So, I'm really confident that I actually have Babesia, and I'm pretty sure I also have Bartonella. For a fun look at Bartonella, I'm going to list out the symptoms as presented in the article, "TOUCHED BY LYME: A close look at six Lyme-related infections."
So, here we go:
Many people have Bartonella or Bartonella-like (BLO) infections in their bodies. They are perhaps the most abundant infections in people because many veterinarians say that 80 percent of all house cats and nearly 100 percent of all hunting cats carry Bartonella microbes. Fleas bite cats and infect them with the Bartonella-like organisms, which are then transmitted to humans when they get bitten by the flea. Bartonella and BLO infections are therefore probably the most common of the vector-borne Lyme disease co-infections.
People who have active Bartonella symptoms have much more pain than people who are manifesting predominantly Babesia-related symptoms. The first thing out of their mouths is usually, “You have to help me with my pain.” They have pain in their joints and the connective tissue around their joints. This joint pain will migrate to other areas of the body. So for instance, patients with active Bartonella might have knee pain, but just when they are about to go to the doctor for the pain, the pain will migrate to the left elbow. The hallmark symptom of Bartonella is sensitivity and tenderness on the bottom of the feet, especially the soles.
I have pain mainly in my hands. Once or twice I've had pain in my toes, a few times I've had pain in my knees. But I almost always have pain somewhere in my hands. Most days it's in the right hand, sometimes the left, sometimes both. The affected fingers and joints rotate. Migratory joint pain is not typical of arthritis. But it's very possible that it's symptomatic of Bartonella.
Generalized pain in the body, or pain that is sharp and severe, is often related to Bartonella. Bartonella can also cause headaches and ice pick-like pain. Both Babesia and Bartonella cause headaches, but Bartonella headaches are worse. A Babesia headache produces more weird sensations in the head and pressure in the head. People with active Babesia infections will say, “I don’t know if I’d really call what I have a headache. It’s more like a pressure in the head.” Babesia can cause migraines as can Bartonella, but Babesia migraines are generally less severe. Bartonella prefers the occipital areas of the head; the back of the head and neck are generally painful. So pain is a dominant characteristic of Bartonella.
I have pain in my neck and shoulders. Constant, irritating, muscle pain. Some days it's really bad, some days it's just an irritation. But constant muscle-soreness is a problem I've dealt with for the last two years. And no, I'm not doing anything to account for it. I'm not sleeping weird on my pillows, or lifting tons of weights. If I do any activity that causes slight muscle-soreness, I have disproportionately bad muscle pain.
I defintely had intense headaches last year when I hadn't started antibiotics yet. I currently have more of the weird pressure and "almost headaches" that sound like they are more related to Babesia than Bartonella. But I have a lot of pain in my neck, shoulders and also my hands that I think are very likely from a Bartonella infection.
All of these slow-growing intracellular infections affect the brain but create different symptom patterns, according to which infection is dominant or most active. I see more depression in people with active Babesia but less variability of mood, whereas people with active Bartonella may be irritable and anxious but then “flip over” into depression. Many people with Bartonella infections are misdiagnosed as having bi-polar disorder due to their fluctuating moods; they can easily go from being angry and irritable to being depressed.
I honestly don't know if my memory trouble is more Babesia or Bartonella dominant. I'm defintely more depressed than angry. But in the description of Babesia, the symptoms of a dominant Babesia infection included anxiety and FEAR. I have definitely struggled with anxiety and fear this year. But also depressino. So, I'll leave it up to wiser persons than myself to determine of my brain fog and moodiness is related more to Babesia or to Bartonella.
Bartonella-like organisms can also stay on the surface of the organs and tissues and cause a wide array of symptoms. One such symptom is gastritis. In fact, most cases of gastritis that aren’t caused by Helicobacter pylori infections are often caused by Bartonella, which is the second-most common cause of this condition. It can irritate the stomach so that people lose their appetite and/or get heartburn.
Well, I've definitely had trouble with symptoms that sound like gastritis. Of course, it could be the effect of months of antibiotics in my system that is causing so much trouble. It could also be that all my symptoms of gastritis are caused by Bartonella. I have had a lot of trouble with loss of appetite, heartburn and nausea. Although the nausea started before the antibiotics, so, there's a good chance it's from the infection and is in fact a symptom of Bartonella.
Bartonella can cause a low-level, relapsing sore throat. People with active infections will periodically awaken with sore throats and wonder if they are coming down with a cold, but then the sore throat will go away.
I have been waking up with the tiniest hint of a sore throat. This is obviously not a very good time to be wondering if you are coming down with something. I have wondered more than once, if I've caught covid-19. It's a little bit stressful. To say the least.
Bartonella irritates the bladder and can cause frequent urination, interstitial cystitis, or other chronic inflammatory conditions of the urinary system.
I don't have other problems with this, but I do have pelvic pain that occurs randomly and it's completely unconnected to my period. So that's fun.
Bartonella can also cause fevers, but for patients to be able to run a fever, they need to have a relatively functional immune system, so not everyone who has a Bartonella infection will get a fever. Yet people will often feel hot, as if they have a fever, but their body temperature may be low normal.
I did have a very low grade fever for approximately an hour. (During covid this is not a fun thing to experience even briefly). I do frequently feel as though I'm hot but I do not usually have a fever. It feels like I'm constantly gaslighting myself.
Bartonella can affect the eyes and cause conjunctivitis, or inflammation of the outermost layer of the eye, which results in irritated, dry red eyes, as well as other eye problems.
Bartonella cause more skin-related problems than the other infections. Red bands or stretch marks on the skin called striae are common, as are acne and other skin problems.
I don't really have trouble with my eyes. I have been having trouble with acne. I have also been having little red stretch marks appearing. They aren't large or particularly frequent, but they are showing up.
Bartonella lives in the liver and spleen where it inflames these organs and compromises their functioning. When the liver and spleen are inflamed, the filtering capacity of the blood is affected, resulting in thick blood. People with Bartonella may have slightly elevated liver enzymes on lab tests. For instance, the alanine aminotransferase (ALT) test score may be just outside of the normal range and high only intermittently. The inflammation that Bartonella causes in the liver and spleen can compromise the body’s detoxification system in a major way, though. When the spleen is compromised, the lymph glands may also become swollen, which then causes the lymph flow to become thick, sludgy and slow.
I have had lots of swollen lymph nodes throughout the last two years. I've had the swollen lymph nodes noted by the doctor who didn't believe in the possibility of co-infections or post-treatment Lyme. He kept asking me if I had a cold or whatnot.
I'm less confident about this one. But I would be completely unsurprised if I have both Babesia and Bartonella.
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