Dawn Williams
I'm sorry to hear that you caught this disease, as doctors do not take long term and/or recurrent effects seriously at all. My son and I had what appeared to be fifth disease 1 1/2 years ago, but because the "slap" portion of the rash had already faded, it was (and still is) misdiagnosed as a plethora of other things. If you have pain, forgetfulness or other "unexplained" symptoms that seem to come and go along with the rash, my advice to you is to find an infectious disease doctor (do VERY careful research - talk to current and prior patients if possible) and ask to be tested for lyme disease, as it can present with the same type of rash. This is one bad bug, too, so if there is any doubt, try to find someone knowledgable in lyme and get treatment asap. Now, since 5th is viral in nature (meaning antibiotics have no effect), if you really did have it, you can and probably will have symptoms recur (rash and musculoskeletal pain predominantly) for up to 4 years before you may see relief. Doctors poo-poo this, however, even though it is documented to have occurred in several patients with "weak resistance" in many of the more prominant medical journals, and will run you through a series of tests for everything under the sun trying to find the "cause". All you can really do for yourself is treat the symptoms. Drink a LOT of water - about a glassful every 2 hours - take 2000 to 4000 mg of Vit C every day, benadryl (or similar) for itch, and get lots of rest. Be sure to also avoid the sun at all costs, or at least wear a high value sunblock, as this rash tends to be sun-triggered (as are the atypical lyme rashes). Good luck! I know what you are going through, and it is certainly no fun at all.