After a week of having a strange itchy red patch on my forearm (which actually disappeared, then reappeared two days later with a vengeance), I finally went to the doctor. She said it’s Lyme’s Disease. She also appeared delighted and said that she doesn’t see it that often. The rash has the distinctive “target” appearance, as did another much smaller but much itchier patch on the side of my hand. I was bitten twice, apparently. I’m in the south west UK, and although I have no recollection of being bitten by a tick, it was doubtless during one of my frequent long walks on Dartmoor that I picked it (them?) up. Dartmoor is rife with ticks, and although I never go out with shorts or short sleeves, I must have picked one or two up anyway.
I’m not trying to obtain medical advice here… I already did that and I’m on 500mg Amoxicillin capsules three times a day for four weeks :eek:, but I am interested in anybody else’s experiences with Lyme’s.
So far I’ve had 6 of the capsules and the rash on my arm appears much better, although still mildly itchy. The one on my hand is gone. However, the Amoxicillin has had, shall we say, a “profound” effect on my bowels, and whereas I felt fine before, I feel pretty grotty now! The prospect of four weeks of this is pretty grim.
I live about 30 miles from Lyme, CT, for which the disease is named. I had no idea it was present in the UK until your post. I tried to find out when it had spread there, but found out that DNA analysis has revealed that it was present in England in Victorian times, and it only got its name when it became more common recently for reasons unknown. Interesting info here..
My mother had it a few years ago. She did a similar course of antibiotics, and that was that.
I’d be sort of interested in reading a Dope thread about the “chronic Lyme disease” controversy. I’ve seen a documentary about it, but it was probably biased. Are people who believe in it as crazy as anti-vaxers, or is there real evidence?
I have little that’s useful, except to note that the correct name appears to be Lyme Disease (after the CT town where the first US case was noticed, as KE posted).
Xema, I wondered if it might be a UK/US difference, but you are correct, Lyme Disease it is. Everyone calls it “Lyme’s” over here for some reason. Sattua, I read about the Chronic Lyme Disease controversy after I got home from the doctor’s appointment and it looks a little alarming, if it is true. I will report back in a few months, if I can be bothered to get out of bed
The red patch on my forearm has decreased noticeably, even in the 90 minutes or so since I posted. On Tuesday when I saw the doctor it was fully 200mm x 50mm (8x2"). Now it’s about an inch in diameter, maybe a bit more. It’s disappearing surprisingly quickly. Hopefully I can stop the antibiotics sooner. I have a telephone appointment with the doctor next week to discuss that.
Thanks for the best wishes Kyrie!
No matter how grim it gets, make sure you take the whole cycle. Half-measures are not the way to go with antibiotics.
The other thing is, if the antibiotic says “take with food” (and I’m reasonably sure it does), it means “take after food”. When I had my bout with Lyme, I made the mistake of taking my dose before taking the first bite of my breakfast, and ended up pulling over to redecorate the roadside less than five minutes later. That was with doxycycline, though; it sounds like the amoxicillin is wreaking havoc at the other end.
Yeah, I will be discussing that with the doctor next week. By convenient coincidence, the doctor based her initial 4 week dose from a conversation with my wife’s boss, who is the consultant microbiologist at the local hospital (my wife is a microbiologist and is chomping at the bit to get some of my blood to use as a case study). I’ll be seeing this consultant on Sunday at a social gathering, so I’m going to take the opportunity to discuss it with him too.
I have every intention of doing what they tell me to do, but I hope they say two weeks instead of four!
BTW, there is nothing in the leaflet accompanying the capsules that says anything either way about taking them on a full or empty stomach. I’m taking one after breakfast and the other two before lunch and dinner.
And I just glanced at my arm, and the rash is all but gone! Less than an hour after my last post!
My mom was bitten earlier this summer and diagnosed within a few days of the bite and immediately put on antibiotics and told to stay out of the sun (tough sentence for a gardener.) She was told that since she caught it early, her recovery should be quick and she shouldn’t have any lasting side effects. It’s been two months and I’m not sure if she’s done all her meds. Of course, she’s 77 and has some other health issues, so her experience is probably not going to help you much…
I have to friends who, unfortunately, didn’t catch it early and both have chronic problems. One even is on a very restricted diet. What’s sad is one is in her 30s and the other, early 40s, and they’ve both been dealing with it for at least 8 years. My totally unqualified and unprofessional opinion is that you caught it early enough and took action that should lead to a quick and total recovery.
Perhaps for future walks, you should consider wearing an insect repellant. Good luck and a speedy recovery to you!
I’d be extremely interested in one, if anyone knowledgeable is so inclined. I was personally treated for chronic Lyme disease for years (to no real benefit and two life-threatening complications, unfortunately), but I’ve never had a good handle on the science behind it and mainstream conclusions. Which was my bad, me being the patient and all, but I trusted my doctor and was kind of desperate.
I had it several years back. I developed a rash that my doctor said was a “museum piece” and “should appear in a textbook.” It was about 4" in diameter, multicolored, and raised slightly, also it was hot to the touch. I also got antibiotics, which took care of it right away, no complications.
I was lucky, though, in two ways. First, I was lucky to get the rash, as not everyone does, and there were no other symptoms, and probably wouldn’t have been until much later, perhaps after there was some damage (see FairyChatMom’s friends). Second, I live in an area where Lyme is absolutely rampant, and so my doctor recognized it immediately. (Though with it being a museum piece and all, maybe being elsewhere wouldn’t have mattered.)
The only thing I’ll add is that although I am outside a lot, in the woods and so on, you might be surprised to know how many cases of Lyme appear in people who spend very little time outdoors, or who seldom venture beyond a nicely-manicured lawn. So while it’s always sensible to check for ticks after a walk in the Great Outdoors, and while insect repellent isn’t a bad idea, you might consider conducting random checks of your body from time to time, regardless of where you’ve been, just because. I know I do…
I’ll chime in on the Chronic Lyme’s thing. I had Lyme’s at 12 and got a bulleyes rash under my armpit. I took the 2 week course of antibiotics and about 2 weeks later after that my elbows and knees became extremely stiff. I was sent to an infectious disease specialist who came to the conclusion it was late stage Lyme’s (1+ year infection). I was an outdoor kid so this was entirely possible. To treat this I had a pic line with I.V. antibiotics for a month straight.
Now at 28 I look very healthy, but feel like an 80 yr old. I have chronic GI distress with no known cause yet except IBS. I’m not depressed and my joints will pop loudly and randomly. Occasionally I feel sore just like when I was 12 but no were near as severe. All this said, I just deal with it and continue my life best I can and haven’t really discussed the whole chronic lyme’s thing with a Dr.
Dave B, how tired are you and how is your appetite? It’s been about six weeks since I was diagnosed, and I’m still sleeping a little more than usual (30 minutes to an hour more a day…no more seven hour nights lately) and my appetite, which disappeared the day before the rash showed up, still isn’t normal yet but I’m up to being willing to eat twice a day instead of once so it has improved. It’s supposed to take a while after antibiotics to get entirely back to our old selves, and I’m not really complaining since this isn’t so bad. I hope you have no complications, either.
Of course, considering I live in one of the three states with the highest rates of lyme disease, I’m scared of getting it again. Odds are I won’t since it took until I was 34 to get it once, but I hate everything that makes me have to pay to see a doctor.
I’m sorry to hear that gave you amoxicillin, and glad I got doxycycline instead but more because it’s supposed to only lead to yeast infections in women only rarely than worry about getting your side-effects.
Oh dear. I had this idea too recently…for threads you know you’d get pitted for by somone. My example was going to be “Morgellons, Chronic Lyme Disease, Fibromiagia and other diseases you think are nicer labels for manifestations of mental illness.” They do seem as nutty as anti-vaxers, and they’re everywhere. So much so that it’s hard to find people talking about their experiences with regular lyme diease, which I found frustrating.
Yikes… some of these stories sound horrible.
Strange you should ask about appetite elfkin477. It was non-existant last week. I ate lunch every day, but skipped breakfast and dinner most days. Tiredness doesn’t seem to be a problem at the moment, no more so than is usual with a three-year-old anyway! We are the same age by the way.
Insect repellent is on my list of things to buy before I head out again.
Yeah…I think where I went wrong is that I’ve been using one of those clip-on bug repellent fans by Off for gardening the past two summers. The pluses are that they work great repelling mosquitoes, and unlike bug spray, both the kind in cans and pump-style, the fan’s repellent doesn’t have my lungs loudly reminding me that I’m asthmatic. The minus is that apparently they don’t do squat against ticks. I guess between having asthma symptoms triggered and getting lyme disease again, I’d rather deal with trouble breathing for a few hours.
That’s a good point. I got a thumbs up for continuing to take
acidophilus while on antibiotics. That could help too, especially if you hate yogurt.
Hey, Dave B, I just noticed something about your OP…was your arm the only itchy spot? Of the dozen or so spots I got before the antibiotics started to knock them back, the one on my left arm was the only one that itched. weird.
I’ll try that, thanks. It’s not something I eat regularly but I do like it.
I had another much smaller path on my hand too, and that one itched way more than the other, much larger one.
The side effects from the antibiotics seem to have settled down now. I’m two weeks through what turned out to be only a three week course not four. The redness on my arm has more or less disappeared, but there is still significant swelling there.
