I'm not a doctor either, but I have read a lot of scientific articles and articles from Lyme Literate Medical Doctors that state that the Bull's eye rash is enough to diagnose Lyme, as it's the skin form of the infection. From there it travels into the blood stream to be spread further throughout the body.
There are over 100 different strains of Lyme here in the US, 300 world wide. Some report that only a very few infected humans, but no scientific data supports that claim at this point. So the fact that your tests for Lyme have come back as negative isn't odd - 60% of those tested that have symptoms of Lyme and respond to treatment don't ever test positive. There are several reasons for this.
One is because these are incredibly complex infections. They can evade detection from our immune systems, and can get into places like the brain, joints and teeth where the immune system can reach them very well. Most of the tests that docs use are based on the immune response, but if the body doesn't recognize the bacteria as an infection, it won't give an immune response to be measured. Lyme also has three separate forms that it appears in the body. One, cell wall deficient has nothing for the body to recognize, plus the bacteria can 'take over' one of our own cells, so once again, the body can't recognize it as an invader. The experts in this field diagnose based on symptoms (clinically diagnosed) because of this.
You didn't mention what dose of Doxy you were on, so it might have been too low of a dose to actually kill the bacteria. It's been discovered that anything under 400 mgs a day won't kill the bacteria, it will only keep it from replicating, so although you may feel better, once abx are stopped, the infections starts raging through the body again.
Here are some other options for you to find a LLMD:
**You can start another thread with the title something like this - "Looking for LLMD in the ________ area". You'll want to include your surrounding area that you are willing to travel to, as there aren't very many of these brave doctors yet.
** You can email our long time member, Dan's Mother at:
phassan@optonline.net ** You can email Stephanie at:
stephanie@turnthecorner.org You can also go to:
www.turnthecorner.org/ if you want to learn a little bit more about
Lyme Disease.
**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) doctor. The ILADS site is another great place to read to get you started on your Lyme journey.
www.ilads.org/lyme_disease/treatment_guidelines_clearing_ilads.html Also, if you haven't yet, please read through our "New to Lyme? Start here!" thread as it's packed full of relevant information, very important links and symptom lists as well as a bunch of other information.
I hope this helps some! Again, welcome!!