I was born in 1950; I’ve always been very active. As an adolescent I had recurrent and painful sinusitis; this vanished in my late teens. Amongst my activities I listed caving (spelaeology) which requires some physical fitness. I continued cave exploration until well into my forties.
In 1999 my wife, Sarah, and I both caught a respiratory infection which started off as a sore throat; in a fortnight it had become a mild pneumonia. Sarah developed frank asthma which required a Salbutamol inhaler. I also had a wheeziness, particularly on exertion. This eventually cleared. I also suffered with sinusitis again. I didn’t seek medical advice.
A few months later I began to find turning my head not only painful but difficult. As I cycle to work this grew to be problematic. I found that if I wished to turn right (UK) I had to dismount and walk across the road. At about this time I noticed that I was developing soft-tissue swellings in my neck; these began to grow quite quickly. Shortly after this I found I had myalgia in my shoulders and the long muscles of my back. Sarah noticed that I was walking very awkwardly; if I wished to turn my head I had to turn all my body. Flexion of the spine was difficult, too.
In 2002 I noticed that my resting heart-rate had increased, and there were increasing numbers of dropped beats. These were quite alarming in the dead of night. Sarah noted that my apex beat was really hard and actually audible at night. I was worried by this time, but was more concerned with Sarah’s aggressively advancing Multiple Sclerosis, which was much more troubling.
By 2003 All my symptoms increased in intensity; they now included constant pleuritic pain (a sharp pain in the side when breathing) on the right. Also there was an exquisitely painful longitudinal white streak along the nail of my left forefinger. I began to feel vertigo when moving suddenly: it was as though I were standing on either side of a small see-saw. My blood pressure was 150/95. I had my blood tested for Chlamydia pneumoniae antibodies; the IF titres were 1:128. This level is seen in many asymptomatic people. Low titres mean little; they certainly don’t exclude the infection. Borrelia antibodies (Western Blot) were negative.
I began a course of empirical antichlamydial treatment; it was very similar to Sarah’s, namely doxycycline 200mg daily and roxithromycin 300mg daily. (it doesn’t matter whether you take all the daily dose at once with these.) That night I felt sweaty and ill; this feeling carried on for five days; it was worse in the evenings, and was accompanied by an odd state of mind. All kinds of visions went through my mind, and Sarah says that I was babbling, changing the subject almost in mid-sentence. But this subsided. After three months I began a short course of metronidazole in addition to doxycycline and roxithromycin. Towards the end of this course I had a rather ominous feeling that something was about to happen. Three weeks later I began another five-day course of metronidazole. On the fourth day I began to feel pain in the muscles of the back of the neck and in the soft tissue swellings to the side of my neck. That evening I began to sweat profusely, and had very strong muscle fasciculations over my torso. These continued for a week or so after stopping the metronidazole; again they reached their peak in the evening, so I was able to work during the day. (Evening fevers seem quite common with resolving intracellular infections.) They were followed by crushing pains in both upper limbs, which I take to be a mild form of Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. Fortunately these eased within weeks. My weight dropped from 95 to 81 Kilos within a few weeks. Within three months the neck swellings had almost subsided. Reactions to the third pulse of metronidazole were slight. Reactions to the fourth, fifth and sixth were negligible. My blood pressure dropped to a typical morning BP of 115/75; the apex beat became actually quite difficult to feel, and my pulse became very soft and even. All the ectopics had gone.
Now I am on intermittent antibiotics and supplementation; this includes N-acetyl cysteine 600mg twice daily for the purpose of bursting any chlamydial elementary bodies which remain. I still have a little trouble with vertigo and ringing in the ears, but not enough to stop me riding my bicycle. I’m pain-free and supple, and have full movement of my spine and head. There is an impression of ongoing soft-tissue remodelling.
Sarah and I had a similar respiratory infection; she developed frank asthma, and I an intermittent wheeziness. So though I have no hard evidence that we both had an infection with Chl. pneumoniae it seems clinically likely. No other known pathogen causes a respiratory infection after the pattern described. Often this is a clinical diagnosis. We have to accept that, on an individual basis, present-day laboratory tests may have little diagnostic value.
I managed to work full-time during this illness, coming home to cook for us both. We kept our household together. Some of our social friends were alarmed and lost touch, but, well, I don’t suppose they were really friends.
Sarah’s recovery from secondary progressive MS (where recovery is not a part of the natural history of the disease) is recounted elsewhere on this site.
The photo to the left was taken in 2002. Note the soft tissue swelling round the neck; to a lesser extent round the mouth and eyes. The right photo shows a much-changed man in 2005.
[The picture of Dorian Grey, by Oscar Wilde. A wealthy young man commissions a portrait of himself, and, when it is finished he grieves because it will never change, while, in himself, the slow effects of age will progress from day to day and year to year. 'I would give my soul for the portrait to suffer on my behalf and for me to live without ageing. . . ' And so, with this Faustian pact somehow sealed, the portrait ages on his behalf. His dark deeds are etched on the portrait's face, and, even though it is locked away, its presence troubles him. . .]
By D W at Sun, 2006-02-05 15:26By raven at Sun, 2006-02-05 16:02
I can verify David's hair reappearance: I made him shave it really short because it looked so sparse and skimpy, but now I shall take a new photograph of him with his "new hair", just in time for his new passport......Sarah
By Sarah at Sun, 2006-02-05 18:42
David, your attention to these easily overlooked subtleties are what keep me on track. Especially in this case where I see it first hand. Very interesting picture comparison.
Thank you!
KK2 :)
By kitkat2 at Sun, 2006-02-05 19:16
By D W at Tue, 2006-02-21 11:31
By mrhodes40 at Tue, 2006-02-21 13:57
Thanks, Marie. I'm quite taken aback myself. I had always wondered why this bruise had healed badly, with vascular neogenesis and abnormal superficial veins with dilated and narrowed sections beneath paper-thin skin. And, after all this time, how it should have the ability to correct itself with treatment. I think this is just one site of many. It was just obvious because it was very superficial. One of the many pathologies of chronic cpn infection is a vasculitis.
I took 6 months of continuous treatment; reactions followed 2nd and 3rd go of metronidazole and then left off. I think I may be one of the lucky ones who, once their immune systems are adverted to the presence of the germ, are able to clear it out. Soft tissue improvements continued after antibiotics were stopped. I'm now on intermittent maintenance.
By D W at Tue, 2006-02-21 15:12