Recurring bites/infection

Hello again everyone.

Well, here's my story, I'll try not to bore you! about a couple of years ago, I was bitten by a tick, developed the trademark bullseye rash and thus, Lyme. The dermatologist I went to casually dismissed it but I ignored her and got a month's and change worth of antibiotics (you don't need a prescription for doxy over here). After that, no symptoms at all.

Fast forward to present day. about a month ago, I was once again bitten by -something- and there's the bullseye again. Promptly, I got a month's supply of doxy and thought all was well. However, a couple of days ago, something bit me again, and here's the bullseye rash again!

Can it really be tick bites? Pronymphal stage ticks, I suppose because I never did find anything. We have a dog and cats but all have their meds and anti-bitey (haha) stuff and no bites whatsoever. Should I go on antibiotics again, only after less than two weeks after I stopped the previous cycle?

By the way, I'm in Greece, and LD is pretty much (supposed to be) non existant here, and LL doctors simply do not exist!

Hi there Captain Lucky,
I have pets also, but remember even when they are on a preventive for ticks and fleas, ticks can crawl off of them before biting the pet and on to us or furniture, bedding etc.

So there is still a chance to be bitten and infected even when treating our dogs and cats.

I'm sorry you have been infected again, I never had a bulls eye but after a few months of treatment I started getting a red flat EM type rash but without the bulls eye on my back.

Its gone now but it kept recurring for a few months.

Take care, I hope you get better soon, Jo

I would take the abx.

They have worked the other times for you.

You do know you had new bites...just not sure if they were ticks? (so not a relapse?)

Are you taking probiotics ? That's something you need to do for your gut health. The abx are killing the good bacteria in the gut...you need to replenish it.

re: probiotics. Your gut can 'handle the abx' UNTIL it can't anymore... Why wait for a problem? You don't want to wait until something happens...like a yeast overgrowth .

One thing for sure - the antibiotics ARE killing the good gut bacteria...so you really should be replenishing it.

The bullseye rash IS Lyme disease... needs to be treated. I wouldn't wait for more symptoms to hit...the sooner you treat, the better your chances of it NOT becoming chronic.


It's one thing to not treat a tick bite - without a bulls-eye rash (although I would) - but when there's the rash - it is Bb.

I don't agree that EM rash is lyme disease.

EM rash is a rash, it's not lyme yet.

Contact with the bacteria did happen, and from there on, you may develop lyme or not.

Once the bacteria entered your body, it will remain forever, with or without treatment.

Some people NEVER develop lyme, in spite of EM rash.
It's not uncommon among forest workers here in Switzerland.

I had a rash, no other symptom, and after doxy, it developed into lyme.

In my case, I wonder if the antibiotic did not lower my immune system, made the critters aggressive, and because of that, I developed a horrible lyme disease.

Maybe yes, maybe not, I'll never know.

EM rash is very old in history.

It is known here in Europe for more than 100 years. People develop that after tick bites, but lyme disease only became what it became (a seriously handicapping disease) recently, after the 80s here.

All the decades before that, EM rash meant nothing much. People still lived long lives.

With or without antibiotics, the bacteria remains.
It 's up to your immune system to keep it down, to minimal levels.

It's a myth that antibiotics will eliminate the bacteria. It will only lower the number of pathogens.

you may treat or you may not treat: Bb is already there for life.

Does it mean lyme disease for life? No.

If I were bitten the whole time, would I be taking antibiotics the whole time, knowing that each time I do, my immune system becomes weaker?

It's a personal decision, somehow hard to take, I agree.