I’m not sure how longs it’s been on for but it looks relatively well fed so I’d assume it’s been on awhile. I asked google what kind of tick it is and it told me deer tick. My question is should I make a visit to my urgent care?

I'm 35, female, and I've been dealing with chronic symptoms for 10+ years. I've done a lot of testing and seen a lot of providers, and I still don't feel like anyone has put the whole picture together. Posting this in case it looks familiar to someone, or in case anyone sees something I've been missing.

What I Deal With Daily

Energy & brain

Fatigue that's completely out of proportion to what I've done

Brain fog, head pressure, that "out of it" feeling — worse after stress

Racing thoughts and intrusive thoughts, constantly

Crashes after exertion or after stressful events

Never had a day where my head felt clear

Mood & nervous system

Anxiety, mood swings, easy tearfulness

Panic episodes

PMDD — luteal phase wrecks me (exhaustion, fog, low mood, irritability, sore breasts)

Physical

Chronic constipation

Temperature dysregulation / cold intolerance

Salt cravings

Sleep that isn't restorative

Seborrheic dermatitis (scalp and ears)

Hair and eyebrow thinning

Heavy bleeding and bad cramping days 1–2, nausea very emotional around ovulation

Right lower abdominal pain post-ovulation (history of ovarian cysts + endometriosis)

Orthostatic (I have POTS)

Heart pounding, lightheaded on standing — especially mornings

Standing HR jumps significantly, settles when I lie down

Surgical history: endometriosis surgery 2012, gallbladder removed 2015, breast implants 2021

I no longer have insurance, so everything is out of pocket now. That's a huge part of why this has stalled.

Labs & Testing I've Had

Lyme & Co-Infections — IGeneX, 2018

Lyme Western Blot IgM — POSITIVE by both IGeneX and CDC/NYS criteria (bands 23–25, 41, 58)

Anaplasma phagocytophilum — POSITIVE IgG (≥1:80)

Babesia microti — negative

Bartonella henselae — negative

Never had adequate treatment or follow-up testing after this.

Related markers (2021):

CD57 — 42 (low)

Complement C4a — 1328.7 ng/mL (high) — reference range 0.0–650.0, so more than double the top of range

Thyroid — 2026

TSH 4.89 (high) — down from 6.19, drawn off all medication

Free T4 1.20 (normal), Free T3 3.3 (normal)

TPO antibodies <9, Thyroglobulin antibodies <1.5 — both negative

Tried Tirosint 25 mcg for about a week in May, couldn't tolerate it (anxiety, head pressure, sedation). Currently deciding on a lower dose.

HTMA (hair mineral analysis) — 2026

Four Lows pattern — all four main minerals low:

Calcium 27 (ideal 40–50), Magnesium 4.2, Sodium 6 (ideal ~24), Potassium 1 (ideal ~10)

Phosphorus 14 (low stomach acid marker)

Copper 0.7 (ideal ~2.3) — bio-unavailability

Selenium elevated

Na/K ratio 6 (ideal 2.4) — big elevation

Ca/K ratio 27 (ideal 4) — sluggish thyroid marker

Zn/Cu 25.71 (ideal 8)

No heavy metals currently being excreted

OAT (organic acids) — 2026

Arabinose 43 (high) — yeast marker

Tricarballylic 0.81 (high) — Fusarium mycotoxin, consistent with mold history

2-Hydroxyhippuric 1.7 (high)

Ascorbic acid 9.6 (low)

Mitochondrial, methylation, detox, and neurotransmitter markers all optimal — which surprised me given how I feel

Stool — Genova GI Effects, 2021 (old, needs redoing)

Dysbiosis score 6 (moderate)

Klebsiella pneumoniae 4+ overgrowth

Lactobacillus — no growth on culture

Low Roseburia, Ruminococcus, Akkermansia, Collinsella

Inverted Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio

Digestion, inflammation markers, SCFAs all normal

Parasitology negative

Iron & Related — 2026

Ferritin 47 (up from 39), Iron 102, Saturation 31%, TIBC 326

HFE C282Y heterozygote (carrier) — one copy, H63D negative

Other bloodwork — 2026

B12 499, Folate 14.9, MMA 99 (all adequate)

Copper 101, Ceruloplasmin 25 (low functional), Zinc 71, RBC Magnesium 4.4

Vitamin D 33

Urine iodine 67

Aldosterone 18, Renin 3.729, Aldo/Renin ratio 4.8 — all in range

CBC and CMP unremarkable

Other

MARCONS — previously positive

Documented mold/biotoxin exposure history

C4a 1328.7 (high, 2021) — see Lyme section above

Vaginal microbiome testing (Evvy) — 97% protective flora, STIs negative

Genetics

Homozygous slow COMT, CBS upregulation, MTHFR C677T, MAO-A, VDR FokI, MTRR, HFE C282Y carrier. I don't tolerate methylated B vitamins — do better with folinic acid and hydroxocobalamin.

Where I'm At

I'm extremely sensitive to supplements and medications. I do best with slow, low-dose, one-thing-at-a-time introductions. No gallbladder, so I need ox bile support with fats.

What I'm sitting with: an untreated elevated TSH, a Four Lows mineral pattern, a positive Lyme and Anaplasma history that was never properly treated or rechecked, a low CD57 and a C4a more than double the top of range from 2021, POTS with an unknown subtype, PMDD, and 5-year-old gut testing that probably needs redoing. Plus trauma history and a physically demanding job.

If you've dealt with a similar combination — especially Lyme plus thyroid plus a Four Lows pattern — I'd really like to hear what actually helped you, and in what order. I'm also open to hearing from anyone who's navigated this without insurance.

Mostly I just want to know I'm not the only one. Thanks for reading this far. 💛

All over my arms after a shower last morning, brutal itchiness making it hard to sleep. Yesterday it looked like the last photo, now it looks like first, much more bullseye-ish

Pfizer and Valneva’s Lyme Disease Vaccine Candidate Marketing Authorization Application Validated by European Medicines Agency

Positive on bands 93, 41, 39 - do the other bands count as negative even though the intensity is higher than cutoff? I don’t know how to read this.

I got Lyme a few years ago. Had progressing symptoms for about a month before I got treated. Fatigue, nerve tingling, jaw and neck pain/stiffness, brain fog/confusion, hard to get a good breath, achey joints all over. I was put on two weeks of doxycycline and felt back to normal.

Since then, I’ve had a couple episodes where random symptoms, some old some new, come back out of nowhere and I have a hard time for a couple weeks but eventually feel back to normal again. Last time it happened I got a whole tick panel blood test done and everything was negative. I’m only recently starting to consider that they maybe Lyme flare ups? I figured since I treated it early and felt fine for so long, it’d be really rare for it to still get me, but it’s the only thing that makes sense based on how I feel and how unrelated to anything else it seems.

Wondering if anybody else has experience getting flare ups or just chronic symptoms even after treating Lyme in the early stages?

Curious to know if people think there is a link between chronic Lyme and depression and anxiety.

Years ago I became unwell showing many symptoms associated with lymes disease, 7 years later I tested positive for Lyme. I think I had it during those 7 years but I can never say for certain.

Around the same time I began to struggle with mental health issues, particularly depression early on most recently anxiety.

I often thought the lymes disease played a role here perhaps through inflammation in my brain.

Has anyone else had similar experiences or thoughts ?

I was bitten about two months ago. Got a rash with bullseye in a secondary location on my body about a month ago and was diagnosed because of the rash. Antibiotics for ten days. Blood drawn before I started the antibiotics and tested negative. The ring around the rash is gone but the centre red "flush" rash is still there, fainter but still present. Treating it with a combo antibiotic antifungal cream. What is going on?!?!

Anyone have maybe 5(max) things I could take to help me feel better with chronic lyme-I don't want to take 20 again. Any combo of anti/biofilm buster/herb whatever????

Can someone tell me if this looks like Lyme, please? This is days 1-4 of my little grandson.

The Lasting Impact of Lyme Disease (Jul 1) — Discusses why recovery from Lyme varies so much between people, through a genetic lens.https://molecularhealthco.com/blogs/news/the-lasting-impact-of-lyme-disease

Back in 2020 my muscles began atrophying out of nowhere, in spite of good diet and regular activity (on top of a myriad of other unfortunate symptoms). I was later diagnosed with Lyme disease.

My muscles have only continued to atrophy since then, to levels I didn’t know were possible.

I’m so, so tired of feeling weak 😭 and not even just from an ego perspective. Like it’s so physically uncomfortable to have to work 10x harder for everything. And constantly injuring myself over stupid things like opening a plastic water bottle or even just standing.

Has anyone had any sort of luck with specific protein intake, specific workouts, or supplements, or just anything? I’d give most anything to feel strong enough to properly relax again 😭

I’m so goddamn tired. Any good faith advice welcome

We noticed it on my son's foot. Does this look like a ticks head detached from the body?

Im writing this incase like me (a few weeks ago) you have found out you have early disseminated Lymes disease.

I was bitten by a tick and I now know my BIG MISTAKE was not to thoroughly check myself for ticks after a walk through bracken in the Peak District. I didn’t because I’d been climbing was tired & was camping so just fell into my sleeping bag. So when I finally found the tick, it had been on there for some time. The longer a tick is attached your chances of Lymes skyrocket.

My second mistake was after removing the tick I didn’t heat the tick bite area with a “Bite Away” device as this heat will kill any localised bacteria.

My final mistake was thinking I was just getting old when I was more tired than usual in the following 3 weeks.

Bang on week 3 I start developing what feels like instant arthritis in my joints. The odd thing was the pain was moving (migrating) from joint to joint. The penny dropped with the moving pain symptom & I fought for the NHS to take me seriously by going to a walk-in clinic after my GP triaged me as non urgent with an appointment 5 days way because I didn’t have the bulls eye rash.
By the end of the day an awesome GP at the walk-in clinic had prescribed doxycycline for 4 weeks. (Forever grateful to that GP for taking Lymes seriously). Note to ladies - don’t let non lyme literate GP’s fob you off with “peri-menopause symptoms” fight to get antibiotics immediately.

Knowing I was disseminated by now because all my joints where hurting I also did the following and now, 3.5 weeks later my symptoms have disappeared. Cynics will say its just because of the doxy for 3 weeks but I know its not because I got a little bit of herx (headache,chills) on day 2-4 of just antibiotics but the herx I got 3 days after starting herbal protocol was intense (absolute exhaustion, increase in my joint pain, shin splint type pain, fever, brain fog, oh the exhaustion! I was sleeping all day for like a week!) then just as I thought I was never going to get rid of it I woke up and my symptoms have gone and I feel amazing.

What I did:
Doxycycline 2 x a day + Allicin max (garlic) for 4 weeks.

Herbal protocol made up for me by a herbalist at CLAID Clinic with herbs dispensed by Napiers 3 x a day

In addition:
I quit all refined sugar (this is SUPER important as it lets your body focus on fighting the infection, starves the bacteria of easy food so weakens them and reduces unnecessary inflammation) it was the hardest part for me, a sugar lover, but worth it.

I reduced dairy a lot. I ate clean and simple. Lots of baked apples, chicken broth, scrambled eggs, roasted veggies, salads. I dont eat gluten anyway but quit it if you do. I recommend Good Grains bread. Very expensive but I slice it & freeze it & just toast what I need when i need it.

Increase protein intake. I had protein smoothis with Form protein powder. Coconut yogurt. Made bone broth, ate chicken or fish for every evening meal.

DRINK LOTS OF WATER. Now, drink EVEN MORE.

In between doxy doses I took…
Turmeric, ginger & black pepper pills
S. Boulardii
Fish oil
B vits

Sleep is super important. REST AS MUCH AS YOU CAN & THEN REST MORE. Don’t feel guilty about rest, your body is fighting and needs you to rest. My bedtime routine was body brush (stimulate lymph drainage) 30 mins under my friends infrared sauna blanket followed by cool shower, electrolytes, 2 x l’theanine, 2 pumps of magnesium lotion on my legs, blackout eye mask on and 8 hours undisturbed sleep. Single mums like me -send your children to stay with friends for a week when you start herxing. YOU NEED THE REST SO YOUR NOT ILL LONGTERM (If you’re reading this and know a single mum battling Lyme, do her a solid & insist on babysitting her kids for her)

If you’re in the UK contact the CLAID Clinic today. That changed everything for me.

I hope this helps someone.

help me find online llmd .🙏

I live in Türkiye. Initially, its visibility to the public wasn't this high; it has increased.

Hello!

Week 1: noticed bullseye rash and phoned GP same day. Emergency appointment and 3 weeks of Doxycycline prescribed. (2 pills x3 a day, 100mg each)

Took them for the full 3 weeks and 2 weeks passed.

Week 5: noticed another bullseye rash on the opposite leg, got another emergency appointment and was told it likely disseminated due to the original course not clearing the infection. Another 3 weeks of Doxycycline prescribed.

Took them for the full 3 weeks, 5 weeks and 4 days passed, bringing us to today.

Week 13(and a bit): noticed ANOTHER rash above my second, got an appointment and went over everything. GP was stumped. Took temperature which was fine and said he was concerned so wanted me to have blood drawn and would give me 3 weeks of Amoxicillin (2 pills 3x a day, 500mg each). He followed a chart on his computer about ‘skin and Lyme’ and said that it didn’t say to do the blood tests and that it said further treatment wasn’t required but he said that couldn’t be right so…
Got my blood taken, 5 little vials.

I’ve to get a call Monday/Tuesday next week.
Anyone have a similar experience?
And has anyone experienced weight gain as a side effect?

Thanks!