So..looking back I have no memory of a tick bite, nor did I have a rash that I noticed. I'm not saying a tick bite is out of the question...I live in coastal Massachusetts and ticks / lyme is hyperendemic here.
However...I do remember last year having several bites on my leg. I can't remember exactly when, other than it was in the spring / early summer. I assumed they were spider bites as I have had those before. They were red welts that really itched and were defiitely a but bite of some type. It was like the bug walked up my leg and took three bites out of me.
I'm not wondering if this isn't when I contracted Lyme. It is the only bites I had in the last year. I know some say spiders transmit lyme...but just curious what others say.
Posted by jenny76 (Member # 18205) on :
I am very curious about this as well. I have heard recently that it's not only ticks that carry Lyme and Co's. Spiders and mosquitos too. I have heard this from more than a handful of people and wonder if this can be the case. Hummm...hope some respond.
Posted by nspiker (Member # 22824) on :
I have wondered the same thing.
I've never been bitten by a tick, that I know of, and yet remember many mosquito bites and one large brown recluse spider bite. My arm swelled up with a big blister, and was given short-term antibiotics.
Posted by hadlyme (Member # 6364) on :
I was never bitten by a tick that I can remember either. I remember a big bite/rash from a horsefly years ago...?? I do go to a LLMD that is pretty cutting edge. He got into the lyme arena only by having his 'normal' patients come in with spider or flea bites that were suddenly sick. He does believe that any vector can spread this disease. But does also say, it is our DNA that decides on who fights it and who doesn't. As I said... he is cutting edge, and has his own lab in which he does his studies. For me, it makes sense since I never had a tick bite or rash. Someday soon I hope his papers are published on all this. He talks at many lyme conferences about this connection and a lyme induced Autism.
Posted by mmcmann (Member # 21872) on :
I wondered about this too, because shortly before the vertigo set in, I had what looked like a spider bite on my shin - I remember showing my husband and he agreed looked def like a spider bite.
But then I hear people say tick bites can be mistaken for spider bites.
Lyme is one big conundrum.
Posted by stephfino (Member # 23599) on :
I also woke up one night with "bug" bites on my leg- thought something must have gotten in past the air conditioner in the window, or either a spider.
It turned into a strnage rash that lasted 6 weeks. The Derm bioposied it twice with no definitive answer to what it was.
Started having lyme symptoms weeks after and have been sick ever since. I have never been bitten by a tick that I know of-even though I live in "ticktopia" here in NJ.
Posted by Michael_Venice (Member # 17254) on :
Mine started soon after I had what I thought to be spider bites on my legs. I remembered joking with my brother about them (he saw them and asked when my 'spidey senses' would kick in).
I hardly thought about it, really. I mean, I wasn't worried...
Looking back, maybe they WERE spider bites, maybe something else. Maybe related, maybe not. I'll never know.
Posted by sparkle7 (Member # 10397) on :
I think we need the tick saliva to be infected. It suppresses the immune system. There may be an infinite number of variations on this theme, though. There may be undiscovered mutations of what we know as Lyme, bartonella, babesia, etc.
It could be spread by ticks, fleas, spiders, flies... It may not necessarily be "classic Lyme borrelia". There may be many different variations but they all make us sick.
And then you throw in mold, fungus, yeast, heavy metal toxicity, viruses, retrovirusus... It's a mess.
Posted by cordor (Member # 9449) on :
I had undiagnosed and untreated lyme for years. (was told I had MS) I was doing ok until shortly after getting ATTACKED by a brown recluse spider while down in North Carolina visiting my daughter. I was bit in my sleep, nine times on the backs of my legs. The itching was very intense and lasted for quite awhile. Then the skin started turning necrotic (literally turned black) and you could also actually see the little tiny "fang" marks.
Ever since that happened in 2001, my health has gone downhill. PCR blood test for lyme in 2003 came up positive.
I did have a bullseye rash back in 1977- but don't remember much else about it. Never went to the doctor for it either.
Posted by ott70 (Member # 18237) on :
I could be wrong but I don't think spiders are considered a parasite carrier like ticks and mosquitos. They definitely don't breed and carry on hosts like ticks and mosquitos. Spiders are also not blood-suckers.
Posted by lemonlime (Member # 25975) on :
I have read and was told by my doc that lyme gets transmitted by ticks, horseflys, mosquitos and sexual relations- amazing really.
Now lets suppose for a minute that when lyme was created it was created with other boogers and maybe like a time release capsule, they unload into our blood stream - I have read that Lyme was created in a lab back east and i read that sometimes lyme bac's contain a parasite. Crazy huh?
So why can't spiders carry lyme? I don't know - just a crazy thought. Or mabe the spider carries a parasite and the parasite carries the lyme or co's.
Posted by sparkle7 (Member # 10397) on :
Seeing how squirting a peppermint-water spray would kill flies in mid-air, I wondered what pure oil would do. So I did an experiment on a brown recluse spider. I captured a live one in a jar and carefully placed one drop of peppermint on one side.
The pure peppermint repelled the spider who crowded to the otherside to avoid the oil. When I tipped the jar to force the spider to fall into the oil, it merely squirmed and got away, still repelled by the oil, but not apparently harmed. Then I put a drop of water with the oil and tipped the jar so that the spider slid into the water and oil together and, instantly, it shrivled up died.
Conclusion: The oil alone is an insect repellant. Combined with water, it is an insecticide.
Posted by ICEiam (Member # 7519) on :
I have been told and read that tick bites do not itch. However, since I have never been bit by a tick that I know of, I can't say for sure.
I have also read and been told that any insect that sucks blood can pass Lyme and co infections. That would include head lice and the other bugs that suck blood.
The head lice sure would explain all the cases of Autism in the school aged children. This Lyme thing has gotten more curious as time goes on.
However, spiders do not suck blood....I would really like the answer about this one too.
Posted by cordor (Member # 9449) on :
I have been told that Brown Recluse spiders release a very powerful toxin (reason for my skin dying and turning black)and MAYBE that toxin stirs up otherwise "quiet and undiagnosed" lyme disease. Just a thought.