1) How long did it take to form after the bite? 2) How long did it last?
My son was probably bit late last week. Saturday had an itchy/swelling area an inch by two, and Sunday had a pretty well defined bright, hot pink ring about 3 inches in diameter. Today it's pretty well faded.
Doc said it couldn't be lyme because they don't form that quickly, and suggested a prophylactic dose of 100 mg doxy if we were really concerned. One dose, not 100 mg for a couple of weeks.
I'd really like to hear other experiences.
Posted by BackinStOlaf (Member # 23725) on :
Stupid doc...get thee to a LLMD stat!!
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
A day or so after the bite, I got an itchy, small swollen area, like a hive (big as a nickel), on my arm in the late evening.
The next day, it started getting red. By the evening, it was 3 1/2 inches in diameter.
The rash lasted over 3 weeks, then began to fade. What really lasted was the red spot at the site of the bite.
I got to my lyme doc within a week. He put me on 2 antibiotics for 30 days, with instructions of what to do if I got symptoms. I went back after 30 days of treatment. I still had the red dot at site of the bite. He said that red dot could last up to 6 months.
I doubt your doc was a specialist in lyme disease. No lyme specialist would give a person one dose of doxy for a tick bite with rash. That's taking an awfully big risk with a person's life.
I've told you how my now famous lyme doc treated my rash.
I completed my lyme treatment 5 years ago, and I have been symptom-free, enjoying my life, ever since. The new bite happened in late August of 2008. It never gave me any symptoms except the rash, and a mild herx on day 3 of the medications.
The 2 meds I was given treated lyme, ehrlichia, babesiosis, and bartonella. So, I consider that proper treatment. When you are first bitten, it is too soon to test for tick-borne diseases. That takes weeks for your body to form antibodies. So, the correct thing to do is TREAT.
I get that from the Dr. Joseph Burrascano lyme treatment guidelines. You might want to refer to them to see what he says about treating a tick bite with rash.
Here's what he says:
"After a tick bite, serologic tests (ELISA. IFA, western blots, etc.) are not expected to become positive until several weeks have passed. Therefore, if EM [the rash] is present, treatment must begin immediately, and one should not wait for results of Borrelia tests. You should not miss the chance to treat early disease, for this is when the success rate is the highest. Indeed, many knowledgeable clinicians will not even order a Borrelia test in this circumstance." (p. 7)
Also:
"EARLY LOCALIZED - Single erythema migrans with no constitutional symptoms: 1) Adults: oral therapy- must continue until symptom and sign free for at least one month, with a 6 week minimum. 2) Pregnancy: 1st and 2nd trimesters: I.V. X 30 days then oral X 6 weeks 3rd trimester: Oral therapy X 6+ weeks as above. Any trimester- test for Babesia and Ehrlichia 3) Children: oral therapy for 6+ weeks." (p. 19)
TF: which antibiotics were you on that treated all of those?
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
Doxycycline (treats lyme and ehrlichia) and Bactrim DS (treats bartonella and babesiosis).
Posted by massman (Member # 18116) on :
That doc is pretending he knows. Get aNOTHER
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
DANG!!! I wish you could have taken a picture of the rash!! If it shows up again (and it could) get a pic of it!! Put a ruler next to it and possibly his face in the pic and/or the date of a newspaper.
the bullseye rash is DIAGNOSTIC of Lyme.
I would want 300-400mg of doxy per day for any child of mine .. they need to escape this H*** of lyme before it starts!
Thanks TF, that's the kind of info I was looking for.
Anybody have a bullseye come and go in a 36 hour span?
For the other comments:
He's young (early teenager), and the 100 mg dose was calculated based on body weight.
The PA we saw was just using standard IDSA methodology. I'm painfully aware of the limits of those guidelines. We didn't find an attached tick so don't know if a) it was a tick for sure or b) how engorged it was/how long it was attached. Since he's in the woods every day I can't point to a day and say he must have gotten bit *then*.
So what I've got to date is some kind of bite, a red rash that came and went in 36 hours, and symptoms that may be starting to form and which I'm watching very closely. I'm just looking for more data points on the rash:)
Thanks,
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Doesn't really matter how long the tick was attached. I THINK it can go away that quickly... anybody know??
So your son must be very tiny if he was given only 100mg??? Still seems WAY too low to kill this out. Not unless he weighs like 60 lbs maybe.