Lyme's disease diagnosis

[RiverBear]

Hello,

Very recently went on holiday to Italy and was bitten 4 times on each leg/foot whilst I was there!! The bites were itchy and the most recent one blistered. My husband had loads of bites but none were as itchy as mine but he did have a couple that blistered.

Arrived home from the holiday two nights ago - The bumps from the bites appeared around 8-9 days ago. Husband's bites improved but mine still itched and were the same size and bruised.

This morning 6 of my bites had the classic bullseye rash. I had a mild headache but no other symptoms. I went to the pharmacist and he prescribed flucoxacillin. Went home and realised (after a google search) that this doesn't help Lyme's.

Contacted 111 and spoke to an out of hours GP (because it's a Saturday afternoon). He confirmed that the rash looks like Lyme's and he prescribed the correct antibotic - dpxycycline. 21 day course twice a day.

What should I expect over the next 3 weeks? When will the rashes fade? Do you think I've caught the disease early enough? Anyone had similar experiences? Should my husband get tested/antibiotics too even though he hasn't got the rash?

Horrible to think that had I not googled the pharmacist's antibiotic that I could have been none the wiser and suffering in a few weeks! Hopefully I'll be ok.

I really don’t think that’s Lyme disease, ticks are the only known vectors. Looks like the pharmacist was right on this occasion, did the GP offer to refer you for a blood test? I would certainly get in contact with your surgery on Monday as you don’t want to be taking antibiotics as a long course when you don’t need to. Also be very careful with doxycycline in the sun as it can cause photosensitivity.

Please follow the advice of the GP here OP not the Internet!!!!

Continue with the course, if it's not Lymes disease but infected bites then it will prevent them becoming cellulitis anyway. If it is Lymes disease then you will have been treated. Honestly it's not something I would muck about with.

The most tick bites I have had in 1 day is also 14 after hill walking and wearing long trousers. Around here GPs don't take the risk and as soon as I started to feel unwell antibiotics were prescribed. Lymes disease is more common then people realise and is vastly under reported

I will definitely continue with the antibotics for the full 21 days just in case. I would just like to improve the rashes, the itchiness is horrific! It would be good to know what actually bit me and what this is though.

While scottishskifun is correct that you should follow the GP, please get a blood test on Monday to see if it is Lyme disease. Even though they don’t look infected (just a reaction) flucloxacillin is usually first line for cellulitis in non allergic patients, not doxycycline and certainly not for 21 days!

I agree you should now keep taking the antibiotics, and finish the course. Take some kefir/yoghurt at the same time. Antihistamines are the best bet for the itchiness and rash. Benadryl are my go too.

I get terrible reactions to bites, although bizarrely not to ticks, but mozzies, fleas, sand flies, all come up like yours. Never had to take anti-biotics though thankfully.

Christ thank god. I had one of these in Spain felt the little bugger nip and brushed it off.

Take the antibiotics OP. I think Lyme is rare but you don’t want it!

@Berlioz23 I've read that Lyme's blood test results often come up as false negatives so I'm a bit wary of having a test.

The pharmacist prescribed fluclox as a precaution for a blistered bite which has improved a lot since I got bit on Wednesday - he prescribed the steroid cream for the other bites. I'm not concerned about cellulitis at the moment because the blistered bite is so much better and these rashes look fine right now. I will obviously keep an eye on these rashes but am plastering them with germolene twice a day. I could use the cream the pharmacist prescribed I suppose but I'm not sure if I can when taking antibotics? May need to phone 111 to ask.

@Missingmyusername Yes I will definitely carry on the with antibiotics!

For future reference OP, I take Anthisan everywhere with me in the summer. It is magic for all kinds of bites and stings (but did not help my Lyme rash). You could put some on now as well as taking your antibiotics. Boots bite cream is good too. They stop the itching and the allergic reaction.

Thanks for the tip! I have bought 1% bite cream from tesco today so might try that tonight, hopefully it's as good as the boots cream that you use!

Op - I had about 7 bites exactly like yours from gardening- definitely not tics. They took about 6-7 days to go away- I used the Tesco bite cream frequently. Ths thing that really helped was using a hairdryer for a few seconds on each one- you do it until it hurts- it felt really good and stopped the itching each time for ages.

Yes, that is true about the tests but that’s mainly in the early stages and 2 different tests are usually done because of this. It’s not usually imperative Lyme disease is treated straight away, there is a bit of wriggle room for antibiotic treatment. You can use the steroid cream with either of the antibiotics but is the 1% you got hydrocortisone?

Hi op, I'm just going into week 2 of antibs for a suspected tic bite and subsequent bullseye rash. I've got gallstones too (and PSA)so my tummy isn't enjoying them. It's not awful though, and better than having Lyme's disease.

I'm taking 1 in the morning and 1 evening. It helps me to take them once I've eaten something and trying to eat kimchi and other probiotics to help.

@Berlioz23 yes the 1% tesco cream has hydrocortisone

So if you do use the steroid cream the pharmacist prescribed, don’t use the hydrocortisone as well

@Hercules12 oh really! For some reason my rash is a delayed reaction, was bitten over a week ago, is this what happened to you? Thanks for the tip, I will start using the tesco cream tonight I think!

Ok thanks @Berlioz23 ! 😊

Sorry to hear that you're struggling with them! When did you start experiencing trouble with them? It's my 2nd day and all is fine so far but am fully expecting a bad time with them!

hi -op- there was a few days delay but not a week before the rash. I’m on strong autoimmune medication and since starting that I always react like this to bites.