Hello everybody.

I have just discovered this website and all it's rich content. Actually, I am Polo, 33 years old man, Ex Smoker, since 2 weeks and my problem is the following: I am sick since 20 May 06. Fever Peaks, Muscular pains and also sweat peaks. It has been pretty difficult to discover it was a Chlamydia Pneumoniae. First, the Pr. at the Hospital thought it was a Lymphom. I had a Ganglionic biopsy. It was negative (lucky !). After that they found Chlamydia antibody in my blood.  Not so much (around 500 antibody in blood). They also found a polipal maxillary sinusitusi [78]. I had to threat it with Sofrasolone and Becconase for one month. For the Chlamydia, I received Fisrtly one week Biclar (Clarithromicyne) and then one month Maclar (Also Clarithromicyne). After that treatment, I had 4 times more antibody in my blood around 2000). They also discovered an heavy Emphysema and BOPC in both longs (pretty advanced state due to tabaccologic sensitivity (Alpha 1 antitripsin OK in blood)). So I saw a Pneumolog and I stopped immediately to smoke. My longs are already heavy been injured. All symptoms were still presents after Biclar and Maclar so I received 50 Days Doxycycline 200. Fever was nearly dissapeared and I felt quite better. But after 8 days of the end of Doxycycline, symptoms slowly started again. On blood side, antibody decreased a bit but not so much (+- 1600). I went yesterday to the Doctor who advised me to stop all treatments right now and wait. But I really feel unconfortable. I should start to work again next monday and I am really sceared about coming back of symptoms and fever which is still present times to times. What should I do? What can I expect for the future. Does someone have any idea of possible or expected threatments? Sorry if my case seems quite common on such forum but I didn't received much answers at hospital.

I have culled from Mitchell & Stratton patent #6,884,784 an exhaustive list of diseasesi [31] where Cpni [93] has been implicated as a possible cause or co-factor (reference: Mitchell & Stratton patent #6,884,784):

Diseases where an association has been discovered between chronic Chlamydia infection of body fluids and/or tissues with several disease syndromes of previously unknown etiology in humans which respond to unique antichlamydial regimens include:

Editorial comment: Strong findings from their research. If you have any of these it suggests to me that at least an empirical course of the combination antibiotic therapy is strongly indicated, with or without serologyi [49].

Multiple Sclerosis (MSi [55])
Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)
Inflammatory Bowel Diseasei [27] (IBD)
Interstitial Cystitisi [47] (IC)
Fibromyalgiai [36] (FM)
Autonomic nervous dysfunction (AND neural-mediated hypotension);
Pyoderma Gangrenosum (PG)
Chronic Fatigue (CF) and Chronic Fatigue Syndromei [25] (CFSi [104]).

I am trying to connect the dots, and was wondering if I could get an opinion from some of you who have been here a while, and know more about CPni [93].  Several years ago, and I can pinpoint it to within a couple of months, I began feeling "not right".  I was first dx with pernicious anemia after complaining of brain fog and fatigue, then irritable bowel syndrome for chronic unrremitting diarrhea.  These were followed by numbness in two toes, which the neuroi [58] determined was caused by diabetic nueropathy (after three glucose tests, one came up a little off, and he dx'd glucose intolerance).  I beleive I have glucose intolerance, but diabetic nueropathy from it?  Anyway, after that, psoriasis, which I had had problems with for years without knowing what it w

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 asthmai [14] 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 MSi [55], 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 metronidazolei [37] 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 fasciculationsi [108] 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 intracellulari [109] infectionsi [44].) 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 antibioticsi [10] 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.