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I had it bad a few years ago (almost caught it too late) and let me just offer some really important advice.

When you go to the doctor they will "test" you for it, and the test for lyme is bullshit and most of the time wrong. I had a HUGE bullseye rash and I had to argue with my doctor because my test came up negative. I let it get to being in the stage of a huge bullseye rash because the first doctor I saw told me that it was just an allergic reaction to a spider bite when it was primarily just a little itchy rash like yours is now. So even if doctors tell you its nothing or you tested negative for it, please INSIST that you get the antibiotics just to be sure.

I'm not a fan of going to the doctor, BTW, but there's just some things you shouldn't fool with, and insect-borne diseases are one of them.

Before you go to the doctor, write down a list of all the not-usual stuff you're feeling: the headaches, etc. This will help them figure out which course of action to take. Lyme disease manifests differently in people, and is sometimes hard to diagnose/treat effectively.

again thanks to all for the advice.

BlackMarketLiver wrote:I had it bad a few years ago (almost caught it too late) and let me just offer some really important advice.

When you go to the doctor they will "test" you for it, and the test for lyme is bullshit and most of the time wrong. I had a HUGE bullseye rash and I had to argue with my doctor because my test came up negative. I let it get to being in the stage of a huge bullseye rash because the first doctor I saw told me that it was just an allergic reaction to a spider bite when it was primarily just a little itchy rash like yours is now. So even if doctors tell you its nothing or you tested negative for it, please INSIST that you get the antibiotics just to be sure.

thanks, theres no way in hell that i will walk out of there without an antibiotic prescription.

Remember Irene? From the Real World?
Shut up, I know you do.

She had lyme disease.

i had lyme disease two years ago. it sucked.

one thing i can tell you is that it is only carried by dear ticks not the more common wood ticks. dear ticks range in size from about the head of a pin to about, i don't know, the head of 4 pins. if you were able to see the heads of the ticks left in your body they were almost certainly wood ticks as the head of a dear tick is microscopic. you may or may not see a red rash in the shape of a bulls eye near the bight. absence of this does not mean you don't have lyme though.

anyhow, get the antibiotics. i live in a lyme hot spot and they will give you a script if you test positive or not or if you have the bulls eye rash or not. it is just not something to fuck around with. i was laid out for a good 2 months when i had it.

elisha wiesner wrote:i had lyme disease two years ago. it sucked.

one thing i can tell you is that it is only carried by dear ticks not the more common wood ticks. dear ticks range in size from about the head of a pin to about, i don't know, the head of 4 pins. if you were able to see the heads of the ticks left in your body they were almost certainly wood ticks as the head of a dear tick is microscopic. you may or may not see a red rash in the shape of a bulls eye near the bight. absence of this does not mean you don't have lyme though.

anyhow, get the antibiotics. i live in a lyme hot spot and they will give you a script if you test positive or not or if you have the bulls eye rash or not. it is just not something to fuck around with. i was laid out for a good 2 months when i had it.

well i have been around lots of rotted wood in the course of this landscaping. and yea i could see the heads still. i'll leave it up to the doctor to decide but my guess is your right, wood ticks... so, the big risk is for other tick-borne diseases? damn. like i said, i know i have a headache. i'll see what the doctor says.

Christopher J. McGarvey wrote:

Kayte R. wrote:Remember Irene? From the Real World?
Shut up, I know you do.

She had lyme disease.

Lymeade

God, her voice is annoying. I couldn't listen to five minutes of that.

Lyme has become the center of my universe, as my wife (apl4eris, another EA poster) has been diagnosed by 2 specialists with the late stage/chronic type. She has been housebound for over 2 years. We have no idea when she got it, but we figure at least 12-15 years ago, based on symptom tracking. Here are the facts:

- Lyme has been found not only in deer ticks, but other ticks, fleas, and mosquitoes. Transmission to humans has not been directly observed from all of these (only the deer and other ticks), but is suspected.

- The longer the tick is attached, the more spirochetes are transferred. if the tick is smashed or the head torn off, it accelerates this process.

- Other infectious agents commonly transferred are babesia(parasite), bartonella, rocky mountain spotted fever, and a whole soup of other virii and mycoplasma/bacteria. You aren't only up against the borrelia (lyme).

- It can only take 24-48 hours to invade the central nervous system (lab tests - time not directly observed in humans). Once there, many antibiotics cannot reach it, as only a few will enter nonvascular tissues. It can lay dormant for years until you get beat down and it can gain a foothold.

- Lyme spirochetes can enter a cyst form to weather lesser antibiotics, and emerge when the coast is clear. video of this process

- Lyme spirochetes can enter an L-form where they shed their cell walls and hide inside your own cells, which can cause it to appear as an autoimmune disorder (Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, etc).

- There are very few Lyme literate doctors. They are being persecuted by insurance companies leaning on state medical boards for providing long term antibiotic therapy, even though the national institutes of health and the CDC acknowledge this protocol. The trouble this causes is that not many docs know how to beat this.

- The tests SUCK. There are over 300 known strains of borrelia, and the ELISA and Western Blot only account for less than 10. The most reliable test is knowing you have been bitten, and have symptoms. If you have a rash, it is proof.

- The costs now will be well worth it relative to the long term treatment if you do not catch it early. The sooner it is treated, the better chance you have.

Run quickly from any doc who does not know what to do when they see the rash. We went through 5 years of misdiagnosis and the treatments for those illnesses only allowed the lyme to take a greater foothold. I would be more than happy to help connect you with more resources, or talk about doctors or meds. One of the best ways to get up to speed is to read through the ILADS materials here.

The other posters were extremely fortunate to get out of this relatively easily, and I certainly hope you do too - you should, with proper diagnosis and treatment. You are already lucky to show symptoms. The rash only shows up about 30% of the time in Lyme patients. Most never know how long they have been infected before it takes a bad turn.

So yeah - nothing to fuck around with.

Good luck. Let me know if we can help.

Jesus,

I go to Scotland every year and am forever being warned about Lymes Disease from tics.

I've never worried about it on account of never having had a tic but I'm going to fucking well worry about it now!

Thank fuck insurance worries don't get piled on top of us in these situations in Blighty.


Hope your missus gets better some time soon Mr Spudboy