Am I recieving the right treatment?

I have the 'bullseye rash' quite distinctly but no other symptoms (except fatigue and headache but this may be due to lifestyle). I got bitten just over a week ago and didn't see a tick. The I went to the doctor and have been prescribed 5 days of flocoxacillin (4x a day), and he didn't mention what I was being treated for...but if this IS lyme will that be enough? I'm really worried but embarassed to be as I don't seem physically sick right now, I don't want to waste anyone's time but I don't want to only realise I should have asked for bloodwork or something when it's too late :s

Confusiana, Welcome to the forum!

A bullseye rash is indicative of Lyme. Good job noticing it and seeking help. The best current medical opinions call for longer treatment than five days.

I'll be back in a minute with some good sites for info on initial treatment for a recent infection.

This calls for 3-4 weeks
ukpmc.ac.uk/abstract/MED/1379147/reload=0;jsessionid=Pej237Xs2CLLyajTv9gh.0
This shows several different guidelineswww.canlyme.com/treatment.html

Even the IDSA (Infectious Disease Society of America), who haven't updated their guidelines call for 2-4 weeks.

So you should gather up info and try to educate your doctor. Have a look at our "New to Lyme?" thread, there is a lot of good info there to help you on your way.

You are right to be concerned -- but don't waste your energy worrying. In fact, try to stay as stress-free as possible. And do all you can to boost your immune system. This is quite important and can go a long way towards ensuring the disease doesn't get a hold on you.

There is no real point in getting blood tests for Lyme at this point. The standard tests look for antibodies to the disease and your body will not have had the time to produce those yet. More advanced tests are very expensive and are still not helpful in detecting a new infection. The bulls eye rash is evidence enough for treatment.

Again, well done for being so vigilant!

Please be careful. "Waitful watching" may cause you much suffering and costs down the road. I would also take a couple of photos of the rash so you can show them to other doctors after it is gone.

Were you in an area that is exposed to ticks? Everyone is different in how Lyme (and possible co-infections) hits them with symptoms. Some people go years before a diagnosis because they never noticed a tick / rash and had few symptoms early on. Then treatment becomes much more complicated in the advanced stage.

Antibiotics are very effective (and usually well tolerated) for treating early lyme. The rash you are describing indicates Lyme infection. I don't see the reason not to treat with sufficiently long round of antibiotics. Now if the doctor did not think it was a bullseye rash, then that is another story. You can see how many people are on these forums dealing with chronic lyme. Do everything you can not to join this group. I'm not a medical professional, just my opinion.

We have several members on the forum here who are battling Lyme in the UK. Start a new thread entitled, Looking for Lyme Literate help in UK. I'm sure they will give you some good info.

Hi there, my dad received a tick bite and was in the UK when he received treatment for it and they gave him the same antibiotic course as you - was wondering if it wound up being effective long term for you?

Confusiana said...
I have the 'bullseye rash' quite distinctly but no other symptoms (except fatigue and headache but this may be due to lifestyle). I got bitten just over a week ago and didn't see a tick. The I went to the doctor and have been prescribed 5 days of flocoxacillin (4x a day), and he didn't mention what I was being treated for...but if this IS lyme will that be enough? I'm really worried but embarassed to be as I don't seem physically sick right now, I don't want to waste anyone's time but I don't want to only realise I should have asked for bloodwork or something when it's too late :s

Right now is the most important choice you'll make for treatment of Lyme Disease, taking the proper antibiotic and dosage. And right now I can tell you that flucloxacillin is not a popular antibiotic to take for lyme disease, both early stage or late stage lyme.

You need to listen to what Dr. B says in this video, taking doxy and the proper dosage, which he recommends a pretty high dosage compared to what the Infectious Disease doctors recommend. This is to prevent persister cells from forming and relapse.

https://vimeo.com/306846706

Using a weak antibiotic and dosage, again, you risk forming borrelia persister cells and relapse a few weeks from now, months from now, even years from now.

Since you've been bitten, you need to watch yourself in the future, as it will only take a minor virus or even a stressful moment in your life where your immune system gets slightly knocked down, then your lyme infection can come back.

It may be useful to even trickle off with Stephen Buhner herbs like Cats Claw/Teasel Root just to make sure you got the rest of the bacteria. Or just as a maintenance protocol so you don't relapse. Just to note, you'll never get rid of all the bacteria, all you can do is kill most of it and let your immune system take over.

Post Edited (Charlie55) : 6/5/2019 2:58:20 PM (GMT-6)