It's official! Hopefully I caught it while it's still in stage one. I had a lesion on my thigh that wouldn't respond to steroid ointment, antibiotic ointment or anti fungal ointment going on 3 weeks - this morning while I was looking at it I noticed what appeared to be a white halo around the lesion then realized it was the classic bulls eye rash forming. I immediately ran to a doc n a box and they agreed with me and now I have to take doxycycline antibiotics for a month .. the worse thing is that the meds can cause really bad photosensitivity which means for the next month I'm going to have to wear socks, long plants, long sleeve shirts and gloves when I go outside and lets not forget the hat. In this heat that really sucks!!!!
Everyone keep your fingers crossed I caught it in time and the antibiotics will cure me! I'm now an official SC statistic for Lyme disease.
I have Lyme Disease
Oh Anne, I am so sorry to hear that, these d@mn ticks have been terrible this year. Did they do the lab work to make sure? There are so many awful things out there right now.
On the upside, this is probably the worst time of our year to be outside, the heat and humidity are beyond terrible. This might be a good time to read some good gardening books and start some seeds - INDOORS!
Thank heavens you caught this quickly. Being a statistic is no fun.
To tell you the truth, I'm a "what is, is" person so I'm not really torn up or upset about it. It just is. One of the many vagaries of gardening I suppose. I've been totally asymptomatic except for the lesion so I consider myself very lucky I was able to catch it when I did - I think one of the perks of being a doctors daughter and sister is that I have a tendency to notice things about myself that are out of normal and a somewhat intrinsic sense of what to do before it gets out of hand - thus the trying of 3 different types of ointments on the lesion when it first appeared - I was actually going to make a doctors appt. for tomorrow because it wasn't responding to anything - discovering the developing rash today was just good luck which allowed an immediate diagnosis so I'm kind of glad the rash started to appear. I opted out of the lab work because statistically it only really catches it about 30% of the time in early stages and the rest of the time you read negative even though you have it.
So I guess for the next 4 weeks I'll be an early morning and late evening gardener.
This message was edited Jul 22, 2012 5:50 PM
Not good news. Hoping you have a full and speedy recovery.
Entlie
I'm so glad you knew what to look for and caught it early, Anne. This is a a wake call for all of us gardeners. Know that you are in my prayers and please keep us abreast of your progress and recovery.
Jeannie
Thanks everyone .. I'm doing fine - too early for antibiotic side effects but I have noticed that the lesion had turned from bright red to dull pink and it hasn't even been 24 hours since the first dose. Got some diflucan ready and getting some yogurt tomorrow.
So far so good .. I only have to put up with being terribly nauseous for an hour twice a day since taking the antibiotics with food is not recommended.
I came up with a way to be able to continue gardening without having to wear clothes from head to toe. I attached my umbrella to my hand truck so I can drag it around easily with me when I water or work in the beds .. it's perfect .. especially since the umbrella tilts.
Necessity is truly the mother of invention.
This message was edited Jul 24, 2012 9:06 AM
Love it! :-)
I had the symptoms of Lyme disease about 16 years ago from hiking in new York when i was 34; Swollen joints, fever, flu like. Symptoms disappeared in a day then came back a week later. It was saturday so dr phoned a prescription for amoxicillin or something mild since I was lactating. Symptoms never came back and I was so busy with new baby I never thought twice about it. Sounds like that was more advanced than yours and I'm fine, at least I think so ;)
Relax.
So sorry to hear this piece of news. Hope you're well on the way to feeling better now. Rest up and get ready for the fall when SC weather becomes slightly more civilized.
So far I haven't had any symptoms except the rash. The worst part is the antibiotics with the nausea and getting sunburned in less than 5 minutes!
Wow. So sorry to hear you got bit, but love the umbrella!
Sounds like you did get treatment in time.
Barb
I'm hanging in there .. antibiotics suck tho.
You need to also make sure to wear a very high sun tan lotion, cloths don't catch all rays, especially around hair line, ears.
Hope you make a full recovery.
Jan
I got Lyme disease back in CT in 2004. The worst of it was the bull's eye rash, it hurt awfully, like a big burn, on my thigh. Felt really punky for the couple of weeks before the rash and swelling subsided and have never had any problems since, unless what I'm calling advancing old age pains are from the Lyme. From what I understand, once you have Lyme, you have it, even after going thru the antibiotics regimen. It comes back to haunt sometimes but not always. Good luck with yours!!
Thanks .. I'm in the middle of week 2 of the antibiotics .. certainly not the best time of my life ... my mouth tastes like an old carpet .. yuck!
Inquiring minds want to know HOW you know what an old carpet tastes like...;)
Barb
Lol .. well you caught me BB - should have said what I imagine an old carpet tastes like .. either way it's a really disgusting taste with a furry carpet like tongue.
Sounds like a 1970's shag either a dark, dull, gold or maybe avacado green. :-)
don't forget burnt orange! lol
More like that lime green ultra furry shag. Starting on my last week today .. I'm ready to quit and take my chances .. this is brutal.
Don't do that, it is only a few more weeks and Lyme stays with you forever if you don't catch it. My brother had it early on before they identified it as a disease and he had some pretty serious post lyme symptoms.
I agree! I know two people who still have it in their systems and with both, their bodies are just ravaged.
Barb
Hope all is well now. Impressed with the umbrella invention!