Well, I joined the doxycycline club too! Got a tick bite on the back of my leg last Thursday that started causing some strange symptoms over the weekend, like chills and aches up and down my leg, and a lot of soreness around the bite. Large pale pink rash (no bullseye). It seemed to be settling down by the time I got to work on Monday, but then I was walking to lunch and a few minutes in to the 15 minute walk, my knee was obviously stiff and angry. I knew that wasn't normal (I typically need to have a major injury for my knee to act up) so I went to see my doctor that afternoon.
He looked at the bite, asked about my symptoms, and went right over to the computer to put in the prescription. No blood test. I found that surprising, since he is normally very stingy/strategic about prescribing antibiotics. He said they have an extremely low tolerance and low threshold for tick bite diagnoses in our area. Apparently blood tests may not pick up bacterial infections for a couple weeks after a bite, plus there are all sorts of infections, complications, and unknown bacteria that could come from a tick bite. He said he's even seen people get a widespread skin infection (cellulitis) from tick bites. So they don't take chances, and it happens that doxycycline will address pretty much all of these infections and complications.
Lo and behold, after just one dose I could already feel a big improvement, and after two doses I feel back to normal. I have a full 10 day course of the drug to finish up, but I feel like the rapid improvement is a good confirmation something was definitely wrong here. I have gotten hundreds of tick bites in the last 5 years or so, and this is the first one that seemed different and really had me concerned.
I also learned that only the black legged deer tick is a threat for Lyme disease. I see a few of those, but 99% of the ticks I see are Lone Star ticks. They can transmit a similar disease called STARI (Southern Tick Associated Rash Illness). Only the dog tick is a threat for Rocky Mountain spotted fever. I have never seen those in my area. I will be paying more attention to the ticks I pick off myself, as knowing the tick species is an important detail in diagnosing any illness. But really, any tick species can carry random bacterias and lead to skin infections and other complications.
