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People Catching Psittacosis Help !


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My husband and I have been sick with severe fever and chills, migraine type headaches, joint pain, swollen glands and lately an unproductive cough. He is affected worse than me, but we are confused why we don't have any congestion or gastro that would usually go with fever etc. We have had some nausia and vomiting, but only when the fever is too high. We have both started Keflex antibiotics now. After Google searches to figure out what we've got, I'm concerned we may have picked up Psittacosis from our Cockatiel Comet we bought two weeks ago. It wasn't until I purchased a second Cockatiel that I realised the small patch of red in the corner of her eye is not meant to be there, and I've since read it can be a sign of Psittacosis. :D Of course I will get Comet treated, but I'm concerned as my husband is very ill, and I have an auto-immune syndrome which leaves me very vulnerable. I don't want to give up the dream of hand-raising birds, but I want us to get better SOON!!!

 

Has anyone caught Psittacosis from their birds?

 

Please help if you know about Psittacosis in humans!

Edited by 2budgies
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I think it would be best to get your Tiel tested for Psittacosis first before you worry about having it yourself. I haven't had experience with it in birds or humans, but have heard it is not fun. Good luck and I hope you feel better soon.

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There are a few members on here who have contracted the virus from their birds :P

 

You need to see your doctor and get them to test you. You will need to treat yourself, your husband and your birds with an antibiotic called Doxycilline. Your cockatiels will need to visit the vet and get the bird form of doxy.

 

Good luck and i hope you are all feeling better soon :D

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I'd definitely go to the doctor for you both and find treatment, whether it's psittacosis or not. It sounds nasty! Hope you both get better very soon and that you have no trouble fighting it off.

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I have had psittacosis from our birds. Read this topic.... and I can answer any questions you have after that :D

 

http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index....;hl=psittacosis

Edited by KAZ
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Thanks,

 

I may be barking up the wrong tree as the bird in question is very healthy other than a slight bit of red at the corner of her eyes (like our tear ducts only much smaller). I'm just desperate to get my husband and myself back to good health! Psittacosis is still a possibility, but after reading Kaz's link I'm not so sure - the bird is too healthy. Also, after more Googling I think it unlikely my husband could catch it from me, but he hasn't really been exposed to the birds to catch it from them. So maybe it is something else?

 

It's near impossible to get to a doctor for testing at the moment, so I rang the vet to ask about testing/treating the birds. I was told:

 

- $200 per bird

- all would need to be tested

- results would take 1-2 weeks

- No Doxycillin until results are back and positive

 

Since the bird seems perfectly fine, it's a lot of money and time that could be wasted when I really don't know why we're sick or if the birds have anything to do with it. If we haven't improved by Tuesday, I'll beg to see the doctor and get tested. Otherwise we'll keep up with the antibiotics (Keflex) and panadol. Whatever it is, we'll be glad when it's behind us! Thanks again, I'll let people know what happens. :blush:

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Our avian vet took blood samples and tested while we were there. It didnt cost as much as you have been quoted but it was awhile ago. If psittacosis is suspected they begin treatment immediately and dont make you wait. You cannot catch psittacosis from another person, just contact with the birds droppings or droppings dust.

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Our avian vet took blood samples and tested while we were there. It didnt cost as much as you have been quoted but it was awhile ago. If psittacosis is suspected they begin treatment immediately and dont make you wait. You cannot catch psittacosis from another person, just contact with the birds droppings or droppings dust.

 

 

Thanks Kaz, I think that rules Psittacosis out as only the children and I have had contact with the birds, my husband hasn't been near them, and he is sicker than I am. I am definately changing vets though, this is not the first time I've had dificulties/ridiculous expenses with this vet!

 

:blush: We really want to be well for the Australia Day Pet Show in Grafton, our kids look forward to it and would be so disappointed if we couldn't take them! I've adjusted a cute singlet top that has printed on it "Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi !" for our Australian Shepherd, and still have to make a fancy dress costume for our Toy Poodle but it's the last thing on my mind at the moment - I'll need to clip her again too, she a furry mess! We've got to be well by then, we just have to!

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Do a little more research on another illness from birds.............. Bird Fanciers Lung. See if it matches your symptoms.

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Do a little more research on another illness from birds.............. Bird Fanciers Lung. See if it matches your symptoms.

 

 

Thanks, will do :blush:

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oh sounds nasty! i do hope you get better soon :blush:

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I hope you all feel better soon. Nothing worse than feeling bad especially when you don't know what is wrong. I am sure that your doctor will do his or her upmost to fix you up post haste!

Did you mention to the doctor you kept birds? When I was sick back in 2007 my GP had to write in the referral to the hospital that I kept birds and to check for psittacosis. Glad I didn't have that!

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If you are sick there is likely an underlying nutritional problem that has made you susceptible to illness. As well as getting looked at by your doctor, try fruit, veges and plain water for a week and see if you feel any better.

 

Natural remedies for colds - ginger, garlic, cloves, eucalyptus. Get well soon.

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The best idea is to stop Googling and go see a doctor.

 

When you google illnesses you convince yourself that you have them, because you think, "oh I have that symptom and that symptom". It is what hypochondriacs do. For example: If you google Rabies, you would find that you probably have very similar symptoms and you could get yourself all worked up about it. Thing is, Rabies isn't in Australia, so it would be very unlikely for you to have it. Some illnesses will also show up differently in some individuals and look like something completely different. Do you see what I mean?

Go see a doctor and mention you have birds.

Make sure both you and your husband are drinking enough fluids too, with vomiting and fevers you can get very dehydrated which will make your headaches worse.

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Sailorwolf I disagree. I have had many incompetant doctors over the years - some that have risked my life through their lack of knowledge or carelessness, some that have done me permanent physical damage. I now have a wonderful GP (who is way too busy and hard to get in to see) who did further study to become an Endocrinologist but due to changes in his personal life, never sat the final exam. The only difference between him and a "qualified" Endocrinologist is that small piece of paper which to me means nothing! I stopped seeing my Endocrinologist many years ago when he told me that my body was destroying itself and the only thing I could do is prepare myself for the next likely auto-immune complication. I don't need to be paying someone good money to shuffle some blood results in front me and have a defeatist attitude when I plan on sticking around for quite a few more years! I now see my "unqualified" Endocrinolgist GP, and he is far more up to date with medical advances than the "qualified" guy ever was.A friend of mine had her children taken from her and was commited to a Mental Health Institution because the doctor wouldn't listen when she told him she had Lupus and needed treatment. Years earlier this same friend ended up in a coma because her doctor didn't believe she needed Thyroxine to treat her easily treated Underactive Thyroid. Most doctors know next to nothing about Auto-Immune Sydromes.My mother needed 5 blood tranfusions when her "qualified" Gynaecologist didn't stitch her up properly after surgery - he told the hospital staff that he was the only one to treat her and let her bleed for four days despite the pleas of other doctors and nurses. I was outside the operating theatre when the Aneasthetist rang his lawyer and asked "I don't think this woman will make it, will I be held responsible for Doctor *****'s stuff up?" She nearly died because of the Gyno's pig-headed arrogance!I delivered my own uterus (extremely rare thing to do) with my first born because my Obstetrician wouldn't listen to other medical professionals that there was a problem with the baby being Transverse and too big to turn properly. His response when I said I couldn't push any longer..."All women say that!" with a smug grin - his grin soon disappeared when he realised he'd have to stitch my uterus back into place. He had only ever seen such a thing in textbooks, and was never taught how to do it, so had to take an educated guess! He did ask my mother to take a photo as my legs were in stirrups (for his records) - he said: "That's the weirdest thing I've ever seen!" I went on to have further complications as a result of this doctor's botched effort. My daughter and I almost died because of the doctor's complacency! My daughter's first few years of life were a real battle with very poor health - we tried every diet recommended by her specialists from Mediteranean, to Elimination to Ketogenic, and along the way she was poked and prodded and misdiagnosed on many an occassion. Her Paediatric Neurologist has been very impressed with my proactive approach which has resulted in her Epileptic Seizures being controlled by an anti-convulsant dose 1/10th of what she should be needing for her age and weight - why? - because I Googled til the cows came home to find everything I could do to help her. By the way, when she came out in a dangerous Lamictal-induced rash, the attending doctor Googled to learn about it as he had never seen it before!These are all examples of "qualified" doctors' making human mistakes.I am perfectly capable of the academic rigor necessary to complete a medical degree, in fact when I was 16, a specialist of mine offered me a scholarship to become a medical researcher and work with him! But I personally dont need the piece of paper when I am just concerned with keeping myself and my immediate family well. In fact, I have more time to research the things that are particularly relevant than a doctor does - most doctors are sleep-deprived and overworked, with little time to update their knowledge.I could go on with thousands of examples of reasons why we should take an active role in the management of our own health, but I hope you get my point. A doctor is a human being and as such they can be careless, arrogant and ill-informed just like the rest of us. My experiences don't allow me to share your blind faith in the medical profession. When it comes to the wellbeing of my family and myself, I work with the professionals. There's much more you can do together than sitting back letting one man/woman with one viewpoint and set of experiences make such important decisions. (PS I know we don't have Rabies :P )

 

 

 

Thanks for everyone's advise and concern, we are a little less feverish today. We have just found out that there are others in the area with similar symptoms, so it looks like its probably just something nasty going 'round, not likely Psittacosis (thanks Kaz for sharing your Psittacosis experience).I can't wait to be well enough to think about finishing off the aviary and giving the budgies some room to move! :budgiedance:

Edited by 2budgies
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I'm sorry you have had bad experiences with Doctors. I guess it all comes down to what you 'know' so to speak.

 

I have a brilliant Doctor who is also 'impossible' to get into. I'm fortunate to be able to get in at relatively short notice when needed though. My mum also spent time in a large Melbourne hospital many years ago. She nearly died and had a long road to recovery. My brother in law is also a Doctor. My experiences with them have been nothing but positive. Therefor... I have nothing against them and trust them fully. However, I can fully understand where you are coming from.

 

I hope you are beginning to feel better. I'm pleased it is 'not just you' and possibly something that is going around. Not that that probably makes you feel any better. Rest up and hopefully you'll be back on your feet in no time.

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I'm sorry you have had bad experiences with Doctors. I guess it all comes down to what you 'know' so to speak.

 

I have a brilliant Doctor who is also 'impossible' to get into. I'm fortunate to be able to get in at relatively short notice when needed though. My mum also spent time in a large Melbourne hospital many years ago. She nearly died and had a long road to recovery. My brother in law is also a Doctor. My experiences with them have been nothing but positive. Therefor... I have nothing against them and trust them fully. However, I can fully understand where you are coming from.

 

I hope you are beginning to feel better. I'm pleased it is 'not just you' and possibly something that is going around. Not that that probably makes you feel any better. Rest up and hopefully you'll be back on your feet in no time.

 

 

 

 

Thanks Maesie :P we have to be well enough tomorrow to take the kids to the Australia Day Pet Show in Grafton or we'll never hear the end of it! I've spent most of today grooming our Toy Poodle, and I still need to wash the Aussie Shepherd and make the Poodle's costume! Everything seems to take longer when you're sick!

 

I don't hate doctors, quite the contrary, but not all doctors are good - as in any other profession. I also think it's important to do whatever we can for ourselves- after all, it's our health! That's why this forum is so great - I have learnt so much more about budgies than I could have if I just stuck them in a cage with some seed, and went to a vet when they got sick. How many people wake up to find a dead budgie in a cage, only to replace it with another and make the same mistakes that lead to the first's demise? I remember all the budgies my Nanna buried.... :budgiedance:

 

I love researching things and the computer is such as great way to keep up with the latest. My budgies are happy and healthy because of what I learn from the vast knowledge and experience shared by others on this forum. :D

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I'm so sorry you have had so many bad experiences with doctors, I can see why you'd rather do your own research.

What I was meaning was I didn't want you to be wasting time searching on the internet trying to diagnose something that needed treatment then and there. I perceived your husband to be way sicker than he must have been. I have had family members who have been feverish and thought they were going to be fine so put off going to the hospital. Then when they finally went, they were so dehydrated that they had to be put on a drip and were really ill.

The reason why I suggested going to see a doctor rather than googling is; to me some fevers can mean something that is so much more dangerous. Take meningitis for example, that can kill in 48 hours. It would be better to get to emergency help rather than googling the internet while your husband gets worse.

 

I do not have blind faith in doctors at all. I have had several doctors that I have felt very frustrated with. On one occasion one actually just looked up the symptoms for what I had on the internet. I was very angry. Other times I just diagnose myself using the doctor's help (I am a student in the medical profession) because they are so useless. And it frustrates me to no end and it feels like they can't be bothered half the time and here I am suffering in the mean time. It also makes it worse being in the medical profession because I know some of the things they are missing out too. Like it wouldn't hurt them to do proper clinical exams! However during the summer I have access to an excellent doctor.

 

The reason why I told you to stop googling and go see a doctor is because your situation had the possibility of becoming an emergency and if it wasn't an emergency then you also had the chance of scaring yourselves. A fever is something that does not tend to be a long term thing.

I just had this vision of your husband languishing in the background and you feeling ill, but not taking yourself to the hospital because what you googled on the internet said that your symptoms fit X,Y and Z and that you will be fine, when in fact you are something else that needed treatment.

 

I tend to consider emergency staff as very good, because if they aren't; people die. I'm not such a big fan of GP's. Don't get me wrong, there are some absolutely awesome ones out there, but there are also some bad ones that just ruin it for everyone.

 

Otherwise I encourage research on illnesses and such as long as you look at it with an open and logical mind.

In my view, if it is an emergency go straight to the ER, don't waste time googling. If it is a slow progressive condition, disease or non-life threatening condition then do research, because the more you do, the more answers you find, just don't forget to use reason.

 

I was just worried that you would be googling rather than getting treated, so I had to sound mean.

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Thanks Sailorwolf for your response. I agree that people shouldn't research their own health if they have a tendency to think they have everything they find. It's not helpful to worry about illnesses you don't have. I see your point. Don't worry, we were "frequent flyers" at our local ER the first few years of my daughter's life! Sadly the time I mentioned where she had to be checked for "Lamictal Rash" we waited so long that she caught a gastro bug that was going around the hospital and ended up too sick to stand! Years ago my daughter's Paediatrician thought she had a rare Syndrome (Schwachmann-Diamond Syndrome) with a poor prognosis and limited life expectancy. She had many symptoms that seemed to fit. He asked me to find out as much about it as I could, and thankfully I found that it didn't completely fit with her symptoms - kids with the condition are usually short and she's very tall! Also I spoke with some parents on a forum and was told that kids with this Syndrome tend to have a "look" about them which she didn't have. I was so relieved to find out that she didn't have it! We've since figured out what was going on with her, and now she's thriving. :rolleyes: The best thing I ever did was take her to a Naturopath who specialises in Neurological Disorders and lectures at Sydney Uni. She helped a lot. :)

 

Any internet research, or Googling needs to be done with an open, but questioning mind. Not all sources of information are reliable. It sounds like you and I both have the research bug! Good luck with your studies, I'm sure you'll do well! :thumbs_up:

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Thank you :rolleyes:

Yeah, I didn't mean to sound like a meanie. hehe. But it's all good.

 

Yeah I agree you should definitely keep your eyes and ears and mind open when it comes to these things and question.

You sound like a very sensible person.

 

I'm happy your daughter is doing well. And I'm glad everything seems to be doing better for you guys now.

I hope you have a fun day at the Pet show. :thumbs_up:

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