My dermatologist kept treating my rash for many things: ringworm, dermatitis, etc. Finally, he asked me if I had ever been bitten by an insect there and my head started reeling. I had bitten by a tick 6 months before and I had not been feeling myself for some time. This tells me that the CDC description of the timing of the rash does not apply in all cases. I live in NC, getting doctors to take me seriously was very difficult. If it wasn't for the dermatologist, I would have never known and still would be terribly sick.

I am a public health inspector. If I might, I would like to add some information on the removal of ticks. With your tweezers, it's important to grab the mouth part of the tick while removing it. Pressing on the abdomen would result in discharging the bacteria (if present) into the body. Wash with water and soap. Then, you should bring the tick to your local health unit or hospital for testing. Thank you eMedicineHealth for your good work!

I walk in woods regularly in area where there are many ticks. I was not warned of this on arrival to the area. I began to notice small black dots that were attached ticks now and again and pulled them out with tweezers. I met someone whose health had been seriously damaged by a tick bite. So after that, I was a bit more careful with protective clothing in forest areas, but I also began to suspect I might be getting bitten in my own large garden. Then last week, I had a severe skin reaction on the back of my calf where I could not have seen a tick. After the weekend, I went to my doctor who diagnosed it as Lyme disease from my description and the high-risk area. He prescribed antibiotics, as I expected.

Six years ago, I began experiencing severe headaches and visual disturbances. Whenever I stood up my vision would either go black or I would see swirling colors. My doctor said it was migraines and left it at that. Upon visiting my eye doctor for a routine check-up, he saw that my optic nerve was swollen and raised and that I had hemorrhaging in my brain. I was told to get to the neurology center of a very good hospital right away. It was there that I found out I had viral meningitis and received a spinal tap that lasted 45 minutes. My spinal pressure was 400 (normal is 100) and they drained 30 CCs of fluid. A few days later, I got a call saying they tested my spinal fluid for Lyme disease and it turned out positive. I was then started on IV antibiotics for 28 days.

I noticed what I thought was a spider bite in July of 2007 on my lower abdomen. A couple of days later, I noticed a small, red rash (in the vicinity of the bite but not around it) that was hot to the touch and itchy. I spent a lot of time on the Internet looking for information on spider bites because I never saw a tick. However, over the next week, it progressively grew larger and developed a bull's eye-look. I had also been suffering from very painful joints since the rash appeared. Finally alarmed, I went to the doctor and was immediately diagnosed with Lyme disease. Since that time, I have gone through two treatments of antibiotics. The second was prescribed months later because I still suffered from joint pain. To this day, I still suffer joint pain in my hips, and the pain is worse some months than others. However, I think I am luckier than about half of those afflicted. If you are reading this (I really worried at all the horror stories when I was diagnosed), don't expect to be healed totally, just be thankful that it isn't worse.

I saw the tick on my upper thigh and thought it was a mole, but when toweling off after a shower the tiny tick fell off. By the next day there was an area about the size of a 50 cent piece, rather dark red then a larger area of pinkish red surrounding the first ring. It was measure by the doctor as six inches wide. I started doxycycline right away.

Lyme disease is a nightmare, especially when it goes undiagnosed for so long. I don't care what any doctor says, I am the one who is suffering from this awful disease, I wonder how they would feel if they woke up almost every day with burning head pain like someone was lighting a match to it, or a neck so stiff that it hurts to hold your head up or agonizing ear pain, or continuous discharge from your eyes, or continuously having to clear your throat, to name only a few of the symptoms. When I get through this I will write a book so that people will be aware of what I have been through and hopefully not have to suffer like I have been.