New Guy needs solid reliable and accurate info . . .

[tickvictim]

So, here we go. I live in Tennessee.  My wife, son and two dogs went hiking about 3 weeks ago near Big South Fork and apparently the dogs and I managed to get quite a few "seed ticks."  We didn't know it until my wife saw a few small black "dots" on the dogs. We initially thought it was flea "poop" because we pulled them off the dogs and my wife mashed one- it left a little red streak.  We honestly couldn't see legs or antenna or anything.

The next day, we found 10 or 15 more on the little dog and a few on the 85lb golden doodle. I was looking at them and  until this time, we never saw them move or anything.  Again, we didn't know what we were looking at because ticks just have never been an issue.

I took a few and set them on the vanity and started watching them with a cell phone (zoomed in camera) and sure enough a couple of them started to wiggle and move around.  At that point, I refined my search efforts and sure enough we found info on seed ticks.

We checked our dark couch (both dogs are cream colored) and area rug near the couch and found a couple hundred of the little buggers.

Around the same time, I developed little read bumps (bites ) just below my sock line.  I'm assuming this happened in the woods on the hike because I felt a little itch at a couple of points in the hike.

We treated the rugs, couches, base boards and everything with food grade diatomaceous earth and haven't seen a tick in two and a half weeks.  

I hate ticks, always have so, during this whole process, I was extra watchful.  Flashlight inspections daily on all surfaces etc.

Ok . . . so now the good part . . . in addition to the three or four hundred seed ticks, we also found one or two young\adult ticks.  One of those ticks had fed and was pretty swollen.  The other had not fed.  Both were about half the size of a pinky fingernail and dark black (swollen gray) in color.

At some point I also noticed a couple of bites on my hip and one on the side of my stomach.  At first one of the two bites resembled a mosquito bite.  It was pinkish and slightly raised.  A couple of days went by and I noticed that it had increased in size.  I circled it with a permanent marker to keep tabs on spreading.

Now a week or so later, it is about 2.5-3.0 inches across and does resemble pictures that I have seen of the "bulls-eye rash" that is often associated with Lyme Disease.   . . . I'm nervous.

I went to the doctor and told her the following:

1.) time since bite approximately 2.5 - 3 weeks
2.) all ticks were larvae stage or I guess maybe some nymphs with exception of the two larger ones
3.) I shower twice daily and was vigilant- I am shirtless when I sleep and hang out at the house
4.) It seem highly unlikely to me that I ever had a tick large enough/developed enough to bury it's head and/feed for the 24-36 hours that I understand is required to pass the illness.  My son. wife or I would have seen the nasty *******.
5.) I'm not aware of any symptoms like stiff neck, fatigue etc. but then again, I'm 45 years old and back ache and tiredness after a long day's work are fairly typical .. .lol.

Based on that, the doctor said she doubted that I had Lyme disease.  Then when she saw the bite, she said"Ya know . .that's what it looks like."  She drew blood and sent it off to the lab, but perscribed Doxycycline anyway.

Based on all that I've read, this shouldn't be Lyme disease, but what do you guys think?

-TickVictim - out

[JackieCalifornia]

Greetings ... sorry to hear about your situation, but good for you for pursuing the issue and not just rolling over.

There is a serious split in the medical community about how serious Lyme is or is not and how serious other diseases carried by the 'Lyme' ticks are as well.  

It's middle of the night here and the site may crash again, so this will be brief ... I agree that IGeneX Labs is the lab of choice for knowledgeable Lyme docs (tho other older tests still have their uses), but IGeneX will not test your blood unless you have an MD's order to do so.  Which means that you will need a wise and experienced Lyme doc to know what to test for, based on your symptoms and history.  

Also, note that doxycycline ('doxy' for short) is not the only medication used in Lyme treatment, but for many years was the only drug the medical community had.  There are now newer and better medications/treatments just as there are now better tests like the ones from IGeneX.

You will need an MD's order to get tested at any lab, so if you can wait till tomorrow so we can give you more data on what your options are, then we can lay it all out for you, so you can make your decisions and your plans for dealing with whatever you may have.

So hang on, more to come in the morning.  Not to worry:  Lyme and the other tickborne infections can be dealt with successfully.  It's just figuring out how to maneuver around and through the half-clueless medical community that is the biggest barrier.  Will post more in the morning.

[jockojohnson]

if you really want to know then send your blood to igenex labs in california traditional labs only test for 5 strains of lyme diseaese and igenex tests for 12 so you could have it and a traditional lab wont pick it up igenex is the only lab that does it right .traditional drs dont know lyme disease an llmd would be a better bet they are trained by ilads the international lyme and associated diseasesilads teaches the cdc about lyme disease.dont let them tell you that anything less than 6 weeks of doxy is good for lyme .