bit by deer tick today
 

today i felt an ache on the back of my ear, put my hand there and felt something lumpy. turned out to be a deer tick with the little white spot on the back. apparantly it had just started to bite at that time because it wasnt embedded, there was no blood upon removal and the tick is flat not blood engorged at all. so far i washed the area three times with soap and water, washed it three more times with alcohol, and used two other antiseptics on the area. anyone have any other suggestions on what i should do?

take a little plain meat tenderizer, sprinkle it on palm of hand, add enuf water to make a paste and apply to bite

this will draw any poison right out,,,used to recommend this for bee stings as well

Hi Echoes
 

The post below is really spot on. The meat tenderizer for stings and bites is a country thing that works! ginnie:D

An adult female lone star tick has the white spot on it. The tick is similar to a deer tick. Here is a site:

http://www.health.ny.gov/publications/2813/

Scroll down to what do ticks look like.

Put topical antibiotic ointment on it.

Deer ticks don't get blood engorged like dog ticks and will remain flat. Do you have any idea how long it was there (based upon when you would have picked it up)? Transmission of diseases are more incline to occur the longer they are attached, like over 24-48 hours. This is why they recommend you check for tick immediately after being in an area prone to having them (woods, trails, etc).

Sounds like you've done everything and got it off quickly.

Some deer ticks are only pin size and look like a TINY freckle. And it's the smaller ones that seem to transmit more diseases, but I don't know why (just what I've read).

looking at those pictures it is a lone star tick. thanks kitt!

i wasnt in the woods or on a trail. it has been windy here though so i think i got it that way off a tree through the air. i dont think it was on me that long. i felt it biting me.

Ever wonder ....
 

Ever wonder why we have those nasty pesky things?

When I die and go to heaven, and after I have had my judgement day with God, I am going to say ....

Ok God, now let me ask you a few questions ... and one will be .... "What was the purpose for ticks?" REALLY!

They serve NO purpose... so why why why???

I'm sure the devil has a hand in it, lol.

Those and stink bugs :rolleyes:

Hope someone laughed today :)

I agree. Salient points from the cited link:
Doc

Actually, they do. EVERYTHING in nature serves some purpose (except wombats :rolleyes:).

purpose of ticks in nature

Doc

Except WOMBATS?
 

Now I'm really sad. I thought the purpose of wombats was to amuse the indigenous population of Australia, though more recent transplants are also allowed to laugh.

http://www.jackiefrench.com/wombat.html

It's actually to give reference librarians an in-joke :rolleyes:, but I'm not sure either of those purposes were intended/divined by Nature.

Doc

[QUOTE=echoes long ago;1068999]looking at those pictures it is a lone star tick. thanks kitt![/QUOTE

You are welcome. :)

Thanks Glenn, I really enjoyed that story!

I looked up the book on Google images....the art work is wonderful!

Available at Amazon on the used book feature for pennies~
http://www.amazon.com/Diary-Wombat-J...ry+of+a+wombat

Hubby wants us to buy it now.... I love the art work and sentiments in this book...so getting a copy for upNorth to enjoy.

Thanks for the article Doc!

Won't change my mind as I still don't like them. As with the stink bugs.

They are bugs that have no place in the human world. They can stay off my body and out of my house!

Killed 3 stinks bugs today and more are coming out, have to spray the top of windows and doors, mixture of water and dawn dish washing liquid.

Then I spray with ortho and it seems to keep most of them away.

I do this in the fall as they want to come in for the heat for winter, in the spring, not too many, becasue they are wanting out to lay eggs, feed on fruit and find warmth elsewhere.

I'm not crazy about these two kinds of bugs, but can't remove all of them.

Still think the devil has a hand in it as our govt does too!

KEEP THEM IN ASIA!!! :rolleyes: lol

Understood. ;) Wasn't trying to change anyone's mind. Lots of pests I have no use for—like anything that crawls on, bites, stings, or otherwise annoys me. :D

Doc

coincidentally my daughter got bit yesterday by a tick. 30 miles from where i got bit. apparantly there is a population explosion of them this spring, which is surprising considering how cold it was this winter. first time either of us had ever been bitten by a tick.

They take cover under debris, etc. until it is warm enough to come out again. A good site explains it.

http://www.aldf.com/deerTickEcology.shtml

They are there just under cover til it warms up again. Probably a good reason to get the leaves and such off of your lawn in the fall. We mow a huge area as well. Also, chickens of all kinds really clean them up.

You make me smile, Dr. Smith, and I learned a little about ticks today.

Go forth and release the guinea hens! (if you happen to live in Lyme country.)

I have learned to tolerate snakes and spiders if they are not poisonous to humans...they serve a greater purpose, after all!

no ticks on my property. these two incidents happened away from home

I understand what you are saying. That certainly can happen quite easily. Just sayin' what you can do on your own property. :winky:

Run to the GP, tell them what happened and get your preventative antibiotic Doxycline!!!! Or whatever it that they give - This coming from someone whose right knee blew up double size, two times due to lyme disease. It's not fun. I never even saw a tick nor did I ever see a bulleye.. showed up in the blood test though...

Lone Star Tick not Deer Tick
 

It was a Lone Star tick that he was talking about and it does not carry Lyme Disease. He had reviewed the site that I gave him and confirmed it. This was in previous posts.

Oh Good! Then nothing to fear! New research is emerging that suggests lyme disease no longer comes from JUST deer ticks, even mosquitos may be possible. If some joint swells up on you, oddly, in the future that you in way injured or overworked... then don't delay, tell your doc you were bitten by whatever type of tick you thought it was, then explain that months later, this or that particular joint swelled up. I waited a bunch of weeks listening to docs who told me that it was just 'overworked' until I finally went to see an orthopedic guy who said, "looks like lyme disease to me," and immediately ordered a blood test. If you go around for weeks at a time with a joint swollen up, it will stretch out and stay that way. Just something to keep in mind. Best of luck to you.

I do not believe that Lyme Disease has exactly been proven to be caused by mosquito bites. Ticks of all kinds can carry many diseases. Thanks for your post.

Nope, the fact that lyme disease may be spread by insect bites other than ticks is controversial, not proven yet at all, they are just beginning to look into it. What happens if a mosquito bites a person infected with lyme disease and then bites you? There's tons of ppl infected with lyme disease.

One time I was camping down at the Ocean. In the middle of the night, I woke up barfing my brains out. This was most inconvenient because I had forgotten my flashlight and any kind of paper towel because I went at the last moment and took my young son and his friend. It was also most embarrassing because I knew the other campers could hear me and I was afraid they would think I had just gotten drunk or something....

Then by morning, one of the boys was barfing too so we packed up and went home. Upon arriving home, there was an article in the Maryland Gazette all about how the mosquitos at Assateague Island were infecting campers with a stomach virus.

I think some pretty other bad diseases get passed by mosquitos around the world. I'm looking for the article where I saw the possibility noted, if I can find it, I'll post the link.

But it sure sounds logical to me.

So far, all I have found is this article about lyme disease being sexually transmittable. This is interesting to me because although I never saw any tick or any bullseye... I do know my boyfriend had tick bites with bullseyes and was treated several times for lyme disease. That explains a lot to me now.. hmmm.. learn something new every day.
http://lymedisease.org/news/lyme_dis...nsmission.html

Mosquitoes in our area and other areas can carry West Nile Virus. And they can carry equine encephalitis. Here is a site from the CDC stating that it has not been proven that Lyme Disease can be transmitted sexually. Interesting.

http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/faq/

Another site concerning it from the CDC.

http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/transmission/

Here we go.. clearly your tick feeds on deer, see article and the spread of the lone star tick has done so with the help of the white tailed deer...

http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/..._star_tick.htm

And in addition, here is an article saying you might wind up needing an antibiotic from your type of tick for symptoms sounding suspiciously like lyme disease, to include swollen joints, even though this particular article says it's not lyme disease - they gave it another name and a very long (and abnoxious) abbreviation to boot.

http://www.tickinfo.com/lonestartick.htm

Dot or no dot on the tick, I would have put it in a plastic baggie and made an appt. with my orthopedic guy who discovered I had lyme disease, showed him the tick and then asked him what to do. I know he would have said no harm in a dose of antibiotic just to be careful and handed me a script and sent me on my way.

My orthopedic guy, Doctor McDevitt of Glen Burnie, says that he has parents bringing kids in with what they believe to be 'growing pains' all the time and it all turns out to be lyme.

Like I said, Good luck, but you can never be too careful these days.

Also, it's not really the deer I found out.. it's the white footed mouse. The infection starts from mouse to tick. Then the ticks go to deer. It just happens to be the kind of ticks that feed on deer that are involved, which includes your tick. Sometimes a harsh winter can make the usual plentiful white footed mouse scarce, that's when the hungry ticks get more aggressive and go after people too. Summers that are really bad for getting lyme disease usually follow a winter that killed off a lot of mice, the ticks favorite food. I read this a while back, don't have the link anymore.

Ok, here's an article similar to the one I was trying to paraphrase... will give you the gist of it... just noticed that they mentioned Chipmunks here , and not just mice. http://www.wwhd.org/TLD_CD/ticks.htm

And, just for anyone else stuck with or worried about lyme disease, here's that controversial part I told you about now being looking into

Do other insects carry the spirochete which causes Lyme disease?

Recent studies show that other insects (i.e., other types of ticks, fleas, mosquitoes) may carry the spirochete that causes Lyme disease, BUT it is not documented whether these insects can transmit the disease to animals or humans. It is also not known if other insects are infected in large numbers. More studies are needed to determine these factors.

Source
http://stonybrookmedicine.edu/patientcare/lyme
What I quoted was near the very bottom of the questions and answers....

Why should people with PN care about lyme disease, or finding out if they have it? Because those with chronic lyme wind up on neurological meds and have many syptoms like neurological conditions. Plus if you have lyme disease, you have the chance to get that treated and possibly get rid of your neurological symptoms should that turn out to be the cause.

I was diagnosed with lyme disease and PN - the very same summer. Neurologist said my situation was not involved with lyme disease, although he also told me - half of those with PN are diabetic, and for the other half, we usually don't find out what caused it.

The orthopedic guy, on the other hand (when I told him what the neurologist said), told me that my PN could very well be related to the lyme disease and that "not all doctors are right all the time."

So, what's the harm in a blood test? You might just get your PN cured! PN is like everything else.. in the end, you are the one that figures out what gets rid of it for you. Largely in part to looking into every possibility, doing a lot of googling and listening to the talk of regular folk with PN, long time sufferers like this place affords you the benefit of. If you can't get rid of it, at least you can get it into the "manageable range."

If you share a bed with someone who has had lyme disease or even if you never saw any tick or any bullseye like me... you could still have it. My manager at Long and Foster got it and she is not outdoor-sy, never saw any tick, was completely shocked.. she's more the glam city girl type, long manicured nails, hair perfect. My orthopedic doc said he was jogging in the city with his daughter and his daughter spotted a deer tick on his neck, Doc McDevitt says, "They're everywhere!"

They can hitch - hike into your house on your cats and dogs and wind up going after you.

Chronic Lyme Symptoms

Numbness and Tingling:

Numbness and tingling are abnormal sensations that can occur anywhere in your body, but are often felt in your fingers, hands, feet, arms, or legs.

Source: New York Times - Chronic Lyme Disease
http://www.nytimes.com/health/guides.../overview.html

as it turns out the tick that bit my daughter also was a lone star tick not a deer tick, it was a juvenile one, so it didnt have the white dot yet. both ticks are being tested, mine and hers and we both took doxycycline the same day in her case, the next day in mine. we are both going to have our blood tested 3 weeks after the respective bites.

interesting......we certainly had a harsh winter here, very cold and a cover of snow constantly on the ground from december through most of march. even a couple of late snows in april. it is very unusual here to have a constant cover of snow on the ground for more than a week. there must be an explosion of lone star ticks going on since ive never been bit before out here and neither has my daughter. we also werent in areas when bit where you would expect a concentration of ticks and the places we got bit were 30 miles apart.

This article is discussing the huge boom in ticks this season in
New England due to the wet winter:

http://news.yahoo.com/baby-boom-tick...232523320.html

Yahoo links don't last long so look at it ASAP.

More tick information, including the Lone Star Tick:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...irus-grow.html

CDC with photos:
http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/resources/TickborneDiseases.pdf

Lone star tick:
http://palmbeachhealthbeat.blog.palm...out-florida-2/

Post #4 of mine was a good site explaining and showing the ticks.

http://www.health.ny.gov/publications/2813/

Harsh cold winter here with plenty of snow cover was ideal for ticks.