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Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
My luck finally ran out. Most of my life has involved being in The Great Outdoors routinely. Learned today I have contracted a tick-borne disease.
Best guess is I was assaulted about two weeks ago. I sort of noticed something more than the typical chigger bite two or three days later. This is big time chigger season here so having a dozen to a hundred little welts somewhere around the body is normal. This felt a bit bigger. Plus there was a similar but smaller rash starting to appear in another location. As this was on my back a few inches above the belt line I couldn’t see it in a standard mirror. At about eight days my wife noticed both spots were growing. Neither was painful or itchy or too terribly annoying so I had not noticed. Was able to see my doctor this past Monday. The larger spot measured about 2 centimeters by 4 centimeters. She wasn’t sure it was tick-related but suggested pulling blood to run some tests just to be on the safe side.
The rash has been slowly shrinking so we thought it was no big deal. No headaches or muscle pain or high temperature or dizziness or any of the listed symptoms except the rash that did not really look too much like photos online depicting what RMSF looks like.
Todays results sent me to the pharmacy for a seven day supply of doxycycline. So far I have not experienced any of the side effects listed. But, the biggest concern is one should stay out of bright sunlight. Going to be tough to avoid that in mid-July. Many years ago I was taking tetracycline which has similar warnings about avoiding bright sunlight. Learned the hard, and painful, way they knew what they were talking about. Will try to be careful.
Would appreciate any advice from those who have experienced RMSF.
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12 Replies
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I had RMSF ’bout a year ago. Laid me out flat with fever, chills, rash and general weakness. I felt like crap. Went to the doc and during his examination he noticed a couple of whelps where I had pulled a tick or two off of me. Sent me to the lab for blood tests. Came back positive for RMSF. I guess the good thing was that it wasn’t Lyme’s Disease.
After my regiment of antibiotics it took a week or so and I was back to norbal. Just had to take it easy for a couple of weeks.
I hate ticks…
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At least mosquitoes have the decency to leave after the meal. The concern here is west Nile virus. We usually have one or two Aerial spraying by the vector control district this time of the year.
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The phrase ‘my doctor’ is key here. Hopefully this means a doc that knows your history. The RMSF won’t take you out, but it can make an existing problem serious real quick. Two days into it my liver took a short vacation and nearly put me in a box.
You know your own body listen to it, focument symptoms and talk with the doc. Get well..
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Yikes! Good luck and take is easy. Use this time to catch up on some old Westerns or summer reading list.
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The concern here is west Nile virus.
I wish there was an easy way (I assume there’s a hard/expensive way, but I haven’t pursued it) to get tested for WNV. I’ve gotten so many mosquito bites over the years that it’d be nice to know if I’ve already had it — they say that most people who get it never know it — so I could stop worrying about mosquitoes. I do know that a woman on the other side of town, whose house backed up to a storm drainage detention pond, died of WNV.
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Nate’s case.
I’ve come home with 200 plus ticks dug into me, for years. The bug repellent lasts 3 hrs, and they start chomping again.
About 3 yrs ago, I got chills, shakes, sweats. Got on antibiotics immediately.
Doc says I have 4 varieties of tick stuff.
I have memory issues, that come and go.
I use Himalayan salt, made into brine. Add about 3 or 4 tbs per gallon, to all my water. Himalayan salt is high in minerals. This helps drastically with energy, and nerves.
I have a colloidal silver generator. It uses 4 – 9 volt Batts, and I use about 1 ounce per month. This serves as an antibiotic. Way less harsh than doxycycline and tetracycline. Effective in my case. This throws stuff in my liver from my blood stream.
Then, a whole lime, peeling included, in a blender, with Apple juice, with any kind of frozen berries, such as cranberries, strawberrys etc. This helps clean my liver.
I’m no doc. But this has helped. I’m sharing, in case others benefit.
I pray a lot too.
Nate
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Sorry for your bad luck.
MH -
On the 5th of July I was in a deep dark corner of a farm with a thick swarm of mosquitos that feasted on me and also came back with several tiny dog ticks that had filled on my blood after a long day, 4am till 8pm port to port with 45 minute each way drive.
Since then I have been working thru fever and sweats that happen at unexpected times.
Today was my first day out after being on aspirin, Benedryl and a few other select ointments and remedies.
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Got to hope you don’t end up allergic to red meat. Get well soon.
Willy -
That would really be a bad thing………
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It may be smart to see your doctor. Soon. If the ticks got to you, you cannot tough it out and win. Treatment ASAP is better than later.
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This is quite worrisome.
Self-cloning ticks that suck animalsƒ?? blood dry spark concern humans may be next.
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