Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever

RMSF is a tick-borne illness, like Lyme disease. According to the CDC, between 250-1200 cases have been reported annually in the past 50 years, although it is possible that many go unreported. Because there are so few cases, it's kind of hard to get any information about the disease. I was diagnosed with RMSF (as well as Lyme) in mid-November, after I fainted and went to the hospital with an arrhythmic tachycardia on Nov. 12th. At the time (and really, to this day) although my heart has been weakened to the point of being classified as having congestive heart failure, no one has really confirmed that RMSF is the culprit.

I've found a source that says RMSF leads to myocarditis and congestive heart failure in some patients. However, I never had a rash, remember a tick bite, or had any of the other symptoms. And they did a heart biopsy and found nothing in my heart. Of course, this was after a course of doxycycline that most likely killed the disease.

It's frustrating being an anomaly and not having anyone be able to tell you what's wrong with you. The good news out of all of this is that I seem to be improving, and if you offer knowing what's wrong with me versus geting better, I'll take getting better. I just hope that the "parts of my heart that aren't beating as strongly as they should" start to heal. (In quotes b/c that's how the docs explained it to me.)

I could write at least this much on what it's like to live with a chronic illness and how it impacts every small aspect of your life, but I'll save it for another day. The good news is that most likely, it will be temporary for me, unlike for many others with lupus and other diseases.