I'm looking at my arm right now and there's this thing that kind of looks like a bullseye. There's a pink dot in the middle and it's clear (like my regular skin) for about half a centimeter and then there's this large pink ring around it.
What I thought was a mosquito bite appeared there a couple of days ago and I started scratching it. Just yesterday, it turned ring-like. At first I thought it was a ring worm but looking at the pictures it didn't exactly look like it- it wasn't dry or anything and it did not spread.
It kind of looks like this(watch out, it's a pretty icky picture) but the color isn't quite as dark and it doesn't yet look as bad as that. The pinkish part is about two inches and it's near my elbow.
The thing is, my parents think I'm over reacting. They keep telling me that it's just a mosquito bite and that was what I initially thought too but- doesn't a mosquito bite have at least a tiny bump? Mine when I thought it was a mosquito bite had a bump, but now it's just like a rash, with no bump in sight. It's itchy too.
My problem is that I am afraid I am overreacting. Whenever I try to suggest to my parents that it could be anything other than a mosquito bite they get mad at me. I want to go to a doctor but I can't do so until next week. My insurance doctor is not free until then. I could go to another doctor but I don't want to waste my parents money if this turns out to be a stupid mosquito bite.
My question is: -Could this just be a mosquito bite? -Is it necessary for a M. bite to have a bump? -Is there any other type of rashes that have a sort of bullseye look to it? -If this is lime disease is it absolutely urgent that I go to the doctor now or is it okay to wait another week?
Okay, thanks in advance. Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
It could be a spider bite.
If it gets worse at all, I'd have it checked out, but then again, I was the child who read the self-diagnosis charts and freaked myself out all the time.
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
My first thought was a spider bite too.
I'm no doctor though .
Posted by Slash the Berzerker (Member # 556) on :
It could be bubonic plague.
Posted by Hi (Member # 5289) on :
Annie: Heh, I'm the same way. That's why I am a bit hesitant to jump to conclusions. One time, after scanning the net, I had somehow convinced myself that I contracted scabies. I was itchy all over.
I went to the doctor the next day and it turned out that I just had an allergic reaction to an air-freshener. They gave me a shot and soon I was good as new. Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
If it were lyme disease, wouldn't you have a tick burrowing into your skin or something?
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
Where do you live? Is it an area with the brown recluse spider?
If you DO live in that area, and you HAVE a spiderbite with a distinct bullseye pattern...
Not good. At all.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Go to the doctor and get it checked. Nothing to fool around with.
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
I had Lyme disease and the bullseye rash I got didn't itch. Where do you live and are lyme disease carrying tics common in the area? Have you been anywhere where think you might have gotten a tic? Tic?
A Tic has to be in for about 24 hours before it can transmit lyme disease. It would be very unusual for a tic to dig in for a couple of days and then wonder off on its own without you noticing so if you never found a tic, you are very unlikely to have lyme disease. The blood test for lyme disease won't register until 6 weeks after you get the rash so don't bother.A spider bite seems far more probable.
Since you can't go to a doctor right away, draw a line around the borders with a permanant ink sharpie. That way you have a clear indication of whether it is getting bigger or not. If if keeps getting bigger, see the doctor. If it doesn't and no other symptoms develop, don't worry about it.
Posted by Hi (Member # 5289) on :
The only thing different lately that I can think about is that my heart has been beating irregularly- every so often it would beat strangely. It never happened before and only begun happening last Thursday. I just attributed this to my heart murmur. I had an operation for it when I was a baby but I think I still have a little of it left. I am suppose to have a check-up with my heart doctor every three years but I have not went since I was twelve.
Could this be a symptom?
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
The irregular heart beat would not be a symptom of stage 1 lyme disease. Irregular heart beats are actually quite normal and probably nothing to be worried about. Its strange but true that unhealthy hearts beat far more regularly than healthy hearts.
Posted by Hi (Member # 5289) on :
I agree with you Rabbit (Jon Boy as well), if a tick had bitten me, I am positive that I would have noticed. After all, my arm is just right there, in front of me, all day long.
I'm not quite certain if it's a spider bite either. Wouldn't I have shown some real symptoms already since I was bitten a couple of days ago?
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
Thanks Mackillian, that was an interesting article.
I know I have gotten bitten by something. Just what exactly it is, remains a mystery. I hesitate to say that it was a mosquito but only because it doesn't have that characteristic bump that I usually associate a M. bite with. It's as flat as a rash would be.
If I had been bitten by a Brown Recluse, I think I would have developed some pain. I don't feel any pain right now, nor before, all I felt was an irritating itch. On top of that, 80% of a Brown Recluse cases are misdiagnosed so if I actually have it then chances of my doctor actually diagnosing it correctly are evidently against me. Heh.
Edited to add: Ah, well. I am going to the doctor next week. I'm just glad it's not lime disease and if it is a spider bite then I will make sure to go to the doctor quickly as soon as a symptom pops up. If it is just a mosquito bite then, feh- it will go away eventually. *grin* Thanks for all the advise everyone, you've all been a great help.
[ April 07, 2004, 09:32 PM: Message edited by: Hi ]
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Definitely not Lyme Disease. The bullseye is more of a ring, and does not necessarily show up right away. You don't necessarily have to see a tick, either, to be bitten by one. They are tiny. The symptoms are more like cold symptoms at first.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)