I feel for you. I hope the meds work well and that you have a full and speedy recovery. I recommend a good probiotic formula while your on the antibiotics. It really makes a world of difference in how you feel while on the meds and how well you rebound after you're finished you last cycle.
I live in MD and it's very bad here. I had Lyme twice; the first time it was misdiagnosed for 6 months and by then I was SO sick I literally thought I was dying. Death would have been a huge relief at that point. My face was paralyzed from Belle's palsy and I was walking around looking like a stroke victim. My eyes became so misaligned that I was seeing double. It took a couple of weeks for my vision to get back to seeing only one of everything I looked at.
Thank GOD I FINALLY found a Dr. that recognized the problem and started treatment immediately after a half dozen trips to the ER and a barrage of tests. He even brought in about 6 young interns to show them what a serious case looked like. Here I was lying on the table in pure misery wearing nothing but a pair of boxers and I didn't give a damn who was looking at me. I just wanted some relief.
The upside is, once the antibiotics began to work I started improving very quickly. I was told that other than the infection, I was actually very healthy and it worked in my favor. If you're not healthy and contract Lyme it can become a life long disability.
Another thing which I believe you touched on, is that the Doxycycline is the "go to" treatment for Lyme. Unfortunately, the price has increased by almost a hundred fold since my first bout with the disease. Amoxicillin is still really cheap and it will kill the Lyme bacteria; you just need to take more of it and for longer cycles. My first Doxy treatment took three 21 day cycles to "cure" me. The second time the Amoxicillin took two cycles. Thankfully I recognized the symptoms immediately the second time and started treatment right away.
Lyme is a filthy scourge that ANYONE who ventures outdoors needs to REALLY be aware of and take very seriously. You DO NOT want to catch this stuff; I can tell you that. It's extremely nasty and virulent and if left untreated, will make you choose death over living with it. That's how sick you can get.
I've suffered from migraines my entire life (which are treatable) but they are NOTHING compared to the SEVERE, constant, never ending headache from Lyme disease that no amount of any narcotic on Earth will even touch; not to mention the excruciating pain in every joint, nausea and an overall "flu like" feeling that never ends. It's truly THAT bad. I was on Morphine (among other things) for the pain and it did absolutely nothing at all for that headache. I just cannot stress enough how horrible it can get.
Once you get it, you'll test positive for it the rest of your life due to the antibodies you make. As a result, many people are treated time and time again unnecessarily. Also, the test itself regularly produces false positives as well as false negatives. The disease can mimic MS, Lupus, Crone's disease, rheumatoid arthritis and a few other autoimmune diseases and ailments. You need a Dr. that KNOWS about Lyme (a "Lyme Literate Dr"; or LLD) and believe it or not, many do not.
A bulls eye rash SOMETIMES appears and sometimes it doesn't. It can appear at the site of the bite or anywhere BUT the bite site. If you see a bulls eye rash anywhere on your person, do NOT wait. Go get treatment. Ignoring Lyme can ruin your entire life and in many cases, it can ruin it for years to come.
In my case, I'm very healthy but after Lyme I have lost a bit of my mental sharpness and clarity. I call it "brain fog". My focus isn't as good as it used to be and the muscles around my eyes were damaged permanently. I need reading glasses to see up close now. Before Lyme I had better than 20/20 vision.
So yeah, don't ever fool around when it comes to Lyme and tick bites. If you think you have been bitten, get checked out and take the medicine. Yeah, antibiotics are a double edged sword that can wreck your gut, cause thrush and numerous other side effects like very serious rashes and destroy your good bacteria but that can be easily replaced with good probiotics and proper food.
Also keep in mind that although Lyme is definitely carried by Deer ticks; it's also carried by other types of ticks along with any number of nasty co infections. They are filthy creatures. I never believed it until it happened to me so take my word for it; you DO NOT want to EVER catch this disease.
And of course, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Knowledge is power so just be aware and stay aware. If you go into the fields and woods ( which applies to pretty much everyone here), make sure you protect yourself. You'll be glad you did.
