I was bitten by a tick last Thursday. It got me in bed… I woke up, and had a tick on my hip. Ardred, my hero, pulled it out for me. It started to itch. It formed a rash that was silver dollar sized or so. It itched until Monday. It never formed the “bullseye” rash that is so indicative (80% get it) of the ol’ LD.
I went to the doc on Friday, got some antibiotics, and then the real symptoms started. Everything hurts, especially my neck, head and joints. Ugh. Luckily, two weeks of antibiotics should clear everything up, even if I’m not supposed to go into the sun for that time.
When I was a kid, I was terrified of getting Lyme Disease. I remember being told the symptoms every year in school, just before summer started.
Considering there were 0-14 cases in Douglas county in 2000, I was apparently ‘lucky’. Cam said it was ‘like winning the lottery’. 90% of the 23,000 cases in 2000 were in 12 states, none of which was Kansas. Also, according to the CDC, it’s unlikely that the spirochete that causes the disease will be passed in the first 36 hours. It couldn’t have been on me more than nine.
Sigh. It’s strange, catching something that I was so frightened of as a kid. Maybe next I’ll get scurvy or ricketts. Hell, I’ve already had shingles, mumps, measles, whooping cough… apparently I don’t vaccinate well.
It’s very fortunate that it was noticed so early on. I’m not an expert on the disease by any means, but IIRC, the bullseye rash forms much more quickly on men than it does on women, correct? Hence the rate of serious complications being much greater in women? If I’m remembering that right, then I’m certainly glad you went to the doc as soon as you did.
?? A deer tick, even when engorged, doesn’t get bigger than the head of a pin. And they pop off easily by just scraping them with a knife or the pointiest tweezers you can find so you just grab the head. Not an easy task. Are you sure this wasn’t a wood tick? If it was a deer tick, your hero, if he used a plain old tweezers, may have forced the fluid that causes LD into you! But it seems rather fast to get LD so soon after getting bit. It may just be a coincedence, and the problem tick actually fed off you weeks ago.
Do not apply alcohol, petroleum jelly, heat or anything else to remove the tick as this may cause it to inject the spirochetes back into it’s host (FilmGeek, in this case)
You may want to get a second opinion on 2 weeks of antibiotics. I had Lyme, and I was on antibiotics for almost 4 months, 3 times a day. A guy in my office has been battling it for a few years now. I know you found it early, but Lyme is a tricky thing. There are a few doctors on the cutting edge that say for 3 out of 4 weeks, Lyme mimics a healthy cell and therefore antibiotics do nothing against it except in the 4th week. Also, Lyme hangs out in the cartilage and ligaments where not to much blood gets to, and so if it’s stored there, the antibiotics won’t get to it in just 2 weeks time.
The really good sigh is that as soon as you got on the medication, you felt like crap. Apparently, when Lyme starts to die off, it gives you all sorts of terrible symptoms. (I’ve seen my office mate go through some terrible die offs.) Anywho, keep an eye on it, and make sure if you feel Lyme symptoms down the line, you don’t just ignore them thinking, “I’m cured, so it can’t be that.” A few years after I was “cured”, if I got really sick, I would have Lyme symptoms, including new spots being burned into my skin. (That was something that happened early to me. I had a 104 Degree fever for 3 days, and then broke out in spots all over my body. A few of them burned in permanently). Good luck and be careful. Glad you’re feeling better so quickly.
Lyme disease is a nasty business and often goes undiagnosed because it doesn’t occur to doctors to ask if you’d been playing in the woods before you got that rash and started feeling crappy.
However, as others have pointed out, early diagnosis and treatment are key. The longer you’ve had Lyme disease the tougher it is to treat.
I’ve never really read up on it (perhaps I should), but I was under the impression that it lasts for ages and is fairly delibilitating (sorry, not to scare you). I hope you do recover from it quickly.
Lone Star Ticks can also carry other types of nastiness, some of which, like ehrlichiosis, can occasionally do a pretty convincing job of mimicking Lyme Disease symptoms.
Ack! Don’t scrap them off - that can cause the mouthparts to detach and remain embedded, possibly causing infection later. Your second suggeston is the way to go.
Anyway, best of luck FilmGeek. Since you caught it early I’m sure there isn’t a thing to worry about.
Note: The second link to the LST pic claims they don’t carry Lyme Disease. That may or may not be true in Iowa, but it isn’t true as a generalization - Borellia burgdorferi has been found in LST’s from a half-dozen states, at least.
I’ll add my best wishes for a speedy recovery and you feeling better soon. I’m glad you (and your doctor) figured it out quickly. To act as a counterpoint to Llama’s tale of woe, and good advice, I can tell you that Lyme disease caught and treated quickly can eliminate the bad experience. I caught it in the early 90’s, even had the classic bull’s-eye rash. I woke up feeling that people had snuck into my bedroom and beat me up all night. A run of amoxicyllin knocked it right out and I haven’t had problems since. (More recent aches and pains I credit to getting older. :mad: )
If I don’t feel better in a week and a half or so, I’m supposed to go back and get reevaluated.
I think because I suspected Lyme and went in so early they put me on antibiotics right away. I don’t think my doc believed me that I had Lyme, but was playing a better safe than sorry route. I think he should have, with the way I feel now.
They didn’t do any blood tests, and from what I’ve read, they are often wrong anyway.
Thanks for the well wishes, everyone. (except you, tick.)
I’ve been keeping informal track of what hurts. The strangest sensation yet is the alternating pain that jumps from my right thumb to my right eardrum with occassional forays into my left ankle.
And if you get really lucky, you can add trenchmouth and consumption.
Seriously: I hope you feel better, sooner rather than later. Gotta get back to Geeking on Film, don’tcha know. Of course, there’s no reason to watch movies in direct sunlight, so your life won’t be totally crippled, right?
