The mouth parts of the tick will just dissolve eventually, kinda like a splinter. Besides going to the Dr, you could always treat it like a splinter and try to remove it. Maybe make a little incision and squeeze it out.
I think it's very important to keep the tick for testing. I kept the two that bit me last week.
Lymetoo,
Why do you say that tick testing is inaccurate? Igenex told me it is extremely accurate. They grind up the tick and can look for DNA of the bacteria. What makes this process inaccurate? AND how would someone know that?
James
Posts: 872 | From New York City | Registered: Jun 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
Lymetoo - do you recall which lab the tick was sent to? We've always been told that a good lab gets the testing right -
Posts: 13116 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
| IP: Logged |
Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
Like Tutu I don't recommend tick testing either... normally.
TREAT, don't wait for test results!
Testing ticks and waiting for result would and has delayed many people from being treated early on.
If they find "stuff: in the ticks when tested .. good. That's nice to know and was used most often in areas years ago when we literally didn't "know" if Lyme was in an area.
But like in humans, sometimes the tests for ticks don't show positive. It isn't the labs fault.. it just didn't register.
When asking Igenex about how they test ticks..
I learned having 10 ticks tested in a batch was considered a good way to do it. 20 ticks in a batch was too much.
MY opinion here, not Igenex >> One tick might be ok but being diluted it could be possible to miss the "stuff" needed to show a positive. And if not plumb and moist... it reduces the lab test chances.
Assuming a negative test is really negative.. and ONLY could be negative .... gives some people false hopes and can lead them later into a bad diagnosis.
With so many known.... and all the unknown coinfections, it is cheaper and easier to just take the doxy than to test the tick and then take the doxy when/if it is positive.
And around here... we'd be the Post Offices' new best friend for all the business we would create mailing ticks out....
And we would be broke testing the ticks cause there are so many of them...
I very much disagree with you. Testing will confirm lyme exposure, it's how I confirmed that my sx were definitely lyme last year. I didn't need to go through the usual Dr labyrinth. And since the tick didn't have babs, I knew I was not reinfected with it.
Plus, how do you know what to treat for? If you just treat for lyme, you may miss babs, etc. Then once you have sx, you then have a given the infection(s) time to spread throughout your body.
Tick testing is MUCH more accurate than human testing. Why WOULDN'T someone want to know what the tick was carrying?
Posts: 872 | From New York City | Registered: Jun 2008
| IP: Logged |
Where did you get your tick tested? What did you have it tested for? How did they test it? Are you sure you weren't bitten a different time by another tick (like what happened to me last week)?
To your knowledge, what is the frequency of false tests that makes testing all ticks useless?
And if the test comes back positive for lyme AND babs that it wouldn't be incredibly helpful?
Even if the test had false negatives, like with human blood tests, wouldn't positives be helpful by confirming lyme, etc. exposure?
I think that your condemning all tick testing because of your one bad experience doesn't take into account the very helpful info it can provide. Maybe we should view tick testing the same way we look at blood tests, as negatives don't mean the tick didn't have lyme.
James
Posts: 872 | From New York City | Registered: Jun 2008
| IP: Logged |
The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:
The
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey 907 Pebble Creek Court,
Pennington,
NJ08534USA http://www.lymenet.org/
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic