Around 2+ days ago, 60hrs or so, I started scratching a few mosquito bites that I got while at work sitting in an office. I walked around the rest of the day, itching it on and off, and noticed when I got home that it was a giant purple hard welt about the size of a baseball with an outer section that was really itchy.
Now, it looks almost like a bullseye, but I understand that insects other than ticks can cause this type of reaction as well, if you are allergic or have a bad reaction.
I have no fever, no aches, no pain, just an itchy purple welt that almost looks like a brown recluse bite, but I know it was from a mosquito.
Does this sound like Lyme to any of you? I know for certain this was a mosquito, as it first manifested itself just like the other 3-4 bites I got at the same time. I put some benadryl cream only on this particular bite, and a few hours later is when I noticed it turning dark purple like I got hit with a baseball or something.
Should I be concerned about Lyme knowing this wasn't a tick, and that I don't have fever, and just have a almost-bullseye looking rash/bruise that has been there for 70hrs post-bite?
Thanks for any info you can provide!
Posts: 3 | From florida | Registered: Jun 2010
| IP: Logged |
From what I've read though, this type of reaction can happen with a Spider as well, bruising, etc.
Doesn't lyme take a little while to develop? I mean, to be bit in the morning and have a circle bruise less than 10hrs later?
Posts: 3 | From florida | Registered: Jun 2010
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'd take a picture! My daughter gets "welts" from Mosquito bites...it could be just that! Just my opinion.
Posts: 501 | From Hudson Ticky Valley, NY | Registered: Aug 2009
| IP: Logged |
posted
I think mosquitoes can spread it if they have just bitten an infected animal prior to biting you....
but in this case, I would take a pic of the bite/bruise and wait and see.
If you begin to have ANY symptoms, head to your doctor's office!!
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
| IP: Logged |
Hoosiers51
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 15759
posted
I read recently that the bullseye rash develops anywhere from 3-30 days after the bite. If you type into Google "lyme EM 3-30" a lot will pop up. (EM is the abbreviation for the erythema migrans rash).
So my hope is that this is not Lyme.
If there could be a possibility that you were bit by a tick a couple days ago and had no idea (many never see the tick that bit them and thus have no way of knowing)....I would be more suspicious.
I am not a doctor though, and erring on the side of caution is always best.
But if it did appear 10 hours after the bite in question, I would say you can be pretty sure at least THAT bite wasn't Lyme. Though I also see it as, "anything can happen." So who knows. Again, I am not a doctor.
Also, if a recent quote from Dr. Burrascano was correct, he says early stage Lyme requires 4-6 weeks of 400 mg Doxy a day. I assume you would treat longer if symptoms persist. That is IF it turns out to be Lyme.
posted
Lyme rashes are diagnostic of Lyme, however they were transmitted. If you get sufficient treatment immediately, you might be able to head it off completely.
If it is Lyme and you ignore it, the consequences could be extremely serious and last for years or the rest of your life. If I were in your shoes, I would consider the risk just too high to ignore it, and would demand the high dose of antibiotics until several months after all symptoms disappeared. It could save you years of terrible suffering and tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Once you get on the right treatment, then you can see how your symptoms react to it, and you can research what else it could be if it isn't Lyme.
If you're wrong and it turns out to have been a spider bite or an allergy to a mosquito, the risks of a few months of antibiotics (frequently given out for viral infections and minor cosmetic skin conditions) are much less than the risks of years of untreated Lyme.
I have heard rumors of people who claimed to have gotten Lyme from a mosquito. There is so much that scientists don't know about its transmission that it could be possible. You do not have to have a fever to have Lyme. The symptoms vary widely in different people.
The EM rash (an expanding rash around the bite site, which may or may not look like a bullseye) is one of the few symptoms that is diagnostic of Lyme disease by itself. Many of us are not lucky enough to get one.
Definitely take a picture, on multiple days, with the date and a quarter or something for size. Then you can prove that you had one and that it was expanding.
I agree with whoever said "Tell them it was a tick." You will never get a mainstream doctor to believe that you got Lyme disease from a mosquito, even if you did.
-------------------- Don't forget to laugh! And when you're going through hell, keep going!
Bitten 5/25/2009 in Perry County, Indiana. Diagnosed by LLMD 12/2/2009. Posts: 756 | From Inside the tunnel | Registered: Jan 2010
| IP: Logged |
The rash didn't ever expand, it was that big from 5-6 hours postbite, and is still about that big today, 3 days later, although it is quite a bit lighter, and a lot of the redness has gone away.
By nightime when I noticed how red it was, a huge section of my leg was red, with a dark patch in the middle. Now the dark patch remains, but is lighter, and the lighter red is now all gone. It seems to have contracted, rather than expanded.
I looked at a lot, and I mean, A LOT of pictures online of lyme EM, and what I have really doesn't look like it, it's more of a bruise than a rash, and looks more like I got hit with a baseball.
I still have some bruising, but still haven't had any fever, headaches, aches, or anything. I've been checking temperature 4x's a day.
I have pictures that I've been taking since about 12hrs after I noticed I was bitten. That's when it started to bruise. I will show pictures to a doctor tomorrow to get some more input.
Posts: 3 | From florida | Registered: Jun 2010
| IP: Logged |
lpkayak
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5230
posted
i almost died from a mosquito bite. i tld the doc i thought it was a bullseye and i wanteddoxy. they said they couldn't see me for 2 days. when i got there it was "cellulitis" and spreading. she wanted me in an ambulance to the hospital. i was in for a week. they had to cut out the infection twice and vanco was the only abx that wold stop it.
they never agreed it was lyme but my llmds think it probably was
-------------------- Lyme? Its complicated. Educate yourself. Posts: 13712 | From new england | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged |
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
| IP: Logged |
Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- I'm glad your rash does not look like a borrelia EM - of any of the photos you have seen. Still, I do hope your doctor takes this very seriously. It's far better to spend effort ruling it out than trying to treat it if it is lyme and develops unchecked.
I knew a LLMD who was at a picnic and saw a friend get bitten by a mosquito. Within 20 minutes, a bulls eye rash developed. He was later determined to be positive for lyme.
posted
I have heard people describe their rashes as looking like a bruise.
I wasn't lucky enough to get one at all.
-------------------- Don't forget to laugh! And when you're going through hell, keep going!
Bitten 5/25/2009 in Perry County, Indiana. Diagnosed by LLMD 12/2/2009. Posts: 756 | From Inside the tunnel | Registered: Jan 2010
| IP: Logged |
linky123
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 19974
posted
My son got into a bunch of seed ticks at age 10. The rash started almost immediately and became several distinct bullseyes the next day.
At one point he looked bruised. Our llmd told us it was common for a lyme rash to look like a bruise. It does not have to look like a bullseye.
I wish I had known then what I know now. He got the usual 2 weeks of doxy, and suffered the consequences.
Plz take this seriously and get tx right away from a lyme doc.
-------------------- 'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.' Matthew 11:28 Posts: 2607 | From Hooterville | Registered: Apr 2009
| IP: Logged |
The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:
The
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey 907 Pebble Creek Court,
Pennington,
NJ08534USA http://www.lymenet.org/
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic