Lyme Disease Anyone?

[cpvenom]

Last week I was up in Virginia fishing with a friend at the fishing club his family belongs to. The fish were not biting but the ticks sure were. Woke up today with a bullseye rash on one of my tick bites. To top it all off I seem to have a minor case of pink eye. I am going to see the doctor today or tomorrow, but in the meantime I think it's actually quite funny that I have been getting bombarded with illnesses for the past month. I almost expect to wake up tomorrow with lockjaw and also a lump on my downstairs parts.

So anyway, has anyone here had lyme disease? What symptoms did you have? Right now I only have the rash which luckly means I probably caught it early. I will be give updates when I see the doctor and whatnot, so stay tuned for the next episode of The Tick that Fought Back! *lightning, thunder*

[grimlin]

I just got bit by a tick about a week or two ago.Lucky i didn't get any disease though.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

Two years ago, I had the same thing happen.

Pulled a small tick off the instep of my left foot.  Two days later I was in the doctor's office with a spreading "bullseye" rash on my foot.  From what I was told, there is not really a way to diagnose lyme disease early on other than by a process of elimination.

I told them that if there was any doubt (and there was on my part) that I would opt for the preventative treatment just to ease my mind.  They loaded me with pills and I havent seen any ill effects since.

Wayne

[BadKarma42]

I hate ticks.  I hate them with a passion.  I find much joy in getting them (before they bite) and killing them with a lighter.

Get to the doctor ASAP.  I have heard some nasty stuff about Lyme.

I saw SPEEDBEAD's rash.  It was nasty and scary.

[scbassin]

I dug a tick out of me Friday. I went to the doctor yesterday with the tick in a jar. He told me the good news was I got the whole thing but the bad news was it's the type that carries Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever so now I am taking Azithromycin.

[Shad_Master]

That's exactly why every time I see some cute young thang walking around the lake I always offer to check her for ticks -- so far haven't had any takers, but I'm available :

[frogtog]

don't know if it is true or not.

Helpful hint for the summer.

Tick Removal

Spring is here and the ticks will soon be showing their heads. Here is a

good way to get them off you, your children, or your pets. Give it a

try.  Please forward to anyone with children... or hunters or dogs, or

anyone who even steps outside in summer!!  A School Nurse has written the

info below -- good enough to share -- And it really works.

This is great, because it works in those places where it's some times

difficult to get to with tweezers: between toes, in the middle of a head

full of dark hair, etc.  Apply a glob of liquid soap to a cotton ball.

Cover the tick with the soap-soaked cotton ball and swab it for a few

seconds (15-20), the tick will come out on its own and be stuck to the

cotton ball when you lift it away. This technique has worked every time

I've used it (and that was frequently), and it's much less traumatic for

the patient and easier for me. Unless someone is allergic to soap, I

can't see that this would be damaging in any way. I even had my doctor's

wife call me for advice because she had one stuck to her back and she

couldn't reach it with tweezers. She used this method and immediately

called me back to say, 'It worked!' Please pass on. Everyone needs this

[firefightn15]

Got nailed about 3 weeks ago down by the river.  Woke up about 4 the next morningwith my neck throbbing like heck.  Got up and looked, and there he was on my adam's apple.  Inflamed about the size of a quarter.  Sister-in-law got him ALL out and swelling went in about 2-3 days.  

Was told second hand that if you get them out within 24 hrs., generally your in good shape.

[rondef]

I have pulled about 8 to 10 ticks off of me this year, 4 of them did bite me.  I did not get the rash so I have not seena doctor about them.  The first warning sign is supposed to be a rash and or a fevor.  Lyme disease is nothing to mess with, if you think you could have it due to a tick bite go get checked a.s.a.p.  I stopped shore fishing for now because of all of the ticks this year.  Now I only go out fishing in my boat.

[scbassin]

Here is what my doctor told me to watch out for.

1- 1st. sign are headaches

2- 2nd sign is your body aches

3- 3rd sign is fever

4- 4th sign is a rash especially on the legs

He said these will happen about a week apart, if it gets to the rash get medical help right away as you don't have a lot of time. It's nothing to fool with. If you have been bit & you had swelling & it turned red Get checked it's better to be safe than sorry. If you can put the tick in a jar or something as they can check it under a scope & tell better what kind it is.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

If you can put the tick in a jar or something as they can check it under a scope & tell better what kind it is.

This is probably the most important piece of advice here.

There is (I believe) only one type of tick that carries the disease, the deer tick.  They are very, very small as compared to other common ticks (dog ticks). We are talking "pin head" small with these.

If you pulled off one bigger than that, like a pencil eraser size, then you will likely be ok.  Apparently from what I was told, you can have an allergic reaction to the tick bite.  This is what they eventually came up with for my final diagnosis.

Like was stated before, better safe than sorry.

[AnthonyRSS]

I'm with Speedbead.  He is the right.  

I have pulled countless ticks out of myself over the years and I always get a bump that stays there for weeks and itches for a long time.  Never get sick though.

Anthony

[Avalonjohn44]

I just posted in the SE Section... I pulled a Lonestar Tick out of my armpit about an hour ago... It was sore, so I walked to the bathroom at work and pulled the little sucker right out...  Wrapped him up in a paper towel... This is the 6th or 7th tick I've had this year already... This sucks!

[BucketmouthAngler13]

I get bit by ticks all the time. (The pine barrens is full of them)

In the summer time I usualy pull around 4 ticks (give or take) off each day.

Last summer I had all the symptoms of Lyme disease and I was pretty sure I had it. I never went to a doc and after a month or two it faded away. Mild case that my amune system beat, maybe?

[cpvenom]

Just got back from the doctor. She had never actually seen it on one of her patients before but I got a prescription and picked it up at CVS. Was a little fatigued today which is another symptom, but lucky for me i noticed fairly early so hopefully I will be ok now that I am taking stuff for it.