My boyfriend got bit by a tick 2 weeks ago behind his knee. Within days, his knee blew up inflamed with fluid. Got the fluid drained by orthopedic. Got results of the tick from the lab, it came back positive for carrying Lyme. Lyme didn't show up in his bloodwork from a week ago, but Dr. said it is probably too soon regardless. What would be your plan of action // potential Lyme disease protocol?

David said: It will not show up in the blood work after one week, how long was the tick attached, supposedly it takes 12-24 hours to transmit Lyme (although I would not absolutely count on that). The knee inflammation is a co-bacterial infection or allergic reaction to the tick bite. What I usually do is wait a bit and see if I develop anything symptoms, - bulls eye rash (only occurs about 40% of the time), stiff neck, intense fatigue, constant dull headache, possible low grade fever. If any of these appear, 3-4 weeks of Doxycycline. If no symptoms occur another blood test in a few weeks may help to determine if he does or does not have Lyme (although false negatives and positives occur with some frequency). If he has no symptoms and another blood test 4 weeks after the bite that is negative, it is still possible he has Lyme and it is a judgement call whether to treat or not.