You absolutely need to treat that bite if it can at all possibly be a tick bite. Untreated, Lyme can become chronic and nearly impossible to treat successfully.
Furthermore, the test will likely be negative - it takes 4-6 weeks after the bite for the body to be able to generate sufficient antibodies for the test to be positive.
An alternative to taking Doxycycline would be to use herbs to prevent chronic infection.
Stephen H. Buhner, Master Herbalist, recommends the following immediately upon finding you've been bitten by a tick that potentially may have transmitted Lyme Disease (and/or any coinfections):
Astragalus
Japanese Knotweed
Andrographis
Cat's Claw
Eleuthero Tincture
Homeopathic Apis 30C 3x/day for 3 days (do NOT take if pregnant)
Homeopathic Ledum 1M 3x/day for 3 days (can get this from
abchomeopathy.com - I have no financial connection with this company/website)
If you want to try this protocol, then the best thing would be to get Buhner's book, "Healing Lyme - Natural Healing and Prevention of Lyme Borreliosis and Its Coinfections" ISBN 0-9708696-3-0
There may be an updated version of the book, I bought mine a few years ago.
You can also check out his website,
buhnerhealinglyme.com/You should also know that Chronic Lyme can masquerade as Crohn's. I was misdiagnosed with Crohn's after a severe parasitic infection caused a bleeding fistula and inflammation, and re-diagnosed again incorrectly with Crohn's when I had narrowing/inflammation in my terminal ileum. For me, Crohn's medications either triggered worsening of symptoms or did not improve my symptoms at all. Lyme treatment has been one of the few things that has made a positive difference in my gut symptoms.
That said, sometimes symptoms can get a lot worse before they get better, and I also experienced new gut symptoms during Lyme treatment. In my case, it was due to trying to kill the Lyme & coinfections too fast for what my body could handle.
Canlyme.com used to have a page on Lyme and Crohn's, but I couldn't find it now that they've redesigned their website.
Another excellent article about
Lyme and the gut is:
thehumansideoflyme.net/viewarticle.php?aid=62I hope this helps...take care,