Topic: How Many Have Never Had or Seen a Tick Bite or Rash?
lululymemom
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 26405
posted
Just curious how many of you are treating Lyme, but never actually had a tick bite or a rash?
It seems hard to understand how we can be bitten and never know about it. Especially when they latch on and stay on until they become engorged. Seems the transmission is happening in another way for some of us. (Not including in vitro)
-------------------- 3 months Doxy 8 months of Tetra 7 months of Biaxin/Plaq. 4 months Doxy/Biaxin/Plaq. 5 months Biaxin/Plaq. Back on Doxy/Biax/Plaq On the road to recovery. Trying to make people Lyme Aware....... Posts: 289 | From R.I. | Registered: Jun 2009
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posted
I do not remember a rash or a bite for myself. I was IGeneX positive and my symptoms are almost gone when I am on the right abx.
My daughter did have a rash. I did not see a tick on her.
Interestingly, my mother had a rash at the same time my daughter did. She did not see a tick either. Her doctor thought she got it in Austin when she was visiting us because "there's no Lyme in Houston", where she lives.
So we think my mom and my daughter got it from the same place. I can't help but wonder if it was something other than a tick.
Posts: 984 | From US | Registered: Dec 2007
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posted
I'm not sure. I remember seeing what I thought might be a lyme rash one which was what I think was the same year around the same time my lyme symptoms started. Though I don't remember for sure when I saw it and at the time I didn't know my symptoms were an infectious disease. I thought my neck was stiff because of the gym, since I was going 4 days a week. I don't know.
Now I'm worried about babesia. I tested positive for lyme and bartonella, but if I have babesia, that is supposed be hard to kill without hi doses according to this guy called Dr. S. He is not an LLMD exactly, but more of a co-infections only specialist in bartonella and babesia. I found out about him on the net and read his page.
** editing to remove the name of the LLMD per lymenet rules **
[ 08-26-2010, 08:22 PM: Message edited by: Lymetoo ]
Posts: 136 | From arlington, VA | Registered: Jun 2010
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quote:Originally posted by jkmom: Her doctor thought she got it in Austin when she was visiting us because "there's no Lyme in Houston", where she lives.
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
several known tick bites, no rash, no fever/flu-like symptoms that I can remember...certainly not right away or I would've clued in. I was most definitely aware of lyme, but all I got when I called the doctor's office was "Don't worry, no lyme in NC" and "watch for a fever/rash."
Posts: 618 | From NC | Registered: Oct 2009
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posted
Never saw the tic but did get a rash. Pure red no bulls eye then turned black and purple. Those rashes change and by the time you get to the doctor, they think you've had a spider bite.
Posts: 46 | From NE Ohio | Registered: Nov 2008
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posted
Never saw the tic but did get a rash. Pure red no bulls eye then turned black and purple. Those rashes change and by the time you get to the doctor, they think you've had a spider bite.
Posts: 46 | From NE Ohio | Registered: Nov 2008
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onbam
Unregistered
posted
Unattached wood tick; no rash. Found the tick purely by accident putting acne medicine of a pimple on the back of my neck.
bcb1200
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 25745
posted
Never recall a bite or rash. Been around ticks most of my life. We have seen several on shirts, etc, the past year pre my dx.
I did have 3 bites on my leg last year. Didn't seem like tick bites...seemed more like spider bites as they were in a close "cluster" on my calf (within 2-3 inches of each other). The bites itched a lot afterwards. I'm wondering if I got it from the spider.
-------------------- Bite date ? 2/10 symptoms began 5/10 dx'd, after 3 months numerous test and doctors
IgM Igenex +/CDC + + 23/25, 30, 31, 34, 41, 83/93
Currently on:
Currently at around 95% +/- most days. Posts: 3134 | From Massachusetts | Registered: May 2010
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Horse fly bite when I was a teenager, large red swollen lump on my leg. (1972)
Ton's of chigger bites as a kid in MN lakes.
Blood transfusion in 1981.
??? who knows.
-------------------- Lyme, Babs, Fry Bug..... Whatever it is, may a treatment be discovered to make us all whole again! Posts: 941 | From AZ-MT | Registered: Oct 2004
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joalo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12752
posted
Me too! No tick, no rash.
Hundreds of mosquito bites at the lake every year though.
-------------------- Sick since January 1985. Misdiagnosed for 20 years. Tested CDC positive October 2005. Treating since April 2006. Posts: 3228 | From Somewhere west of the Mississippi | Registered: Aug 2007
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Haley
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Member # 22008
posted
I had a big ol rash and a big ol tick but I didn't know at the time what it was. I flicked a red bug off my leg. I had only seen black ticks in my life in S. CA.
I recently went to a conference with Dr. B. and other reputable LLMDs. I believe it was Dr. B. that said if you get a bulls eye rash some say that means it is a second bite or that you have been bitten before.
I had never heard that before.
Posts: 2232 | From USA | Registered: Aug 2009
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posted
I have been sick for 14 years, and never saw a tick, bite or rash. I believe I contracted Lyme while I was away at college in upstate New York.
I wasn't exactly checking myself out naked in the dorm bathroom mirror every day in front of 20 other girls on my floor...
-------------------- Untreated Lyme for 25+ years. Two kids, too much pain & fatigue, no hope of ever being able to treat. Posts: 310 | From Northeast | Registered: Mar 2010
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TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
When I got lyme the first time, I never saw a tick or got a rash. Had undiagnosed lyme for 10 years.
A few years after completing my lyme treatment and being totally back to normal, I carried some weeds in my arm. A day or so later, I started with a rash where I had lain the weeds.
It was a nearly round, all red rash, and grew to over 3 inches in diameter over a few days.
I went back to my lyme doc right away and was treated for lyme, babs, and bart for 30 days and herxed on the 3rd day of treatment.
I discussed with the lyme doc the theory that once you have been given lyme, you will exhibit a bulls eye any time you get it again. He agreed that this theory seemed right.
That rash lasted almost a month. The red dot in the middle where the bite was lasted much longer. Doc said that would happen that way.
Never saw the tick. And, this was a VERY visible place on the arm. So, it was either very, very tiny, or it didn't stay attached very long at all.
Posts: 9931 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2007
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Tammy N.
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Member # 26835
posted
No tick. No rash. Wonder if I got it from my husband???
Posts: 2238 | From East Coast | Registered: Jul 2010
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posted
Never had a tick bite or bullseye Did get a bad scorpion bite when I was young.
As an adult I developed a strange unkown rash/ hives in 2003 that now I'm finding out is related to Lyme
Posts: 157 | From Colorado | Registered: Aug 2010
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lyme in Putnam
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Member # 11561
posted
no tick, no rash for me. Tick in the nape of my sons nape, was told "dog tick, don't think about it". Month later, knees swollen, two years later, iritis in eyes, "mommy my heart hurts" for his 9th birthday. On orals for 3 years with Dr. J., symptom free at 15, thank God.
-------------------- He took u to it, He'll you through Posts: 2837 | From NE. | Registered: Apr 2007
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Had, what the doctor thought was a brown recluse spider bite, and a big swollen bubble on the inside of my arm.
Sometimes I wonder if I got lyme from my dog...
Or my husband, since he's more likely to be outdoors rustling through bushes, hiking or hunting.
Posts: 964 | From san diego | Registered: Oct 2009
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posted
Kids: no tick seen, no rash seen Me: pulled off a mega-tick one time but no rash. Had blood transfusions prior Hubby: pulled ticks off since childhood, no rash, no symptoms.
-------------------- You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.'
---Eleanor Roosevelt Posts: 748 | From somewhere | Registered: May 2010
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posted
Had a bite, never saw the tick. The bite mark stayed visible for several weeks.
Posts: 490 | From TX- Go Cowboys! | Registered: Aug 2009
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posted
no tick no rash... always hiking in connecticut though
Paul
Posts: 925 | From Connecticut | Registered: Aug 2010
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BoxerMom
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 25251
posted
Never met my tick. No rash.
Got the classic Babesiosis tick flu after a trip to Oklahoma in 1990. Doctor diagnosed "flu."
Never gave it another thought. When I began developing weird symptoms around 1994, I wrote it off as stress and waited for everything to resolve. Began my Medical Mystery Tour in 1996.
Diagnosed in 2008. Figured out the post-Oklahoma flu connection.
lululymemom
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 26405
posted
Very interesting stories... They vary so much from one to the next...
I had been ill for 10 years, on that journey from doctor to doctor. Nobody even suggested Lyme. It wasn't until March of this year when my adult daughter became very ill and I investigated her symptoms that we found out she had Lyme.
That was how I found out I had it too. If she hadn't gotten sick, I still wouldn't have known.
I've never had a typical rash and neither did she. I did have 3 blood transfusions 25 years ago.
A weepy eczema rash on my face 15 years ago but that didn't fit the profile.
posted
I don't know when I was infected. I grew up in Maryland where being bitten by a tick was routine. I don't recall a rash, and I did not have unusual childhood ailments.
I may have gotten this from my late husband, who was very ill for a long time. Now that I know the symptoms, I am positive he had the same infections that I have (Lyme, babesia, bartonella). It was during my marriage to him that I began having severe health problems.
I have never seen a tick in CA, but I know they are here. I enjoy outdoor activities, so may have been bitten as an adult without knowing it.
That covers the most possible possibilities.
Posts: 212 | From San Francisco Bay Area, California | Registered: Aug 2010
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Marnie
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Member # 773
posted
Sis...didn't see a tick and no rash seen until once after treatment began (several months later).
Saliva from tick may have a histamine (allergic reaction) blocker.
Then there is Tritec which contains a H2 blocker AND trivalent bismuth citrate...which destroys ALL forms of Bb in the GI track. (old research)
WOW...majority is no tick seen and no rash seen.
Posts: 9424 | From Sunshine State | Registered: Mar 2001
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Pinelady
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Member # 18524
posted
It can be transmitted in larva and nymphs.
Most people have never seen a larva and a nymph is tiny...
If you walk thru a new hatch you might see dust---
that is how small the human eye can see---and it will be tiny dust.
So don't think you have to see it...Many never see "It".
'round here they refer to them as turkey mites--because they are misinformed.
-------------------- Suspected Lyme 07 Test neg One band migrating in IgG region unable to identify.Igenex Jan.09IFA titer 1:40 IND IgM neg pos 31 +++ 34 IND 39 IND 41 IND 83-93 + DX:Neuroborreliosis Posts: 5850 | From Kentucky | Registered: Dec 2008
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Dekrator48
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posted
Never saw a tick or a bite or a rash.
Had lots of chigger bites that I did see.
-------------------- The fibromyalgia I've had for 32 years was an undiagnosed Lyme symptom.
"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future". -Jeremiah 29:11 Posts: 6076 | From Pennsylvania, USA | Registered: Nov 2008
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lululymemom
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 26405
posted
Pinelady: Can you explain how the larva can transmit the bacteria? Do you mean by inhalation?
posted
Had a tick head removed from between my toes a number of years ago. Don't recall if there was a rash on not. Friends performed a minor surgery and removed it. It is an embarrassing story.
This may have been the initial introduction to Lyme.
April of 2010 removed tick from lower left leg. This bite developed the bulls eye and red rash around it, a little bit bigger than a quarter. Still have a round reddish blackish spot where it was.
-------------------- cjfrank
IGG Western Blot - negative IGG Bands Detected - p18 IGM Western Blot - positive IGM Bands Detected - p23, p41 Posts: 49 | From Maine | Registered: Jul 2010
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posted
Never saw a tick or a rash, but I'm pretty sure I got bit on the back of my head. Had a very sore lump there (thought it was a pimple or infected hair follicle) for a couple of months. Didn't connect it to my other strange symptoms (dry mouth, tingling limbs, horrible fatigue) until the Lyme diagnosis months later.
Posts: 227 | From Northeast | Registered: Mar 2010
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Pinelady
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posted
LLM I suppose that is possible. Everything else about Lyme seems to be.
They seem to be easy to wash off,
but they seem to stick to you like velcro, when you try to wipe off.
-------------------- Suspected Lyme 07 Test neg One band migrating in IgG region unable to identify.Igenex Jan.09IFA titer 1:40 IND IgM neg pos 31 +++ 34 IND 39 IND 41 IND 83-93 + DX:Neuroborreliosis Posts: 5850 | From Kentucky | Registered: Dec 2008
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posted
Favorite phrase of the week has to go to Boxermom:
"Never met my tick"
Didn't think of it this way but when I read the response I imagined meeting our ticks and having conversations with them. Geez...there's so much I'd say
Thanks boxermom. I now think of "our ticks" as a blind date gone wrong.
-------------------- You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.'
---Eleanor Roosevelt Posts: 748 | From somewhere | Registered: May 2010
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17hens
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 23747
posted
hubby - tick, bull's eye rash, an odd symptom here and there for the last 5 years.
son - no tick, no rash, bart rash & on and off air hunger for 5 years, otherwise feels fine.
daughter - no tick, bull's eye rash on face, solid red rash on leg, then 13 rashes all over body about 2 months later, was very ill then 3 weeks of amoxy, symptoms again 7 years later.
me - my date was with a female adult red-backed deer tick, solid red rash, symptoms 3 days later.
have since figured out that i've had symptoms at least 5 years and my original bite is on the back of my head in my hair.
i used to get headaches starting at that point and now it tingles there just like the bite from my date tick.
great thread, btw.
-------------------- "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Psalms 73:26
bit 4/09, diagnosed 1/10 Posts: 3043 | From PA | Registered: Dec 2009
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lululymemom
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Member # 26405
posted
Thanks 17.... It's interesting you mention tingling on the head, because at the onset of my symptoms I was getting very odd tingling going up and down the back of my head..
Never would I have guessed back then that it had anything to do with Lyme.
Remember too that many studies do not state storage of ticks/medium that may alter testing. So in some studies for example is they were stored in alcohol/water there may be a big difference in outcome.
Found another----http://eco.confex.com/eco/2010/techprogram/P25482.HTM
-------------------- Suspected Lyme 07 Test neg One band migrating in IgG region unable to identify.Igenex Jan.09IFA titer 1:40 IND IgM neg pos 31 +++ 34 IND 39 IND 41 IND 83-93 + DX:Neuroborreliosis Posts: 5850 | From Kentucky | Registered: Dec 2008
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posted
Found tick on my stomach about 6yrs ago. I think. Im really bad with time now. Had the rash but thought it was *just* a reaction to the bite. Had no idea about lyme symptoms then. Had what i thought was the flu. Never went to the dr. And now here i am.
Posts: 624 | From Oklahoma | Registered: Jun 2010
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quote:Originally posted by mustluvdogs: Never saw the tic but did get a rash. Pure red no bulls eye then turned black and purple. Those rashes change and by the time you get to the doctor, they think you've had a spider bite.
I tested positive for lyme may of 2010.
2003- bit by something, waited to seek treatment Said it was a BRS bite OR Herpetic whitlow. (herpes) Never been the same since~ I am putting together my medical records. I am starting to believe that was a tick bite OR that was when/how I got Lymes. I have been diagnosed with "anxiety", LBS, and a million other things. I had a rash, but I will never know for sure from what Posts: 41 | From Springdale Arkansas | Registered: Aug 2010
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Pinelady
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Member # 18524
posted
Some break out in rashes after starting treatment. Always try to get pics.
-------------------- Suspected Lyme 07 Test neg One band migrating in IgG region unable to identify.Igenex Jan.09IFA titer 1:40 IND IgM neg pos 31 +++ 34 IND 39 IND 41 IND 83-93 + DX:Neuroborreliosis Posts: 5850 | From Kentucky | Registered: Dec 2008
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posted
no rash, but a few wood tick bites every few years from hiking in the forest.
No deer tick bites that I know of except;
Twice this year I have felt a tiny dark reddish brown bump on my neck or shoulder and absent-mindedly tried to scrape it off - wouldn't come off until about the third attempt - then I thought with horror, after disposing of it, that it might have been a deer tick biting me... and I didn't use tweezers.
I think probably I was bitten in Chester Co. while visiting our daughter the past 8 years, but no tick found, or rash.
Posts: 97 | From Great Lakes state | Registered: Jul 2008
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posted
I saw and felt no tick bite, and had no rash. but I went to a country area for just one day in 2003 and started feeing 'fluey' with brain fog with other sx just two weeks later. So now I can pinpoint when I must have been bitten.
As a city gal I knew nothing about Lyme disease, and with the severe brain fog, couldn't even think.
I was conclusively diagnosed by Igenex with Lyme in 2004 and diagnosis was determined as such by all docs - INCLUDING MAINSTREAM DOCS- after seeing Igenex results.
Today these same mainstream docs would deny I still have Lyme.
Am under LLMD's care but and am still struggling with Lyme and co. today.
Lymehead
-------------------- RI Posts: 440 | From New York | Registered: Sep 2005
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sutherngrl
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Member # 16270
posted
No tick, no rash.
I did have a tick attached to me when I was a kid; but I didn't get sick until 35 years later. I'm not one that believes I was infected years before becoming ill; so I'm going with no tick, no rash.
I think was bitten on a golf course near my home. I did have some kind of bite mark, but it looked nothing like a tick rash. It was small and faded within a few hours. I was ill a few weeks later.
Posts: 4035 | From Mississippi | Registered: Jul 2008
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