posted
I was talking about this on another thread but thought I would ask the topic on its own..
**Is getting a bullseye rash after a tick bite a 100% indication of lyme?
**Can you get the bullseye rash and not get lyme?
Posts: 514 | From . | Registered: Apr 2008
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disturbedme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12346
posted
It's a 100% indication of lyme.
If people get the rash they are lucky because then they (should) KNOW and don't have to get tested and possibly get a negative test and still wonder if they have it...
-------------------- One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. ~ Helen Keller
My Lyme Story Posts: 2965 | From Land of Confusion (bitten in KS, moved to PA, now living in MD) | Registered: Jun 2007
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lightfoot
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 2536
posted
1) Yes
2) No
And you can get a bulls eye during treatment or again with no treatment. It's to your advantage if you have a bulls eye......get pix of it and get it witnessed by a doctor pronto. This will help with obtaining treatment now and in the future.
Run don't walk to a knowledgeable LLMD.
-------------------- Healing Smiles.....lightfoot Posts: 7228 | From CO | Registered: May 2002
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
-
check out the NEWBIE links at the top of the medical posts.
======================================
**Is getting a bullseye rash after a tick bite a 100% indication of lyme?
YES
**Can you get the bullseye rash and not get lyme?
NO
However, Lyme may not become apparent - subsiding to return later, when under stress or another infection. The lyme bacteria, a spirochete, can become disseminated and change form to elude the immune system.
That is why even a person seems fine and feels fine, if a bulls-eye rash is present, prompt and aggressive treatment is vital.
Bb, the bacteria, has several stages and forms and can change back and forth. Different drugs - and combinations of drugs - are required for each stage.
Early aggressive treatment can help to prevent that.
Also know that the rash does not always appear for everyone infected . . . and, while the bulls-eye is right on, lyme rashes can have various appearances and characteristics.
--
CO-INFECTIONS, too.
Even if a characteristic bullseye rash is clear for lyme, the patient must be also evaluated for coinfections. This would be both clinical evaluation and labs tests by a LLMD who is expert in all tick-borne diseases (TBD).
The timing of the tests, as well as a patient's exposure to certain meds can alter the test results. Be sure a LLMD guides testing.
www.Igenex.com - is a specialty lab and more information can be found there.
Co-infections can sometimes be treated with the same drugs as Bb, however, some co-infections require different drugs and the timing of treatment is important.
CONTROVERSY CONTINUES TO FUEL THE "LYME WAR" By Virginia Savely, RN, FNP-C
***** As two medical societies battle over its diagnosis and treatment, Lyme disease remains a frequently missed illness. Here is how to spot and treat it.
Excerpts:
`` . . .Patients with Lyme disease almost always have negative results on standard blood screening tests and have no remarkable findings on physical exam, so they are frequently referred to mental-health professionals for evaluation.
"...If all cases were detected and treated in the early stages of Lyme disease, the debate over the diagnosis and treatment of late-stage disease would not be an issue, and devastating rheumatologic, neurologic, and cardiac complications could be avoided..."
. . . * Clinicians do not realize that the CDC has gone on record as saying the commercial Lyme tests are designed for epidemiologic rather than diagnostic purposes, and a diagnosis should be based on clinical presentation rather than serologic results.
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