I was bitten by a tick and now I have a red bulls eye rash
Last night, I felt like something was stuck under my robe and poking me a little bit, so I readjusted the robe, and it was still bothering me. So I looked and found a tick biting me on my tummy, right at the height of my robe's belt. So I pulled the tick out with a pair of tweezers, just as I have done hundreds of times with my dogs over the years. As he came out and was placed on the tissue however, he was gushing. I washed it with alcohol, and covered it in neosporin and a bandage. Over the next hour, the spot from where I removed him turned dark blue (I could see it under the edge of the bandage) like a bruise, and it still was stinging. Today, sigh, there's a red ring around the bruise. Not the whole thing is red, an actual little red ring, perhaps the beginning of the classic "Bull's Eye Rash" that is a sign of Lyme Disease? Okay, here's the pic: 
Here's the kicker... I'm already on day 11 of an antibiotic treatment using Cipro, but the doc says that Cipro ain't the right antibiotic for a tick bite. So (yet again) I'm off to the doctor's office tomorrow... |
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Poor Ron 
I know nothing about ticks or lyme disease, but I hope it's not, and whatever it is I hope you feel better soon!  |
| Ron,
So sorry about the tick bite. Glad you are off to the Doc asap. Good possibility, can clearly see the red ring around the site. He'll advise you of the next step, antibiotic tx. It's good you saw it early! It gets tricky,some folks do not get the Bull's eye rash. Good luck at the Doctors. Please update us... |
| Ron,
Get prompt medical attention. Cipro is not the drug of choice. Doxycycline is used and you need to take it for one month. I have had lyme disease twice. My first bout of Lyme was caught early and my recovery was uneventfull. The second time it progressed into the third stage and I now have Chronic lyme disease. (only 4% of people develope chronic)Even if they are not sure of the diagnosis the medication will not hurt. I had 4 lyme tests before I had a positive one the second time and by then it was too late. I am pretty new to the site but had to reply to this. It is very important you get seen. Going to you physican is the smart thing to do. I hope you feel better. |
| Ron -- I'm so sorry. Make sure you insist on the Lyme disease test! My brother-in-law had the rash but his doc assured it was not lyme and sent him home. As a result, he spent all summer and fall completely debilitated by the consequences of untreated lyme, including lyme meningitis. it has been horrible. He is finally feeling better. If you get the right treatment, it should be no problem! (others in my family have had it with no lasting problems.) But make sure you insist on getting the test. For inexplicable reasons, some docs won't give it.
Best wishes, Val |
| Given the medical problems I have been having, the doctor has already performed the lyme test 3 times over the last 2 months, all negative. She is very thorough in ordering and performing tests.
Since my problems have gone undiagnosed, I am thinking I might insist on the Lyme Disease treatment anyway... not that insisting with this doctor does much good, she's very stubborn... 
Oh wait, she's off on Tuesdays, so Joan tells me that I'll be seeing a doctor I've never seen before. Wonderful. |
| That might be a good thing, thorough or not, she hasn't found any answers yet.... |
| Weird. Another friend of mine suffered for a while before being diagnosed with Q fever -- also from a tick bite. Might want to investigate that too:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/qfever/ (again readily cured once right meds started). I hope you feel better soon. . . |
| A ring doesn't necessarily mean lyme's disease so please don't panic. I'm sure you'll be feeling better in no time. Pretty nasty colds & intestinal things going around already this year. |
| Thanks -- I'm not panic stricken... I'm tired. Very tired after being ill for a couple of months, this is just another thing I didn't need. |
| So sorry Ron. I hope the treatment is not too bad - haven't ever had experience with Lymes before.
Gail Jasper'smom |
| Hate to bring this up, but... I have heard (especially this year) of
people who have been tested repeatedly and have come up negative only to test positive on the 3rd or 4th test. Maybe that is why so many Drs seem to be reluctant to do this test - inaccuracy rate? just a thought. Anyway, I know personally of 2 people with symptoms, who after false negatives were diagnosed correctly and treated. They are both fine now. I really hope they get you straightened out Ron! Maybe this 'other' Dr will have some fresh ideas? (fingers crossed) For what it's worth, all the bull's eyes I have seen have been a bit bigger- that small and that quick may just be a natural reaction to the bite itself. (crossing fingers and toes this time) Good luck - and feel better! Shellie |
| Yikes!! Just what you need!!! I echo the above about repeating the Lyme test again, but possibly not right away. Especailly if things don't improve. Keep us posted!!!!
I'm at work and just asked one of the Doc's how long it can take Lyme disease to show up in the blood and he said up to six months. |
| I agree, Yikes! I don't know anything about Lyme Disease, but I hope you get the correct treatment and start feeling better soon! |
| Geez Ron!
Apparently you don't need kids of your own. Between you and Joan you're going to put your doctor's kids through college and possibly pay their mortgage too. Make sure this new doc checks that site to see if you got all of the tick out. That could be some of the source of the imflammation. That and you don't want it to sit in there and then pop out when it's gigantic like in ALIEN! 
You know what's the most disconcerting about this? Now we all know that you have a hairy belly! Hope you feel better soon! |
I guess since we've had pictures here of pregnant bellies (dog and human) we might just as well have pictures of Ron's belly  |
| Just saw this thread this morning, Ron. Hope you got good news at the doctor's office today. I know how awful it is to be sick for months on end. I do hope they are able to find the problem and start the cure!! |
Good thing it was a close-up ... and that I cropped out the lower half of the pic..... 
My doctor kept repeating the Lyme test because she said it takes up to six weeks for the antibodies to show up in the blood stream. Who knows -- I am certainly aware that this is probably just be a reaction to the bite, I don't really think I have Lyme Disease (of course the tick was discarded (i.e. flushed) by a well-meaning spouse, so I couldn't inspect and identify it). Of course I've never had either a tick bite or a reaction like this to any infection! Well, 2:30 is the time for the appointment. I'll let you all know what happens! |
| Wow! You're in my thoughts, Ron. Good luck! Will check back later to see how you made out.
Chris |
| Hope all goes well Ron. Let us know.
Tanya |
| I have a prescription for 200mg of doxycycline to take as a preventative.
I just looked online -- at Costco, the price for 30 Doxycycline capsules (100mg) is $7.59... anyone care to wager what it's going to cost for ONLY 2 at my local drugstore? |
| Good. Glad you're taking precautions.
I have no idea about relative drug costs. But I'll be interested to hear the answer! |
| $10.00
unless of course you have insurance then they will charge double so they can get a copay out of you!!!! |
| Hey Ron, Does this mean that you need to drip the Frontline on the back of your neck every month?  heeheehee~Katie. |
| HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Preeeeety Funny!!!!! |
That was very funny! Hope you get better soon, Ron!  |
| Heeheeheeheehee!!!! That was funny, Katie! |
| Glad they are at least taking preventative measures. Don't know about RX prices there, but at least three times that here. |
| Very funny, Katie.... no, I'll have to spread it across my back in several different spots.
All kidding aside, though, my problems started right after we used Advantix on Mulligan for the very first time, so I haven't ruled out the possibility that my prblems are related to my exposure to Advantix. (We're kinda grasping at straws at this point.) |
| I'm not sure if would affect a human, but I know it is deadly to cats. We have seen a couple cats this year where it was used either on the cat or on the dogs in the house, and the cats didn't make it. I will read up on it tomorrow at work (vet), and see if I can find anything out.
Would it make you feel better if we all showed belly shots?? Just kidding!! Hope you feel better. |
| AIN'T NOBODY SEEIN' MY BELLY!!!!! |
| Advantix, eh? I've heard that it's toxic to cats, and for that reason, I won't use it on Duds. (even though he's not a cat) They must really put some nasty stuff in there. I've been using the Frontline plus for a number of years, supplemented with garlic in the summer and fall. And since I'm cheap sometimes, I've used the aussie formulation that you can get on eBay for about half of what the vet charges. Same ingrediants in the same relative quantities. (I did the metric conversions once) I hope you're feeling better soon, Ron! Remember that laughter is sometimes the best medicine, though nothing feels quite as good as sleeping for a day or two when you're really feeling wiped. ~Katie & Dudley. |
| Katie
What is that stuff called that you use, the one from Australia (like frontline)? Thanks. Does it work? |
| The stuff I use from Oz *is* Frontline, it just has metric meaurements on the packaging. The ingrediants are the same as far as I've been able to tell. Try looking at http://www.petshed.com this is an Aussie company - I have purchased from them before, including 6 months of the generic heartguard equivalent for $20 (this was about 3 years ago). It looks as though they have a disclaimer on the bottom of their website. (maybe US officials are cracking down on this sort of thing) If you are looking on eBay, read the listing *very* carefully. There was a problem last year with people selling "knock-off" frontline. I always check the packaging carefully when I get it in the mail. The Aussie stuff I've gotten seems to work the same. I haven't seen a flea on Duds all year, and never an embedded tick. And, as another disclaimer, the ideas presented here are just things I've done on my own - certainly not something my vet would reccomend. Always get a professional vet opinion when choosing medicines and flea & tick treatments for your pets. My vet always reccomends getting the Frontline and Heartguard through their office. I do purchase the Heartguard through them, only because it's a prescription. They charged me $15 to write a prescription to buy it somewhere else once, which completely negated any savings I would have seen. Frontline is not a prescription, and there have been times when I have been able to get the frontline for slightly less than what the vet charges. I try to get a year's supply worth at a time for both. ~Katie. (can't be too careful) |
| I just noticed this thread. I got a tick bite once on my shoulder. I had the giant bull's eye sore. The first doctor I went to would not believe me that I had a tick bite and gave me cream to put on it which did not help. Then I started getting red spots all over my body and my hip started hurting. So I went to a different doctor and told him I had a tick bite. He gave me steroids and said that would take care of it. Well, it worked. |
| Actually guys - that really wasn't Ron's belly in the pic - it was mine.
He was trying to save me the embarasment! 
Shellie |
| Oh dear! this is what I get for skipping the medical forum, Bad Karen Bad!!! I sincerely hope you get some good news from the Dr. today Ron. tick bites can be very scary, my uncle got Lyme disease, but luckily had it treated right away and is fine. I certainly hope that this was NOT a diseased bite, and that whatever your mystery malady is that it GOES AWAY! Bad disease- you leave our forum guru ALONE!!!! Still- this is a good reminder to everyone that not all the icky bugs are asleep yet, even in mid-November!
Let us know how it goes! Karen |
| Ok, well 1st off... The answer to the price question.
Online at Costco, the price for 30 is $7.59 and the price for 50 is $9.29 ( so the diff is $1.70 for 20 or 8.5 cents each) and the price for 100 is $13.59 (so the diff is $4.30 for 50 or 8.6 cents each). So needless to say the pills are worth about 8 cents. I paid $7.99, the minimum charge at this pharmacy. I also found that other pharmacies have a $9.99 minimum charge. I took the doxycycline last night ... and a couple hours later got one of the worst headaches I've ever had. Coincidence? The bite looks less aggressive today, in fact it looks like it is calming down. Do we need more belly shots? |
| Coincidence... probably not. I'm ok without another belly shot, but dunno how anybody else feels on the subject. Have you taken anymore, and had any other headaches? At least it wasn't too spendy for the medicine! I don't know that much about drug interactions etc, but was headaches on the list of possible side effects?
Poor Ron! Karen |
Quote: The bite looks less aggressive today, in fact it looks like it is calming down. Do we need more belly shots?
Maybe after some manscaping... 
Just kidding...but seriously, I hope you feel better, Ron! |
| Seems like we all know each other so well, we should see who we can identify just from pics of their bellies. Might be interesting...... |
Maxmm wrote: Seems like we all know each other so well, we should see who we can identify just from pics of their bellies. Might be interesting......
Like I said: AIN'T NOBODY SEEIN' MY BELLY
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
| Ok Ron!!! How are you doing today? Is the rash any better? Have you gotten test results or anything? I'm over here worrying about you...
Karen |
Iriskmj wrote: Ok Ron!!! How are you doing today? Is the rash any better? Have you gotten test results or anything? I'm over here worrying about you...
Karen Same here, Ron. Please check in and tell us how you are doing............... |
| The bite is starting to turn pinkish rather than red... looks like improvement to me!
Thanks for your concerns! |
| We have a tick in Australia that can cause paralysis in a dog or cat and can be fatal if not found, removed and treated quickly by a vet.
I use frontline for fleas and ticks, and only use it if there is a flea on them, I do not live in a tick area, but if travel insterstate to dog shows always treat them with frontline before I go just in case we are in an area where this tick is. |
| And Ron hope you are getting better, never seen a tick bite on a person before, WOW, that looks so sore, can't believe that a tick can do that to a person. OUCH |
| Sounds like you're on the mend, Ron. Great to hear it! Maybe another photograph is in order? ~Katie. |
kweenkmatt wrote: Maybe another photograph is in order? Well, ok. Like I said before, it's kind of hard to get a picture of your own tummy, so I asked Joan to help... and she got a little artsy about it...
Anyway, it's not for the faint of heart, so I'll just make it a link you need to click on to see. http://photos.oes.org/albums/userpics/1 ... ealing.jpg |
| Have to call you george from now on, that is soooo funny |
| ROTFLMAO
|
Way to go George..I meant Ron.
Tanya |
| Did anyone ever tell you how hot you are??????
ROTFLMAO |
| SEXY |
| Oh good grief, I'd say you've got delusions of grandeur, but looking at that picture...
Karen |
| HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!! |
| <<<whoooooahhhhhh my heart is beating so fast!!!! Joan is gonna have to fight off the ladies!! Ha Ha!
George...I mean ahem...Ron...hope you are on the mend and feeling better soon. Marianne and the boys |
| I tested negative for lyme, but exhibit EVERY single symptom,(plus i actually found a tick at the spot where my first ring appeared. I am going in tomorrow for another opinion, was on amoxocyllin, with no results. Now they switched me to doxycycline 3 days ago and i feel even worse than i did, achey all over. Does anyone know how Ron is doing? has he responded to therapy or treatment. aside from the rash, which is a pain in the butt to show off,(i am getting married in 4 weeks and hate the continuous exhaustion pain and fatigue.) thanks ahead of time for any feed back. Wil[/b] |
| Hi Wil,
I'm doing fine, no sign of Lyme Disease, thankfully. Thank you for asking, and I wish you well! (Feel free to join the community, you don't have to own a sheepdog. I'd like to keep in touch with you on your LD story.) |
| Ok, I'm not a doc, but I am a biologist, I've studied lyme a little bit as a student, and my son had Lyme disease. I also work as a medical technologist--
The picture you posted of your rash doesn't look like typical Lyme disease rash, which normally shows up about 3 weeks after exposure. It does look like a nasty tick bite, and the redness could be caused by other bacteria than the one that causes Lyme, or by an allergic reaction to the anticoagulant the little tick injects to keep you from clotting so it can have a nice feed. But there are a lot of diseases that are caused by tick bites, so it was good that you got checked out. It is normal for your body to take several weeks before it begins making antibodies to the bacteria causing Lyme, so that's not the doctor being stubborn or not knowing. The antibiotic was probably wise, as was the doctor visit. Glad you are seeming to be better. Actually, we could have easily missed my son's Lyme disease if we didnt live in an area where it is fairly prevalent (meaning the docs are pretty good at diagnosing it around here). His first symptoms were 3 weeks after the march through the woods, and did not include a bulls eye rash, but fever, fatigue and a stiff neck and joints. Took him to urgent care where the doc wasn't able to make a diagnosis but urged me to watch my son carefully and bring him in if he didn't improve. Next morning, took him in, and low and behold, there WAS a bulls eye on his back that hadn't been there the night before. The doc showed me a photo album of patients with a variety of Lyme rashes. Here's a link that shows a picture of a typical bull's eye rash. http://www.dermatlas.org/derm/IndexDisp ... =868914011 |
| I followed the link, that is a huge bulls eye! I didn't visualize it to be that large. I always imagined something about softball size. Guess I was way off! |
Ron, is "William" a friend invented to refresh this topic? We know you're always looking to insert that pic!  |
| Yes, I know that the redness I had was probably not caused by Lyme Disease.
Here is the full page treatment on the story: http://www.oes.org/html/how_2_identify_ ... ticks.html |
| Lmao, i though i am sure hes a great guy,but i am not an invention of Rons imagination.. lol even. so the Lyme is still testing negative, and its been 10 days on doxycycline, the rash is disappearing slowly but surely, was tested again as well as for Rhuematic fever..since i am having some pain in my shoulders which seems beyond Arthritic and some weakness in my arms, no apparent heart conditions at all, but am still convinced its Lyme, the rash and the headaches of course being the foremost symptoms, i think it would be a heck of a coincidence to find a tick, black with a red lower back where this whole rash began,upon returning from Pennsylvania, (i live in Miami and none of the doctors in florida are familiar with this disease at all, i am tired alot, achey and spotty with red circular rings, sore throat, though not horribly sore. this is just a complete bummer,i am getting married in a few weeks and just want to feel better..it isnt fair to her for me to be wasting away.. anyone have any ideas how long treatment actually takes to show definate improvement on the achiness weakness and headaches?i know the doxyxyxline is a 30 day regimen but when can i get back to being me? smile* just to add for the record i have owned German Shepherds most of my life.. lol. |
| Definitely get yourself to a doctor and/or doctors who will definitively diagnose your ailment!
If you want to find more sites that deal with Lyme disease, one place you might try is the LymeRing (of which that tick identification page is a member) Here's a link to the ring's homepage: http://h.webring.com/hub?ring=lymering (Sometimes after you first go there, if you click on "refresh" you see the top sites in the ring rather than some random sampling.) And here's a good site: http://www.lymenet.org/ Good luck, and Congratulations on two fronts: 1) Getting married! and 2) Not being me! |
| Of course i am under a doctors care, several in fact.. lol. they flew a specialist in to admire the rash which i am told is very impressive whatever that means.. smile* everyone is sure its Lyme Disease, but i have had a lot of other tests done just to be sure. anyway. just keeping my head up and my thoughts straight. its just getting tiresome, no pun intended, being so sick. later. Wil |
| Hopefully, they are doing an antibody test, using ELISA or IFA. This will show if your body is making antibodies to the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. Symptoms are not always the same for every patient, and can be similar to other problems. It really does help if you live in an area where Lyme is common--the doctors are used to diagnosing it. My husband's uncle contracted the disease quite a few years ago, back when a lot of doctors didn't 'believe' in it. Lucky for my son, things have changed. He was able to get treated and to recover fairly quickly. But his first symptoms were fever, headache, stiff neck, achiness, fatigue. |
| Dear Sir,
It does indeed look like the beginning of the typical bull's eye rash. but don't playaround with this. If Lyme disease takes hold of you, your nervous system and heart will pay for it, not to mention the arthritis you will experience. You need two weeks of doxycycline right away and lyme titers. The antigen you make to the disease generally takes 6-8 weeks so any blood test taken before then won't be reliable. I'm a nurse practitioner and live in a Lyme infested area of NY so i have made myself learn about it over the years. Do as i say, please. GOd Bless. Eileen |
| Someo posts just NEVER DIE |
Irishei924@aol.com wrote: Dear Sir,
It does indeed look like the beginning of the typical bull's eye rash. but don't playaround with this. Hear that? No more playing around with this picture. It's creating concern across the globe! |
| LOL.... |
| Dear Irishei924,
This was about 18 months ago and I took it very seriously then. I went to the doc and got a single 200mg dose of Doxycycline and the wound healed with no further sign of a rash. THANK YOU for caring. |
I am a land surveyor and I was working in a wooded area along the border of NY and NJ. I got home and wanted to scrub myself down right away because I knew I had come in contact with poison ivy. To my dismay I found a black legged ( deer) tick on my thigh. I removed him with tweasers and It looks like he did not get much or any of my blood so I caught the little bastard early on. It's Sunday and that was Thursday. Since then the bite has started to resemble Ron's a little bit  . Im taking tommorow off from work and going to a doctor. For now it's Neosporin, band aid and hopefully some good luck. A friend a cubicle across from mine got it so bad that he had facial paralysis so I REALLY don't want Lyme. I'll let you guys know how this works out. |
| If you can take the antibiotics, you should probably have a full course of Doxycylcline since the bite happened so long ago. Don't let the doctor tell you otherwise! |
| Good Luck!!!!!!!!!! |
| I am putting my two cents in here because it could help others who are freaking out over a tick bite rash. Two months ago I woke up to find a tick attached near my arm pit after feeling a bruise-like discomfort there. I must have picked it up the previous afternoon when I went out into the garden (this was late April). It was definitely not there earlier that day because I took a shower mid morning and shaved my armpits (sorry for the TMI) and would have definitely seen it. So...attached less than 24 hours. I removed the tick with fine tweezers and got all the mouth parts. I thought maybe it looked barely slightly engorged so I poked it with a needle and squeezed out it's insides looking for fresh blood. It was all brown...so probably not. All good signs. The bite was a little red and felt a little bruised, but otherwise not bad. Within an hour I noticed the bite looking a little pink, but with a white spot in the middle and a red spot in the middle of the white spot...looking kind of bulls-eyeish...it was very faint. I was concerned so asked my dad for a doxy pill (he's a farmer and gets bit a few times a year and keeps the pills on hand). I held off on taking it. Long story short...the bite mark was progressively getting more and more prominent and bulls eye looking, but never getting bigger than the size of my pinky nail. I took the pill after three hours and later that night the bite looked Exactly like Ron's. Dark red clear outline with white ring inside. A mini bulls eye. I was very concerned but everything I read said that the bulls eye rash for lyme takes days or even weeks to appear and that lyme transmission before 24 or even 36 to 72 hours after initial bite is rare to impossible. But the rash was very gnarly looking. Over the course of a few days the spot in the middle got purple and then the rings disappeared and the purple spot took a while to disappear. I still have a faint red spot there...two months later. I am really remiss in taking antibiotics unnecessarily and so decided to watch for symptoms. I had a sore throat for one night about a week later. Then recently had pain in one knee for about a week...but that's going away. Other than that...nothing of note. Finally...here's what's up. I sent that tick and others that bit my husband (he had no weird rashes) to a lab in Arizona to get tested. I just got the results and all ticks for negative for all bacteria that was tested, including lyme. They say that their tests are very accurate. So despite the weird bite site reaction...it doesn't appear to be a result of lyme. Most likely it's a natural reaction to the tick bite. That was first and only time I've ever been bitten...despite deer ticks being everywhere on our property (I've picked off many that were crawling up my arms...weird...luckily I felt them before they bit). I hope somebody who has a similar looking bite might look at this post and read this. Rest assured. If all other indications suggest that you shouldn't have lyme, yet you have this bite mark...don't worry. If the rash gets bigger and bigger....then that's an indication of lyme. Mine was always smaller than a dime. Good luck! |
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