Oh no Susan. Hope this turns out OK. So sorry this has happened again.

I am hoping for the best outcome for you Alisande.

You should be okay, but definitely take the doxycycline, which is a preventative measure, not a treatment. My doctor told me that, if you actually find the tick attached, you are probably fine. It takes @ 48 hours for Lyme to transmit. Sounds like the pain you felt was because the tick was near a nerve. I would also put a topical antibiotic ointment on the bite itself for a couple of days.

That's got to be frightening! I've not seen any ticks so far this year. I'm sending you healing thoughts.....

Oh dear!! You must be so upset; you really have tick problems there. It's good you found it so quickly. Take care.

I'm hoping the drug takes care of it for you! Lyme disease is scary. I didn't realize the implications until I was diagnosed with it (bulls eye rash appeared) two years ago and started researching. I haven't had any lingering symptoms, thank goodness!
Marcia

Oh my, that is scary!! I have been bit twice so far & so has my husband. We have the tick twister to remove them. Our dog is on tick stuff from her vet.

Feel better and get your medicine and start taking it.

take care Alisande. I'm going to google deer tick because I'm not familiar with that. We do have deer go through our yard, so we may have a few in our area.

My doctor told me that, if you actually find the tick attached, you are probably fine.

Thank you for the reassurance, Tibbrix, but I wish I shared your doctor's optimism. His (her?) statement makes no sense to me. The CDC says Lyme can be transmitted in 36 to 48 hours, but some Lyme organizations say that's way too conservative. The arguments go on and on about Lyme and other tick-borne diseases, and it's hard to know what to believe. I think the bottom line is there is much we don't know.

Janey, I've had good luck using the Tick Twister, but couldn't make it work on my 3-year-old grandson's soft arm recently. I just ordered a Tick Key, which is what my daughter used to remove my latest tick. It was a fast operation.

Linda, I don't know where you are, but ticks are a problem in certain areas. You might want to use Google to find out if your region is at risk.

Thanks, everyone!

(((alisande)))

oh no with your experience with ticks and lyme disease you are well versed in how to handle the situation so I know you will do exactly what you need to do. I sure hope it tests negative! I was worried you were going to say with some of those symptoms you were having a mild stroke! Whew!
Ticks are so very dangerous now I am so glad we don't see many here in our yard.

If anybody knows what the correct thing to do in this situation is, it's you, Susan. You have been through this enough times to know. I'm sorry you're going to have another round of all this. When does your dr. get back to town? Hopefully you'll be able to call him and he will phone in whatever you need. Feel better soon!

I'm told my doctor will be back next Tuesday. He defects to Italy every so often. :-)

Hope you are ok....sharing what just posted on my Facebook News Feed, I wonder why it took so long?

John's Hopkins Lyme Disease Research Center

Good luck, Kid-O. I hope you have started the Doxy by now and, that is all this one will take. Mark your calendar as a reminder of when you found the tick and be aware of any symptoms you might feel over the next few weeks. You have been down this road before and you know what to do.

Sending good thoughts.

sooey

Eeek. Have your symptoms went down at all?

Goodness! When I first saw the title of this thread, I thought I was going to read that you'd had a stroke. I'm glad you didn't, but I am sorry to read that you've had a run-in with a tick. Praying for the best outcome for you.

I hope you feel better soon.

At first I was thinking Bell's Palsy. Alisande, you are an absolute tick magnet! I hope you're feeling better and hope you follow up with your regular doctor when he returns just to make sure everything is okay.

Oh no. That's awful. Maybe you need to don a HazMat suit whenever you leave your house. Better yet, after reading the link to the John's Hopkins study - I think you should contact them and volunteer to be a subject in their study. There's something about you that ticks find irresistible - a pheromone perhaps?

The last time we were in NE PA was in April, it was cold and it snowed and DH still managed to come inside with 2 wood ticks on his neck.

I assume your son is outside a good bit doing yard work or playing with your Grandson - does he get as many as you do?

I apologize for the title of my thread; I should have realized how easily it could be misinterpreted. Ticks are bad, but strokes are worse!

The pain in my face, scalp, etc., is gone, and the neck pain is much improved, thanks. The online Lyme community, where I used to hang out quite a bit, can be a discouraging place. For one thing, it's populated by large numbers of people who never seem to get well. Some have traveled far in their search for effective treatment. It's sad. They're very helpful, quick to offer advice, but almost militant in their attitude. Understandable, I guess.

They stress the importance of seeing a Lyme-Literate MD (LLMD). I have two problems with this. The biggest one is that any doctor can call himself/herself Lyme-Literate. The other is that they all seem to be outrageously expensive. They don't take insurance, which makes sense because most health insurers won't pay for their kind of tests and treatments.

Yes, Maire, my son is outside a lot. I don't think he's ever been bitten--although he's a certified poison ivy magnet. Both of us can spot poison ivy at 30 paces, but he still manages to get nasty outbreaks. Poison ivy has always been on the property (we've gotten rid of a lot of it), but deer ticks are a relatively recent arrival. Last five years or so, I'd say.

Susan, I just happened to stop by this forum and saw your post. Wow, I'm so sorry you have to go through this again! Hope everything turns out okay - keep us all posted.

We've been traveling and had a lot of personal stuff (but nothing big, thank goodness) going on. Will try to remember to send you another pkg of CA sunshine in the next week or two. Hope that helps you feel better!

Regards, Jean

Jean, how great to see you here! Your name came up just yesterday in conversation with my daughter-in-law . . . after she gave me a lemon protein bar. :-)

Thanks for the good wishes--happy travels!

That sounds very scary Alisande! Glad you are feeling better now.

Interesting read about the opossums.. would never have guessed that!

Yes, I meant to thank Strawchicago about the opossum info. We have them here, and they often appear on my porch if cat food has been left out. I should encourage them!

(((((Susan)))))

I had no idea ticks caused pain! How long does a tick live on/in a person if not found?

It depends on the developmental stage (and, I suppose, the species), but a deer tick nymph like the one that bit me will stay on 3 to 4 days. An adult will stay much longer--7 to 10 days. They drop off when they are fully engorged.

What the dr. gave you is the correct protocol if you have no bull eye or rash. Take the doxi and you should be okay. Of course, if you feel achy or sick or see any rash then you get to a good dr. My husband has had Lyme four times. I often take deer ticks off him that are within hours of attaching and never has he gone on to feel sick. The times he was positive for Lyme they put him on two weeks of doxi and then retested in 3 months. Each time he was negative. I don't think you have any worries. The only time he was positive was with a bulls eye and feeling off.

I've never seen the bull's eye, but it can appear fleetingly or not at all, so for most people it's not a reliable sign. In any case, I wouldn't be able to see it even if I had it this time. I agree--I don't think I have any worries either. At least not about this tick bite. :-)

Of course, Lyme isn't the only tick-borne illness. A few years ago I got sick from tick bites with symptoms that matched babesiosis. Unfortunately, testing for this disease is wildly expensive, as is the treatment. So I just took doxycycline (lots of it) and hoped for the best.

I used to mail my ticks to another county where they had a testing service. They didn't test the ticks for infection, but they could tell how long the tick had been attached and whether or not doxy should be started. Sadly, the very nice man who ran that program was arrested this past winter for an unrelated crime, and I don't think anyone else has taken over. With all my tick bites, he and I had lots of contact on the phone.

"It'd worrisome that he caused problems when he was attached"

Rare but well-known "tick paralysis" caused by a neurotoxin produced in the tick's salivary gland. More common with the Dermacentor species (wood tick), but it's been reported with deer ticks and other species.

Removing the tick usually gets rid of the symptoms quickly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick_paralysis