Could It Be Lyme Disease? Symptoms and Diagnosis

[Moonbear]

Go see a doctor, Evo! You can't expect that everybody will have the same symptoms/physical reaction, and the potential long-term effects of untreated Lyme are nasty. My 2nd cousin and her husband lived not far from Lyme and he was an avid outdoorsman. He was diagnosed only long after the disease had gotten him, and he went from strong, quick-witted and fit to being crippled with pain, constantly tired, and unable to carry on coherent conversations. It was really sad. He started getting sick around 1970 and 4-5 years later, he was a wreck.

Precisely. Not everyone who gets Lyme disease develops the characteristic rash. If you've been bitten by a tick and are developing feverish symptoms, you NEED to see a doctor. If Lyme disease goes undetected, as turbo said, it can be quite debilitating. If treated early, a full recovery can be expected. You're out in a part of the country where other tick-borne diseases are prevalent too, so even if it's not Lyme disease, it could be something else serious. Or, you could be experiencing some other complications of your other recent surgeries and injuries unrelated to the bug bite and are blaming the bug.

(Hey, I was stuck inside a lot the other day with thunderstorms hitting the area and watched WAY too much Discovery Health channel and all those Mystery Diagnosis type shows...there was a guy who thought he just had a spider bite, and it turns out it was a MRSA infection that he ended up dying from because it spread all over before he finally decided he was sick enough to call 911. The doctor on the show commented that too often spiders get blamed for everything, when nobody claiming to get a spider bite has actually seen the spider. I think that might apply to other bug bites too...afterall, how many high school kids do you know who seemed to mysteriously get bitten on the neck by a mosquito in the middle of winter? )

 

[Evo]

and he went from strong, quick-witted and fit to being crippled with pain, constantly tired, and unable to carry on coherent conversations.

I'm already at that stage.

 

[JasonRox]

I'm already at that stage.

I'm sorry but I can't see past this joke because the seriousness of this issue and how you're basically ignoring it.

And like everyone said, go see a doctor.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Yes, doctor, Now! Evo, I will ban you from PF if you do not go! (half joking)

 

[hypatia]

She better be at the Dr. right now.

 

[binzing]

Evo, still get it checked by a doctor, especially if you're getting feverish symptoms. It doesn't have to be Lyme disease, but it still could be a bacterial infection from the bite...or complications from your broken arm mending, or your stomach surgery healing, or, well, with you, anything. You need to find yourself a nice ER doc to marry to save yourself so many trips to the ER.

Why not MOVE INTO the ER?

 

[russ_watters]

I managed to get a better look at whatever it is and it appears to be a bug bite inside a ringed bruise.

On the back of your knee, it could also be ringworm. Either way, that's something you should go to the doctor for.

 

[Evo]

I'm sorry but I can't see past this joke because the seriousness of this issue and how you're basically ignoring it.

And like everyone said, go see a doctor.

If my arms were two feet longer, I could take a better picture that would show that the ring is indeed a bruise. You can now make out the purple and yellow colors. It is apparently some freak thing that occured. The swollen "lump" is actually a swollen "line" about an inch long.

I am attaching a new picture, this time taken with my phone.

 

[turbo]

Evo, go seek the opinion of a medical doctor. "Bruising" can also be a symptom of a bite. Brown recluse spiders can cause pretty spectacular "bruising" as their venom is a strong anticoagulant. Chance are, you are OK, but if you have an infection (Lyme or not) that goes untreated, the consequences can be serious. Please stop playing around with this.

 

[Andre]

problem is, Evo, that you can't compare anecdotal evidence of similar symtoms of otherwise healthy youngsters in a much more complex situation like yourself are in, with all the other medical things going. Please listen to Turbo.

 

[binzing]

Just go to the damn doctor, you may as well. They'll prolly find something else even if this is harmless...

 

[Astronuc]

Like everyone else says - please go to the doctor. Unless someone gave your knee a hicky, that is high abnormal. It could be a tick bite, or a spider bite, so you need a blood test to rule out Lyme or other tick-borne disease. The consequences are too severe not to do the test.

The brown recluse spider bites also need treatment since skin necrosis may result. A friends mother needed several skin grafts near one of ankles where she was bitten by a brown recluse. It never really healed properly and it cause complications - more than a decade ago.

Anyway, if one has a fever after breaking the arm, the surgery, the bug/tick bite, it really is a good time to see the doctor again.

 

[Evo]

Ok, they worked me in (he's just two blocks away) and he said it looks like I had a bruise and now a bug bit me inside the bruised area.

Or I was experimented on by Aliens, he said it's a tough call.

He's calling in a cream that I'll have to pick up later. Works on bug bites and Alien injections.

So there.

 

[maze]

You have got to be some kind of idiot to get these symptoms and not go to the doctor. Are you too poor/dont have health insurance or something?

EDIT scratch that, posted 1 min too late...

 

[lisab]

WooHoo!

So which came first, the bug bite or the bruise ?

 

[hypatia]

Oh I'm so glad it was just a alien experiment ! I'm glad you went.

 

[Evo]

WooHoo!

So which came first, the bug bite or the bruise ?

He said I'd had the bruise a couple of days from how it was dissipating. He said if I hadn't been bitten I probably never would have noticed it. He's right

Oh I'm so glad it was just a alien experiment ! I'm glad you went.

Just in case, I'm buying some Hot Shot alien strips, guaranteed to stop aliens in their tracks!

 

[mgb_phys]

He said if I hadn't been bitten I probably never would have noticed it. He's right

Against the backgorund level of Evo injuries anything less than losing a limb is probably difficult to detect!

Get well soon (why isn't there a bunch of flowers smiley?)

 

[lisab]

Just in case, I'm buying some Hot Shot alien strips, guaranteed to stop aliens in their tracks!

A simple aluminum foil hat works wonders, I've found.

 

[Evo]

If anyone wants to feel sorry for me, I cut up a jalapeno and even though I thoroughly washed my hands, there was still enough on there that when I stuck my finger up my nose, well, you know...

Oh, and food is still getting stuck in my esophagus and when I try to swallow I end up vomiting up whatever was stuck that didn't make it into my stomach.

 

[turbo]

Get a little food processor and handle your chilies only by the intact skin and stem. Generally, you can snap off the stem-cap of chilies, toss them in the processor, make your salsa or whatever, and then transfer it to bowls, canning jars, etc with spatulas or spoons. I regularly split and de-seed jalapenos by hand when making poppers for cook-outs with friends. I let that habit carry over into my habanero-relish production just one time only. My hands burned for days, especially when I got them wet like when taking a shower or doing dishes.

Sorry to hear about the obstruction. My dad has a hiatal hernia, and it causes his problems, especially with certain foods.

 

[Evo]

Get a little food processor and handle your chilies only by the intact skin and stem. Generally, you can snap off the stem-cap of chilies, toss them in the processor, make your salsa or whatever, and then transfer it to bowls, canning jars, etc with spatulas or spoons. I regularly split and de-seed jalapenos by hand when making poppers for cook-outs with friends. I let that habit carry over into my habanero-relish production just one time only. My hands burned for days, especially when I got them wet like when taking a shower or doing dishes.

I thought I had washed up enough.

Sorry to hear about the obstruction. My dad has a hiatal hernia, and it causes his problems, especially with certain foods.

Supposedly my hiatl hernia was repaired while I was under. There were supposed to be 3 procedures done.

 

[turbo]

I thought I had washed up enough.

I don't know that you can wash (with soap and water) enough to get that stuff out of your skin. If you wash with dishwashing detergent and hot water and follow up with rubbing alcohol and repeat, you may get some relief, but it won't totally take away the burn of the really snarly peppers.

 

[binzing]

So which came first, the bug bite or the bruise ?

The chrysalis.

 

[Oberst Villa]

Ok, they worked me in (he's just two blocks away) and he said it looks like I had a bruise and now a bug bit me inside the bruised area.

Or I was experimented on by Aliens, he said it's a tough call.

He's calling in a cream that I'll have to pick up later. Works on bug bites and Alien injections.

So there.

Did you tell the doc about the fever you have / had ? And is your temperature still high or normal again ?

 

[turbo]

Lest anybody breathe a sigh of relief, please remember that this is Evo. Likely, that "bug-bite" is not a bite but the entry point for an ovipositor of a tropical insect that came home with her after a trip to the expensive food store with the frou-frou fuits. After a suitable incubation period, the larvae will need to tunnel out. Stay tuned. Film at eleven.

 

[Moonbear]

Lest anybody breathe a sigh of relief, please remember that this is Evo. Likely, that "bug-bite" is not a bite but the entry point for an ovipositor of a tropical insect that came home with her after a trip to the expensive food store with the frou-frou fuits. After a suitable incubation period, the larvae will need to tunnel out. Stay tuned. Film at eleven.

 

[lisab]

Get a little food processor and handle your chilies only by the intact skin and stem.

I use one like this:

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/7103/choppereo6.jpg

It works great, especially for salsa.

 

[larkspur]

when I stuck my finger up my nose

That is what Q-Tips are for!

 

[Astronuc]

I don't know that you can wash (with soap and water) enough to get that stuff out of your skin. If you wash with dishwashing detergent and hot water and follow up with rubbing alcohol and repeat, you may get some relief, but it won't totally take away the burn of the really snarly peppers.

If one gets capsaicin on the hands, one should keep one's fingers away from sensitive areas like eyes and nose. To remove it, one would have to put butter or yoghurt on the hands, rub hands together, then rinse hands, then wash with detergent and water. Otherwise the capsaicin will stay on the skin, and water will hydrolyze capsaicin to dihydrocapsaicin, which I believe is the one that is the most burning one.