I just found a tick...what would you do?

[Anonymous]

I felt something strange on my back, reached around, felt what seemed like a small scab over a bug bite, and scratched it off. It turned out to be a tick under my fingernail. UGH.

I was doing yard work on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, but nothing yesterday, so it was definitely there for at least 36 hours. There is no bullseye ring around the spot (would it still be there?) and I'm wondering if I should do anything? (Do they do prophylactic courses of antibiotics if you have a tick?) I have so many friends and acquaintances who have been seriously stricken by Lyme disease and I'm freaking out!

[Anonymous]

DD had a tick in her neck a few years ago, took her to a walking clinic. Doctor said to just watch for fever and bulls eye ring for next few weeks. Hers was there for maybe 24hrs at most.

[Anonymous]

Put in a plastic bag. Go to urgent care. Insist in Antibiotics. ASAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD had a tick in her neck a few years ago, took her to a walking clinic. Doctor said to just watch for fever and bulls eye ring for next few weeks. Hers was there for maybe 24hrs at most.

Wow! You have played Russian Roulette with your kid. Ask them to give her a Lyme test. ELISA and Western Blot.

Google and educate yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD had a tick in her neck a few years ago, took her to a walking clinic. Doctor said to just watch for fever and bulls eye ring for next few weeks. Hers was there for maybe 24hrs at most.

Wow! You have played Russian Roulette with your kid. Ask them to give her a Lyme test. ELISA and Western Blot.

Google and educate yourself.

Thank you for the advice, I will get her tested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD had a tick in her neck a few years ago, took her to a walking clinic. Doctor said to just watch for fever and bulls eye ring for next few weeks. Hers was there for maybe 24hrs at most.

Wow! You have played Russian Roulette with your kid. Ask them to give her a Lyme test. ELISA and Western Blot.

Google and educate yourself.

It is not so straight forward. Lyme will often not register in a blood test so soon. My son had Lyme Disease, tested negative 14 days after tick was removed and 2 days later he broke out in bull's eye rashes. Also, most doctors won't give a 21 day course of antibiotics on the off chance it could be Lyme.

[Anonymous]

OP, how large was the tick? If it was a tiny dot, it was probably in the nymph stage, when diseases are not really an issue. If it was a bit larger, you need to be concerned. If it was engorged (round and swollen), that indicates that it had been attached for a while. Note that even if you picked it up a couple of days ago, it may not have attached right away, but the level of engorgement is a good indicator.

Can you tell what type of tick it was, deer tick vs Lone Star? This will tell you whether you need to worry about Lyme or other tick-borne diseases. They have different symptoms, so it is kind of important.

I've also been told by several medical professionals that the early tests are often inconclusive or misleading. Some will apply a heavy load of antibiotics "just in case", others prefer to watch for symptoms like the bulls-eye rash. This really depends on how you feel about antibiotics in general.

If you do wait to watch for symptoms, make sure you watch for more than the bulls-eye, as that does not always present. Watch for fever and flu-like symptoms also. If you start antibiotics shortly after noticing symptoms, you should be able to avoid long-term effects of the illness - most of those horror stories are from people who did not notice or identify the symptoms for a long time.

And the PP with the daughter who had a tick: if it was attached for 24 hrs or less, the chances of having Lyme disease are really, really small. It takes at least that long for the tick to start transmitting the illness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, how large was the tick? If it was a tiny dot, it was probably in the nymph stage, when diseases are not really an issue. If it was a bit larger, you need to be concerned. If it was engorged (round and swollen), that indicates that it had been attached for a while. Note that even if you picked it up a couple of days ago, it may not have attached right away, but the level of engorgement is a good indicator.

Can you tell what type of tick it was, deer tick vs Lone Star? This will tell you whether you need to worry about Lyme or other tick-borne diseases. They have different symptoms, so it is kind of important.

I've also been told by several medical professionals that the early tests are often inconclusive or misleading. Some will apply a heavy load of antibiotics "just in case", others prefer to watch for symptoms like the bulls-eye rash. This really depends on how you feel about antibiotics in general.

If you do wait to watch for symptoms, make sure you watch for more than the bulls-eye, as that does not always present. Watch for fever and flu-like symptoms also. If you start antibiotics shortly after noticing symptoms, you should be able to avoid long-term effects of the illness - most of those horror stories are from people who did not notice or identify the symptoms for a long time.

And the PP with the daughter who had a tick: if it was attached for 24 hrs or less, the chances of having Lyme disease are really, really small. It takes at least that long for the tick to start transmitting the illness.

OP here. It was larger than a dot, smaller than a pencil eraser. Now that I look at Google images, it did look more like that Lone Star tick. It felt flat, not fat and engorged.

Unfortunately, I flushed it in horror, so I couldn't bag it and take it to urgent care.

[Anonymous]

I'd def do a course of antibiotics. Lots of people get false negatives for lyme and it can be incredibly debilitating. I know lyme is not as common around DC than places further north but not worth playing around with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, how large was the tick? If it was a tiny dot, it was probably in the nymph stage, when diseases are not really an issue. If it was a bit larger, you need to be concerned. If it was engorged (round and swollen), that indicates that it had been attached for a while. Note that even if you picked it up a couple of days ago, it may not have attached right away, but the level of engorgement is a good indicator.

Can you tell what type of tick it was, deer tick vs Lone Star? This will tell you whether you need to worry about Lyme or other tick-borne diseases. They have different symptoms, so it is kind of important.

I've also been told by several medical professionals that the early tests are often inconclusive or misleading. Some will apply a heavy load of antibiotics "just in case", others prefer to watch for symptoms like the bulls-eye rash. This really depends on how you feel about antibiotics in general.

If you do wait to watch for symptoms, make sure you watch for more than the bulls-eye, as that does not always present. Watch for fever and flu-like symptoms also. If you start antibiotics shortly after noticing symptoms, you should be able to avoid long-term effects of the illness - most of those horror stories are from people who did not notice or identify the symptoms for a long time.

And the PP with the daughter who had a tick: if it was attached for 24 hrs or less, the chances of having Lyme disease are really, really small. It takes at least that long for the tick to start transmitting the illness.

OP here. It was larger than a dot, smaller than a pencil eraser. Now that I look at Google images, it did look more like that Lone Star tick. It felt flat, not fat and engorged.

Unfortunately, I flushed it in horror, so I couldn't bag it and take it to urgent care.

Hi again. If it was a Lone Star tick (had a white dot on the back), those are not known to carry Lyme Disease. That's the good news. Bad news is that they can carry other illnesses, which are less common but can also be harder to spot because they lack the signature bulls eye rash. The CDC website and www.tickinfo.com both have good information.

Flat / not engorged is also a good sign.

If it were me (since you asked WWYD), I'd go see a medical professional, preferably one who can be identified as experienced with tick-borne diseases, but I'd expect to just hear "watch for flu-like symptoms and call me back if you get them". I personally wouldn't push for antibiotics right away, but like I said in my original post that's a personal choice - I generally prefer to avoid antibiotics as "just in case" or preventative medicine. Good luck, and let us know how it turns out!

[Anonymous]

Forgot to mention - that size does sound like an adult tick, which means it has had it's first feeding and therefore could be carrying something (ticks get diseases from their first host, so a nymph that has never fed won't have anything). That, combined with the length of possible exposure is why I'd visit a doctor.

[Anonymous]

If there is a chance it was attached for more than 24 hours, I would definitely ask for antibiotics. Just for the future, you can adhere them to a piece of tape and take to your doc in a sealed baggie for testing.

[Anonymous]

When I had Lyme 24 years ago (caught early) they gave me 10 days of antibiotics and that was that (and I had been symptomatic with splitting headache and flu-like symptoms). Maybe that would be enough this early as a prophylactic (as opposed to 21 days).

[Anonymous]

Doxycycline is harsh. I took a 10 day course when I had Lyme disease. I was tested several times and never showed positive on a test. The tests catch less than 50% of cases. The rash was enough to confirm and RX antibiotics. The side effects from the antibiotics were so bad. I felt like I was going to vomit for weeks.

Deer ticks carry Lyme. They are very small. When I scratched one off, it looked like a tiny scab on my leg. I didn't think anything of it. My doctor couldn't figure out what was causing the aches and a bunch of tingling and numbness. I went to see my old doctor, who's out of network. He suggested it could be Lyme. That's when I remembered the weird, almost heart-shaped red mark on my foot. It's tricky to catch. At least you know you were bitten and the approx size of the tick.

[Anonymous]

Go to the Lyme forums. It is a hard to kill hard to find hard to get rid of tricky bug. I am suffering from effects of Lyme infection years after being bitten. No bull's eye rash. Just a mild rash on the chest that went away. There is not a single organ this does not attack. Extremely debilitating. You dismiss at your own peril.