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About Bart rash and treatment...

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Posted 6/22/2017 4:45 PM (GMT 0)
I can't believe I'm posting again...

Recap: I got bitten end of last month, symptoms of Lyme including EM rash started around a week after. Started Doxy since last week...

And tonight when I routinely check in the mirror for my fading EM rash, I saw bellow my belly button going to the direction of one side a few (around 6) red scratch like marks. Quite light in color, and very short like 2.5cm.

Dutifully I searched online, and I saw google full of similar photos that seem to be a rash if you have Bartonella.

A habitual denier I am, I still am hoping maybe I scratched myself and maybe tomorrow morning when I wake up they're more like I scratched myself... or they go away? But just in case I still took a photo...

The problem is the doctor I saw that is literate with Lyme will be out of town for few days after tomorrow, so should I call him tomorrow if they're still there? Or there is nothing he can do about it at the moment?

On the other hand, no matter I call to tell him tomorrow or until end of month when I'm due to see him, what shall I expect for treatment-wise? I feel like I have to be very educated and well prepared every time I go to see a doctor, it's almost like an exam or an inspection - to cross-check what he would say to me and treatment protocols.


I'm so fed up. It was just a darn vacation!!! There were 9 of us there in the woods for 5 days!!! Why did the tick decided to bite the foreigner!!! cry cry cry
Posted 6/22/2017 5:00 PM (GMT 0)
Hopefully you scratched yourself. It sounds like it could be bart scratches.

Can you upload the photo to a an off-forum site and then post a link here to we can see it?

(If you want to)


Tinypic or photobucket will work.

Treatment wise - he will most likely be prescribing some Rifampin.

I do know a couple of people who treated their bart with a tetracycline combined with a macrolide. That usually doesn't 'do it'.

Both people I am referring to had their symptoms for several months only (less than a year) when they started treatment...

tetracyclines: minocycline, doxycycline

macrolides: biaxin, azithromycin

AND - you don't know if any of the other 9 people also got a tick bite... You might want to contact them and let them know what your experience has been...so they can be on the 'look out'.
Posted 6/22/2017 5:05 PM (GMT 0)
Even if the scratch marks do fade, they can still be from Bartonella. I only get the "bart marks" (those scratch looking rashes) when I'm in treatment for Bartonella.

I agree with Girlie in that it may be a good idea to check with the others that were with you as they may have been infected and don't know what to do about it either.
Posted 6/22/2017 5:23 PM (GMT 0)
A photo of them : http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg580/Alison888/DSC_0842_zpsyq3lexfk.jpg

Girlie, do you mean the rifampin additional to my current doxy, or after doxy is finished?

And does that mean if he tries to add one of the macrolides to my doxy, it might not work as well?

You two are right, I didn't even think about that! I should have done that!
And now that I'm recalling, I was sitting with 2 friends on the grass (me on a chair and them on the grass), 1 of then actually told the other not to lay down as she just picked up a tick on her shirt.
That place is probably real tick-infested!
Posted 6/22/2017 5:28 PM (GMT 0)
Well, those could certainly be bart scratches...but they can also be fingernail scratches.


Yes, the Rifampin would be added to doxy (although Rifampin can reduce the effects of doxy) .

Rifampin goes with azithromycin and biaxin (two macrolides) as well.

I would see how you feel a little while longer on the doxy...and also discuss with your lyme Dr.
Posted 6/22/2017 5:32 PM (GMT 0)
I didn't answer your question:

A macrolide - biaxin or azithromycin can be added to doxy at anytime. It works very well for lyme - it just doesn't always work for bartonella. But, the two people I knew who were on that protocol for bart - had symptoms for less than a year...
So I am thinking that macrolide plus tetracycline may be effective for bartonella only in infections that are not very 'old' - as in less than a year.
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