Is it the kind of tick that carries Lyme disease?

This happened to me. I kept feeling itchy on my back, which not that unusual for me. It was a tick.

I did start the antibiotic. It is a rough one to have to take.

You have 50/50 chance it wasn't female!

I'm not sure what kind of tick it is...it is very small, pale body with dark legs. I think it is a disease carrier. I think it is a black-legged tick. It's way little...smaller than ground black pepper.

But I know we have lyme disease in the area...my Dad had it twice. A couple of years ago I got anaplasmosis. But there are other tick-borne illnesses too.

Oh darn. ticks are creepy and you have to be sure to get the entire thing out. Sometimes their head stays stuck. Ugh Ugh. Its super disgusting when they are full of blood. Keep an eye out forbthat bulls eye ring. aYears ago I found a tick on me and the bite got all red, but no ring.mI got the antibiotic. Dont mess around with Lyme, as you know.

@eld6161 this is exactly what happened to me a few weeks ago. the itching was intolerable but the tick was embedded where it was impossible to see, even with mirrors. ended up at the clinic where the doc had to dig the damn thing out. she put me on doxycycline for 2 weeks. i took it for 10 days and quit because the side effects were awful. so far, so good as i am not feeling ill at all. time will tell.

@Annie Deighnaugh fyi, i was totally ignorant to the fact that ticks will FALL FROM TREES!!!!! since i spray my ankles/legs any time i go out, i'm pretty sure that's how i got this one. ugh!!!

"Rats...found a tick on me last night." Rats are present in many environments indoor and out, and can have ticks.

Annie I am hoping all goes well and the tick wherever it came from did not transmit any disease to you.

Take care, Annie. I hope all turns out well.

Ninapearl, it is not usual that ticks fall from trees. They rarely climb that high and we are more likely to get one on us from walking through our yards and gardens.

Annie, hope nothing comes of your tick bite.

I went to doc and got a prophylactic dose of doxycycline. And an order to get tick panel bloodwork done in 2 weeks to see if I got anything....

Thanks for all the well wishes!

I'll put this here, ticks are horrible creatures.

https://weather.com/health/video/ticks-can-use-static-electricity-to-hop-on-humans

OMG Jeb. I read that yesterday. Nasty little creatures.

How long was it embedded? I read that it takes 24 hours for a disease to be transmitted.

I think it was over 24 hours...and it depends on the disease...some disease can be transmitted quicker than others.

I hope everything goes very well, Annie. I’m terrified of tick-borne illness, especially after reading Ross Douthat’s memoir “The Deep Places”, which is a fascinating read.

I'm terrified as well of tick bites as I have heard horror stories of Lyme disease. PA now ranks FIRST in the nation with ticks(aren't we lucky?) but even though I do daily hikes on the AT, I haven't yet had one on me. Although my deceased dogs always took Nexgard, maybe some ticks I got before were from them. Last fall I found one on my back calf but it was dead. I figured it got on me and I never noticed and then took a 30-minute bubble bath and it drowned.

@Annie Deighnaugh, i hope you don't suffer the side effects i did on doxy. every muscle in my body hurt, i felt like i'd been hit by a train. ugh!

I've been too busy to be out in my garden....maybe that's a good thing, being indoors. YOU take care and my fingers are crossed you don't get sick from this tick.

Sorry to hear about the tick Annie, VgQn found one on the back of her knee yesterday where it was hard to see. Under my scope it doesn't appear to be a female deer tick but it's tiny size says deer tick to me. Looks like at least 48 hours old and there is a small rash where it was attached. Will monitor the bite site and call doc tomorrow for advice, we saved the dang tick for confirmation of its species.

Hope your tick was non-lyme. I got lyme several years ago but caught it in time, must have been infected for several weeks before getting on the meds to defeat it. Main symptoms for me were a stiff neck, fatigue, aversion to bright sunshine, and extreme night sweats. I did get a half moon shaped rash about the size of a large hen egg, but no bullseye. .

I did have what I think is a tick bite...never saw the thing...on the back of my knee many decades ago. Rather than a bullseye rash, it turned the entire back of my leg into what looked like a deep bruise...purple/green/awful. Within a couple of days, the antibio took care of it but I had to stay on for weeks. Never had a positive test for lyme, so not sure what it was.

vgkg, for the prophylactic dose to work, it needs to be given within a short time frame, so if VgQn can get to the dr today to get it, it would be better than waiting.

We would line up with the doc today but it might as well be Xmas day. Since this bite is just 2-3 days old I suspect the doc will just tell us to monitor the bite site and come in to get a lyme blood test once it's presence can be postively detected. Can only guess at this point but will let you know what the doc says and hope he prescribes a quick fix prophylactic dose. Hope your doc does the same.

Earlier this summer I had two ticks on me, both attached, one on the front of my scalp in my hair, it wasn't full of blood and was easy to remove, the other one I found a day later after I took a shower and did a full body inspection - - - the second tick was full of blood and took a chunk of flesh with it when I pulled it off and out of me. Gross. Lets just say it was attached to a very sensitive part of my body. They are disgusting and horrible creatures!! I went to an Urgent care and got a prescription for Doxycycline the same day I found the 2nd attached tick, it was two pills taken together once and that was it. No side effects, no further symptoms and it happened more than a month ago. Both of my indoor outdoor cats get Frontline flea and tick treatment, I am not crazy about applying chemicals to my cats but it isn't good for pets to be bitten by them either -

Jeb, why do you frontline your indoor cat? My two get nothing because they've never set foot outside. They didn't even get it when my dogs, who died a few weeks, were in and out. But the dogs were on Nexgard and never had fleas or ticks.

I use frontline on the cats, but it doesn't kill the ticks right away so they can still walk off the cats and onto you...

So what to do, Annie ...

... put you on Frontline ...

.... get rid o' the cats ...

... or they become inside-only cats, 24/7?

But that latter would be required only through tick season ... so could you find some friend or relative who might be encouraged to cooperate in the interim?

o j ... always willing to be helpful

P. S. (I understood the "Rats" to indicate a state of mind rather than a 4-legged critter).

Our winters are milder now, and the ticks are particularly bad this year, according to the news media.

In May I was at the vet getting some food for Elliott and a guy was there getting ticks meds for his dogs. He was out for a walk and found 10 of them on his Golden Retriever. Wow.

People are supposed to comb their dogs after every walk, looking for them. I'm not sure how many people do though.

Good luck Annie!

VgQn update - The doc put her on the meds for 10 days to play it safe. He says it looks like a deer tick and it's a good chance she got it.

Husband went to his dermatology appointment today and as she was checking a suspicious mark, it turned out to be a tick. She pulled it out and we guess it came on a few hours before because he works at a golf course.

Ixodes scapularis — black legged tick, aka deer tick.

They can transmit other diseases. There a lots of them where I live. (I have a collection!)

I don’t think it is worthwhile to send them to be tested ($25?). Just take the two doxycycline capsules together. That’s what my doctor says is the prophylactic protocol.

These ticks (I scapularis) can be found on birds and rodents as well as deer and other mammals. Nasty things and the bite can itch like the dickens!

petalique, in our state, the testing is free...they wil identify the tick if off an animal, but will test it if off a human.

The bullseye rash is not a requirement ;)

I have had many ticks attached to me, some for a few days. I’ve tested positive for exposure to the bacteria (Borrelia) that causes Lyme Disease, but I’ve never seen a “bullseye” rash. Invariably it was a reddened, itchy area. (Benadryl helps with the itch.) I had one attach at the corner of an eyelid. I took a photo of it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyme_disease

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borrelia

Annie, that’s interesting. If Connecticut, I can appreciate why they offer that. I will be mailing you my deer ticks. I think I have about 60, maybe 80; collected over a few years. I may sell them as a collection.

Tweezerman sells a very good pair of splinter tweezers. Grasp the tick in front of its head* and pull out gently and evenly. I’ve removed them with dental floss (I was testing out a technique suggested for hikers and fishermen.

* Or at least above its abdomen

I hope you are not having complications from your tick bite.

The only time I have had ticks was when I visited Agua Azul, Chiapas and waded in the water there. I've been there about four times - twice by myself and twice with a friend, and we camped out on an island next to a waterfall there. I think it is the first Mexican national park, and so camping is allowed, but I've heard that it got dangerous in the 1990s - I went in the 1970s and early 1980s, and there was hardly anyone there then.

I always took the most potent insect repellent with me when I went there, and when I found a tick on my ankles, I put the repellent on them, and they went away. I never pulled them off with tweezers because I was afraid of leaving the head in. I've heard that holding a match next to the tick also works to make them release from you.

I had not heard of Lyme disease back then, and so I never thought about it, but I never got sick from the tick bites there.

Two days ago, I got an ant bite while in the pool, and by yesterday, the bite was swollen, and today it is red and bleeding. I think I must have scratched it last night in my sleep, but I am putting antibiotic cream on it now.

Yesterday morning Kevin put ant bait all around the house and patio, and by the afternoon, I saw almost no more ants.

Sorry about your ant bite Lars. Once I did have a tiny spot, like a scab, on my leg. It seemed to be there a few days. I must've scratched it and the darn thing became infected...red, swollen, painful. Nothing to do with ticks, but it did take antibios to get it to heal. It went from nothing to large swollen and ugly. So just be careful with yours.

Also the flame thing doesn't work and neither does covering them with vasoline so they can't breathe.

Lars, I hope your bite is feeling better.

We usually cover bites and skin nicks with antipiotic ointment and a bandaid for a day or two. It is best to not walk around with breaches to our skin.

As Annie stated, the ”men’s tales” remedies of a hot match or petroleum jelly to an embedded tick or similar insect are not effective. Doing this could cause the tick to regurgitate into your tissue, increasing the risk of bacterial or spirochete infection. T

The best think to do is to gentle extracate the tick (tweezers as described above) or one of those little pocket plastic gizmos made to grasp the tick ahead of it body. There are some good ones online. I don’t believe that California is bothered by Lyme Disease, but CA has other tick bearing diseases and different types of ticks, Different areas have different ticks and associated diseases. In Australia, a tick may carry and infect those bitten with an organism that causes the person to become severely allergic to certain types of meat (beef, s one) and proteins. I used to ”know” the name of the condition, but now I would have to look it up. It is an interesting phenomenon.

Annie, I hope your bite is feeling okay. Please let us know if the tick was carrying Lyme disease causing bacteria. I thinka good many deer ticks are so infected.

Best wishes it turns out well!

This is a bad year for ticks. So far I've sent 8 to the lab. Thank goodness testing is free in PA. Six of the 8 had bitten me, one bit my 11-year-old grandson, and one was just crawling on my neck. I don't have the results on the most recent tick, but one tested positive for Lyme, and one tested positive for babesiosis. The rest were negative for everything.

When I was bitten by the Lyme-positive tick I had just come off doxycycline, so I hoped I still had enough in my system to take care of any new spirochetes. I'm all too familiar with babesiosis symptoms, and the treatement involves drugs that are risky for me, so I waited to see if any symptoms presented. None have.

Something to keep in mind: Of the 65,135 ticks our lab has tested so far, 18,871 were infected and 46,267 were not.

With all my many tick bites over the years, and infections, I've never seen a bull's-eye rash. I'm told they tend to be fleeting. The closest I came was this year, when I was bitten by my first dog tick. They don't carry Lyme, but they can carry other things. It tested negative, but it was so deeply and tenaciously embedded that I had to pull hard to get it out. It bled, had a scab for almost two weeks, and developed a bright red wide ring around it.

My tick bites itch fiercely, but I'm grateful for that. Living alone, a suspicious itch is what motivates me to see if a tick bite is the cause. My favorite tweezers for tick removal have sharp slanted points. I have two pairs--one upstairs and one downstairs. Bought one at Target and one at Walmart. Cheap.

There is Lyme disease in California, too, although more rare in occurrence. The bacteria that causes Lyme is a spirochete; it is called “the great imitator” due to its vast ranging symptoms and can affect any organ of the body, including the brain. I highly recommend the fascinating memoir by NYT journalist Ross Douthat, “The Deep Places”. I learned a great deal about Lyme and other of the many tick borne illness, and the difficulty of diagnosis and treatment. Among other things, I found the possible relationship of Lyme disease and autoimmune disorders to be very interesting. It is well worth the read, for those interested.

Alisande and chinacatpeekin — thanks for that information!

chinacat, can you share or link the info re autoimmunity and Lyme disease?

I’m challenged (lol) so can’t link any articles- perhaps it’s because I’m using an iPad- but a quick Google search just now for “autoimmune and Lyme” produced many links to NIH research, a study at Johns Hopkins, and other reliable sources. The far-reaching effects of tick-borne illnesses appears to be a new frontier for medical research. Again, the book I recommended above is an easy read for laymen, full of good information.

Chinacatpeekin, thanks for the book recommendation. I put in a request this morning for an interlibrary loan.

I was kinda smug saying I've been on the trail every day and haven't had one on me yet. So I'm eating lunch after having hung out my washed clothes on the line when I felt something crawl up my leg. So I don't even have to go to the AT to get ticks on me.

Glad you detected the tick, Lily. They are everywhere.

Annie, thanks for letting us know the good results. Whew!

Final update, went for blood work and all the blood work came back negative...Phew!

Whew! Glad everything was ok, Annie.