posted
i have been doing more research and came across this.
"The rash may appear within a day of the bite or as late as a month later. This rash may start as a small, reddish bump about one-half inch in diameter. It may be slightly raised or flat. It soon expands outward, often leaving a clearing (normal flesh color) in the center. It can enlarge to the size of a thumb-print or cover a persons back.
Don't confuse a local reaction to a tick bite, with signs of infection. A small inflamed skin bump or discoloration that develops within hours of a bite and over the next day or two is not likely to be due to infection - but rather a local reaction to the disruption of the skin."
so here is my concern. does the em rash expand or not?
mine stayed about the size of a quarter for a day or two then went away.
please let me know if your rash expanded or not and if this is correct. that statement makes it sound like if your rash did not expand, you don't have lyme.............
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posted
HI, My rash did not expand it was a little bigger than a quarter but not a lot. It was round and had a clear center to it with a small dot in the middle. It had appeared about 3 to 4 weeks after my symptoms started. The doctor told me it was ring worm and not related to my symptoms. I wanted to punch her when she said that. She said the chances of getting bit by a tick that has lyme is near zero. I took pictures of it and had a second opinion. Marcie
Posts: 323 | From Michigan | Registered: Sep 2006
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posted
HI, My rash did not expand it was a little bigger than a quarter but not a lot. It was round and had a clear center to it with a small dot in the middle. It had appeared about 3 to 4 weeks after my symptoms started. The doctor told me it was ring worm and not related to my symptoms. I wanted to punch her when she said that. She said the chances of getting bit by a tick that has lyme is near zero. I took pictures of it and had a second opinion. Marcie
Posts: 323 | From Michigan | Registered: Sep 2006
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Jill E.
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9121
posted
I had one EM rash - but I thought it was a weird flea bite at the time because I was feeding a cat.
Mine was big - about five inches long, thin and oblong in size. But it was very faint - could barely see it. It was right on my shin so I thought I had skinned my shin. It wasn't like it expanded - it was just there one moment in its full size according to my eye.
My rash disappeared by the next morning.
On my first consultation with my LLMD, when I said my rash went away overnight, he thought it did not sound like a typical Lyme rash which can last a long time. But I have since found a photo of a similar rash to mine in a Lyme book and it was called a Faint Rash.
In contrast, my dad was bitten two months ago. He got two very angry, splotchy purple rashes that of course local doctors assume is something like vasculitis. I knew it was Lyme based on similar photos from a California Lyme Disease Association brochure I had. These rashes were about four inches each, but I guess they expanded a little.
He later got a classic bulls-eye but was already on antibiotics and it did not spread.
He then got a series of secondary EMs that were each small - less than the size of a quarter - and did not expand. But again, he was already on antibiotics.
I wonder if being on antibiotics might keep the rash from expanding.
From what I learned from my experience and my dad's is that there don't seem to be any hard and fast rules about EMs. I know EMs are supposed to expand - that's what my Lyme doc says - but maybe that's true with the initial EM but not always with secondary ones.
Jill
-------------------- If laughter is the best medicine, why hasn't stand-up comedy cured me? Posts: 1773 | From San Diego | Registered: Apr 2006
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AliG
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9734
posted
Hi Geniveve!
Here's some food for thought: A lot of people who get Lyme, never even have a rash.
Mine was similar to Marcie's only it appeared pretty quickly and stayed for about a week. (I think)
I have Lyme and Babesiosis, that I know of, so far.
Ali
-------------------- Note: I'm NOT a medical professional. The information I share is from my own personal research and experience. Please do not construe anything I share as medical advice, which should only be obtained from a licensed medical practitioner. Posts: 4881 | From Middlesex County, NJ | Registered: Jul 2006
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AliG
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Member # 9734
posted
This one's for Jill-
I got a second bite 10 days into treatment for the first. I sat and watched that puupy spread about 3 inches. I don't know what that means, but it was creepy!
-------------------- Note: I'm NOT a medical professional. The information I share is from my own personal research and experience. Please do not construe anything I share as medical advice, which should only be obtained from a licensed medical practitioner. Posts: 4881 | From Middlesex County, NJ | Registered: Jul 2006
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Jill E.
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9121
posted
quote:Originally posted by AliG: This one's for Jill-
I got a second bite 10 days into treatment for the first. I sat and watched that puupy spread about 3 inches. I don't know what that means, but it was creepy!
Hi,
I did say to my dad it was very possible he had multiple bites. That's what worried me - where was he coming in contact with the bugs given that he spends almost all his time taking me to the doctors'!
Good luck with your situation, Jill
-------------------- If laughter is the best medicine, why hasn't stand-up comedy cured me? Posts: 1773 | From San Diego | Registered: Apr 2006
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posted
My Em rash started out the size of a dime and slowly expanded to the size of a large grapefruit over the next 2 weeks! It took about 6 months to go away with treatment.
After treatment was stopped, it returned within 2 weeks. Close to the original location, except this time it was 2 or 3 smaller bullseyes.
Posts: 195 | From NJ | Registered: Nov 2003
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