To think this is lymes disease (with pic)

[ohdearwhatcouldtheproblembe]

Aibu to think this is Lyme disease?
On 3 year old sons calf.
We are in an area of high ticks and dog walk in areas there are ticks.
Noticed a raised lump like a bite 4 days ago but didn’t spot an actual tick.
Now this has appeared.
Phoned 111 at 10am this morning and they said he needs to see someone, but they’ve not called back.
Sorry can’t remember if it’s Tic or Tick 🤷‍♀️

As I said up there, there was a change to the NICE guidelines - which came about in January of this year. Diagnosis can now be done on the basis of rash alone - you need not wait for [inconclusive] blood tests. www.nice.org.uk/news/article/diagnose-lyme-disease-if-bull-s-eye-rash-is-present-says-nice

Have you got an ooo gp service you can access other than through 111?

It sounds like you dc may need to start antibiotics but it’s not really an a & e emergency.

No. We’ve just got 111 here.

Jesuis - But people get bitten by ticks all the time, was there the rash or other symptoms?

My blood test was 2 years ago so sounds like I’m out of date. I didn’t have a bulls eye rash at all, just feeling unwell.

My son always reacts like that to ordinary midge bites. They always look like that and then go down in a few days. Apparently some people have something in their blood that causes a reaction. I will post a photo of his bite he had a couple of weeks ago

Op - have you rung 111 back?

My 5 year old had a tick in his ear about a month ago - I just removed it and forgot about it (vet nurse so used to them). Should I have taken him to the GP?!

I'm not sure about the UK but they're treating any tick bite in eastern Canada as carrying Lyme and treating with antibiotics but they're only affective within 4 days according to the news article I read yesterday.

I'd get to a GP and get antibiotics anyway. Looks like some sort of bite but I don't think it looks Lyme. My friend's DS had similar and his bite definitely looked more like a bullseye.

Also, my eldest had a bite like the one your son has last year - he was put on antibiotics as the red patch around the bite kept getting bigger. It wasn't a tick bite though.

Yes please @violeticecream

Here is my sons bite

GP said they don't bother with blood tests now, they just put you straight onto a 3 week course of strong antibiotics

Is this true? What a farce.

I took a photo of it and was then googling like crazy comparing it to tick bites as I always worry about Lyme. But within a few days they had gone and he is always fine

Everybody in my family has had tick bites in the last 2 years and we just removed them and were all fine. I only went to the gp because I felt unwell afterwards.

I’m really good at removing the little blighters now.

The bullseye rings I have seen have been very clear. Red central bite, ring of normal coloured skin and then a distinctive red ring around the outside. Your photo doesn't look like that - which is good.
It looks like a normal bug bite to me but if you are unsure maybe get a pharmacist to look at it.

Don’t know what to think.
He’s just fallen asleep so don’t really want to wake him if not needed. Hoping that 111 haven’t called back as they feel it’s not urgent.

Could be ringworm. It’s not really a bullseye shape.

GP said they don't bother with blood tests now, they just put you straight onto a 3 week course of strong antibiotics

We need to be a lot more careful with antibiotics than this!

violet, I’m covered in those at the moment, I think they’re horsefly bites? Definitely not ticks.

@MrsTerryPratchett

I agree. No way would I take 3 weeks of strong antibiotics unless they were clearly needed.

The reason antibiotics are given without tests is the testing is not quick nor possible in local labs, by the time they came back it could be too late for ABs: but yes we do
Need to be sensible about antibiotic prescribing so it would be really helpful if more people took precautions in tick areas long trousers etc and also took some antihistamines before seeking treatment for every insect bite.

So if it’s not lymes then will it go down with piriton?

And it’s not spread. The internet suggests it would spread if it was Lymes. It looks smaller than other people’s rashes. It’s been the size of a 10p since I spotted it about 9am.

Ok I think it’s too small. It’s about 2cm, not 5cm.

I wouldn’t go to a&e myself, it’s not an emergency

Possible Lymes IS an emergency and you can't get a GP appointment over the weekend anyway (and possibly not for weeks if you are unlucky on Monday and have the sort of surgery where you can't get appointments). Go to A&E - you need antibiotics. Don't mess around.