OT: Lyme disease..... again

[trader_4]

Another tick, infected with Lyme again. Got the classic bulls eye rash, so went to the doctor on Friday. This is the fourth time I've been infected. First time was before the disease was known and identified. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones, still no major lasting symptoms, though years ago I had some real rough years. This one should be easy to get rid of, a month of doxycycline, which works if you catch it early. Years ago I was on Zithromax for months, normally 5 pills fixes pneumonia and similar. Went through months of several other antibiotics too. This year has been really bad, ticks everywhere.

[Terry Coombs]

Been a bad year here too for the little bastards . Ours here are the lone star tick , some call 'em seed ticks . Painful bites too . Having had Lyme some years ago I feel your pain . Now I jump into the shower as soon as I'm out of the woods and scrub down well with one of those scrubby things then rinse with water as hot as I can stand . That usually gets any that I missed with a visual inspection . -- Snag

[Frank]

I've been surprised that I never got it having spent a lot of time in the woods bow hunting in the fall. I've seen deer ticks crawling on my clothing but was never bitten. Figure it was from wearing long pants and long sleeve shirts and always showering when I got home. Camo clothing was hung in the garage and rest went in the hamper. I hear they normally spend a long time finding a warm spot before they bite you.

Thought I had a bulls eye rash once but it was diagnosed as a chigger bite and heat eczema. Doc still had me tested and gave me antibiotic.

[micky]

FTR, there is not always a bulls-eye rash and iirc not always a rash at all.

[trader_4]

That's correct and while the bulls-eye type rash usually occurs at the site of the tick bite, sometimes it doesn't and there can be more than one. One time I had three of the bulls-eyes, on my arm and upper back and none were at the site where the tick was. Also the tests don't have good reliability either and it's difficult to impossible to culture the bacteria from patients.