Way out West (incorporating Way up North)

Lymes Disease?

I'm not very prone to self-diagnosis, but last summer I was bitten on the knee (this is/was by no means uncommon), what was unusual, however, was my bodies response to the bite: a hard central lump and an itching rash that spread slowly outwards from the centre, at one point resembling a sort of pink and white target. It was sufficiently annoying that I took it to the doctors, and was given a steroid cream to sooth the itch. I remember saying to the doctor at the time, 'I wonder if it's a tick bite?'. After three weeks, it was larger and otherwise unaffected, so on my return, I was given a new cream with an antibiotic in it, and very slowly, this has eradicated it (it's still detectable, nine months later).

Reading the paper today, I saw an article about Lymes disease, and the accompanying gallery of photos resembled my stigmata very closely. Not only that, but I had suffered many of the symptoms associated with the disease. I wonder why the doctor didn't make the connection, the surgery is primarily rural, in an area where there are a lot of deer. I guess I'll never know...

posted by Lampy @ 2/13/2019 04:24:00 pm