Possible lyme?

[Beaverdam]

Hoping someone can help as i am worried and dont know if i am being unreasonable.

I was bit by an insect on holiday a few weeks ago. My foot was very itchy and a red patch spread across my foot. I have been bit so many times by mosquitoes but never had a reaction like it. I went to the GP who gave me antibiotics.

A few days later i had a chest infection amd flu. I called the DR and he said it could be lyme but didnt give me treatment. Just said to watch out for stiff joint and further rashes.

I am worried sick. Anyone else had any experiences like mine?

Much more likely to be a coincidence than Lyme disease which is rare (but is the disease du jour for hypochondriacs people with health anxiety, so gets a lot of attention on the internet)

Poor advice from the GP.
I do have Lymes and am not a hypochondriac thank you @jimmyhill.
The rash is distinctive OP and I don’t think itchy. I missed mine (easily done apparently) and would have felt something if it were.
The flu symptoms I had were unusual , very painful joints like flu but no headache
Look on NHS direct for advice and see another GP if you are still worried

It sounds very unlikely. The bite usually looks quite distinctive...Google images will give you an idea.
If the GP was genuinely concerned, they'd have done more. I think they were just doing their standard safety netting so you'd know red flags to look out for.

Not that rare, about 1k confirmed cases each year and there has been an increase in tics this year so that has probably risen. Problem is most people ignore symptoms and either never get tested or tested years after when treatment is useless and patient is left with lifelong symptoms. Op I would go and see another doctor and ask to get tested. The ‘bulls eye’ rash is the thing you are told to look out for but it’s not always present. Could be complete coincidence that you had illness after being bitten but it’s not worth taking risk

Where were you on holiday? As you were obviously wearing sandals, were you going through long grass or woody areas? Did you feel the bite happen? Did you have any other ticks?

It just sounds like an insect bite, as you haven't given any reason to think it was a tick.

It takes 6-8 weeks from exposure to have the antibody response required for the blood test. Maybe make an appointment for then, and cancel it if you feel better and it's just a bug.

It would take longer for Lyme's Disease to manifest itself, it wouldn't start after only a few days. And you would probably have seen the tick in the bite if it was a tick bite.

Well if Jimmy thinks Lymes is the disease du jour, it shows that the awareness campaigns are working. Small positives and all that!

DD had the bites for a while and they were bloody itchy. Big red patch with small bit mark in middle. A couple of weeks later she got the bullseye ring rash. Bite in middle, light red skin, paler ring, raised red circle. Off to the GP who was sceptical but looked it up. Have Doxycycline for her now.

DD is hypermobile so spotting joint pains and fatigue is trickier but she was tireder and sorer of the joints than normal.

A pedant writes:
It is Lyme disease (correct in OP's post) - not Lyme's disease. Named after a town (Old Lyme in Connecticut) in USA where it was first identified.

Thank you all for the replys. Im just going out of my mind with worry. I have anxiety and havent been taking the tablets so the worry is amplified.

Here is the bute. Ut spread up to my ankle and i had strange sensation in my toes but it went down with antibiotics.

I got lyme disease whilst travelling in Scandinavia a few years back. I had the classic bulls eye rash (Google it) on my calf so mine looked nothing like yours does in that pic.

I had no idea when I was bitten during my trip, never saw a tick and had no symptoms at all except the rash which a pharmacist identified after I asked to buy some cream for it, and they referred me to a walk in clinic at hospital where I was prescribed a course of antibiotic.

My bite wasn't apparent at the time, there was no swelling or itch, just literally the bulls eye rash which was flat on my skin, not raised up.

It's impossible to diagnose over the internet so if you're worried go see another doctor for reassurance.

Looks like a mosquito bite

Antibiotics is the treatment for Lyme disease anyway.

Were you in Southern Europe?

The test proves nothing. A negative result at this stage does not mean you don’t have Lyme.

How long were you on antibiotics for? And which antibiotic were you prescribed?

That doesn’t look anything like a Lyme disease rash. If you google images of Lyme disease, you’ll see it’s very distinctive.
My Dh had a very similar bite to yours, his foot and ankle swelled up so much- it was a horse fly bite.

@Lagatha yes.

Thank you all so much for replying. My anxiety is obviously in overdrive and i am overreacting.

I hope everyone you has it on here makes a full recovery. I really do.

I was going to say I live in a different country in Europe. We have mosquitoes and I get bitten, no big deal.
But in Italy, Croatia etc. They have different species. I got bitten by a tiger mosquito we think and it looked just like that.
I agree with a pp it looks nothing like Lyme.
Hope it's better soon

To be fair to the OP, it was actually her doctor who first suggested Lyme. OP, I don't think your bit looks like a tic bite, but keep an eye on it. From what I know, Lyme can be treated if caught early enough.

I git it from an insect bite here in the uk. My only symptom was the rash. It was the classic bulls eye rash. Yours doesn’t look like it. It just looks like a reaction to a mozzie bite tbh.

Did you actually have a tick?
Mosquitoes don't transfer Lyme disease.

Keep an eye on that bite OP. Mozzie bites when they go ‘funny’ like that can turn into Cellulitis. Friend of mine is just out of hospital after ten days following a bite that became infected. You did the right thing seeing your Doctor.

Lyme is not uncommon in the UK for those who walk in the countryside or anywhere where there are deer etc. Known from London’s Royal Parks, Greenwich, Richmond and Bushy, all have deer and have cases reported every year.