Need some insights on my situation....

Hi,

I am from Canada, and was visiting New Milford, CT for a week. I met many people who warned me about deer ticks and told me many stories about loved ones who contracted lyme disease. They explained about the bulls eye rash.

Two days ago, I was talking with my sister and she was complaining about a mosquito bite. I showed her the one on my leg that had been bothering me for some time. When I looked at it properly, I noticed a vague but circular patch around the bite. Remembering the conversations I had in CT, I went to the walk in clinic the next morning. The doctor said it was textbook Lyme and put me on a 7 day antibiotic.

The rash is not a complete bullseye, and is not red at all. It is a darker shade of my skin (I am dark skinned already) and is not completely all the way around. I have looked and peered, but cannot see evidence of a tick in the centre. Will they always be there? Do they bite and leave? How will I know? My doctor is away (thus the walk in clinic) and I will not see him for another week. It took 14 days for me to notice the rash and to get started on the antibiotics.

I am really panicked and was wondering if anyone could give me insights. I am very tired and have been sleeping for a couple of hours during the day. Is this related?

Any insights/thoughts would be helpful to me right now.

Thank you so much!!
Shirl

Hi there Shirl,

Welcome to the forum! It is so good that you were made so aware of Lyme Disease and were able to get antibiotics so soon.

First of all, the rash associated with Lyme Disease is widely variable. It comes in all shapes and sizes and some people don't even get one. You would not necessarily see the tick. They can infect and drop off quite quickly -- also the nymphs are very small -- as small as the period at the end of this sentence. There is also evidence that insects other than ticks are carrying Lyme Disease now.

When Lyme is caught early and treated thoroughly it should not be a chronic problem. The problem is that many doctors are not treating with a strong enough dose, or for long enough.

For very good information please take a look at this site: www.canlyme.com/

Don't stress, you are on the right track!

Yes, good that you are on the antibiotics. Lyme rashes in dark-skinned individuals are usually much less well-defined, so you are lucky that you saw a doctor who recognized your rash for what it is.

Most LLMD's recommend at least 6 weeks of treatment for a new Lyme exposure. I think it would be good to make an appointment with a Lyme-Literate doctor and get proper treatment. The CDC/IDSA has poorly educated most MD's and the 1 week of antibiotics you were given is pretty standard, but not believed to be enough by most LLMD's. See http://treatthebite.com/

Yes, fatigue is a known symptom of Lyme, and is probably one of the most commonly reported for any and all stages of Lyme.

Treating the disease now before it has a chance to establish itself will prevent it from becoming chronic and more difficult to treat. So yes - there is a chance you could beat this thing now.

Another website for more info: http://www.ilads.org/ ~ you can contact them for Lyme-Literate MD recommendations near where you live (they're international, so be sure to specify your country and province when you contact them).

Take care,