My story so far. UK

I was bitten on the side of my right calf on holiday in Portugal August 2013. I
did not see what i was bitten by or when the bite exactly took place i.e it was
painless.

The bite started off as an itchy small red bump.

When I returned home from Portugal to London a few days later the small bump had
transformed into a big red ring about 2" long.

I am a young black male. Not dark skin but I am brown and the red ring stood out
very clearly even on my darker skin colour than most of the pictures ive seen.

I went to my local walk in clinic concerned and the doctor said "it looks like
some sort of skin infection" and gave me a weeks course of Fluxcloxacillin
antibiotics.

Over the next few days the rash continued to expand to roughly 4" in size. Maybe
even bigger. The rash eventually went away a week and a half later.

A few days later I developed a smaller rash just above the corner of my left eye
brow. This rash had a centre circle and was surrounded by small bumps to create
an outer circle.

I tried rubbing savlon antiseptic cream on the rash which caused the rash to
swell up. So i had a soft swelling above my left eye brow with this small
circular pattern ontop of the swelling.

Again i went to the walk in clinic and showed the doctor and was yet again told
it must be a skin infection and was given more antibiotics.

Both rashes was fully gone by early september.

Skip forward five months later to mid january 2014.

I started to get a tingling/crawling sensation on the left side of my face at
night time. Not to be confused with numbness, its just tingly like a million
little things are rushing around. I put it down to being tired because when I
wake up the next morning im fine.

During this time I developed a very mild vibration in my left thigh. No pain
attached just a mild on and off vibration like my mobile phone was on vibrate.
This happens now and then especially when im driving.

The face crawling sensation happended a few times until one night the sensation
became quite strong which prompted me to look up the symptoms. Many suggestions
came up including lyme disease.

The very next morning i woke up to feel this pain in the joint of my left big
toe. Over the next few days the pain continued enabling me to do nothing but
rest and nurse it.

The pain in the big toe went after 5 days but the crawling sensation and the
thigh vibration is still inconsistently present.

I went to a&e at one point to rule out a stroke and everything including my
blood pressure was fine and the nurse put it down to stress.

I went to my actual gp and had blood tests done for vitamin levels and a full
blood count. Everything came back fine.

By the end of january/early febuary i started having random mild joint pain in
my knees, shins, calves, feet and elbows. Flu symptoms come and go. Some mornings my
throat would be dry and sore. Nose full of mucus.

The odd time ill have random pins and needles in my hands. Mostly the left hand.

None of these symptoms are ever consistenly present they all come and go.

I went to my gp again the day after i got the good blood test results because my
problems was still there. I told him my findings about lyme disease as i had the
rash 5/6 months ago and if that was lyme disease then i was wrongly diagnosed as
"some sort of skin infection" and not given the correct treatment.

My doctor agreed to have my blood tested through the nhs with the elisa and western blot and at
present I am waiting for my results.

I am worried that the test comes back negative after all the stories ive read on
it.

All these symptoms developed within a week and a half of eachother in January 2014. Only when
i researched my symptoms and came across the lyme disease rash picture is what
helped me link the two. As the rash i had was like none ive ever had or seen
before. A big red circle on my leg that continued to expand even when i was on
antibiotics for a supposed skin infection.

The doctor didnt mention nothing about lyme disease at the time and he himself
didnt even know what the rash was and basically blind treated me.

I did not think to look up the rash back when i had it otherwise i would of been
more on the ball to know what it was and got the correct treatment but the
doctor should have known better. I also wish i had taken a picture of it.

Just waiting for my results at present but after everything said what if my
results are negative? Where do i go from here being in the uk and to my
knowledge, there isnt any lyme doctors here? Would a doctor still treat me even
if the results are negative but based on my symptoms at present and the fact i
actually did have the rash?

UnknownGuest -

Do not worry about your test results yet. When you received them, definitely share these with the community here. Ask your doctors for the full test results, not just their opinion.

Some people who have Lyme do get missed with these tests, but the tests are better now than they used to be and you can always ask to get retested and with better tests (like Igenex). The growing issue lately has been with people that are testing positive, but not on enough bands to get the medical community to treat them. Literally doctors wont help them, which again is an issue that is probably less likely to occur outside the US.

So do not worry about anything.

I had very low vit D also. Mine was 18. I am taking a liquid D3 4,000 units per day. It has gone up to 35 since October. Good luck with everything!