jloc20

Hi, I am a newbie here so I will be as brief as I can...

Sept 3rd - spent whole day feeling "chilled" - still totally functional; tried to ignore it and never took my temperature
Sept. 4th - found a "pimple" looking thing on my right abdomen; no head, felt small "mass" under skin
Sept. 5th - woke to find a small red circle around the pimple; went into urgent care; dx'ed with probable staph infection although the doctor could not get anything out of the pimple to culture; given Keflex (sp?) antibiotic
also Sept 5th - experienced sudden and complete loss of appetite - no nausea, but it was like my digestive system just shut down and I had no desire to eat; coupled with extreme tiredness - I felt really weird overall - lasted for 4 days during which I drank water only and had a piece of toast
Sept 8th - went back to urgent care as I had been on antibiotic for 3.5 days but red circle had grown to about 2 inches in diameter and the pimple/boil had developed another little "pimple"-like head; larger mass (pus?) felt under skin; given Bactrim for potential MRSA (no culture done)
Sept 9th - appetite returned after I felt my system kind of turn back on - lots of grumbling and rumbling in my stomach and then a few hours later, I was hungry again

Over the course of the antibiotic treatment, the infection did go away. However, mid- to late-September, after the meds were done, a red circle of about an inch diameter still remained around the center pimple heads - ended up being three "pimples", which never came to a head. I can still see a faint purplish/red area around a very small whitish head, but whatever was there is mostly gone. It only really started looking like it was really going away about a week ago (or about 7 weeks post discovery).

Anyway, it was about 2 weeks ago that I realized we had been vacationing in a rural part of our state where ticks are plentiful the weekend before I noticed the pimple. Because I could still see the small red circle last week, it occurred to me that maybe I should check about Lyme, and I made an appt with a doc (one I had never seen before) to see what she thought. Literally, she walked in the room, looked at the spot for about 2 seconds, didn't feel the area or anything, said "oh, looks like a scar left over from the infection, OK?", and breezed out. The entire visit was done in about 30 seconds, and I guess I didn't say anything because I felt stupid coming in if that's all it was.

Now, for the past 6 days, I've had shoulder and neck stiffness that started off rather painfully last week, but now is just kind of a constant neck stiffness. In doing some research last night, I saw that neck pain can be a symptom of LD. I also have had a few days of chills here and there like I had prior to discovering the pimple, but no fevers.

SO...long story longer, I am wondering if any of this seems like it could be related to Lyme, and if it would be worth it to go in to see another doctor. I already felt totally foolish once, and i don't want to seem like I'm nuts if I go in to see someone else. Also keep in mind that I don't think I ever had any fever assciated with this entire episode, so I don't know if that would rule out LD. Would LD definitely be more severe than this?

Thanks for any help...it's much appreciated.