News for Chronic Lyme Dis people

“There is an article in the NJ Star Ledger today about new research being done, linking chronic Lyme to a second bacterium, called Bartonella. Bartonella is the bug that causes Cat Scratch Fever, which my husband had as a boy. Apparently ticks carry both bacteriums in percentages of around 20% of ticks, with 8% found carrying both bacteriums. The research showed that when a patient is already battling Lyme, and gets infected by a tick carrying Bartonella (or is bitten by a tick carrying both), this is when the chronic condition happens. The antibiotic therapy for one doesn't work for the other. When chronic Lyme patients were treated to kill the Bartonella, a large percentage of patients exhibited dramatic improvement. This appears to have been a small study done in NJ, and I'm sure will be researched further. But I'm taking the article and going to visit my doctor to discuss it. One symptom is enlarged lymph glands which I constantly have. The rest of my symptoms have mostly been gone for the summer, YES!”

“LyndyS -

That's interesting. My brother was in the hospital for several weeks last year with a triple whammy. Lyme, another bacterial infection carried by ticks (I don't know what), and Epstein-Barr virus. He was very sick and it took a long time to diagnose, but he's responded very well to treatment. I'll have to ask him more.

I missed the article. What section was it in?”

“Don't y'all be dissin' Lyme, Conn”

“Thursday Star Ledger, page 27. The tick borne illnesses are Lyme, Erlichiosis, Bartonella, and Babesiosis as well as Rocky Mountain Spotted fever, which has been seen in NJ recently. I had a physical at the doctor's today, and she is going to test my blood for all kinds of stuff, including tick bacterium and immune system problems, because the constantly swollen lymph nodes made her unhappy. She scolded me for not seeing her about it, but I was just so happy not to be swallowing a pharmacy for the last few months.”

“Just wondering if Lyme is on the increase since I saw more ticks in the past 2 seasons than I ever did.”

“My doctor saw ten new cases this summer, which she thought was a lot. I have a network of friends now who have had Lyme, or have Chronic Lyme. One of my friends runs a local farm, and her family members each had bullseye Lyme SEVERAL times this summer. So either it is on the rise in my area, or it is becoming more recognized. It is a joke now that when one of my cohorts does something ditzy, we ask jokingly, "When are you getting tested for LYME?", because one of the first symptoms is tiredness and unfocused thought. One of my friend's daughter was put in special ed classes, before they realized that she had LYME, not a learning disorder.”

“I had a feeling it was on the increase with all the ticks I've been seeing. I don't wear shorts hiking in the summer anymore because of the ticks.”