Hi Kitty,
First of all, welcome to our community! I'm so glad you found us.
Next, if you haven't yet, please take a picture of your bulls eye rash if it's still there, or if it reappears later. For doctors that are appropriately trained, the bull's eye rash is enough to be diagnostic of Lyme disease.
As far as transmission times for Lyme, there has been a study done last year that states:
"It is frequently stated that the risk of infection is very low if the tick is removed within 24–48 hours, with some claims that there is no risk if an attached tick is removed within 24 hours or 48 hours. A literature review has determined that in animal models, transmission can occur in <16 hours, and
the minimum attachment time for transmission of infection has never been established."
www.dovepress.com/lyme-borreliosis-a-review-of-data-on-transmission-time-after-tick-atta-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-IJGM My husband just came down with Lyme symptoms and is facing the same situation with trying to get more abx. Here is what I literally just told him - you still have options. You can find an ILADS trained LLMD (International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society trained Lyme Literate Medical Doctor), or you can do an at home herbal protocol. Some LLMD's use both herbs and abx to treat these infections.
If you haven't yet, it would be helpful for you to start with reading through the thread at the top of the forum titled,"New to Lyme?...Start here!!", as it is packed full of important information, symptom lists, helpful links and pdf's, how to detox when one has these infections, information on probiotics and much more.
For information on finding an ILADS trained LLMD in your area, you will need to enable your email option in your profile in order to receive any recommendations, as we don't allow doctor's names and contact info to be posted on the forum for several reasons. You can enable your email option in your profile, under 'edit profile'. Be sure to click the submit button to actually save your preference.
You can send me an email by clicking on my screen name or the small blue envelope under my screen name. I may have contact information for some LLMD's in your area as well. Please include your state and area that you would like to find a LLMD in and I will see how close I can get to your
location.
You can start a new thread titled something like "Looking for LLMD in the
(insert the nearest larger city & state) area". Members can email you about
the LLMD's that they see in that area if you have your email enabled. We don't allow doctors names to be posted though.
You can also email the Tick-Borne Disease Alliance at[url]
[email protected] for LLMD referrals and you can go to
tbdalliance.org/ to learn more about
these infections.
You can also go to The Lyme Disease Association and search for LLMD's 3 times in a month. You have to register first. Here is the link:
www.lymediseaseassociation.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=277&Itemid=74
You will want to find an ILADS (International Lyme And Associated Diseases Society) trained doctor, as ID Docs (Infectious Disease Doctors) believe Lyme is hard to catch and easy to treat, and don't believe in the reality of chronic Lyme. Go to the ILADS site to read the new (2014) Treatment guidelines to get you started on your Lyme journey.
www.ilads.org/lyme/ILADS_Guidelines.pdf