posted
I have noticed that since starting treatment, I have red cheeks that don't seem to get any better. The redness is not hot to the touch, and doesn't burn and isn't itchy. Is this just another fun symptom of Lyme, or could it be due to the doxy? Or could it be the sign of neededing to detox. I'm sure someone else has noticed this too!! Thanks.
-------------------- 26 months of treatment. And counting....... Posts: 298 | From Northeast Kansas | Registered: Oct 2006
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One of the telltale signs of a flareup for me is red cheeks -- no rash, no itchiness -- just constant red face.
I also get red if I'm allergic to something chemical or herbal or otherwise... I started out on rocephin with a red face all the time for about two months and then it subsided. My LLMD referred to it as "that Lyme look."
It will eventually calmed down for me, but comes back when I herx.
Best O'best,
wiserforit
Posts: 508 | From Banks of the Hudson | Registered: Jul 2006
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Carol in PA
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 5338
posted
Could this be due to sun sensitivity?
Carol
Posts: 6947 | From Lancaster, PA | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
This is so strange. I have been wondering this myself.
Everytime I run into someone they ask me if I just got back from vacation. Wish I had.
I have had about 10 people say to me you have a lot of color, etc.
I notice it too, first I thought I might have put too much makeup on.
I am not itchy, doesn't burn or anything.
So what's up? My eyes feel puffy and blurry, but that's not new. Some days worse than others.
My redness in under my eyes and on cheeks.
Could this be toxins coming out?
Karen
Posts: 151 | From Massachusetts | Registered: Nov 2006
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tdtid
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10276
posted
Again, just another opinion. I had this happening BEFORE my diagnosis.
They kept telling me that I must have lupus because my rash on my fash looked like a lupus butterfly rash.
I never tested positive for lupus and they basically gave up on the rash and went off on diagnosising me with other crazy things.
With that said, I can say from personal experience that it DOES happen in lyme. Even more, in one place I read symptoms, this was listed.
If only I had known and stopped all the constant tests for lupus due to pain and this RASH, I could have gotten treatment sooner.
I not saying this is what is going on with you, but I do know in my case, I had it as one of my SYMPTOMS of my "mystery illness" that ended five years later as being Lyme positive.
Good luck and hopefully you won't scab up like I did when it got very bad. MD.'s have no clue about it, so don't bother asking.
Check with your LLMD if it becomes bothersome.
Cathy
-------------------- "To Dream The Impossible Dream" Man of La Mancha Posts: 2638 | From New Hampshire | Registered: Oct 2006
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posted
Funny I didn't notice the red face either. Recently at an immunologist appt. He said he was going to prescribe me some metro gel for the roseca I had. I don't think it looks like roseca it is just red sometimes. Yes, like the other poster said lyme can cause a malar rash too. It is not unique to Lupus, even though some ducks believe it is.
Posts: 649 | From United States | Registered: Dec 2003
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posted
My llmd says that my red cheeks are a symptom of bartonella. I've just started treatment for it...I'll let you know what happens.
Posts: 132 | From Kentucky | Registered: Dec 2004
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That is very interesting that your LLMD says its Bartonella. I had a positive test for Bart, and I have gotten the red cheek stuff for a very long time since I was a teenager. Its like someone drew a line under my eyes from white to red. Mine does get warm and it looks like I had always had too much to drink when I wasn't drinking.
I actually had it yesturday, and I haven't had it in a long time.... and it seemed to be going away.
But..... I used my infarred sauna yesturday morning. I haven't used it in a while, and when I use the sauna I always herx from it. But usually I get muscule twitching or headaches. But I didn't get those, instead I got extreme fatigue and red cheeks all day.
I am wondering now..... Can this be a herx reaction?
TerryK
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 8552
posted
I've had the red cheeks off and on for years. Countless times people would tell me how healthy I looked due to my "rosy" cheeks. All this while I felt absolutely horrible. I've had numerous lupus tests but they all come back negative. I thought allergies *might* play a role.
Interesting about bartonella. These past few weeks I've become convinced that I have bartonella. I was off mino for weeks before starting doxy and I got red streaks on my abdomen. I only had one before, now I have quite a few. Terry
Posts: 6286 | From Oregon | Registered: Jan 2006
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tdtid
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10276
posted
Aniek,
I'm one of the many here that had this face rash that for YEARS I was told looked like a "lupus butterfly rash" and I had more lupus tests than I could count.
My rash was not really quite like your picture. I was sent to a dermotologist when my lupus test kept coming back negative and his only comment was that a pheochomocytoma could produce this type of rash, which I WAS testing positive for.
Bottom line, I tested positive five years later of this run around for Lyme. I'm extremely fascinated in it also being related to Bart since my co infections from Igenex came back negative but lyme positive.
My LLMD said that even with the negative results he felt certain I had babesia due to past symptoms and MAYBE Bart, but then on the second appointment I mentioned if/when we would treat the bart and he said we don't know if I have bart or not.
This seems odd to me since he is treating me for babs....so not sure why the dragging feet. Is there any reason it would hurt to do an abx for bart and "see what happens".
Since this rash was such a big deal to the doctors for so long in my case, if it is indeed bart related, I don't want to have that aspect ignored.
My rash would be dark around the nose and would be fading off in color the further down my cheeks you went, but the cheeks were still red. But no, not quite like this picture.
I haven't had it in several months but it would come and go out of no where. Didn't hurt or itch, but I'd often feel "spacey" at the time. I could go many months with nothing and then it would reappear.
Cathy
-------------------- "To Dream The Impossible Dream" Man of La Mancha Posts: 2638 | From New Hampshire | Registered: Oct 2006
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posted
Does anyone have any idea why it seems to come later in the day (for me at least)??
I am wondering b/c it is buring right now! And I look like Rudolph!! Posts: 240 | From MA | Registered: Nov 2006
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Aniek
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5374
posted
Cathy,
I mentioned Lupus just because it's one of those things you do want to look for. Plus, I have heard an LLMD say they believe Lyme can cause Lupus.
I know red ears is a symptom of Lyme. I used to get that at the start of my treatment. My ears would get hot and turn bright red. Usually happened early evening.
Is your rash at all associated with the time you eat?
-------------------- "When there is pain, there are no words." - Toni Morrison Posts: 4711 | From Washington, DC | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
Unbelievable, joining this lymenet has been sooo helpful to me.
Oh my, my daughter suffered for many years with the picture that aniek posted and still does. She went undiagnosed for lyme for 11 years. I took her to so many skin doctors for help but of course no luck. Now she is being treated for lyme with IV, also on Azithro and Mepron.
But, she has those red cheeks where it looks like a bad sunburn and it burns so badly. And she gets those red stretch marks on her stomach. So your saying this could be Bart?
WOW! I can't wait for her next appt. He had her on Bart abx for two months and now we are seeing if she has bab because she is so sick. Her co infections came back negative but Dr thinks its not so.
So I think I will ask to go back on abx for Bart after Mepron.
Thanks for your help.
Lyme4
Posts: 60 | From RI | Registered: Dec 2006
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TerryK
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 8552
posted
Thanks Lisianthus, Mine aren't long like the first picture but I have several that look like the pictures in your link. Quite a few of the vertical ones and 4 or 5 horizontal, 2 are dark and several inches long.
Glad to hear they faded on your sons. I just found out yesterday that my brother has them too and he is losing sight in one eye. In looking at bart I find that his eye problem could be related to bart. Anyway, sorry, don't mean to hijack the thread.
I appreciate the pictures. Terry
Posts: 6286 | From Oregon | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
Hey we are all here to help one another, anyway a convo comes up.... Its important to know all of the symptoms of a co-infection maybe to figure it out for yourself.
My sons marks started very small, maybe thinner then a pencil and no longer then 2 inches. But as it progressed, the marks got longer a wider. About 5-6 inches long and as wide as a finger. But being teenage boys they didn't show them to me until they were larger, and I didn't know what they were either.
Then the marks started showing up in other areas... First hip, then under the arms, then the inner thigh. Now they have have a slight scare there. They've been on abx for 2 years now, and will continue until all symptoms are gone.
And yes Bart can cause visual problems:
EYES: Conjunctivitis, Bartonella Neuroretinitis, Loss of Vision, Flame Shaped Hemorrhages, Branch Retinal Artery Occlusion with Vision Loss, Cotton Wool Exudates, Parinaud's Oculoglandular Syndrome, and Papilledema.
CaliforniaLyme
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 7136
posted
This was one reason they kept testing my ANA for luupus and because I had a history of that 10 years before when they thought I had lupus!!! I hads a bright hot butterfly rash hated it for 2 years after being bitten. I always say nothing happened in my first 6 months of Rocephiin but actually the ONE thing that did happen was within 3 days of IV Rocephin my butterfly rash and the whole body lacy red rash disappeared!!! Then nothing happened for 6 months!!! And I believe I DID have bartonella because the last of my symptoms disappeared when I was traveling in India and got terrible gastroenteritis and they put me on IV Cipro and I was symptom free 100% for the first time since getting sick!!! You should all know that there are many strains of Bartonella they don't bother to test for which are HUGE in humankind!!!WIll post on that!!!
-------------------- There is no wealth but life. -John Ruskin
All truth goes through 3 stages: first it is ridiculed: then it is violently opposed: finally it is accepted as self evident. - Schopenhauer Posts: 5639 | From Aptos CA USA | Registered: Apr 2005
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CaliforniaLyme
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 7136
posted
This was one reason they kept testing my ANA for luupus and because I had a history of that 10 years before when they thought I had lupus!!! I hads a bright hot butterfly rash hated it for 2 years after being bitten. I always say nothing happened in my first 6 months of Rocephiin but actually the ONE thing that did happen was within 3 days of IV Rocephin my butterfly rash and the whole body lacy red rash disappeared!!! Then nothing happened for 6 months!!! And I believe I DID have bartonella because the last of my symptoms disappeared when I was traveling in India and got terrible gastroenteritis and they put me on IV Cipro and I was symptom free 100% for the first time since getting sick!!! You should all know that there are many strains of Bartonella they don't bother to test for which are HUGE in humankind!!!WIll post on that!!!
-------------------- There is no wealth but life. -John Ruskin
All truth goes through 3 stages: first it is ridiculed: then it is violently opposed: finally it is accepted as self evident. - Schopenhauer Posts: 5639 | From Aptos CA USA | Registered: Apr 2005
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Sue vG
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Member # 3143
posted
My facial redness seems to be rosacea. It responds well to alkalizing supplements (Mg, Ca)and a more alkaline diet.
For those who are unfamiliar with this concept, the typical American meat-potatoes-chocolate-coffee-white flour diet leaves acidic byproducts after digestion, contributing to heart disease and other predominantly "Western" health issues.
A diet richer in green and "Asian" vegetables leaves more alkaline byproducts in the body after digestion. This state seems to be better for us.
I found a book written by two dermatologists, one with rosacea, who keep it under control simply with an alkalizing diet and supplements.
It's tough to resist our staple foods, especially during the holidays, but this approach might be worth a test run to see if acidity is causing your skin problem.
Posts: 1307 | From TX | Registered: Sep 2002
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