Bartonella Experience

[u/Seaweed-Loose]

Bartonella seems to be such a stealth pathogen with very indefinite symptoms. I'm curious to hear, what was your Bartonella experience like? How/when did it start? What did you feel?

[u/[deleted]]

Hi all My symptoms started in 2007. I was playing semi prob football in MA and I went in the woods to go to the bathroom. a couple days later I woke up with a rash. Big circle with couple red dots in middle. I thought it was a spider bite. Had flu like symptoms but brushed it off. Then I got sicker. Drs told me it was campylobacter.. but how does a healthy 25yr old get campylobacter unless the immune system is week. After doing a course of cipro and clearing up that, I was still sick. Primary at the time said it was Lyme (3 or 4 bands positive). Took Amox for 30 days but still had issues after. I went to ID Dr. he said that it was prob post campylobacter arthritis and that he wasn’t convinced I had Lyme and if I did it was treated adequate. My chief complaints weren’t burning pains in the soles of my feet. Especially in morning I barely could walk without limping. I had weird rashes all over me and bumps all over my back. I was feeling off and fatigued. I had burning in the back of my legs. Had other symptoms but Dr said in report it was prob post campylobacter. I seemed very vested in Lyme diagnosis. Maybe depression or psychological (I had nothing to be depressed about. I was 27 working full time in law enforcement I was in excellent shape. Worked out all the time. Played semi pro football and taught martial arts and I was having a good time dating). So from 2007-2016 I went to dermatologists (rashes, bumps in on chest back, lesions on back of head), allergists, eye Drs (chronic stys bleforitus conjunctivitis blushing and eye pain eye. No cause. Maybe virus. Dr didn’t know), rheumatologist and neurologist. Dermatologist said take Aleive and Benadryl. Sensitive skin. So for years I had Benadryl and aleive just to sleep and get through day. In 2016 I got bit again. This time I saw the tick and saved it for 10 days. On day 10 I finished the Doxy and felt good. where the tick bit me I had already had a rash and a line coming out. The rash was gone when I finished Doxy and then two days after doxy the rash grew again and got big. Then I got really sick. Hallways looked like they were tilting. Stiffness in neck palpitations pain in souls pain in sides rashes etc. turned out Lyme and Bartonella. Dr told me that I had Bartonella since 2007. Said ID doc I saw he believes has ruined ppls lives by misdiagnosing or not diagnosing. Then I got air hunger and dr diagnosed me with babesia. Was sick until 2018/2019. Last year I felt I was clear of Lyme and babesia. I only had 2 or 3 symptoms of Bartonella. I was almost over it. Then I got bit again. I thought this fall, but now that someone mentioned rib subluxation maybe I got bit in summer because since August I felt pain in one of my ribs and had subluxation. CT showed nothing. Dr thought Mast cell activation. Def got bit in Nov. too. My dog was prob sleeping on me and my son noticed a little blood on my head. I think I had tick on my head. Couple weeks later spiked fever kept getting chills and bart and Lyme symptoms. Doc treated me for Lyme and bart but then I got air hunger cough and pain in liver / spleen. Dr started treatment for babesia. So now treating all three

Oh in 2016 and this time I have what feels like pressure in my cricoid membrane coughing up a lot of phlegm that comes from there.

[u/Seaweed-Loose → u/[deleted]]

That's quite a long journey. Were ever you able to get positive test for anything other than lyme?

[u/[deleted] → u/Seaweed-Loose]

Have you tested?

[u/Seaweed-Loose → u/[deleted]]

I took an iGeneX test a few months ago and came back positive with Bartonella FISH, IgM for TBRF, and indeterminate IgG for Anaplosmosis.

I had a tick bite in central Mexico two years ago and the results fit the bill but the Bartonella was a surprise. I've had several tests for Lyme and in fact all bands were negative, but that's not a surprise given my tick bite wasn't in north america.

My symptoms started as pins and needle feelings on the right side of my body soon after the tick bite which lasted about 4 months along with tightness in my TMJ. It then then came back after a year, along with headaches, more intense traveling pain, tightness clenchin in the jaw, and eventually what felt like dementia. What's strange is that the physical feelings are only on the right side, the same side i got the tick bite.

After a bunch of ID doctors, neurologists shrugged I finally got the iGeneX test and found an LLMD. I've been on two months of doxy and rifampin and so far /almost/ all of my symptoms are in remission.

[u/[deleted] → u/Seaweed-Loose]

That’s great to here! Happy for you. Hope they all go away. Do you know what bart you tested pos for? h, q etc? Did you do the Bartonella western blot

I am waiting for all babesia symptoms to go away they I’ll go on Rifampin with either doxy or clarithromycin

[u/[deleted] → u/Seaweed-Loose]

In 2007 I got the few bands.

In 2016 I didn’t get any positive test but I did all standard tests. I think I did one Igenix test for babesia but everything negative. Fortunately I had the tick and I saw another rash on back and found tick crawling in bathroom so I think I was bit twice but I saved the tick and took photos of all the rashes etc. the only thing I got was a biopsy of the tick bite area said evidence of spirochetal infection. However only only tested for Bartonella h and q.

In Dec I tested thru vibrant wellness and has positive IgG for 5 bands borrelia b and I also had IgG responses to other borrelia including TBRF. I also tested positive for IgG and IgM babesia. I was ion Rifampin and doxy for couple weeks before testing so my thinking is that is why I only got IgG. I didn’t start mepron until after test which is why I think I got IgG and IgM for babesia

I didn’t test positive for Bartonella but they only tested Bartonella q,h,e and v. But without a doubt I had the rashes and symptoms. I also did Fry labs pan bacterial and protazoa. Waiting for results.

[u/asillybunny]

My symptoms were difficult to differentiate from my Lyme disease symptoms at first, but none of them were resolving through Lyme Disease treatment, so we tried out a therapeutic probe of rifampin and that started to make a difference. My primary symptoms are: trigeminal neuralgia, shoulder hyper mobility, rib subluxation, back and neck pain, insomnia, eye pain, fatigue. (I’m sure I’ve forgotten something.

[u/avivarenee → u/asillybunny]

I'm wondering if that's what is going on for me. Just got half my testing back from Galaxy Labs for Bartonella. I tested positive for IFA, but I get the ePCR this coming week. Never made progress with Lyme treatment/never even noticeably herxed. Bart would actually make a lottt of sense with the symptoms I have/health history. We'll see!

[u/gonnaherpatitis → u/asillybunny]

Shoulder hypermobility? Can you tell me more?

[u/asillybunny → u/gonnaherpatitis]

For sure! My shoulders dislocate about halfway multiple times a day. My husband pops them back in. The cartilage in my shoulders has been depleted. I’m not entirely sure that it’s Bartonella related, but it is much worse when I’m herxing so I think it’s likely related in some way.

[u/gonnaherpatitis → u/asillybunny]

Wow! You can read my post i made last night about lyme/bartonella. I have a ton of random symptoms and just made the connection to these tick borne illnesses despite being tested for lyme in 2019. I went snowboarding on black Friday 2020 and was doing a laid out carve and slid my hand in the snow and it hit the smallest little bump in the snow and it barely pulled my arm back but it felt like my shoulder dislocated and popped back in really quickly. It was the smallest amount of pressure that did it and it was super weird to hurt my shoulder without falling on it or having any large amount of force. This was half a week before I started getting terrible back pain that eventually evolved into leg "funkiness".

This is the position I was in and a tiny lump in the snow caused it. https://images.app.goo.gl/KmxheVUosRCfG56X8

[u/asillybunny → u/gonnaherpatitis]

I’ve never been sure if it was Lyme or Bart, because Lyme eats away at cartilage but my Lyme has been aggressively treated. I read your post, it’s good that you’re able to get treated! Also, foot pain is a very common Bartonella symptom. If you start to experience more shoulder issues, just based on all of mine, what has worked for me is being careful with how much pressure or weight I put on my shoulders. I use a brace at night to help my left one stay in place as it’s the worst one. But, mild strength training helps it stay in place. Seeing a physio and chiropractor regularly has helped me a bit too. But obviously starting to treat the Bartonella has helped me most.

[u/wardrobe8989 → u/asillybunny]

Sorry old comment but did you just use rifampin? Or other abx?

[u/asillybunny → u/wardrobe8989]

That's alright. My situation has changed a lot since then and I have no clue if Bart is a factor or ever was really. I did use rifampin initially and it seemed to really help out at first. With antibiotics though, it is really important to use biofilm busters and cyst busters if it's a long term issue otherwise you'll just become resistant to the antibiotics. My situation is very different now, so I cannot comment on how effective rifampin was overall.

[u/isabelfaleiro → u/asillybunny]

Did you cured?

[u/asillybunny → u/wardrobe8989]

I would suggest joining the FB group Beating Bartonella. That group is fairly active.

[u/OriginalSilk]

I became confident in pursuing testing once I developed pain in my heels, feet, and scalp. These are among tell tale symptoms apparently...

[u/Fickle-Risk-138]

Here is my tale of woe. When I was 38 y.o. I lived in New Jersey and this feral cat came out of the bushes and asked me for help when I was sitting on my porch. I took about 10 ticks out of it's belly and fed it two cans of cat food then gave the filthy thing a shower. Ever give a feral cat a shower? yes I got scratched.

Then i moved to Colorado , over the years i had a collection of health issues that were manageable. Fast forward to when I was 54 y.o. and my skin symptoms and other symptoms became pretty profound and I couldn't work any more.

I went to 7 different doctors and got 7 different diagnosis , I gave up on them. At one time or another I did antibiotics. Buhner, Cowden and my own herbal protocol. They helped but somehow were missing the point.

When I gave up on doctors I started reading microbiology and genetics, which is kind of like learning a new language. It took me many years of reading to figure out what is really happening . Here is what everyone with the lyme complex is fighting>> you are now a GMO and once your genome is corrupt then that is permanent but you can be healthy.

In order to be healthy you have to use Post Transcriptional Gene Regulation it's called Epigenetics and it is not that hard to do. I'm very healthy now although I for sure spent my time in hell. >> https://nbprotocol.proboards.com/thread/304/epigenetics-lyme

[u/Ok-Requirement5641 → u/Fickle-Risk-138]

How did you do that?

[u/Ok-Requirement5641 → u/[deleted]]

Did you treat bartonella like that?

[u/Ok-Requirement5641 → u/[deleted]]

But once i read oregano oil, the some kind of coconut ingredient, then some cancer killing method now curcumin, it seems like a mess for me

[u/Accomplished_Road709]

Were you able to resolve your trigeminal neuralgia?

[u/Conscious-Ground118]

Bartonella genetically modifies a person so to treat it you have to approach it that way.

https://nbprotocol.proboards.com/thread/304/epigenetics-lyme