Adult Fifth Disease
Saturday, July 17th, one day after my 3xth Birthday, I woke up feeling worn out. Not surprising, since we were on vacation, and had spent the week driving to Maine, going for walks, traveling around, getting seasick on a whale boat… and of course, I was an entire year older than I was two days earlier. But I felt *really* worn out. We were heading to Portland to see Christy and John and family. We had a great visit, but I did turn in to bed around 10 Saturday night, and still felt worn out when we got back to Philadelphia Monday night.
At that point, I took my temperature, and realized I had a low-grade fever (100.3 or so). I also developed gigantically swollen lymph nodes at the base of my skull (high on my neck). I spent the rest of the week feeling flu-like without the cold symptoms, and finally I made an appointment to see the doctor and went in on Friday, July 23rd. I’ve been going to a new doctor’s office for the past two years. My old practice was difficult to deal with. If you needed to be seen, you had to call, follow all the prompts, and wait for a call back– you couldn’t talk to a human. At my new practice, a human answers the phone. But, every time I go, I have to see a student first. It make my appointments about twice as long. But I figure it’s a trade-off. I wouldn’t even go to my old doctor’s office because it was so difficult to get through to them.
I sat in the office with the new student and we went over my symptoms. We both agreed it sounded viral. I usually don’t go to the doctor for a virus, but I was a little nervous that I could have lyme disease, since we do trek around the woods a bit. As I was sitting there, I noticed a red lacy rash on both my arms. I pointed it out to the student, and he proclaimed, “Contact dermatitis”. Now, I do get contact dermatitis from things like laundry detergent and lotions, but I am very careful about the products I use and haven’t had an outbreak in a while. When the doctor came in, we discussed how it was probably just a random virus that would run it’s course… and then I showed him my arms. He immediately said, “Oh FIFTH DISEASE!” I had heard of Fifth Disease as a childhood illness, but didn’t know more about it. After we determined that, I went home and researched it a little more. I discovered that because I had the visible rash, I was no longer contagious (and could feel better about going to work that weekend in a public library). And I also read some scary things on the Internet about terrible lingering joint pain and chronic fatigue symptoms.
By Sunday, July 25th, my joints were getting swollen. And when I say “joints” I don’t mean just some of them… I mean EVERY SINGLE JOINT IN MY BODY. Monday, I felt pretty incapacitated, but made it into my three hour shift at the library… hobbling like an 85 year old. I called my doctor’s office, because I wanted to make sure that if I was walking or trying to move, I wasn’t doing any more damage, and waited for a call-back. Tuesday, we were heading to the Poconos to meet Joe’s parents, and I was moving like I was 90 years old. My toes, my ankles, my knees, my hands (fingers, wrists), shoulders, etc were all swelling up. I even thought I was experience swelling in my forehead! My normally loose rings were stuck to my finger. I wished I had taken them off, but it is actually a useful gauge of how swollen I am. When we arrived in the Poconos, I shuffled to the bedroom and fell asleep. I am not normally a napper, but the fatigue and urge to nap is overwhelming.
Wednesday, July 28th, my joints felt a smidge better. What a relief! I also got the call-back from my doctor’s office. It was the young student calling. I asked him if Arnica, a homeopathic that my mother-in-law had, would help. He hadn’t heard of it. He said stick to Naproxen, and then he threw in this gem: “You’re kinda old to have Fifth Disease.” Thanks, kiddo! Should I have said, “You’re kinda young to be a doctor!”? Fifth Disease is most common in kids 5-15, but I just happen to be a lucky one who didn’t get it as a kid. I hope my mother-in-law is right– that I am helping that student be a better doctor, but I would have hoped he had looked it up before calling me and see that it does happen to adults and that the arthritis symptom is not uncommon. By the weekend, I felt probably 75% better. But now, over a week since I had the crippling arthritis, I am still at probably 75% better. I’d like to be 100% better. Yesterday, I was sore, but able to go out and do some errands and even went out letterboxing (although I did not walk much). Today, I have been pretty sore but overwhelmingly tired, and I took another short nap, which was not rejuvenating.
I’m a little down in the dumps, because I’ve read some things about this lingering not just for weeks, not just for months, but for YEARS. I am nervous. I wish there was something I could do to fight it. I am hoping to start an exercise regimen again soon, and I’m going to watch my diet. I’ve been taking naproxen, but I’d like to not have to take it– I wish there was something natural that helped the swelling. Maybe someone will read this and give me some advice?
Now I just typed so much that my hands are pretty sore. I would like to make some fun updates about our vacations, but I think that will have to wait for another day.
My hand on Wednesday, July 28th– my fingers are normally VERY skinny
My swollen toes and ankle on Wednesday, July 29th– again, my feet are super skinny
Tags: 5th disease, Adult Fifth Disease, Fifth Disease in Adults, Fifth's Disease, Parvovirus B19
August 19th, 2010 at 9:14 am
I am having the same symptoms, and my Doctor is testing me for Lyme Disease. I have all the joint pain, and extreme tiredness. I don’t have a rash tho, just tiny water like blisters on my hands. My joint pain is so bad, I have a hard time dressing myself, especially the bra. I can’t even open a water bottle myself. I take ibuprophen, and tylenol together, which seems to work well. I have also been taking 2 tsp of flaxseed oil mixed into yogurt 2 times daily.. Flaxseed oil is a natural antiinflamitory, and is good for you. Hope this helps, and now i must go, as the typing is hurting my wrists. Lori
[Reply]
laurushka reply on August 20th, 2010:
Hi Lori,
I had been meaning to get a lyme test prior to contracting Fifth Disease, so I finally got one. It was negative, thankfully. Some adults with Fifth Disease don’t notice the rash. Mine is gone– it lasted about 4 or 5 days, and was pretty faint I don’t know what the blisters would be. I hope you are getting some relief. How long has it been going on?
Best,
Laura
September 25th, 2010 at 7:00 am
Laura,
I also had fifth disease this summer, starting at the beginning of June when my son contracted this from his day care. It started out with the rash then I developed hard/swollen lymph nodes throughout my neck. I also felt dizzy and tired and had swollen, very painful joints. I did not realize that I had fifth disease until I researced my son’s symptoms online and saw that adults can get this too if they haven’t had it before, only the symptoms differ for adults. When I took him to see our family physician and mentioned that I thought I had fifth disease as well, she said I should have already had this as a child.
Hopefully it will help you to know that most of my symptoms were gone within about 3 weeks. I do not know of any natural remedies for your swelling except maybe some retrograde massage which involves massage to the affected joint while trying to push the fluid out of the joint back toward the direction of your heart. It is now Sept 25 and I am symptom free except for continuining hard lymph nodes in my neck. There are fewer than at first but 3 or 4 that have not gone away. I did return to my doctor for this and saw the Physicians Assistant this time who did think I had fifth disease and said that the lymph nodes were likely still due to my body fighting off this virus.
I hope that you are having some relief from your symptoms. Just curious if your lymph nodes are still swollen?
Take Care,
Shelby
[Reply]
laurushka reply on September 28th, 2010:
Hello Shelby,
The swelling in my lymph nodes went away within a week or two. That is odd that yours are still swollen. Hopefully it will fade soon. Two and a half months later, I still have joint pain symptoms, but not as bad as it had been. My hands, feet, shoulders and knees are still quite achy, but it isn’t enough to stop me from doing things now (it was when I was in the thick of it).
Thanks for the message. Hope we are both over this soon!
Best,
Laura