Topic: Tick Central. Annually, at least. (warning: tick photos)
Michelle M
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7200
posted
I freaking HATE ticks.
However, ticks LOVE me.
Around this time last year I had a nasty tick bite behind my knee. Accompanied by vicious headaches. Got onto antibiotics double-quick and life returned to normal. (Or what passes for normal around here.)
Yesterday, I found a tick under the waistband of my pants. He was GLUED on but good! However, he pulled straight out easily enough. It was not too frightful looking, as bites go. I took him for a little photo session, seein' how he wasn't doing anything else. Attractive little ixodes pacificus. We have other kinds but this is the most prevalent.
I started high-dose Amoxicillin about five minutes later.
The rash keeps getting bigger and bigger and is hot to the touch. It hurts. It's as if the little wretch poisoned me. I'm not sure this is characteristic of EM rashes. There are no tick parts left in, as you can see from his fetching photo. So I don't know why it keeps getting bigger. The skin is hard all around the reddened part. I've never had an allergic reaction to anything in my life (well, except work, maybe).
The rash photos are from my iPhone and rather low-quality, but you get the idea.
Did anyone's rash do this? What the heck? It's so sore I can hardly bend.
Thanks in advance!
Michelle
Right after removing tick-Saturday:
Today. Ow.
The little wretch: Posts: 3193 | From Northern California | Registered: Apr 2005
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disturbedme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12346
posted
Why does it keep getting bigger?!??? Because it's a lyme rash... doesn't HAVE to be a bulls-eye to mean it infected you with lyme or co-infections. The spirochetes inside the body are what causes the redness to expand outward like that.
I'd definitely call your LLMD and tell them about this bite and get on any other protective antibiotics that he thinks you should be on for a NEW bite like that.
Also keep the tick and possibly have it tested. That is definitely a really good picture you got of him. Ewwww. How I'd love to do some awful things to it for giving us all this awful disease.
-------------------- One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. ~ Helen Keller
My Lyme Story Posts: 2965 | From Land of Confusion (bitten in KS, moved to PA, now living in MD) | Registered: Jun 2007
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Michelle M
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7200
posted
Thanks Disturbed! I was hoping it would quit expanding. Also, it's unbelievable how the skin under the rash has become hard and hot. I'm really wishing it could just be a localized infection. Though I don't know why it would be, since I got all the tick out. Blast it.
Sigh.
The good news is that I am SO much better armed than when I first got lyme. There's no way it stands a chance!
Posts: 3193 | From Northern California | Registered: Apr 2005
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TerryK
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 8552
posted
So sorry you got another bite Michelle.
Perhaps it's infected? Hot to the touch and painful seems like an infection.
Terry
Posts: 6286 | From Oregon | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
Have you got any GSE in the liquid form? It helped me.
-------------------- Dying is easy. Living is harder. Posts: 257 | From owensboro kentucky | Registered: Mar 2008
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Michelle M
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7200
posted
Hi Terry. Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. Who knows what kind of infection-soup that tick had? Abigail, is GSE grapefruit seed extract? I've read good things about that. For the moment it's Amoxicillin till I speak with my LLMD tomorrow, then we'll see. Hopefully it will ease up soon. Can't believe how much it hurts. Almost forgot how much fun this ISN'T!! Posts: 3193 | From Northern California | Registered: Apr 2005
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charlie
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 25
posted
If you've got some bactrim and/or artemesinin stashed away it wouldn't hurt to try to short circuit the possibility of babs before it takes hold also...
Posts: 2804 | From Texas | Registered: Oct 2000
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Michelle M
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7200
posted
Good idea. Thanks, Charlie. I do have Artemisinin from having babesia before. I actually still have Mepron, for that matter. Still a walkin' pharmacy if you look in my medicine cabinet! Though I know the cycline drugs get discarded (tetra, mino, etc).
Posts: 3193 | From Northern California | Registered: Apr 2005
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lymeberry
Unregistered
posted
Sorry about your new bite. Did you pick that guy up hiking or gardening or just in your yard?
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bettyg
Unregistered
posted
not again michelle! you just can't get a break and where you found it!! uffda
great photos; wow, it's huge today! so glad you still have abx there to start immediately.
so sorry it's so painful and hard. glad you're calling your llmd TODAY! my best and prayer headed your way michelle.
posted
Dear Michelle, Thank goodness you got that little sucker! Make him suffer! When I suspect I was bitten, I never saw a tick. However, I had a blotchy red rash all around my waist. It felt hot, too.
There is some good news, though. A friend of mine was bitten again after her Lyme diagnosis, and is doing very well now. Treatment actually did not change that much for her, and now she is doing everything! Having Dr. H does not hurt, either. As long as your doctor stays on top of it, you should be alright.
posted
Yes,GSE is grapefruit seed extract and it comes in a liquid form you can smear all over that erythema and maybe kill the buggers before they go down deeper.
-------------------- Dying is easy. Living is harder. Posts: 257 | From owensboro kentucky | Registered: Mar 2008
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Michelle M
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7200
posted
Thanks Abigail. I hadn't heard any antibiotics could penetrate the skin. Interesting. BettyG, nice to "see" you! LymeBerry, I'm thinking I just picked it up in my yard as I haven't been hiking or gardening yet but have been in the yard plenty.
Jin, I'm glad your friend is doing better. I feel lucky to have seen the tick or I'd suspect a spider bite or something due to the huge EM-ish rash.
This morning the rash is even bigger, expanding down into my groin area. I'll decline to post more pictures as this is a family board!! Posts: 3193 | From Northern California | Registered: Apr 2005
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Vermont_Lymie
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9780
posted
Sounds like my rash -- very rapidly expanding. Yes, that is characteristic of lyme rashes too!
Sorry to hear this Michelle, though you certainly caught it early! You must live in a very tick-happy area!
You are doing exactly what I would be doing, taking high dose amoxy and calling my doctor. Hope you get rid of that rash and new exposure soon!!!
Posts: 2557 | From home | Registered: Aug 2006
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blinkie
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 14470
posted
Michelle, I live in California and this is exactly what my rash looked like. But, the center of mine was black, I think it was the little bugger still attached. I know it was hot and swollen but don't remember it hurting.
I already had lyme from some other source, but this second bite is what disabled me.
Although, I had a bite one other time that was similar to that and it hurt badly. It was on my calf muscle and it hurt so bad icould not flex my leg at all for days. I thought it was a spider bite, now, who knows.
Sorry you got bit again but I know you are well prepared and you should not hesitate to load up on many different things.
Have you been in remission and now this bite happened?
Posts: 1104 | From N.California | Registered: Jan 2008
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bettyg
Unregistered
posted
quote:Originally posted by Michelle M:
BettyG, nice to "see" you! .
This morning the rash is even bigger, expanding down into my groin area. I'll decline to post more pictures as this is a family board!!
michelle, i see your wonderful sense of humor is still there .... "as this is a family board"! lol
nice to see you also; but wished it were not this way; ouch! xox
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posted
Dear Michelle, It is inspiring knowing my friend is doing so well. I can certainly see why you would easily mistake the rash for a spider bite. They do look similar. My rash did not expand, but itched something terrible and was a band about two inches thick across my waistline. However, I may have had Lyme from my mother, who knows for sure she was bitten as a teenager.
Mom has not been tested. She does have symptoms, but refuses to associate them with Lyme. Her hormonal issues and depression definitely fit. Osteoarthritis is probably related to Lyme as well. Every single time you turn around, there is one more thing ticks are responsible for.
posted
I had one bite where I found the adult tick crawling on me and the rash was a shapeless red blotch on my thigh. In the following weeks I started to get red blotches other places from that same bite. My LLMD 3 weeks later still could see a faint red blotch on my back.
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Michelle M
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Member # 7200
posted
Thank you Vermont, dear BettyG, Blinky, Jin, and Lymeberry. Vermont, it's funny you say that - my LLMD's office today told me I need to move to somewhere with concrete all around!! Ha! Of course they're joking. There's an atrocious number of ticks up here. The price of living in the mountains.
Blinkie, thanks for asking..yes, I treated from 2005-2007. In 2008 (late winter last year) I got bitten again, behind the knee, and treated some more. As for remission, I'm a few cards short of a deck but for all practical purposes, back to my idea of normal.
If you have the stomach for it, here's last year's bite:
A pox on all quacks who say you can't get lyme in the winter!! Aargh!!
Jin, I hope you convince your mom to test. My LLMD believes a huge majority of Alzheimers cases are actually lyme infection in the brain. And so much more can be attributed to the little curses.
Lymeberry, I'm glad you caught your rash. My first one a few years back was not that impressive at all. The one last year was slightly nastier, but this one tops them.
My doc instructs me I am to go on Doxy YESTERDAY. Bleah. I was holding out a feeble hope for Amoxicillin, but no. Time to suck it up.
I escaped coinfections with my last bite. though not my first. I'm hoping I stay lucky. Thanks for the good wishes!! Posts: 3193 | From Northern California | Registered: Apr 2005
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charlie
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 25
posted
....not to second guess the LLMD but I have to at least question, why is doxy such a panacea?? It didn't do anything for the two lymies in this household and high dose amox while pulling the tick off did...reason is doxy takes at least a couple of days for your body to mount an immune response.
Amox gets it right while its in the bloodstream.
just my feeble non professional musing.
Charlie
Posts: 2804 | From Texas | Registered: Oct 2000
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Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
"My doc instructs me I am to go on Doxy YESTERDAY"
Good thing he said to do that. I was scrolling down fat to tell you the same thing.
Often when the rash is hot, inflamed or "not typical" it involves coinfections... and doxy is necessary as a first line of defense.
Amoxy later? Ask him... but I am glad he picked up on that ASAP.
Good luck!
And I guess the ticks in your yard didn't get the message last time around that they are living in a danger zone with YOU around.
treepatrol
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 4117
posted
Get on doxy and biaxin xl.
-------------------- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Remember Iam not a Doctor Just someone struggling like you with Tick Borne Diseases.
5dana8
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7935
posted
sorry to heat this mel I second tree's & Tin's suggestion to get on the doxy asasp hope you can feel better soon. Healing hugs
-------------------- 5dana8 Posts: 4432 | From some where over the rainbow | Registered: Sep 2005
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Michelle M
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7200
posted
Hey Charlie, 5dana8, and TC. That's intriguing; never heard that coinfections might be the cause of a particularly nasty rash. Charlie, how I WISH it was something other than doxy. Amoxicillin doesn't seem to have the rep for killing off the other coinfections (ehrlichia, etc) that doxy does. My stomach and head already protest and I just started today. Last time I was on doxy, I cooked my fingernails and fried myself despite best efforts not to.
I'm going to treat for the worst and assume the best... It worked really well for me last year. Getting on antibiotics immediately seems to be really key, at least for me. But then, most of us didn't have that choice initially as we didn't know what was wrong.
Posts: 3193 | From Northern California | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
Dear Michelle, Wow! That tick from last year's bite was really in deep! Interestingly, an elderly gentleman I was speaking to in the waiting room at the hospital before my blood draw said he had been bitten recently. He assumed it was a mole at first, since the spot was so small. Fortunately, he is doing well after the tick removal and abx. If I had to guess which co-infection I have based on the rash, I think I would go with Babesia.
However, Bartonella is a good possibility as a result of all of the digestive issues I have. I am definitely wanting Mom to get tested. Hopefully, Dad will get this job he was trying for. They need good insurance! I also am very familiar with Lyme being a major contributor to Alzheimer's.
I cannot help but wonder if my grandmother has Lyme, because she is said to have Alzheimer's. Honestly, it is aggravating this angle is ignored by the medical community. Mercury almost always was present in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, which is present in many with Lyme. There is no way this is all coincidence! The annoying thing here is the mainstream medical community refuses to pursue these ideas with further study.
What everyone mentioned about Amoxy may explain some things. The last time I took it, I actually developed a sore throat, stiff neck, and a bit of a headache and jaw pain. I never reacted that way on it before. After three days, that went away. However, on the fourth day, I began getting diarrhea and nausea. Something similar happened the last time I took Flagyl, despite never having issues with it before.
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When I suspect I was bitten, I never saw a tick. However, I had a blotchy red rash all around my waist. It felt hot, too. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Having Dr. H does not hurt, either. As long as your doctor stays on top of it, you should be alright.![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
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