I just finished up seven days of IV Rocephin and seven days of Doxycycline. She ran blood work again and my platelet count had rebounded to 274 so she deemed me finished. My rash had disappeared by Saturday and my fever finally broke on Saturday as well after hitting a high of 102.5 on Friday afternoon.

So why am I doubting my diagnosis?

1. Everything I’ve read says that the rash shows up 3-5 days AFTER the fever and other symptoms start. That’s one reason why it’s so difficult to diagnose because when you first present, you just seem like you have the flu. My rash started at least by the 8th of June and was there before then – I just don’t remember exactly when. But I know it was there on the 8th because I was a little worried when I went to get my massage and just told her to focus on my back and neck because of it.

2. Everything says that the rash starts as pink macules around the wrists and ankles and then spreads. Mine started on the inside of my thighs and spread from there. It did start spreading when the fever started but I never had the pink macule rash. And it was never even on my ankles or wrists.

3. The petechiae rash that I had (small little dots) is considered an indicator of late stage RMSF. Wouldn’t I have been hospitalized if that was the case? Especially since mine has always been that and it had been around for at least three weeks when the fever started? RMSF is suppose to be deadly if you don’t get treatment in eight days and you need treatment by day five to avoid complications.

4. The fever was really odd. I had a fever on Sunday, nothing Monday to Wednesday, and then a fever again beginning on Thursday that broke Saturday. The fever typically doesn’t come and go – or at least not that I’ve read.

Maybe I’m trying to justify it or just flat our deny the fact that I managed to get bitten by yet another tick that happened to have other tick diseases when I spend zero time outside? I don’t know.

All I know is I’m glad that I did get treatment. RMSF is certainly nothing to play around with so even if there was a thought it could be that, I did need treatment. The treatment she gave me also treats Lyme so that’s not a bad thing either.

I really think it was an allergic reaction to the herbal meds. I’ve read in the past few days that allergic reactions can cause fever as well. And when I looked up pictures of rashes from drug allergies, it looked just like mine. And it would make sense that it did spread as I kept increasing the dosage of the medication.

If that’s the case, maybe I wasn’t herxing at all. I was just having an allergic reaction to the medications. Because in seven days of Rocephin and Doxy together, I didn’t have a herx reaction (*knock on wood* – I haven’t said anything to anyone because I didn’t want to jinx myself). When I started on Doxy originally, I had a big herx on the 4th day and with Rocephin, it was the 2nd day. This time, other than a little nausea if I didn’t eat with the Doxy, I couldn’t even tell I was taking anything.

I guess the only way I would know for sure is to try the herbal meds again but I’m scared to do that now. Also the antibodies to RMSF and Ehrlichia should both show up on blood tests in a few weeks too.

For now, I’ll just be glad I had treatment and that maybe not having a herx means the Lyme is under control.

As always, time will tell….

I have been praying that I would be given some sort of sign about whether the allergic reaction was really the answer. When I woke up Thursday morning, I had a fever again. When I took a shower, I got so weak, I had to sit down in the shower. And when I did, I saw something crawling on my leg. I brought my leg towards me and said out loud “that looks like a tick” but as I did it, the water washed it away. So at this point I was really starting to freak and I decided to go back to my infectious disease doctor to see if she thought there was anything to the rash.

I was really nervous about going back after what happened last time but the more I thought about it, the more uneasy I was with just waiting to see what happened – especially with the fever coming back – and the Benadryl hadn’t accomplished anything but letting me sleep.

So she came in and asked me what was going on. I dropped my pants to show her the rash and as I was doing that, I told her about the fever, muscle aches and fatigue. I said I had already been to my other doctor who didn’t know what it was and she ran labs that were normal.

She took one look and said you have Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Ehrlichia. Um, WHAT?! Then she looked at my labs and said while they were “normal”, there were a few key indicators like white blood cell count and platelets that were low – and that points to tick borne disease, particularly these two diseases.

I said ok, so do we do blood tests? And she said no, I had to start treatment immediately. I said well Rocky Mountain is dangerous isn’t it? She replied that it can be very serious and we have to avoid complications like meningitis. That’s why they don’t wait for a blood test to confirm the diagnosis.

So I got an IV of Rocephin before I left and she gave me a prescription for Doxycycline. I have to go back daily for IVs at least until Monday and possibly longer. I will take the Doxy for two weeks.

After I got back to work, I (of course) started looking these up. And it scared me…big time! Article after article said it has to be treated within five days of symptoms to have a chance of avoiding serious complications, including death. Thursday was the 5th day. What if I had continued to just operate under the assumption it was an allergic reaction? I don’t even want to think about what could have happened.

Even at work, people were telling me before I went back to the doctor again that was I was overreacting and I probably just had a normal virus. They told me to quit freaking out over everything just because I had Lyme. It’s bad enough to be dealing with everything but even worse when people make you feel like you’re crazy on top of everything else.

And had I listened to them instead of my gut, I could have died. Scary.

So now I’m battling this fever that barely goes away before it comes back again. I woke up this morning with a fever of 100.9 and took ibuprofen. This afternoon, it went back up to 101.1 so I took more. An hour later, it was 102.5. I had to take Tylenol as well before it came back down to normal. And I’m sure in a few hours, I’ll have to take something again.

So I’m thankful I’m getting more treatment and so incredibly thankful that this doctor recognized what it was. I did email back the other doctor’s office to let them know of the diagnosis.

At the same time, I can’t believe my luck. Not only did I get Lyme, eight months later I apparently get bitten AGAIN and get Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Ehrlichia! And with the RMSF, it says there are only 250 to 1200 cases a year (depending on the year). I mean what are the freaking odds with all of this?!

Supposedly there’s a small percentage of ticks that carry disease and I just happen to be bit by two who carried three different ones?! Not to mention, that according to many sources, there is no Lyme in this state anyway! (what a joke!)

Hopefully I will recover from these quickly without lasting effects. At this point, I don’t know if all of this other stuff is just masking the Lyme symptoms or if I’ve had a break from them but I haven’t had any brain fog type symptoms since last Friday (so right at a week). I guess we’ll see once I’m over these!

I’m also curious to see if I’m going to have a herx with these medications since they’re the same ones that treat Lyme. It should be interesting!

Now I just hope my veins hold out for all of these IVs!

As for avoiding ticks, we went by the vet’s office to get yet another tick medication for our dog and we’re having our yard professionally sprayed for ticks on Monday. We’re also not allowing our dog to sleep in the bed with us any longer. Because my feet basically haven’t left the pavement since I was diagnosed with Lyme, it has to be from our dog bringing them in from outside.

Sigh.

One day, I’m going to be healthy again and dealing with all of these tick diseases will just be a memory. Right now, I’m ready to move!!