Is foot pain always bartonella?

Foot pain is caused by many things. Hmm, where do I even start on the subject? Quick answer ,no it’s not just a Bartonella.

One factor to keep in mind is how structurally healthy were your feet before tick illness?

I also had this for many years. But in addition to tick illness I also had a lot of minor foot stressors from sports in and like you I changed jobs so I wasn’t standing all the time and I make sure the job lets me wear the footwear of my choice, I have several different types of orthotics that I put in different shoes so always have more than one pair of shoes with me at work (or at least in my vehicle). Variety seems to improve this a lot.

Even lyme itself is known to cause tendon issues, it can make them tight, you can Google this there are some clinics that actually research this. I have experienced this myself.

there are two trends of thought on foot pain that isn’t an obvious structural injury; tendon trauma, and lack of circulation.

Plantar fasciitis is tendon trauma. This tendon goes up the back of your calf, like most of the tendons in your feet, except for your toes. They’re also tendons on the side of your calf to go down into your foot. When any of these are tight, they will shorten and pull on your foot creating discomfort.

Your toe tendons, more accessible on the top. Your foot can also be tight. However, you’ll feel the tension on the bottom of your foot when this happens.

My foot discomfort kept on improving for a long time past the many antibiotics that I took for tick infections. The foot discomfort that I do have, which is left ,is from an injury I had years ago that never healed properly.

As far as what to do about it when you don’t know the cause:, a lot of massage and stretching. But you don’t want to wear your hands out doing this, so let gravity help you. There are foot massage balls, the diameter of a golf ball, but a little softer -Looks like a dog toy almost but harder. You stand on these gently rolling around the bottom of your foot. I do calf massage using a short compact, 1 foot muscle massage roller on the floor over carpeting.

I have also had some physical therapy massage appointments for my lower legs and feet. This helped me identify the problem areas which I then worked on myself.

I would suggest you also look at YouTube for foot massage plantar fasciitis, relief, etc. don’t forget your calf muscles!

In a nutshell, even if your tick infection therapy did work to clear the cause , that does not necessarily mean your feet are automatically going to heal on their own. Lack of circulation and tendon issues becoming a physical problem, which may need the above suggestions to help rebuild and heal.

as above - its not always bart - but what you describe does sound very much like bart type stuff

it would still be worth excluding anything structural

unfortunately because bartonella test accuracy is so poor - having had a positive test in the past and then a negative one more recently isnt really able to tell you bart is gone
more that the tests are probably only around 20% sensitive - so its hit or miss whether they detect it each time

the best test for bartonella is galaxy diagnostics DDPCR with triple draw - but its expensive.
they are in the USA but do offer it internationally - i think your practitioner needs to order it - but i am not sure- best to look on their website. this is a very sophisticated test and has the best sensitivity so far

probably the next best is the multispecies bartonella western blot at Igenex - is still based on serology - but uses many more antigens so chances of detecting the organism go up

standard IgG/IgM antibody tests are probably only going to detect bartonella 20-30% of the time
the UK NHS has withdrawn their use for this reason - but is yet to replace them with anything....

i was hopeful for the elispot tests - but mine were negative for bartonella at armin - but bartonella was later found absolutely definitively in my blood via blood smear - see the microscopy link in my signature for images and further info

that is perhaps another option - the equipment costs only around £300 new ( i did it with a microscope i had rescued from a guy on ebay for £25 ) and can be re-sold after you are done - but it is a lot of work

the basic issue is chronic infections always interfere with proper immune function - and the serologic tests ( those looking for antibodies and probably white blood cell reactions like the ELIspot ) all rely on immune function

PCR sounds like the solution - but bartonella is not uniformly distributed in the blood - so is still negative in 50% of patients samples - even when we know they are infected - this is why galaxy uses culture first - then PCR to increase sensitivity - which also increases the cost

PCR of tissue from say an infected / swollen lymph node is much better - but almost no-one does it as its invasive

testing is complex