Anaplasmosis

my husband was diagnosed with anaplasmosis 10 weeks ago. How are you doing?

A year later I'm doing well.

I was diagnosed with anaplasmosis 2weeks ago, put on doxycycline and i STILL have a great deal of trouble breathing (i used to easily walk 10 miles and now have difficulty with stairs or walking just 200 feet). I understand that difficulty breathing is a long term effect of anaplasmosis but the earliest that the pulmonary specialist office "could fit me in" is 6 weeks from now. What are the ramifications of waiting this long--should i get pulmonary intervention sooner?

Hello @kmkaye,

Welcome to Connect; thank you so much for sharing your story. I found this information about anaplasmosis on the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) webpage, http://bit.ly/2uPIovm, which you may wish to view.

I'm so glad you joined us and posted in this group; although we cannot offer any medical advice on Connect, I'd like to tag @cummings3 and @cokeeferuh, who very recently posted about tick bites, and I'm hoping they will join in and share their experiences.
I'd also like to introduce you to @ihatediabetes @ijustdontbreathewell @soitis4590 as they have may have more insight for you.

@kmkaye, we look forward to getting to know you; did your doctor identify the tick variety? Did you experience the same symptoms as in Lyme disease?

Hi, thank-you for your response. I have been on-line and read the CDC's pages for Anaplasmosis as well as the Mayo Clinic's pages and several other sites. My problem is that I was probably infected over a month ago. I had attributed my tiredness to doing too much, my achiness to my arthritis, and eventually the shortness of breath to my hiking (training for this Fall's Camino de Santiago) on steeper hills in hotter, more humid weather. Therefore, I was not diagnosed & treated until my difficulty breathing was extreme. Since my pulmonary specialist appt. is not until 6weeks from now, my questions/concerns are related to the one thing that I am unable to find information on the internet so far:" prognosis for lung damage & difficulty breathing from anaplasmosis" . I realize that most people are treated for anaplasmosis in the early stage. I am being treated in the later stages and have a specific issue from it. Is there anyone in CONNECT who has had a similar experience w/the lung/shortness of breath who could share with me their outcome? In the meantime, I will click onto the the posts of those you have tagged for me. Thank-you for your help--Sincerely, Kathy

Hi Kathy @kmkaye,

I'm tagging Connect's wonderful Mentors, @rosemarya @johnbishop @hopeful33250 to see if they have any information that may help you.

I realize you've searched extensively for information, but I dug a little deeper and found this information:
"Clinical features of ehrlichiosis and anaplasmosis are similar. Although some infections are asymptomatic, most cause abrupt onset of an influenza-like illness with nonspecific symptoms such as fever, chills, myalgias, weakness, nausea, vomiting, cough. headache, and malaise, usually beginning about 12 days after the tick bite."http://bit.ly/2veN0L9

Subsequently I found this past discussion on Connect, that you may want to read, "ehrlichiosis" http://mayocl.in/2tKMshV, and it is my sincere hope that @lymebytes will return with some insight.

@kmkaye, if you would like to seek help from Mayo Clinic, please call one of our appointment offices. The contact information for Minnesota, Arizona and Florida can be found here http://mayocl.in/1mtmR63.

Hello @kmkaye, I have not experienced what you are going through but I can relate to your searching for answers. Hopefully I can offer a tip to help you search. I use Google Scholar a lot when doing searches for research of any kind - https://scholar.google.com/. I did a search of a phrase from your post "difficulty breathing from anaplasmosis" and came up with a lot of information that may help. If you click 2017 in the left column it will refine the search links into the most recent ones.

You might try a different phrase in the search box to see if it helps. Hoping you are able to find some answers.

John

Hi @kmkaye, Thank you, Kanaaz, for bringing me into this discussion.
I too experienced a rather sudden onset of shortness of breath, joint pain, tiredness, headaches when I was being tapered off prednisone. I am an organ transplant recipient and I am hiker. I needed to seek help after I went from walking 4,5,6 miles in prep for hiking trip, to being breathless walking thru parking lot or going up flight of stairs.
I have been diagnosed with exercise induced asthma (bronchospasms). It is likely that my prednisone taper triggered it. I have been checked by cardiologist and pulmonologist. The trigger is hot and humid weather, and compounded by seasonal allergies.
I would be happy to continue this discussion with you if you would like .
Rosemary

Thank-you, john bishop. I did not know about Google Scholar so i will try it--this is the first BLOG that i have ever joined and in the past i have only used google, yahoo, and bing so i am new to all of this--sincerely, kathy

Hi Rosemary, thank-you for your post. I am also an organ donar (kidney, 15 yrs ago). I had not heard of exercise induced asthma. Perhaps that is what i have which was triggered by the anaplsmosis--i will ask the pulmonary specialist about it at my appt on the 17th. I do know that shortness of breath is a long term effect of anaplasmosis (when i asked my GP about an inhaler (which helps my friends with asthma, etc), he said that an inhaler does not help with anaplasmosis. I hope to have answers on the 17th . Again, thank-you for your insight