Co-infections.

In my first post this month, I told you that I have two (possibly three) co-infections along with my Lyme. I don't think I really ever went into what my co-infections are, though. There are more than a dozen tick borne infections that are recognized in the United States, and they all have their own crazy, and sometimes scary, symptoms. 

(Co-infections happen when you are bitten by a tick that carries multiple infections, and it is nice enough to pass them all to you!)

The first co-infection I was diagnosed with (before I even had my Lyme diagnosis) was Ehrlichia. There are two types of Ehrlichia--HGE and HME. HGE (also known as Anaplasmosis) stands for Human Granulocytic Ehrlichiosis, and HME stands for Human Monocytic Ehrlichiosis. The difference between the two is which type of white blood cells it attacks. In my case, I have HGE. The bacteria affects my Granulocytes. 

Ehrlichia/Anaplasmosis usually starts with a high fever, muscle pain, fatigue, and headaches. In my case, I was originally told it was Mono. So, think Mono symptoms, and you've pretty much got the gist of acute Ehrlichia. However, after the initial onset it can also cause low white blood cell counts (makes sense, since it affects the white blood cells), elevated liver enzymes (one of the symptoms that lead to my diagnosis was an enlarged liver due to elevated liver enzymes), kidney failure, and respiratory problems. In a lot of cases, diagnosis of Ehrlichia comes after treatment for Lyme doesn't seem to be making much of a difference. Treatment for Ehrlichia is done with antibiotics.

The other co-infection that I have gotten a positive blood test for, and have been treated for (and actually am currently treating a relapse of) is Babesia. Babesiosis is an infection caused by a malaria-like parasite. (Yeah, that freaked me out when I first learned about it, too!) Unlike Ehrlichia, which infects the white blood cells, Babesia infects the red blood cells. Babesia is not only tick borne, but also can be transmitted through a contaminated blood transfusion. 

The symptoms of Babesia are very similar to Lyme. As the infection progresses, the most common symptoms are drenching night sweats, anxiety, fevers, pain in the bottoms of the feet, headaches, muscle aches, nausea, and vomiting. In a lot of cases, the symptoms are so similar to Lyme that the Babesia infection isn't suspected, and is only discovered by blood work. It's much more dangerous in people who have weakened immune systems--which is why it is a big deal for those of us who have Lyme. The treatment for Babesia is anti-malarial medications.

I also have been clinically (without a blood test, just by symptoms) diagnosed with Bartonella. Bartonella is an infection of the cells caused by a parasite. It can be transmitted by both ticks and fleas. The initial infection is usually pretty mild, but once it decides that it's going to stick around for a while, it affects the whole body. Symptoms include fevers, fatigue, headaches, swollen glands, sore throat, extreme neurological symptoms (Bartonella is often suspected when someone's neuro symptoms are more prevalent than any other symptoms) and a weird striped/streaked rash. The rash looks like stretch marks, but appears randomly and not in connection with any other body changes (weight gain, weight loss, height changes, etc.) and often appear at the same time as other new symptoms. The treatment for Bartonella is antibiotics. 

(Okay, phew. We made it through all of that information. Are you still with me? Take a deep breath. Get a snack if you need to. We're almost done!)

So basically, what all of that boils down to is the fact that Lyme treatment is hard...but trying to treat Lyme with the added confusion of co-infections is seemingly a million times harder. Every co-infection on it's own a struggle, but add two or more together and it things get really difficult. 

Also, on every co-infection symptom list that you find, at the very bottom is a word that I have purposefully left out of my descriptions until now. That word is "death." I have chosen not to talk about that because 1. what good does it do anyone to think about death? 2. I'm not letting that be an option in my life, and 3. Isn't death a symptom of just about everything these days? Yes, these co-infections are serious. Yes, they could kill us. But, that's not anything worth thinking about, if you ask me!

The point in me throwing all of this information at you was not to tell you how bad these co-infections are for people who have them. The point was, like every other post this month, to make you aware. Aware of what people in your life who have these struggles are actually dealing with. And aware of what could happen to you if you decide that tick checks and proper tick prevention isn't important. 

Lyme isn't the only tick-borne threat. Please don't let these things happen to you.