The sooner you are treated, the less chance of a continuing infection. I never saw a tick or had a rash, so I don't know how long is too long. Sooner is always better.
I do not know if amoxicillin is as effective against Lyme as doxycycline.
PS your doc sounds like s/he is on the ball -- that's good! If you would share with us what you learn about whether amoxicillin is as effective as doxy, that would be very interesting --
It sounds like your doc is quite observant -- excellent!
Sending you all good wishes --
I always tell this story, my ex husband is a golf course superintendent. He would get bit a lot and would simply go to the company Doctor and get doxy and so far after all this time (25 years) he has been ok.
The kind of bad news for you is from Dr Horowitz. He gave my FB support group a conference call where he talked about his book and let us ask questions. He mentioned that if you get a stiff neck, it means the infection has already reached your nervous system. It's good you are treating, you may need a cyst buster in addition to the amoxicillin. Lyme goes into a cyst form in an attempt to hide from the antibiotic.
Wishing you luck.
My bad, I should have worded my question better :)
I'm asking because I have fibro BUT I've been nailed by the symptoms I listed - the wicked fatigue, the hit by a freight train pain, the killer joint pain (in my wrists? really?), the stiff neck, the flu symptoms, the low grade on and off fevers. The fibro has always been mildly annoying. This has me in tears at the end of the day. I have a great neuro (as I had a AVM/ruptured aneurysm in 2012) and I can email her with anything. So last night I sent her a small novel asking for help. But I figured in any situation, the best info is always those that are fighting the fight :)
All I know so far about the doxy vs amoxicillin is that I wasn't running the low grade fevers on the doxy. And the amount of pills was way less too, but I couldn't stand the itching! Now I'm thinking I should have sucked it up for the balance of the treatment and finished it out on the doxy. Live and learn. Next round of antibiotics (I'm sure there will be more) I'll bite the bullet.
Thanks for the kind words and well wishes - I so appreciate them!
I don't have time at the moment to read the whole thread above, but if you have had Lyme for longer than a few months, I understand that doxy alone will not kill it. The Lyme bacteria are by then hiding in slimy areas they create in the body called biofilms, where the immune system and antibiotics cannot reach without specific other meds that are sometimes called generically 'cyst-busters' by us the patients. Doxy and amoxicillin can't deal with the biofilms.