# Medical advice please?!



## adlem (Jul 6, 2008)

Are there any doctors/medical consultants on here? need a little advice please...

Basically last wednesday (26th may) around lunchtime i noticed a small, squareish black thing on my ankle and thinking nothing of it i brushed it off (was rather stubborn and took a couple of flicks/picks to get it off) I was working outside at the time, sat on the floor painting a window sill, my immediate thought it was a stone but now it appears it may have been a tick...

Thinking nothing of it i left it, it was a bit itchy and i had a redish area of skin no larger than a pound coin with a dark middle bit.
Well this middle bit got darker and darker until it was almost black - with a very small white dot in the middle. At this point i went up to the minor injuries unit (friday 28th may in the evening) As i was unsure whether it was an insect bite/tick i was just given a 5 day course of flucocoxacillin (sp) normal antibiotics and told to take anti-allergy tablets (cetrizine hydrochloride) basicall hayfever tablets...

Didn't seem too bad over the bank holiday weekend but since then it's got worse. The top burst on the black area and it wept a little bit of yellowish fluid. The area of redness had now got larger and my foot and ankle were starting to swell. I went back up to the minor injuries unit (again was the evening) and was told they could do no more as they'd already seen me once and given me antibiotics...
After a mad rush i managed to get the last emergency appointment at my GP (this was yesterday, 3rd june) and was given some more antibiotics, eurythramacine ethylsuccitate (sp) and was told to dress it, use savlon and carry on with the anti-allergy tablets.

Which leads me onto today - since then the swelling has got worse, my entire foot, ankle and a third of my calf are now twice the size compared to normal and the dark red/purple area is very large. I've also got too large raised areas full of fluid.. looks like so:










After another trip to the GP i've been asked to go for a blood test which i can't get until monday to rule out the chance of lyme's disease. We feel pretty sure it's a tick but don't recall it being attached to me for long (the norm being 48hours apparently?) We've thought it may be something else caused by ticks beginning with e but i can't remember what it was  from pics on the net it looks similar but my symptoms don't currently fit into one bracket. Currently i have redness, itchyness and the above swelling, it also hurts to put weight on it/walk. I've been given some more anti-biotics (Di-something or other for lyme's disease) and be told to keep an eye on it. If the swelling/redness gets any worse up my leg (especially if it forms a straight line/follws veins) i've got to go straight to A&E

I'm a normally fit and healthy 20 year old male self employed painter and decorator. I've been told to rest it and keep my foot up over the weekend, no cleaning 

I just wondered if anyone has an idea or has seen this before and can offer me a little bit of peace of mind... sorry for the essay but i thought i'd better include the whole story

TIA

Martin


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## -tom- (Jan 27, 2009)

Matin i would go to a and e mate looks very pain fall take it easy bud


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## Gruffs (Dec 10, 2007)

:doublesho:doublesho:doublesho:doublesho

That needs treatment either at the docs or at a hospital.


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## Guest (Jun 4, 2010)

no idea mate, but defo infected and i would push for the blood test sooner if i was you. The hospital can get the results straight away if they do it there, which i know are not very good at helping sometimes. Looks really sore hope you get better soon !!


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## adlem (Jul 6, 2008)

Thanks for the replies, i've been to the minor injuries unit at the local hospital twice and the doctors twice so far and they've both said the same thing - no idea what it is, anti-biotics and rest it...

I've only worked 8 days in the last four weeks with this and my bad back - not good when i'm self-employed  Really want to sort the car and purchase a DA :buffer:

I may give these new anti-biotics a bash for a day or so then take the trip to A&E if it gets worse... i've run a line of black pen round the swelling and red bit so that i can see if and by how much it expands! :lol:

Local hospital is pretty pants and won't run any more blood tests until monday (only run them from 8-3) but i may end up in hospital anyway at this rate. I'll google that e-thing it might be :thumb:


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## Gruffs (Dec 10, 2007)

It's getting to the point that it is serious. 

An infection can result in Gangrene and you losing your leg (if not worse) if you leave it too long. Keep pestering them if you are not sure. Don't leave it if you are concerned.


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## Fritz Blitz (Jun 18, 2007)

adlem said:


> I'll google that e-thing it might be :thumb:


Hi Martin,

that e-thing might be encephalitis. One of the diseases, that ticks are known for to carry. If I recall correctly, one symptome of the lyme disease is that circular redness like in the picture. Literally translated it would be called "wandering redness". Or the medical term: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythema_chronicum_migrans

Not sure what it´s like in the UK, but A&E should take care of you even you´re not half-dead. And if they won´t, just annoy the f out of them. I think everyone agrees, that this doesnt look healthy by any means.:doublesho

All the best,
Fritz


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## Ducky (Mar 19, 2007)

Sometimes if you pull a tick off they will leave their jaws behind and this can cause an infection, you should touch them with a lit cigarette when trying to remove them as this will make them retract their jaws. I would def get on their case asap because it looks to be turning serious.


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## adlem (Jul 6, 2008)

I've just done a bit of research and it is looking like it's from a tick, was probably only a nymph.. thing is they carry dieseases still and the symptoms may be a mixture of all 3 common uk tick-borne diseases.

The e thing was erythema migrans, and some pics of that look quite similar...

It's seems to fit at least one of the uk tick-borne diseases but it appears the uk aren't very clued up on tick-borne diseases so i'll be armed with a wad of info off the net when i go in. I googled 'tick diseases' and the first thing that came up was this :doublesho http://www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk/ticks.htm


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## Fritz Blitz (Jun 18, 2007)

Over here tick bites resulting in lyme disease have become a real problem in the past years. Luckily I haven´t seen any ticks since when I was a child. But my uncle gets them on a regular basis, when he´s out in the forrest.


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## ipwn (Dec 1, 2009)

Just a waiting game required to see if it goes pale in the centre and if you get any fevers etc.


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## Shinyvec (Feb 12, 2010)

Thats looking really bad and I would be worried about Blood Poisening leading to septasemia ( excuse spelling ) so push for action to be done NOW.


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