Lyme Disease

[westland]

I know that there have been some old threads about this but felt it might be worth just letting everyone know to carry on being aware of checking for ticks.  I have just started a course of antibiotics having being diagnosed with Lyme disease due to the tell tale bulls eye rash on the back of my knee. I don't recall seeing a tick, though remember having an itchy red spot which I thought was maybe a midge/flea bite.  Just got out of bed one morning and the large patch had appeared.  Think that I must have had it for about four or five weeks.

Well I fussed about ticks when I arrived and thought that I was being vigilant, no shorts, avoiding walks in the woods and regularly dosing the dog.  We are in 23 and my doctor informed me that this was the third tick rash that he has seen this summer and I know another ex-pat who lives a few miles away from us who contracted Lyme not long after she arrived about four year's ago.

I'm just going to try a few extra measures now, buy some insect repellent, check myself more often especially after walks and invest in a better pair of tweezers because the plastic tick removers don't get the tiny black ones and I've had one of those since I started the treatment!

PS Ether was mentioned by the doctor for removal, does anyone think that this comes into the category of using sprays, vaseline etc which could cause more infection?

[chris pp]

I use ether on cotton wool, hold it on the tick for about a minute, this renders in unconscious and it relaxes its "claws" and makes it far safer to remove without leaving the head behind buried in the flesh, and I had one on my chest yesterday!!

Chris

[Lilly]

What were the symptoms of lyme disease, I have just removed (2days ago) a tick at the top of my inner thigh (Much to my husbands horror!!) let alone my screams could be heard over 14th July festivities, now I have found a sore red area in the same place. Is my leg gonna drop off or what?

thanks you for your response I await it in nail biting anticipation.

[Rob Roy]

Here is a link that will give you some information. http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/lymedisease.htm

However, I also removed a tick from the inside of my thigh a couple of months ago, and about 3 weeks later noticed a rash on my hip, and had a stinging pain too. I was convinced I had caught LD [:-))]. As it happens I had to visit the doctor for a medical for my job and when I showed him the rash he told me I had 'Zona' - which in English is shingles!. So don't panic and if worried see your GP[:)]

[westland]

For me I suppose I was fortunate enough, if you can call it that, to have come out in the bulls eye rash sort of red in the middle then paler then red again about the size of an orange.  I had a very angry reaction at the beginning which as I said I thought was a flea bite, should have consulted the doctor really at that stage.  I would suppose as said in previous posting anything other than the usual small red mark left after insect bites might be best checked out.  My daughter said there was an article in the La Montagne Paper (we are in 23) on Saturday, may be on their website, le journal la montagne.