When Should I Suspect Lymes Disease?
While suspecting Lymes disease, you need to understand that erythema migrans hides in favorite tick hiding sites, such as groin, axilla, behind the knees, and belt line.
You can suspect lymes disease (LD), if an oval or round extending, red rash develops in a few days of weeks after a tick infected with lymes disease bites you. Moreover, subsequent to the occurrence of rash, you can notice a flu-like sickness.
On my personal LD disease recuperating period, I found that for several patients cardiac, cognitive, and neurologic, complications predominate over lymes disease. While lymes disease and deer ticks have a well known relationship, other potential vectors may also carry the spirochete that causes the lymes disease.
Clinical Approach to Suspect Lymes Disease:
The primary stage of lymes disease starts as a skin wound at the tick bite site. After few days or weeks, the spirochete transmits hematogenously to nerves, heart, muscles, skin, and joints rooting early disseminated lymes disease infection.
I personally suspected my lymes disease condition with these two stages, as both these stages combine frequently and have a link with constitutional symptoms such as weakness, depression, and fever. Further, after months, I suffered from severe joint inflammation and pains, with my test report showing gradual development of neurologic symptoms, known as stage 3 of lymes disease.
Several patients flaunt a rash in the summer and spring months. So, my prime question was when should one exactly suspect Lymes disease?
Here, I realized certain crucial aspects of the erythema migrans rash, which has an onset period of 3-30 days after the tick bite, and tick diminishes when the rash develops. My research would be beneficial for those patients, who have an instant skin reaction to any insect bite, who usually confuse these rashes with erythema migrans.
Patients flaunting painful, inflamed, or swiftly expanding lesion is unlikely to have erythema migrans, because an erythema migrans rash is usually painless. In some patients, multiple annular skin lesions occur within days to weeks of the primary rash, indicating disseminated lymes disease infection.
Hence, while suspecting Lymes disease, you need to understand that erythema migrans hides in favorite tick hiding sites, such as groin, axilla, behind the knees, and belt line.
I found that many patients are clueless from an area, where Lyme disease is endemic presenting themselves with fever and flu like sickness in the months of summer. You can suspect lymes disease quite easily here, as neck stiffness, irresistible weakness, and headache are certain common symptoms of early lymes disease.
Similar is the case with musculoskeletal symptoms, as many patients complaint of fleeting migratory joint, tendon, excluding arthritis. Patients with such symptoms have to thoroughly search for any erythema migrans hidden in their body, to suspect possible lymes disease in its early stage.
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