?Scarlet Fever?- symptoms you first experienced after being bit

Hello Everyone!

So, here's the thing. I don't have any idea when in the world I got bit by a tick. I never saw a bite. They say that other than the rash you get flu-like symptoms. Well, flu-like symptoms I get all of the time, so I can pin point anything using that

However, several years ago I got very ill and they never did know what caused it.  I had a sore throat for about a week, but no big deal. I didn't have health insurance, so I let it go. Well, it turned into congestion (just head cold type symptoms). But, then one night I noticed that I had huge, red hives on my upper thigh. Well, I have never had hives in my whole life. I checked my fever and it was 103. So, I went to the ER. Need I say more. They told me to take benadryl, gave me an antibiotic and sent me home.

Well, that did nothing at all. I went back to my regular MD the following Monday.  She gave me an additional antibiotic and a shot of steroids. Then, I took oral steroids for like ten days or something along with the antibiotic she gave me. None of it helped. My fever was up to 104 at times. I was throwing up and so itchy and my head was killing me. I specifically remember telling my father that I was going to die. Then, after a couple of weeks I just gradually started feeling better. It took about a month for all of the symptoms to go away. I assumed it was scarlet fever because it started with the sore throat, but now I am wondering.

Can the tick bite do anything like what I mentioned above? Anyone have anything like that happen? Because if that is when it happened that was about 7 years ago. And, if I really think about when I started getting the all the time weird pains and crazy symptoms, there were mild ones shortly after that. Hmmm.

Any thoughts?

I'm not too familiar with scarlet fever but you can run high fever like that with the co-infection Babesia.

How did the rash look?

Here are some pictures of a scarlet fever rash:

http://organizedwisdom.com/helpbar/index.html?return=http://organizedwisdom.com/Scarlet_Fever_Rash_Pictures&url=
www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/dermatlas/scarletfever.html


And here is a detailed list of symptoms:

http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/E/9339/19686.html

UH oh!!!
I just went to the site you posted CG & from what I read, when you have LD & co's, how would one know if you were experiencing Scarlett Fever or not?

I have had several times in my life where (without being able to get the lab tests) - I could have been experiencing this.

Hey A&S
Have you been tested for RMSF?

I''m pretty sure I was tested through Labcorp, but as long as it's a reliable & knowledgable lab, it doesn't matter which one runs the tests. Even using THE best lab, the tests still have to read & interpeted properly.

There are a few things you could do while waiting for your doc appt. -
*The biggest (& to me the most important) is reading up on TBI's so that you can talk about tests & tx options you may have with your doc.
* You could also go over your eating habits, make sure you are eating as healthy as possible.
* and don't forget to drink plenty of pure water - this helps to flush toxins of all kinds.
*You may want to make sure there is no mold in your house/apartment. Mold exposure to an already ill person can make it much harder to overcome the illness.

I'm full of all kinds of ideas!! Some of them are even good ones!

I am sorry, Alone. I thought I had posted here, but now see that I didn't. It is possible that I did, but my post could have been so bad it got deleted -- I was passing out (sleep drugs) at my keyboard!

Scarlet Fever is a strep infection. It is possible you had this. If so, a strep test would have diagnosed this. Did the Dr not do a strep test?

Once, when my son was about 12, he came down w/ a severe sore throat. I was waiting a couple of days to see if it was viral and would go away. Meantime, he got the classic Scarlet Fever rash. We rushed him to the Dr who tested for strep. This was back when it took 24 hrs to get the result.

I asked the Dr to put him on abx immediately, as he had classic SF. The Dr wouldn't do it until he got the test results back! As my son got sicker and could not even suck on a popsicle, I called the Dr back and DEMANDED abx, because I KNEW HE HAD SF, which they finally called in. He experienced improvement within the next day.

But I was thinking the exact same thing as Traveler -- that this could have been Rocky Mt Spotted Fever, and you very well may have almost died! You probably should have been hospitalized! It is an extremely serious infection in the acute phase!

Anyway, I believe Erlichea (sp?) also causes the high fevers and sore throat. My dog's foster mother and her husband were both infected w/ this and had to be hospitalized during the acute phase.

At any rate, if you were infected w/ anything from a tick bite, it is very possible that you were infected w/ more than one disease.

As you see in my signature, I suffered repeated severe acute and chronic throat infections after my bite in 72. Had my tonsils taken out in 73 or 74, so then I guess it attacked other parts of me. It is also possible that whatever I had was held at bay by repeated abx for the tonsillitis.

I'm sorry, but too many of these mysteries will never be solved. I think that because you suffered and are still suffering from symptoms following this illness possibly point to Lyme. Lyme can prevent other TBIs from being fought and they (like RM) can then become chronic.

But SF is also a whopper -- I don't know about continuing symptoms following that infection. There are too many unknowns, but I have belief that many of your questions can and will be answered. Keep us posted.