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Bullseye rash: lyme disease or just a look-alike?

Posted , 3 users are following.

rudivb
rudivb

Hello,

2 days ago I discovered a bullseye rash on my lower back, I felt some back pain like a bruise and let my girlfriend have a look.

A bruise would actually make perfect sense as we went kayaking the day before and my lower back has been rubbing against the kayak seat.

But looking on the Internet it looked similar to the lyme bullseye rash, so I got a bit concerned.

I am in Southern Thailand and was in Malaysia before, I do a lot of hiking and sometimes without shirt.

Lime disease is supposed to be nonexistent here, so the doctors won't be familiar with lyme disease. But I'm not so sure about the nonexistence of lyme disease, it might just be underreported, their health system is quite different(and people don't go for every little problem to a doctor).

We've been making pictures and the bruise/rash seems to be fading and not expanding, so I was a bit relieved.

Until today I found 2 red spots on my side, what might indicate a spreading infection.

I have the habit of measuring my heart rate variability every morning and it's been a bit lower than usually, but nothing extreme, don't know if it's useful information.

I don't notice any of the other symptoms like headache, fatigue etc.

Summary:

I might be overreacting and it could be just a bruise and coincidentally 2 (mosquito) bites that appeared.

I hope anyone can help me, cause I know if it's lyme, it's pretty serious and I have to start antibiotics immediately.

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0 likes, 5 replies

5 Replies

  • dizbopper
    dizbopper rudivb

    Posted

    Hi, can't be certain but this does look like a bulls eye rash. Unfortunately I've found that nothing is typical when it comes to Lyme Disease. It depends on what the tick was carrying, where you were bitten, and your underlying health. So not feeling ill initially doesn't mean you haven't been infected. I felt fine for months after the rash and only became sick later. if you can't get access to antibiotics you could see if you could get the herb astralgus locally - I think that's supposed to be effective in the very early stages. Or research other herbal options - I've found these effective long term. Good luck and take care.

    • rudivb
      rudivb dizbopper

      Posted

      Thanks for your reply.

      I'm a 31 year old male and consider myself in good physical and mental health. I exercise regularly and am not often sick. My immune system doesn't overreact normally.

      Getting my hands on doxycycline shouldn't be a problem, but I'm not a big fan of antibiotics and only take them if I really need it.

      My girlfriend says it's definitely fading now and looks more like a bruise, it feels like a bruise too...

      There seem to be so many variations of the rash, that it becomes really hard to distinguish a lyme rash from a simple bruise that has the same kind of form.

      I can't find any answers for example, if the lyme rash ALWAYS expands? Does a lyme rash ALWAYS have a dark spot in the middle? I need some definite characteristics of the lyme disease bullseye rash, but can't find them anywhere. I want to wait a bit and see what happens, but if it really is lyme disease, the longer I wait, the worse it gets.

    • dizbopper
      dizbopper rudivb

      Posted

      I can only give you my own anecdotal experience: the rash didn't expand in a noticeable way. The first I realised I'd been bitten was because my entire leg felt really hot and inflamed. And the outer bit of the bullseye was raised. It didn't feel like any bruise, it was noticeably weird. It then faded over a couple of weeks. In the UK I think the rash is now sufficient for a diagnosis, but tricky if you're not sure if it's just a bruise. Fingers crossed for you that it is a bruise, Lyme is a nightmare to get rid of. Doxycycline didn't do the trick for me, despite having a course a few days after being bitten, that's why I follow an antimicrobial herb protocol as it's ok longer term.

  • rudivb
    rudivb

    Posted

    Update:

    Few days further and I do feel some symptoms like:

    Sudden headaches

    Tiredness/lack of energy

    Muscle pain

    Stiff neck

    Diarrhea

    Also my heart rate variability hasn't been like before.

    To be sure I'm gonna buy some doxycycline today for the next 4 weeks.

  • christophe31999
    christophe31999 rudivb

    Posted

    what ended up happening with your rash?

    also, is it possible you fell asleep on your cell phone??

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