My symptoms were swollen knees, sore elbows, sore shoulders and sore ankles, along with difficulty concentrating. My family doctor took blood and along with my clinical presentation and history, pronounced I had RF. The treatment was daily doses of Penicillin, to be taken indefinitely.

After about a year, even though I stopped having symptoms, my mother heard that it can cause heart damage and took me to a cardiologist. He checked me out and said I was fine, and told my mother that there is no one definite test for RF, that many factors have to be considered to make a diagnosis. Since I was not showing any of the signs, and my heart was fine, then I either never had it or it was treated with the antibiotic. I never had another problem after that.

A question for the group...were any of you ever suspected of having RF, or do you know anyone who was?

It was more prevalent in the 50s, 60s and early 70s. With better testing for Strep, it subsided for years, until outbreaks started again in the 1980s.

The reason I am asking, is because I had proposed to my LLMD that I may have had a form of Lyme, instead of RF. Because I was a very healthy, active kid, my immunes system and the antibiotic probably knocked it out good.

I read more about RF and have found it to be interestingly similar to Lyme in some ways, so I have attached a couple of links to info on RF. Notice how they talk about one of the clinical presentations, an EM rash, and how they always say it is not Lyme? I'm sure they believe that, but you have to wonder why there are so many other similarities.

Anyhow, I didn't know if anyone would be interested in reading anything more about something that could be mistaken for Lyme, or vice versa, but I'm posting it anyway.

RF...a condition that occurs after a strep infection, causes arthritic complications, weakens the immune system, causes heart problems, leads to motor skill dysfunction in children, along with learning problems and mood problems....

Well, you read it and see what you think.

Tom

http://www.thehealthnews.org/topic/rheumatic_fever/ index.html

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/sydenham/sydenham.htm

So you think you had lyme not Rheumatic Fever???

Also, I grew up in the sticks of Southern Maryland, and pulling off ticks was a daily thing during warm weather, many of them latched on tight.

My theory is that is was possibly dormant in my system, and when I got strep throat, it weakened my immune system and brought out the infection. I had a positive ASO Titer, which meant I had group A Strep antibodies present; then with the clinical symptoms, I was given the RF diagnosis. I mean how many people have started out with Lyme by being really sick, then never feeling better? It's a fairly common thing, from what I've read. Having the strep, then the arthritic symptoms and feeling better on Penicillin? It could be that I got lucky and was treated early on after the infection showed itself.

I also remember my mother telling me that our Dr. diagnosed a lot of kids with Rheumatic Fever. She remembers it as well. This was in the mid-1970s, when it wasn't that prevalent, but the doc was telling lots of kids they had it.

Too many coincidences, so my mind tells me. But really, just some pondering on my part.

Tom

There is no one test for RF. It is a clinical diagnosis! Sound familiar?

There are five major presentations that doctors look for, along with some minor ones as well. You can read them in the first link I sent.

You don't have to have all the major presentations to be diagnosed.

Tom