I am not HIV but I figured that if any one can help me I would find them
here.
I, and now my wife suffer from what is apparantly a tick borne infectious
disease, either Lyme or Ehrliciosis. My symptoms are listed below.The
problem is that since such illnesses do not lend them selves readily to
accurate blood testing, I cannot get my primary care physician to prescribe
to me the drugs needed to kill the thing. Ignorance abounds in this area
and there are no Lyme experts in in the midwest. I have been prescribed a
half dozen nasty drugs to treat each of my symptoms when all I need is an
antibiotic or two. Please believe me, I readily respond to anitbiotics, but
cannnot get them prescribed b/c "…it is all in my mind.." You will see
the objective manifestations below, and you can see what I am going through
by going to the Lyme usenet group.
I am in desparate need of the following on a reliable basis:
Tetracycline
Doxycycline
Cipro
These are not real exotic but I cannot be assured to get them from my Dr.
when my last Cipro is downed this week. Without it I get what amounts to
horrible encephilytic (sp?) symptoms.
Please email me the whereabouts of places to get the aforesaid.
Thanks
(you may see this posting in the other relevant groups)
My history follows:
Renal Involvement
For the last seven years I have had proteinuria, spilling up to 3 grams of
protein as of February 1995. I have, after renal biopsy, been
characterized as having post infectious glomerulonephritis with some renal
changes comporting with Alport’s disease. After biopsy I was treated with
250 mg of CIPRO twice daily. This course seemingly resulted in a positive
reaction both with respect to my proteinuria as well as creatinine serum
levels, however the correlation between CIPRO and the renal symptoms is not
clear.
Sinus/Hearing Involvement
I have always had sinus problems and was surgically treated in September
for a deviated septum. Concomitant with my spike in proteinuria in
February 1995, my right ear began suffering from tinnitus. Surgery for my
deviated septum was successful however shortly thereafter I began
experiencing a feeling of fullness and wetness in my ears along with
tinnitus in my right ear. Decongestants provided no relief whatsoever.
On examination sometime in August 1995, my hearing was determined to be
profoundly diminished in my right ear, my left also shows diminished range,
but not as severe. A conclusion of Alport’s was deemed somewhat improbable
as the loss was not symmetrical. There is also no history of Alport’s or
severe hearing loss in my family. My second hearing test in September
showed slight, but not significant changes in my left ear, but now did show
significant negative changes to my left ear.
UT Involvement
Since 1979, I have been diagnosed as having chronic prostatitis. There has
never been any sign of bacterial infection and yet the symptoms of burning
and urgency have been successfully temporarily treated over the years with
a variety of antibiotics. During the last year, these symptoms have been
very responsive to the CIPRO treatment. A recent cystoscopy shows no
abnormalities in my prostate, and again there has not been any sign of
bacterial infection on urinanalysis.
Recent Experience:
I experienced symptoms of chills, severe headache, facial pain, muscle
spasm and vomiting within, I believe, two weeks after the first CIPRO
treatment ended in March 1995. Because of these painful symptoms, I asked
for and received a second treatment of CIPRO. I believe the second course
was also 250 mg twice daily. This resulted in the almost immediate
cessation of the headache and flu type symptoms as well as a diminishment
in foaming urination, which, upon my observation seems to coincide with a
lower level of proteinuria. Upon cessation of this course of treatment I
again experienced headache, vomiting and chills within a week or two.
Again the CIPRO was started (500 mg twice daily) , and again the flu like
symptoms dissipated. This on and off again pattern of treatment with
CIPRO has continued until last Friday, January 15, 1996, when I was seen at
Christ Hospital and given a shot of Demarol. The flu like symptoms seem to
have been gaining, in that upon conclusion of each CIPRO regimen, the
headaches, nausea and chills are manifested sooner each time I have been
taken off CIPRO. I have also noticed a slower response time to the CIPRO
over the last 12 months. I now am off CIPRO and am experiencing headache,
muscle spasm, facial pain and vomiting. Sinus examination shows no
swelling. I was prescribed Imitrex for the headaches. After a 3 day
course of Imitrex my headaches dissipated and my tinnitus improved for a
period. The feeling of fullness in my ears also diminished and for a very
brief period my hearing improved. Once off Imitrex my tinnitus returned as
did the sensation of water in my ears.
Over my course of my CIPRO treatment, I have related stories of at least 5
co-workers becoming sick, 2 with pneumonia and meningitis, within 2 weeks
after I experienced the aforesaid flu like symptoms. My wife has over the
course of the year experienced such flu like symptoms along with pelvic
joint pain. Most recently, she experienced headaches with muscle and nerve
pain similar to my own.
I have been asked to see a psychiatrist to delve in to the migraine
symptoms and their possible psychogenic origin. This appointment is
pending.
I understand my diagnoses to be as follows. Post glomerulonephritis caused
by an unknown agent which may or may have not been affected by CIPRO.
Prostatitis, or at least the symptoms thereof, with no observed bacterial
origin, possibly stress related. My worsened hearing disorder has not been
diagnosed, and no explanation has been provided for the fullness and
wetness sensation in my ears, nor the advent of tinnitus in February 1995.
My headaches, on brief neurological examination, have been deemed migraine
related. A unified diagnosis is not indicated according to the consensus
of opinion.
–
scott sheridan