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Getting Tested For Lyme Disease
Hello, I am new here. I have had ongoing joint problems,numbness, and very bad fatigue for over 6 months now. I was diagnosed as seronegative rhuematoid arthritis. Until one day I realized that I had 2 tick bites in my lifetime. The first one was almost 20 years ago I was bitten on the wrist by a tick and I had a bullseye rash. I never did anything about it because I didn't know about lyme disease and I was a child so I thought it was a typical bug bite. I had another tick bite that was a big bruise type of rash 7 years ago.
I don't have results yet, but I have questions. Is the bullseye rash always a sign of lyme disease or does that happen with any tick bite? Can you go years and years without ever knowing you have lyme disease? I have taken antibiotics during my lifetime would that just automatically get rid of the disease or does it go away on it's own?
Thanks hope to hear from someone.
I don't have results yet, but I have questions. Is the bullseye rash always a sign of lyme disease or does that happen with any tick bite? Can you go years and years without ever knowing you have lyme disease? I have taken antibiotics during my lifetime would that just automatically get rid of the disease or does it go away on it's own?
Thanks hope to hear from someone.
I uploaded two photos one of my left arm and my right arm. These are tiny red bump rashes that appeared about one month after my arthritis pain started. The photos cannot clearly show them, but they almost look like goosebumps, but they are red. Some days they fade and other days they are very noticeable. No doctor has been able to explain them yet. I may go to a dermatologist soon. I don't have any pictures of my bullseye rash that I had 20 years ago. I should have done it, but I guess the thought never occurred to me at the time as I was a kid. I thought it more comical than anything serious.
I haven't been dx'd yet, but found it interesting that your sx started after giving birth. SO did mine!! My daughter was born in March 07 and by May 07 I was in bad shape. Sick for about 6 months then it went away. Now 2 years later... here I am again. Same situation as before.. same symptoms.
Welcome to MedHelp. Jackie gave you some excellent information. I also had three bullseye rashes 17 years ago. I won't go into my long story but I had the rash, never heard of lyme, got one weird symptom after another. The neuro symptoms hit about 7 months after the rash. I got treatment 15 months after the rash. It took 5 years to recover to almost normal. I was in remission for about 7 years when it all hit me again after having surgery. So you can have lyme with long periods of remission. Or you can have a bite and never have symptoms until your body is stressed and it then it shows up. Or you can have continuous symptoms. I even know someone who is CDC positive and has no symptoms. Everyones body is different.
The short courses of antibiotics that people receive for infectious illnesses would not cure chronic lyme disease.
The bullseye rash is diagnostic in itself of lyme disease without any further testing. The problems is that people often do not know what it is and few physicians will diagnose it without seeing it for themselves. Did you by chance take a picture of any of your rashes?
The short courses of antibiotics that people receive for infectious illnesses would not cure chronic lyme disease.
The bullseye rash is diagnostic in itself of lyme disease without any further testing. The problems is that people often do not know what it is and few physicians will diagnose it without seeing it for themselves. Did you by chance take a picture of any of your rashes?
Same thing happened to me I only recently realised that it may be Lyme , I had no rash 20 years ago but did get sick, on and off had antibiotics including Biaxin for Pneumonia at one time so I think I have had it in remission then it reacurs. At the presant I have symptoms again, am thinking I will finally get tested and get some anti biotics ,its a familiar story isnt it .
It is so nice to get a response from you so quickly. Oh my I never even knew a LLMD ever existed. I live in San Francisco so I am sure there is one. From what I remember bout my first tick bite I was a little fluish, but I didn't connect it with bug bites. Second, time same thing got fluish afterwards. I couldn't see my rash too well the second time because it was behind my knee. The first time I distinctly remember the bulls eye because I use to laugh about looking like a dart board or something.
I have actually had started having sore joints after my second bite. The docotrs told me I had a virus and it would go away which it did a month later. They pretty much laughed me out of there. I have been tested for lupus many times. I have rash on my arms. Then I was in a car accident 3 years ago and I ended up in the ER with left sided weakness. The ER doctor thought I was a fake. So I went to a neurologist and at first they thought I had MS, but my brain MRI showed it was normal. Then I was told I had a migraine with aura disorder which I had and nerve problem in my leg. Eventually I got better after 6 months. What is really crazy was when I became pregnant a year and half ago, I felt great better than anytime in my life. Then after 3 months I had my baby and that's all these problems started.
It''s been a really long road. Sorry about the long story, but I a, glad I found your forum. yes, my rheum is giving me that ELISA test.
I have actually had started having sore joints after my second bite. The docotrs told me I had a virus and it would go away which it did a month later. They pretty much laughed me out of there. I have been tested for lupus many times. I have rash on my arms. Then I was in a car accident 3 years ago and I ended up in the ER with left sided weakness. The ER doctor thought I was a fake. So I went to a neurologist and at first they thought I had MS, but my brain MRI showed it was normal. Then I was told I had a migraine with aura disorder which I had and nerve problem in my leg. Eventually I got better after 6 months. What is really crazy was when I became pregnant a year and half ago, I felt great better than anytime in my life. Then after 3 months I had my baby and that's all these problems started.
It''s been a really long road. Sorry about the long story, but I a, glad I found your forum. yes, my rheum is giving me that ELISA test.
Welcome! Sorry to hear you are not feeling well.
Bullseye rashes were not recognized as something serious until more recently, so I am not surprised that there was no alarm when you got one years ago -- I too thought bug bites were just a part of being outdoors and never thought anything of them. Lyme has been spreading rapidly in recent years, making this better known, but it has definitely been around a long time, so it's possible that you have it.
Something I have learned recently is that people can be bit and get a low-level case of Lyme (and one or more co-infections that come with the same tick) and their immune system tamps it down until sometimes years later when another bite or another illness that puts stress on the body will cause the infection to flare up wildly. It is possible that something like that happened to you six months ago when you began to feel unwell.
To my understanding (I'm not a doctor or medical person, just a Lyme sufferer), the classic bullseye rash is unique to Lyme -- but perhaps half of all those with Lyme never had a rash and didn't see the tiny tick that bit them: I am one of those. No tick, no rash, but very ill.
The tests for Lyme and coinfections are not very precise, so a diagnosis is made based on the tests as well as on symptoms. Doctors who do not know Lyme well may rely only on the tests, and so miss an infection and leave it untreated. Neurologists and rheumatologists in particular are not attuned to Lyme, but they tend to think they are the experts. Many doctors tend to go by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) standards for diagnosis, but there are serious problems with those standards and the way they were formulated: they miss many serious Lyme infections. Doctors who have a view of Lyme more broadminded than the CDC are sometimes casually referred to as LLMDs: Lyme Literate Medical Doctors. They can be internists, or GPs, or any kind of MD, but take the point of view that not everything is known about these illnesses and that the CDC approach is too narrow. Finding an LLMD can be the first step to knowing whether or not you have Lyme.
Wishing you well --
Bullseye rashes were not recognized as something serious until more recently, so I am not surprised that there was no alarm when you got one years ago -- I too thought bug bites were just a part of being outdoors and never thought anything of them. Lyme has been spreading rapidly in recent years, making this better known, but it has definitely been around a long time, so it's possible that you have it.
Something I have learned recently is that people can be bit and get a low-level case of Lyme (and one or more co-infections that come with the same tick) and their immune system tamps it down until sometimes years later when another bite or another illness that puts stress on the body will cause the infection to flare up wildly. It is possible that something like that happened to you six months ago when you began to feel unwell.
To my understanding (I'm not a doctor or medical person, just a Lyme sufferer), the classic bullseye rash is unique to Lyme -- but perhaps half of all those with Lyme never had a rash and didn't see the tiny tick that bit them: I am one of those. No tick, no rash, but very ill.
The tests for Lyme and coinfections are not very precise, so a diagnosis is made based on the tests as well as on symptoms. Doctors who do not know Lyme well may rely only on the tests, and so miss an infection and leave it untreated. Neurologists and rheumatologists in particular are not attuned to Lyme, but they tend to think they are the experts. Many doctors tend to go by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) standards for diagnosis, but there are serious problems with those standards and the way they were formulated: they miss many serious Lyme infections. Doctors who have a view of Lyme more broadminded than the CDC are sometimes casually referred to as LLMDs: Lyme Literate Medical Doctors. They can be internists, or GPs, or any kind of MD, but take the point of view that not everything is known about these illnesses and that the CDC approach is too narrow. Finding an LLMD can be the first step to knowing whether or not you have Lyme.
Wishing you well --
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