Tick bite 24 years ago

Hi, I am new to this forum and hoping I can find some answers. 24 years ago I was hiking in the woods near Atlanta, and a few days later back home in FL my cousin noticed a tick in my back. It was so engorged and embedded so deep my dad had to take me to the ER to get it out. Two weeks later I had the bulls-eye rash, lethargy, fever & chills, nausea - just absolutely the worst sickness I have ever had in my life. I was given a 10-day prescription of antibiotics and told there was no way it was Lyme, because Lyme wasn't thought to be so far south at that point. Over the next two years my normally very healthy teenage body deteriorated and I suddenly had so many maladies it was unreal. (Allergies, IBS, fibromyalgia, psoriasis, just to name a few). I got better after two years but still lots of symptoms, just more mild. The site of the tick bite was sore and extremely tender for about the next 15-20 years, and still itches to this day. Since my symptoms are relatively mild compared to those first two years, my Lyme symptoms were so readily dismissed at the time, and every doctor since then has just wanted to treat individual symptoms and deny it could all be connected, I have hesitated to see a doctor in years. At this point, is it worth finding an LLMD? Does it sound like Lyme disease or post-Lyme Disease syndrome or what? And where could I find a LLMD near Tampa, FL? Thanks for any help.

Thank you for your answer. I do keep a relatively healthful diet as well, and I'm sure that has helped. During those first two years when I was really bad, I constantly craved oily fish and ate it every day, not knowing anything about omega 3 fatty acids. Now I usually crave foods rich in vitamin D. Listening to my body and feeding it what it needs has been very helpful. I definitely would like to know more about which herbs to use and any other useful healing info.

You can most definitely still get past this!!! I had many ticks attach during my youth, and didn't ever get a bulls eye rash, although I developed many of the symptoms from each of the tick-borne infections. It was 37 years after the first serious episode with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever that I finally started treatment with abx. I was so seriously compromised at that point that the abx only made me worse, but once I found a type of medicine that my body could tolerate (Holistic), I started making real progress quickly! Now, 2 1/2 years after starting effective treatments, I am symptom free, although I do have some permanent damage that was done.

So I would encourage you to find a Holistic doctor to help you get your body balanced back out and fight these infections.