Lyme disease - Rash enough for treatment?

[universe]

Basically, I got a tick bite on my leg a month ago and developed a rash that could be a bull's-eye rash.

It's not typical as it has no bull's eye but it started a week after the bite and has been growing quite big. It seems to fade a bit now.

2-3 Weeks after the bite I got my blood tested for antibodies for borreliosis. They came back negative. However, antibodies seem to form only from week 3 and after.

The whole Lyme disease seems to me rather hard to grasp - with symptoms that include almost anything.

As of now I'm feeling fine.

 

It seems quite normal to get Lyme disease without the rash but can you have the rash without Lyme disease?

Also if I'm going to take doxycycline I will try to reduce the side effects with probiotics. Maybe someone here has experience with this and can tell me what to look out for.

Thanks

[mandyjw]

Was it a deer tick? 

[universe]

29 minutes ago, mandyjw said:

Was it a deer tick? 

Unlikely, but I'm not sure which type of tick exactly. I took a picture but the tick is too tiny to see anything.

@nuwu Thanks, so far it's not chronic and I'm relatively young. I might add some of these essential oils.

[Ananta]

@universe

https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/signs_symptoms/index.html

Here is info from the CDC regarding Lyme's Disease.

[universe]

Thank you!

Yes the testing is hard. I may get the Westernblot and ELISA done but seems like I have to drive to the lab because the blood needs to be "fresh".

As an update, I've now developed the regular bull's eye pattern but thankfully none of the other later symptoms. I decided to just bite the bullet and take the doxycycline for at least 14 days.

The bacteria seems to be very hard to kill for our immune system as it can just mask & go "inactive" mode to wait for better circumstances (over years).

So even with the antibiotics I'm still not sure if it will be gone forever.

 

Taking the time to adjust and get my diet clean.

For now I decided to stay off probiotics (the pills) and instead eat prebiotic food.

Which I do anyways but just added some, like garlic and onions.

 

So for now observing the possible health benefits from the doxy and trying to keep my stomach as healthy as possible.