First tick of the season

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son found one on his lower back last weekend. I checked, and I wasn't sure if it was a tick or a mole, but he said it came out of nowhere if it was a mole. I googled the picture I took, and the results said it was a lone star tick. He went to urgent care; they identified it as a tick and removed it. They gave him a double dose of doxycycline to take at the same time, and said to come back if he develops any symptoms. The doctor asked if he wanted to keep it, and he said no, so now we can't have it tested. But I told him to make an appointment with his regular doctor so he can ask follow-up questions and see if there's any testing he should have.

I pulled one off last week too, and this is where it was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You sound super paranoid.

SUPER!

You sound dumb. I live in Loudoun and have had several tick diseases. They're an absolute joy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I pulled one off my neck two weeks ago. I am super allergic to their bite and I got a huge itchy lump that is just now going away (no bulls eye rash, no fever or body aches). So now it’s DEET season again.

OP, same here. So far tick place said it was a male lone star tick, which means lymes not a problem. We’ll see. No illness so far, which is good. If the tick carries nothing, our deer probably don’t carry much either

PP at 9:35. I didn't send the one that was attached to me to a lab or anything, but I took a photo of it and uploaded it to a subreddit that ID's ticks and they said Lone Star for mine too. Glad it doesn't carry Lyme (or probably doesn't anyway) but I worry about alpha gal.

OP here. Mine was carrying Ricksettia and Babeosis. Doc says unless I get symptoms, no problem but Babeosis sometimes produces no symptoms. The good news is you DO get sick if it’s bad (as it’s a parasite that gets into red blood cells) but I plan to test for antibodies in the next week to see if I’ve been exposed (sometimes even if the tick carries it, you aren’t). If so, I’ll do another more expensive test to have them look at the RBCs and see if they see the parasite. If the antibody test comes back negative, I’ll retest that in four months.

I’m a vegetarian so alpha gal is not a worry for me. Only very rarely does it affect dairy intake.

This sounds ... excessive.

I've had babesia. Most doctors in this area are to uneducated to test for it and assume it is not common. It is and I had symptoms. I has been horrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I pulled one off my neck two weeks ago. I am super allergic to their bite and I got a huge itchy lump that is just now going away (no bulls eye rash, no fever or body aches). So now it’s DEET season again.

OP, same here. So far tick place said it was a male lone star tick, which means lymes not a problem. We’ll see. No illness so far, which is good. If the tick carries nothing, our deer probably don’t carry much either

PP at 9:35. I didn't send the one that was attached to me to a lab or anything, but I took a photo of it and uploaded it to a subreddit that ID's ticks and they said Lone Star for mine too. Glad it doesn't carry Lyme (or probably doesn't anyway) but I worry about alpha gal.

OP here. Mine was carrying Ricksettia and Babeosis. Doc says unless I get symptoms, no problem but Babeosis sometimes produces no symptoms. The good news is you DO get sick if it’s bad (as it’s a parasite that gets into red blood cells) but I plan to test for antibodies in the next week to see if I’ve been exposed (sometimes even if the tick carries it, you aren’t). If so, I’ll do another more expensive test to have them look at the RBCs and see if they see the parasite. If the antibody test comes back negative, I’ll retest that in four months.

I’m a vegetarian so alpha gal is not a worry for me. Only very rarely does it affect dairy intake.

This sounds ... excessive.

Why? I'm not the person you quoted, but I googled lone star tick, and there are some pretty serious diseases it can carry.

The poster saying your concern is excessive is an ignoramus. Please ignore them.