DEAR DR. GOTT: I am always interested in peripheral neuropathy because it was one of the many later symptoms I developed when I acquired bartonella henselae. However, I apparently acquired the bartonella approximately 16 years ago. I recall a cat scratch from a feral kitten that did not heal for several months. I wasn’t diagnosed until a little over two years ago when I failed to respond to Lyme-disease treatment.
In addition to alpha-lipoic acid, my doctor put me on Levaquin. Amazingly, the shoulder pain, chronic gall-bladder infection, swallowing problems, ankle swelling and chronic stomach ulcer went away. The numbness in my feet and fibromyalgia did not disappear but got better.
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