Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Update on the Ambiguous Bug Bite

So, I'm not trying to deny that I'm a tad on the cautious side these days.  I can't help myself with all of this USMLE studying.

I get a bug bite and then it's all, "Is this a fever?! Do I have muscle aches?! Nooo!"

Well.

I was pretty sure I saw a targetoid rash around said bite from Saturday, but I do spend all day alone with my First Aid.  Having hallucinations that lead to false conclusions is pretty normal, I'm sure.

That's why I waited until The Lawyer came over last night, pointed at my leg, and asked,

"Does it look like that's a circular rash?  Kind of like a bull's eye?"

And, without responding in the affirmative, he blurted out,

"DO YOU HAVE LYME DISEASE NOW?"

I rest my case.

(As it turns out, I do have a follow-up doctor's appointment for something else today, so I'm going to ask a real doctor, instead of a gullible lawyer getting his information from a panicked medical student.)

9 comments:

EMT GFP said...

Take care of yourself for sure! Even if there is the slightest chance its a tick bite, get antibiotics! Lyme disease is far too common around here.

Old MD Girl said...

My vote is for MRSA abscess.

;-)

Just kidding. I'm sure it's just Lyme disease.

Red Stethoscope said...

EMT- I think the rash was in my head and after further (calmer) investigation, I don't think it was a tick bite. But, I think something like 70% of people in this area get exposed to Lyme, so I was only half-joking about being worried.

OMDG- Yeah, you wish! :)

MS3 said...

Haha! I'm such a hypochondriac since starting med school too. Last night I ate some leftover pizza, and it was abnormally soggy with some mysterious liquid in the foil holding it. So I thought, "Oh weird, maybe its from the vegetables on it?"

So I ate it, and I realized an hour later that the mysterious liquid was raw chicken juice that dripped on it from the shelf above. Then I got paranoid that I was gonna get salmonella and gave myself a stomach ache. lol

Red Stethoscope said...

MS3- NICE. I'm pretty sure that the bacterial flora of med. students can annihilate anything, though. We have super immune systems (I keep being told)!

Cimorne said...

I can attest that medical students' GI bacterial flora cannot annihilate Salmonella; M1 year I was hospitalized for three days. Of course, after being on the floors my immune system has likely become like a squad of ninja assassins.

Red Stethoscope said...

Cimorne- Oh no! Yeah, the super immunity comes AFTER you nearly die from dehydration! I'm pretty sure your GI system is like steel now.

barefootmeds said...

Baha, you definitely have MSS - medical student syndrome. I'm constantly diagnosing myself with all sorts. Although two years ago I traveled to Connecticut and a few days after returning I was so deathly sick that I decided I had Lyme disease in absence of a bite. We never did figure out what it was. Oh well.

Red Stethoscope said...

barefootmeds- SEE...you totally had Lyme disease too! As for MSS, I have no idea what you're talking about. Crazy rants, fanatical diagnoses? That doesn't sound like my writing at all...

Oh, wait.

:)