posted
Last summer I had two bullseye rashes on my thigh. I was away on summer vacation, and didn't have them checked out when I returned home, because I figured they were just spider bites.
I've been reading about the rashes lasting a few weeks, but mine only stayed several days before going away.
Since then, though (on hindsight) I've been fatigued and depressed. I started getting tension headaches, sometimes on a daily basis. I've gone to the dr. about strange aches, the headaches and the fatigue. A bit more than a month ago I had the flu, and since then the fatigue has been seriously debilitating.
Other physical symptoms: Have had some disorientation, muscle aches that change location and come and go, blurry vision, short term memory (lack of)
I have another appointment with the doctor tomorrow, the first since I discovered the bullseye rash, etc., and the fact that the rash didn't last very long on me makes me worry I'm overreacting....because it's the rash that has me convinced. That and the fact I felt like a new woman late last fall when I was put on IV ABX for 3 days and oral IBX for 10, to treat an infected dog bite. Those two things really have me convinced.
I guess I'm afraid of coming off as a hypochondriac or something.
[ 03-03-2012, 12:36 AM: Message edited by: tickle ]
Posts: 161 | From vancouver island | Registered: Feb 2012
| IP: Logged |
Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- Why in the world would you think you are being a hypochondriac? Sadly, it's all too real. But you need to see an ILADS-educated doctor, nothing less.
Please be kind to yourself and drop the word "hypochondriac" from your vocabulary - just dismiss it. I'm sorry that apparently you've had doctors or others who have you thinking this about yourself.
A bullseye rash (called Erythema Migrans) can stay any amount of time when it does show. Time does not matter at all, whether an hour or a month.
Few ever get the rash, so you are somewhat lucky in that you at least have that proof. If you had a bullseye rash after a tick bite, that is a classic sign (even if not at the bite site).
If you have a photo, hold on to that. Never give up the original. Take it to your doctor tomorrow.
(What ILADS is) . . . WHY you need an ILADS-educated, Lyme Literate Doctor - starting with assessment / evaluation.
====================
If you did not take a photo, see if you can find a photo that looks something like what you recall. But remember that there is no one certain way it's supposed to look.
Your symptoms and reactions after antibiotic treatment speaks volumes. Be sure your doctor knows this, but only an ILADS-educated LLMD will understand the significance.
[In case you have a youngster nearby at the moment: Young children could be frightened by photos below. There are also some photos of rashes in places on the body that some children may not be prepared to process.]
posted
Thanks so much for your responses. I have the confidence I need when I go to see the Dr. today!
Posts: 161 | From vancouver island | Registered: Feb 2012
| IP: Logged |
Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- Tickle,
Unless you know that the doctor you plan to see today is ILADS-educated, you could be in for an unpleasant surprise.
Be sure to connect with your local and B.C. support groups. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
Just got back from the doctors and want to cry in frustration.
He's sending me for blood tests, said we'll go from there. He seemed unaware that the bullseye rash meant lyme, he said that there has become something of an 'us vs them' situation between patients and doctors. I got the impression he thinks i'm a health lunatic or something. I just about cried in the office.
When I asked what the treatment was if the tests were positive, he said we'll talk about that when the time comes. When I said that often tests came back false negative, he explained it away by saying that it was so long ago that I had the rash, so he seems to think it's history.
I think I'll be needing an ILADS dr in my area!
Posts: 161 | From vancouver island | Registered: Feb 2012
| IP: Logged |
posted
Oh yeah, and he didn't seem to think that a bullseye rash was indicative of limes, he actually said many things can produce that....I even took a picture of it that looked just like mine, which I got from one of Keebler's links.
Overall, I get the impression that it'd be like getting blood from a stone to get treated properly by my doctor. He made some statements that made lyme disease sound like a phantom ailment.
I also got the sense that there was some stigma in the general medical community regarding lyme.
Posts: 161 | From vancouver island | Registered: Feb 2012
| IP: Logged |
Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- You do not need a lyme blood test and any they do will likely not be done correctly. You should be assessed for other tick-borne infections, though, by a LL doctor.
Diagnosing Lyme Disease (&/or whatever else is going on)
===================
I hope you never go back to the this person.
Sorry. It's about what I expected to happen for a "regular" doctor (has happened so many times to me, and to others).
Go to HULU's website and watch "Under Our Skin"
It's a documentary about this very thing. Have kleenex handy but, overall, it's very validating. If you can get the bonus footage, that shows how some have improved.
Take care. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
| IP: Logged |
Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
UNDER OUR SKIN (one hour, 45 minutes) -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
| IP: Logged |
sammy
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 13952
posted
I remember mine stayed over a week. I was surprised because it kept getting bigger and more interesting looking, or so I thought at the time...
I didn't realize that the bull's eye rash was a diagnostic key for Lyme disease. Doctors around here still think its a really rare east coast disease. It took me 4yrs to get the correct diagnosis.
Good luck finding a new doctor tickle. At least now that you have an idea of what might be wrong, you are on the right track to seek treatment and start getting well again Posts: 5237 | From here | Registered: Nov 2007
| IP: Logged |
randibear
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11290
posted
ok, i'll describe mine.
about the size of a fifty cent piece. oily looking top with a white pimple area in the middle. had a scaly looking top.
definitely a bulls eye cause it had a red center, then white, then another red ring.
never did expand. itched like crazy.
lasted about two weeks.
i did try to take a picture but i used my phone and it came out all blurry. sigh...
-------------------- do not look back when the only course is forward Posts: 12262 | From texas | Registered: Mar 2007
| IP: Logged |
'Kete-tracker
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 17189
posted
"He seemed unaware that the bullseye rash meant lyme" WHAT???! You Need to See Another Doctor.
"WHERE were you on vacation last summer?" "What did you do?" "Did you ever notice any TICKS on you at the time?" If he didn't as ALL those questions, you're WASTING YOUR TIME with him, tickle.
There aren't a whole lot'a Lyme-literate doctors on Vancouver Island, B.C. (typically members of ILADS, an int'l group of professionals) Victoria would be your best bet, I suspect.
But you may need to travel to Vancouver, or better yet, Seattle Washington (USA). I Know there are a couple good LLMDs down there.
You need some careful testing & a doc who's up on Lyme to properly diagnose you. Lyme's a clinical diagnosis (see CDC). The current Lyme tests are only ~50% accurate so a negative result (coming this next week?) would mean Nothing. You night as well flip a coin! All it tests for is the presence of specific-length anti-bodies that your body (HOPEFULLY) generated in RESPONSE to the presence of pieces of Lyme spirochetes in your body after they broke up.
Good Luck, & don't put taking care of this off. Your health in a few years may depend on it!
Posts: 1233 | From Dover, NH | Registered: Sep 2008
| 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!
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[dizzy]](graemlins/dizzy.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic