lyme complex" or one of the many other names that encompasses most or all of the tick-borne infections. It can be quite confusing until one realizes that!

Update on my wife's case for anyone interested: we had our first visit with a LLMD on Thursday. What a relief to not have to feel like we needed to be the doctors in the room! We met with the doctor personally for two hours going over my wife's history and symptoms, previous blood work, and doing a physical exam.

The clinical assessment is Lyme with likely coinfections, and that my wife is somewhere in transition between acute and chronic phases. Doctor's advice: do extensive testing, but begin aggressive treatment immediately in hope of knocking out the infection(s) before it(they) become further entrenched. They took sixteen vials of blood and gave us a saliva test kit to take home (as I understand it this is a cortisol test evaluating her adrenal function). They also wrote us about six prescriptions.

Here is the list of new medications and supplements. I've noticed that many of you on here publish this stuff and compare notes:

Antibiotics:
- Continue doxycycline hyclate, 100mg twice daily.
- Rifampin, 150mg twice daily for the first week; 300mg twice daily twice daily after that.
- Tindamax, twice daily, 4 days on, 3 days off.
- Cefdinir, 300mg twice daily.

Antifungal:
- Nystatin, twice daily.

Probiotics:
- Orthobiotic, twice daily.
- Enterogenic, once daily, in the evening.
- saccromyces boulardi, twice daily.

Detoxifiers:
- NAC (n-acetyl cysteine?), 1200mg twice daily.
- Liposomal glutathione, one teaspoon twice daily.

Miscellaneous:
- Stevia, 4 drops twice daily (biofilm dissolver).
- Magnesium glycinate, as needed (for Herxheimer reaction).
- Alka-Seltzer Gold, as needed (for Herxheimer reaction).
- Epsom salt baths encouraged, twice weekly (also for ‘herxing’ I believe).

As I understood it, the various antibiotics are targeting B. burgdorferi in varying forms into which it differentiates as an infection progresses. Doxy is apparently effective against the spirochetes but less so when it ‘hides’ and assumes some different 'forms' (I need to do some more research here).

We were given a schedule for ramping all these new things in one or a few at a time. She starts her second new antibiotic today. From what I read, we should expect herxing and we should expect it fairly soon. One page I read on that topic went so far as to say that if the herx reaction doesn't appear that's cause to question the diagnosis or to suspect that the treatment is ineffective.

If I have a specific question, it would be about how to use the magnesium glycinate and Alka-Seltzer gold when the need appears. Should we just use as directed on the packaging? That's what I would assume, given the LLMD didn't give any other instructions (just said to have them on hand).