I pulled a tick from my brothers head last August after a 3 day hike and it wasn’t till days later that he noticed the tick, so it had been in there for about a week. It left a slightly red kind of blotchy small mark, but nothing that looked like a bulls eye. I grew up covered in ticks, and assumed it was okay and so did he. We are from South Dakota and I have read that it is very uncommon to have Lyme’s in our area. I have seen my brother go from a very active person to a guy that can hardly get up to answer the door. He has been to the ER over and over. They have given him one antidepressant after another. You have no idea what we did to just get a Lyme’s disease test. This has been since February. In February he became worse after his tooth was pulled due to an abcess tooth. Anyhow, he had his test done over a month ago. No one called him. They seemed annoyed with him and assumed nothing was wrong, so let it go. But while seeing a psychiatrist she noticed on his medical records that were sent over that his test for Lyme’s was positive. She was also an RN for years and called the lab at the hospital to ask about his results. They said that it appears the disease is on it’s way out. (After lots of reading it seems that it is hard to tell this with lab work) I asked my brother how do you feel? He said, worse. (Heartbreaking.) So they have ordered more tests but didn’t give him his results or anything and are making him wait another week while he fades away. I am beyond upset for him. They told him it appears he could also have a coinfection. We have called and can’t get his results, they have to come from his doctor whom is not available till next week. Please any thoughts on this? Do you have any idea what test they did that would warrant these results of positive and coinfection? He tested negative for any of the Hep C, HIV and so forth. His blood panel from the ER didn’t look like anything was terribly wrong. A slightly above average Platelet count which can also happen with an infection, and something with his red blood count looked slightly low. But otherwise everything looks normal. He was an otherwise very healthy guy who now has so much fatigue, muscle cramping, numbness, brain fog, and major depression. He says his brain does not feel right. He is now having diarrhea and stomach aches, occasionally. Any ideas that any of you could give would be great. I know this is so vague with not knowing what test was done, but I am concerned they are making him wait another week. And I know that there are a lot of false positives, so not even sure how this will play out.
It would seem to me that if his test is positive for lyme, a doctor should be addressing that. This can be a long hard ride, but there are many things to try so try to stay positive. If I were you I would be calling around trying to make an appointment with a new doctor to see if they will address the test results. Best of luck.
Thank you. They are ordering more tests, but what makes me nervous is that they waited almost a month to give him his initial test results. I have read that this is an issue not being treated right away. So wasn’t sure what to do next. Yes, I definitely need to stay positive. Very nervous for him. 
You are right that prompt treatment makes a difference, but by prompt I mean days after the bite, not weeks or months. It is terrible having to wait at all, but I don’t believe it would make a lot of difference in the outcome at this point. (although quick to say I’m not a doctor). Don’t beat yourself up about it, but don’t let it go either. There are people out there to help and books to read that can give you some direction of things to try if you feel the medical community where you are is not doing anything. Lots of herbal and nutritional protocols that one can try. Of course it’s best to do it under a doctor’s care, but also not always possible. You really have to be your own (or your brother’s) advocate.