How concerned should I be about Lyme disease?

July 30, 2023 1:00 PM

I noticed this spot on my back a few days ago.

Two days ago, a ring formed around it (photo here: https://imgur.com/a/n9KVy5A). I didn’t notice a tick on me at any point, although it is an area of my back I don’t see every single day. I am pretty sensitive to any sensation, though, so I think I’d notice one. Is this worth going to my doctor about yet, or should I wait for other Lyme symptoms? I really don’t want to be given antibiotics if I don’t 100% need them.

posted by wheatlets to Health & Fitness (16 answers total)

Yes, go to your doctor.
posted by jgirl at 1:07 PM on July 30, 2023 [7 favorites]

Nobody here can diagnose you based on a photo. Go to your doctor, you need real advice.
posted by fight or flight at 1:11 PM on July 30, 2023 [5 favorites]

Yes go to the doctor. If it was a recent bite it I easily treatable. The longer you wait the harder it will be if it is Lyme.
posted by terrapin at 1:11 PM on July 30, 2023 [7 favorites]

Another person urging you to go see a doctor. The cost of untreated Lyme's disease is much higher than the downsides of antibiotics. I have a friend with permanent arthritis in her foot because of it, another friend lost a good year or two feeling miserable and out of sorts - it's a really unpleasant disease and not to be trifled with. Neither of those friends noticed a tick.
posted by coffeecat at 1:28 PM on July 30, 2023 [5 favorites]

As I understand it, it can be as few as 1 dosage with quick response. I was just having this conversation with a friend last night who had recently been diagnosed.

Conversely I have another friend who was on antibiotics for months because they ignored the signs.
posted by terrapin at 1:29 PM on July 30, 2023

Response by poster: Thanks, based on these responses (and those of IRL people) I’ll go. I just tend towards health anxiety and thinking everything is a bedbug, so Lyme disease seemed like a pretty on brand thing to be unnecessarily freaked out about.
posted by wheatlets at 1:34 PM on July 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

Where I live, the protocol is to give 200mg of doxycycline as a prophylactic, only if it's believed that the exposure happened within the last 72 hours. So try to go ASAP if you can :)
posted by Susan PG at 3:52 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

Definitely go to the doctor, but also don't panic, I know multiple people who had lyme that was treated quickly and they were completely fine.
posted by sepviva at 4:44 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

I'm glad you're going to the doctor! Two days after a tick bite is past the prophylactic window so you'll probably be put on a minimum of two weeks of doxycycline. If you don't start to feel better or have lingering symptoms, ask your doctor to get tested for the many co-infections that come with a tick bite in addition to Lyme. You may have to insist and if your doctor continues to resist, go to another physician.
posted by bluesky43 at 6:36 PM on July 30, 2023

I would call my doctor, send them the photo and ask them to order a Lyme test. Some doctors will treat it just in case, others wait for the test, but getting a test is a good idea. You didn't remove a tick, typically you don't feel them attached, but I have felt them climb on me. Could be a spider bite or some other bite-y jerk.
posted by theora55 at 8:50 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

Don't let them tell you not to worry about it. A lot of doctors don't really know. Let us know and we'll give you more data to use.
posted by slidell at 9:05 PM on July 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

It’s very easy to miss a small tick - it may well have dropped off before you noticed it on your back. When I developed the rash on the site of a tick bite a few years ago, it was taken as diagnostic even without a blood test - I took two weeks of doxycycline & had no further symptoms.
posted by rd45 at 1:49 AM on July 31, 2023

Response by poster: I’m really apprehensive about the potential side effects from Doxycycline. I'm not saying at all that Lyme is better, but I'm wondering if there are alternatives, and what peoples experiences on doxycycline were like.
posted by wheatlets at 7:44 AM on July 31, 2023

Response by poster: Slidell - my doctor told me that the central bump it doesn't look like a bite, so he's not too worried. He told me to come back if it spreads or if I start getting any Lyme symptoms.
posted by wheatlets at 9:12 AM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]

You won't be given antibiotics if you don't need them. Doctors aren't throwing antibiotics at people for fun.
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 4:23 AM on August 1, 2023

Response by poster: Update - the day after I visited the doctor, it started fading. It went away and I have no Lyme symptoms (that I didn't already have before, anyway). I wonder what it was!
posted by wheatlets at 1:26 PM on August 28, 2023