Wondering if I have Lyme too?

[Teri]

Hi folks,

My DD6 is dx with PANDAS and this summer tested positive for Lyme & Bartonella. I pulled a tick off of her abdomen - it had been there maybe 12 hours & was not yet engorged. She did not develop a bulls eye rash but got sick about 3 weeks later with a long lasting low grade fever and stomach cramping, loss of appetite.

 

Five days before I pulled the tick off of my daughter I found a tick on my inner thigh - fully engorged. It had been there probably 48 hours or more. I had bruising from the bite - about a half dollar size circular bruise around the bite. I called my Dr. and the office said to watch for flu like symptoms and bulls eye rash. Six weeks later I had periods of night sweats and would wake up dizzy & my balance was off. I thought perhaps that maybe it was hormones. I also developed some rashes on the front/ back of my neck, inside of elbows, and behind knees which I thought was perhaps prickly heat or eczema - things I haven't experienced since childhood. Those symptoms were all in the summer. The dizziness & night sweats resolved but he rashes are still with me and have actually spread to my inner thighs. I now know its not prickly heat as its not hot here in NJ. Rashes are worse at night !

 

I am wondering if these are signs of a tick borne illness?? Any advice or experience with similar symptoms?

 

Itchy and wondering in NJ - Teri

[MichaelTampa]

Sure sounds like it.

[Hopeny]

Teri I recently got DD8's full medical file including my note to the doctor from 2010 when she had her Lyme presentation which was misdiagnosed until Jan 2012. My notes mentioned outbreaks of rashes on her chest and behind her knees, which I wrote not sure if Exzcema but was unusally located and too many of them. DD also tested + for Ehrlicia, Anaplasmosis and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. I had forgotten about that symptom until I got the notes.

Edited November 7, 2012 by Hopeny

[KaraM]

I say yes and recommend getting to an LLMD asap. the fact that your doctor just said wait to see if you develop symptoms tells me he is not the most knowledgable about Lyme and tick born illnesses. Maybe he'd at least be willing to test to get started. But even if he is, I'd rely on someone else to treat.

 

Kara

[mdmom]

Sweats, dizziness and random rashes are all symptoms of Babesiosis, which is very common on the East Coast. Check out the list of symptoms of tick-borne illnesses under the "Helpful Threads."

[momcap]

I also had a bruise the size of a half dollar. It was deep red and strange in colour, and I dismissed it as a bruise, not knowing anything about lyme back then. After that "bruise" I made 3 trips to the E.R. with high fever, brutal headache, swollen knee, sore throat, and a strange feeling I can only describe as feeling like I was looking at the world from 6 feet away. Everything seemed like it was far away, and I was disconnected from it. Very scary feeling. It took me 4 months to feel better, and by then I was reading about lyme for DS. I realized my bruise and E.R. trips were likely lyme disease and asked for a test even though I felt better. It came back CDC positive.

 

BTW - DS also got rashes inside his elbows. He had various rashes usually resembling scarlatina, but only in small patches here and there, coming and going. The rashes came out when he started on antibiotics.