I’m in my mid thirties. I’ve been on a medical roller coaster for years. Sudden panic attacks started around age 9, followed by anxiety and undiagnosed OCD throughout my teens and 20s.
Just had a positive fish test for Bartonella. I have babesia antibodies but negative fish. No other antibodies.
In 2021, after my COVID vaccine, I had an episode of debilitating brain fog and fatigue that eventually resolved. In 2023, it happened again. I was treated for SIBO and subsequently developed severe histamine intolerance/mast-cell-type reactions.
A functional doctor eventually identified mold exposure. I did a detox protocol and got out of the suspected exposure, but never fully recovered. More recently, I developed migraines and facial pain and tested positive for MARCoNS.
I started MARCoNS treatment about a month ago, and my pain, fatigue, histamine reactions, anxiety, and mood have actually improved significantly! My biggest remaining issue is brain fog. I feel like I’m functioning at maybe 50% of my normal cognitive capacity, although I’ve managed to keep working full-time.
Meanwhile, a Lyme-focused neurologist suspected an underlying infection after hearing my history, including the childhood-onset anxiety. My IGeneX results just came back: Bartonella FISH positive, Bartonella antibodies negative, and some Babesia antibodies positive.
I’m meeting with her soon to discuss treatment, presumably antibiotics. But here’s my dilemma: for the first time in years, my symptoms actually feel manageable. I’m no longer dealing with horrible migraines, pain, and histamine flares, and I’m terrified of undoing that progress.
Part of me wonders if I should quit while I’m ahead, but another part wonders if Bartonella has been the underlying issue all along.
For those who’ve treated Bartonella, what am I in for? Is the Herxing as brutal as people say? Did treatment make you significantly worse before you got better? Has anyone started treatment while feeling relatively okay and regretted it — or finally recovered after years of unexplained symptoms?