Positive test for Ehrlichia Chaffeensis exposure

Are you taking the doxy with food? that might help? I think they say to avoid dairy while taking doxy as well...

ID doc will likely not be much help when it comes to lyme disease. The ideal would be seeing a knowledgable lyme literate md for evaluation.

Unfortunately I don't know much about ehrlichia, hopefully other members will chime in.

Impossible to know exactly when you may have first contracted the infection(s), but it sounds like a reasonable chance you contracted ehrlichia with that recent tick bite.

Thanks for your replies, it is hard to reply here because I can’t see the replies I’m replying to unfortunately. I have not started the doxycycline yet, I’m going pick it up tomorrow. I’m finishing the Z pack, today was the last day. I usually will take it with some cream or something but I guess I can’t do that since dairy affects it so maybe some almond milk and some food that has fat to coat my stomach and prevent it from irritating me as much I hope.

The woman who told me it was positive today said to take it with probiotics which I do take every day. On the bright side I read the CDC website and it says you only have to take it for 5 to 7 days for ehrlichia. so I think I can get through that probably, I don’t think I would make it through 21 days.

I will try to find a Lyme specialist. I did see one a few years ago for vertigo she was a neurologist who had done some research for Lyme disease, apparently she was famous, but she was pretty crazy and I never went back LOL. She basically told me I did not need to come back before she even knew the results of the MRI. Which was crazy. I ended up diagnosing my brain MRI by myself just by looking at it cause she never called me back to tell me the results. And my vertigo has improved a lot although it has not gone away.

Until I can find another lyme specialist I will just go to the infectious disease specialist to see what he thinks about the Erlichia. I agree with you that I probably did get it from the recent tick bite. I just read that the IgG antibody level can develop in only three weeks so I could be past the first disease phase says many people don’t have severe symptoms and I have already developed antibodies. Either that or I was bitten at another time and didn’t know about it and I’m still producing antibodies. For whatever reason.

But I am in the northeast so I don’t think it is very common here which is kind of odd. I have only made one trip recently to the west which is about 10 years ago maybe, to Utah and Las Vegas, and I also traveled to North Carolina around the same time. It is not encouraging that they assured me taking one 200 mg dose of doxycycline was going to stop me from getting any of the tickborne diseases LOL- except for one which I can’t remember which one it was now. Clearly if I got it from this tick bite taking 200 mg of doxycycline was not enough.

As far as I know the tick was only on me for at most 12 hours so it can also be transmitted in a shorter time than 24 hours. They also assured me that it needed 72 hours for any tb disease to be transmitted, again not true. I started to feel ill after the Doxy three days later with a severe sore throat and I called to ask if it could be Lyme disease, the doctor I spoke with said no but he could continue the doxycycline if I wanted to. I did not want to take 21 days of Doxy if I didn’t have to. But now it looks like I should’ve taken it for a few days more at least.

I’m just wondering if I really did have Lyme disease all those years ago and if treating it now is going to make any difference at this point. I was reading about Lyme syndromes you can develop with inflammation in the joints and arthritis. I have a lot of that on and off and chronic pain and I’m having swelling in my elbow now - it could be from injuries and fybromyalgia because I’ve had three car accidents and from repetitive motions. I was tested for lyme two years ago by a rheumatologist, and just again now and it was negative both times though. I have a lot of other conditions that could be causing this and I could have RA which my grandfather had.

Thank you for letting me know that any of these diseases can become chronic, that is scary and very disheartening. I certainly hope that I am taking the doxycycline in time to stop this one from becoming chronic because I already have some serious chronic illnesses and I don’t need another one.

Post Edited (meowee) : 11/16/2018 11:42:53 PM (GMT-7)

Thanks Girlie,

I know about Lyme being named after Lyme, Conneticut etc. I was referring to the Erlichia Chaffeensis which seems to be mostly in the southeast from what I read and mostly from lone star ticks. I don't think the tick in me was a lone star, no spot etc. I wish I had saved it for testing.

So is there a way for me to be tested for Lyme now if indeed I did contract it years ago? Can they test for spirochetes? Because all my recent tests have been negative. I have been tested 3 times in the past 7 years I think. If I only take doxy for 7 days and I have Lyme or Lyme syndrome as well as Erlichia will it be long enough to get rid of it all? I also wonder if there is another antibiotic I can take if I can’t tolerate the doxy?

I live in Pennsylvania, i tested positive for IGG ehrlichia chaffeensis...its all over

ironically the test came up negative twice initially when i was really sick (flare) last year, then 8 months later it was tested for again, and came back IGG positive.

that one is claimed to be "easy" to resolve, since it responds to same meds as lyme and bartonella (doxy/mino, rifampin/rifabutin)

Thanks Everyone,

Yes, I guess the ticks and deer can move around or be transported. I’m on LI, NY. The lab is Imugen, the test was done at Citi MD. Maybe the ids can do further lyme tests. The rx was for 100mg 2 x a day for 14 days. Is that enough for Lyme as well? I can ask for more assuming I can tolerate it. I think Doxy is the best so I will try. Plus I have been on z pack for a week.

I took the first dose after my meal with lots of water. No way I’m taking it on an empty stomach. But no dairy. I will take the probiotic pills 2 hours after and I plan to eat some coconut yogurt everyday as well. So far I feel ok, a bit dopey maybe, but I’m still sick. I have had the worst headache which never seems to end, I hope the doxy doesn’t make it worse, antibiotics often give me a headache. If my symptoms have been from Lyme and or Ehrlichia I hope this will give me relief.

Don, did you have a pos test when diagnosed initially, Or did they just treat it? That is odd it was neg for you but you do have it. I guess we can never be sure about this. Are you feeling better now? Did you have bad headaches? I have migraines and other types of headaches so it is hard to tell what is causing it. And I have a sinus and double ear inf as well which is causing pain.

Post Edited (meowee) : 11/17/2018 10:01:35 PM (GMT-7)

sierraDon said...
no, my positive IGG for ehrlichia came many months after my initially diagnosis, i had been treating for atleast 6 months.

a lot of these tests can have cross reactivity too, so who knows whats a true valid result.

a lot of my symptoms have resolved - i think i am close to remission, if not there. i am trying to identify the last a few symptoms i have, i think they are candida and/or thyroid related, or just residual damage from the infections or months of treatment. i dont have headaches anymore, i did have them earlier on tho, they resolved. prior to treatment i always got a lot of sinus infections. since starting treatment in january, i haven't had flu like symtpms or any sinus infections.

Long Island is a hot bed for tick born disease. the hot bed goes from the cape, through surround areas like RI, CT, and Long Island, southern NY/Catskills, northern NJ, and then PA

That is great you are in a remission and or cured and you feel better.

Yes true there are tons of ticks here unfortunately. In the past 3-4 years we also have some deer living here now although it is not as rural as many areas on LI. I just wonder how long I have had this and if I have lyme too. The first person I know of to have lyme was years ago, one of my managers when I was working as a student- she was very ill in hospitsl and out for 6 weeks. I dont know if she ended up with chronic disease. I think she was ok after that.

So you are saying you could have lyme and not EC? Why did they treat you if you had no pos tes initially? Was it based on your symptoms alone? Did you have an embedded tick? Was it an acute event? I read at the website below that EC is not a chronic disease though but an acute one and does not cause Lyme like syndromes. I can’t seem to find anything about it being chronic. I also read it is often a mild event and many people don’t know they had it.

https://www.aldf.com/227-2/

I also have hashimotos and type1 D which is the worst thing I deal with. they can cause similar symptoms as well as fybro, IBS and Raynaud's. I think some of my sinus issues may be due to allergies which turn into infections, I am going to see an allergist again and do the blood work this time. Last time I was there for itchy rashes which no one can completely figure out. He mentioned a new treatment with injections but I was not at that point to need do that and I read it was quite dangerous so that would not be an option for me.

I’m hoping this course of doxy will at least clear up my ear, sinuses and lungs. The sinus inf has been chronic for months with terrible nasal drip which may be related to the reflux too. The ent claimed there was no inf which is laughable since I had constant green discharge and they told me to do nasal wash which gave me severe headaches and I think pushed it into my ears. I stopped it after a few times. I just sent them pics of a weeks worth but no response yet. I also had some vocal chord inflammation and a deviated septum. I was having bad laryngitis on and off with the sore throats when the reflux became severe.

Post Edited (meowee) : 11/18/2018 2:02:14 PM (GMT-7)

sierraDon said...
I was terribly sick when i was first diagnosed. my initial testing i was positive for lyme, bartonella, babesia and high EBV titers. so, when i was first diagnosed with all that, thats when i started treatment. i was misdiagnosed for close to 2 years.

then after my initial diagnosis, about 6 months after, i did further testing for brucella, anaplasma, ehrlichia, to see if anything had changed. ehrlichia came back positive. so, lyme, bartonella, babesia, ehrlichia, EBV.

i am fortunate i was able to progress, or so it seems relatively smoothly, but i am still not calling it remission yet. i want to get closure on my potential thryoid issues and candida to see if the last of my symptoms resolve. i will be sure to post an update on this forum, if i feel i am at there, and outline what i did to get there. so for now, i am hopeful that i am very close.

a lot of your symptoms seem like typical lyme and coinfection, have you been thoroughly screened by LLMD and tested by appropriate labs? lyme and co can attribute to thyroid issues, and mask as Fibro, IBS, Raynauds, etc.

Ok that is awful, so sorry you were so ill. At least you are much better now.

No I have never been screened by a llmd. I went to a neurologist that treats lyme apparently when I was having an episode of relatively bad vertigo 3-4 years ago, but she was crazy. I guess I will have to find someone else. I am dealing with a lot of other health issues which are serious so it is going to have to wait. I am so sick of going to doctors etc. but I will go to the ids, citi md is going to make an appointment with one for me.

I have hashimotos which is an autoimmune hypothyroid and I have antibodies for that, it was a struggle to get my endo to treat it, but now I’m on liothyronine as well as levo which has helped my blood glucose management a lot. But it is still all very difficult. This runs in my family, my father has hashimotos and his father had graves and ra. I am the only one with type 1 or any diabetes as far as I know.

I have hyperparathyroidism as well and low vit D. I had to go off of vit D completely after hign dose vit D seemed to trigger the terrible reflux and sore throats I have been having. I will be getting my next blood work soon where my endo is testing multiple things including adrenal function. I just wonder if the doxy is going to affect the blood work. In two weeks I have to go to a cardiologist again due to more palpitations and some rapid heart rates 4 weeks ago. Maybe the ids will do the lyme testing, I will try to find one near me. I only go to local docs now because it is too hard even to get to manhattan with my bg now.

I remember having 2-3more acute episodes years ago where I had fevers and rashes where I was not tested for anything except maybe a basic blood panel. I wonder what it was now. A NP at my then doc told me one rash was an allergic reaction to sulfa antibiotics so I never take that anymore now.

I hope you continue to improve and look forward to your update😊

Post Edited (meowee) : 11/18/2018 3:15:46 PM (GMT-7)