- Messages
- 231
- Likes
- 606
Panicking over a tick bite as I already have severe M.E.
Any advice, please? Should I take antibiotics? I have amoxicillin here.
Any advice, please? Should I take antibiotics? I have amoxicillin here.
Tick bite
- Thread starter splusholia
- Start date
When my mother got a tick bite, the doctor prescribed antibiotics "just in case".
Her doctor's logic makes sense to me, since the risk of waiting for a tick-borne bacterial infection to show up in blood tests is the risk of the bacterial infections becoming much much harder to treat in the future...
But which antibiotics would be appropriate in this instance?
Her doctor's logic makes sense to me, since the risk of waiting for a tick-borne bacterial infection to show up in blood tests is the risk of the bacterial infections becoming much much harder to treat in the future...
But which antibiotics would be appropriate in this instance?
- Messages
- 11,695
- Likes
- 28,507
I got treated once for a tick bite but don't remember what the antibiotic was....they ran no tests, I had no bullseye.
I do have SERIOUSLY bad neck issues in this VERY location where Tick Bite transpired.
I do have SERIOUSLY bad neck issues in this VERY location where Tick Bite transpired.
If you still have the tick, you can have it tested for all the diseases it can carry. That would tell you what you're potentially looking at.
I'm not sure amoxicillin is the best ABX for tick bites, but I'm not sure. It's a fairly limited one, and not as strong as I'd imagine might be used for potential repercussions of a tick bite. But I really dont know for sure 
....
It could be that even a weaker and non-targeted ABX might be better than nothing.
Do you have the telltale red bullseye rash where the tick bit?
ABX's can screw around with you, too, or at least they do with me and a few others I've read in these threads ...
....It could be that even a weaker and non-targeted ABX might be better than nothing.
Do you have the telltale red bullseye rash where the tick bit?
ABX's can screw around with you, too, or at least they do with me and a few others I've read in these threads ...
These are some recommendations from Dr Marty Ross: https://www.treatlyme.net/guide/antibiotics-for-acute-tick-bites
About antibiotics he says, "The best antibiotic to use is Doxycycline because it treats Lyme and can treat the other tick borne infections like anaplasma, ehrlichia, babesia, bartonella, and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever if they are present. For an adult I recommend 100 mg 2 times a day.
If someone cannot take doxycycline, the alternative antibiotics include amoxicillin, cefuroxime, and azithromycin. However, there are no studies showing the proper dose or duration of these alternatives.
I do not recommend herbal antibiotics of any kind for an acute tick bite because there is no research evidence showing they work for an acute tick bite.
My recommendations for treatment duration are based on my clinical experience of what works and the one mouse study showing 20 days prevents Lyme disease in infected mice."
Though if you can I would read the full page from his site.
About antibiotics he says, "The best antibiotic to use is Doxycycline because it treats Lyme and can treat the other tick borne infections like anaplasma, ehrlichia, babesia, bartonella, and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever if they are present. For an adult I recommend 100 mg 2 times a day.
If someone cannot take doxycycline, the alternative antibiotics include amoxicillin, cefuroxime, and azithromycin. However, there are no studies showing the proper dose or duration of these alternatives.
I do not recommend herbal antibiotics of any kind for an acute tick bite because there is no research evidence showing they work for an acute tick bite.
My recommendations for treatment duration are based on my clinical experience of what works and the one mouse study showing 20 days prevents Lyme disease in infected mice."
Though if you can I would read the full page from his site.
Last edited:
If it looks like you have an infection around the bite area I might consider antibiotics but if not, I myself would not consider them.
- Messages
- 1,764
- Likes
- 2,426
What did you end up doing? For me its the inverse. Didnt see a tick but got weird symptoms followed by a rash followed by anotger circular rash followed by more weird symptoms. Doctor offered antibiotic but so far i havent done it as the cost of screwing up my very very hard fought for gut microbiome has a high cost. Trying to do some tests now but its slow going. Im
Probably already past the point where i coukd clear it up quickly sbd easily but perhaps easier tbsn if i waited 2 more months
Probably already past the point where i coukd clear it up quickly sbd easily but perhaps easier tbsn if i waited 2 more months
- Messages
- 231
- Likes
- 606
I reluctantly took doxycycline, on the advice of my doctor, and then followed up with high doses of probiotics. No change in my ME baseline.
And no negative symptoms associated with doxycycline? I just discovered a tick that was positive for Ehrlichia ewingii, but haven’t had symptoms in two weeks. Considering cipro kickstarted my journey of the living dead and a life with symptoms, taking an antiobiotic again is a concerning prospect. But at least doxy is not a fluroquinolone.
edited
edited
Last edited:
Personally, I have taken doxycycline many times, and my only side effect is a vague fatigue while on it, and for just a few days after. I have chalked it up to the temporary mitochondrial dysfunction from doxycycline:
Tetracyclines Disturb Mitochondrial Function across Eukaryotic Models (Moullan et al., 2015)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124715001801
Tetracyclines Disturb Mitochondrial Function across Eukaryotic Models (Moullan et al., 2015)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124715001801
Last edited:
- Messages
- 231
- Likes
- 606
No — didn’t have any bad side-effects!
- Messages
- 246
- Likes
- 239
this is my lyme experience: https://forums.phoenixrising.me/threads/my-experience-with-lyme-disease.83923/#post-2342277