Topic: HELP! I HAVE WHAT MAY BE AN EMBEDDED TICK! Update at end of thread.
Rumigirl
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posted
Questions first, explanation after.
Can a tick be fully embedded under the skin, so you can’t be certain whether it is a tick or not?
It is tiny, like the period at the end of a sentence. Could they be that tiny at this time of year? [I just found out that nymph ticks are still active through mid-august!].
Since whatever it is, is entirely embedded, now what do I do??
I could go to Urgent Care now, but who knows how good or caring about it anyone would be there. Plus, it’s $200.
Or I could go to a dermatologist tomorrow. I don't know a good dermatologist for this purpose or that I could see right away.
Or I could start digging myself tonight. Hmmmn. Help, please, guys! Thanks! I need this like a hole in the head!
Background:
After much pondering the decision, I went for a long weekend with my husband to visit a friend on Shelter Island, which is off of Long Island, NY. (Yes, the ticks that they base all of the tests on were from Shelter Island, ground zero for Bb).
I took precautions against tick bites, except that I held a small dog a lot & patted the other 2 dogs a lot. They do have tick collars on, of course.
I did get bitten alive by mosquitoes on Sunday night!! I couldn’t feel the bites until later. They also secrete numbing stuff in their saliva, so you don’t notice them until they’re long gone.
We did do thorough tick checks, although I think I am more obsessive than my husband.
I was dealing tonight with the incredibly itchy, swollen bug bites, when I discovered a tiny black dot next to a bite. Whatever it is, it is really tiny and below the surface of my skin.
When I looked with my glasses, a bright light, and a magnifying glass, at one angle, I swear that I saw some tiny legs . Arghhhhh! But I couldn’t see that angle again, as it’s in an awkward part of my leg to position the magnifying glass and in a bright light. My husband can’t tell either.
[ 08-17-2016, 12:32 AM: Message edited by: Rumigirl ]
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me
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Oh, geez. I'm sorry Rumigirl. I did some some searches on ILADS and lymedisease.org, but couldn't find answers. Doing a general Google search, some sites say it can happen, but I have zero idea how reliable the info is.
I hope someone on here knows and can chime in quickly.
-------------------- Just sharing my experiences, opinions, and what I've read and learned. Not medical advice. Posts: 1431 | From USA | Registered: Mar 2015
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MichaelTampa
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Gosh, sorry you're in this spot. I wish I knew what to do, that doesn't look like a list with any great choices in it is my first thought.
I think I'd try to get dermatologist first thing on the phone in the AM, and go that route if they could see you tomorrow, but then go urgent care if dermatologist wasn't available. Just thinking derm. might be better at it and worth a wait of a few hours, but certainly not days.
Posts: 1927 | From se usa | Registered: Mar 2010
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posted
Yes, they can be that tiny at any time of the year .. but I've never really heard of one being completely under the skin.
Keep us posted on what you find out.
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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Rumigirl
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I did come across a number of people saying online that they had had ticks completely embedded under their skin, both on themselves and on their dogs. One guy was trying to remove a tick when it went completely under his skin!
So tomorrow I will try to find a dermatologist who would be willing and able to look at it and dig it out. Otherwise, I'll start digging myself! I'm not 100% sure that's what it is, but at this point I'm pretty sure that it is a nymph tick. Unbelievable!! (All too believable, right?).
Then, I need treatment, assuming that I'm right. But by the time I or a doctor have dug around a lot, it might be hard to be sure what it is. Boy, am I paying for my pleasure, at least so far.
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Tincup
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Hey dearest one,
Just got in from washing the car. Never did it before at midnight, so that was fun.
If I were you I’d go to the dew drop in place NOW and tell them you may have a tick embedded. They should be able to see it with strong magnifying glass and good light.
Then if it is one, they can excise it surgically, taking some small amount of surrounding (possibly infected) skin in the process. That’s a good thing.
They will also give you antibiotics to start on when you take them this tick bite treatment print out, found right on the main page. Take the one for adults and we will discuss the fact that you may want to take the children’s one, later-- little girly girl. ~smile~
That small of a tick is not likely, this time of year, to be infected. Few are “born/hatched” already infected. In the next stage of the ticks life- which it won’t live to see now thanks to you- that wouldn’t be the case.
In the meantime I would not fool with it, squeeze it, etc. And I mean that! Leave it alone!
And after getting out from the dew-drop-in doc place I’d stop and get some ice cream.
Tincup
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posted
Also, reading your description here it, especially about the itching, it COULD be a chigger. Chiggers can carry Bb too, so my response would still be the same.
Rumigirl
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posted
Hey, TC, glad to see you weigh in.
A chigger up this far north?? Well, whatever on that. Tick bites can itch, too. The mosquito bites are nasty. I had to take an anti-histamine.
I just figured out that the place that I thought was Urgent Care is actually a free-standing ER (no hospital there), and that is $200. Urgent Care is now closed, but they weren't good at all when I went
there before. So I may be back to trying to find the right derm tomorrow. Or break down and go to the ER.
All those blasted mosquito bites, too, they can carry stuff, too; I've experienced that. Sigh.
Thank you, TC! And thank you, me, for weighing in.
I know they are all God's critters, but . . . (I'm talking about the ticks and mosquitoes, of course!).
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Tincup
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Sorry your dew drop inn place isn't open. I would NOT hesitate to go to your local health department- call first- and get them to do it if you have to. Anywhere ASAP.
And Ms. Hotsy Totsy... you think you are too good to have chiggers up noth, and they are only a southern scourge?
Well, let me tell you sompthin'.
Chiggers are basically little ticks in bright red evening gowns.
Rumigirl
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posted
Thank you, TC!! You are a font of wisdom on all things tick related. Sure, all of us wish we didn't have to have this knowledge.
I was so messed up last night that I was up almost all night, in spite of having been exhausted. I took an antihistamine for the itching (generic zyrtec), which knocked me out, plus something for the terrible Complex Regional Pain Syndrome pain. But still stayed up. Sigh.
Then, I slept for 10 hours, woke up like a dead person, except with a monstrous migraine. So nothing happened today on this front---arghhh! Tomorrow.
I've been trying to figure out where to go, as in this town dermatologists are mainly focused on cosmetic stuff that earns them a ton of $$.
Tomorrow I'll try around. The Urgent Care place, when I went twice, was terrible, both the dermatologist and the PA. Useless!
If I don't come up with anything else, I'll have to go to the ER, which is expensive. Sigh again.
I'll ask the PCP I used to see, who is an old-school doctor, ie, he cares. But last time, he suggested that I see the dermatologist, since she has the tools for digging around in the skin. But she was terrible.
I had glass in my foot that I couldn't get out, and she INSISTED that I get an x-ray of my foot before doing anything! It didn't matter how much I squawked. Then, she didn't get it out anyway. I had to go
home and finally get it out myself. Yeesh! $50 co-pay for that malarky.
Oh, and as I basically knew, the Dept of Health only has things like HIV, STD testing and treatment----and immunizations. A long time ago they had much more, including great doctors for parasite testing and treatment----"Tropical Disease" doctors. But that went away a long time ago, sadly.
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Rumigirl
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PS If it is a nymph tick, it isn't getting any bigger, ie, it doesn't seem to be feeding. Good grief, I don't know if I've been making a mountain out of a mole hill, or what. All I want is some simple care, but that seems to be awfully difficult to get. Sigh again.
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TF
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posted
I really do not believe a tick will go totally under the skin.
They put their mouthparts into your skin and suck the blood. When they are finished feeding, they drop off you.
I once thought I had a tick under my skin completely. It was a black spot--probably dried blood or something. I still have it to this day.
I just really think that this cannot be a tick.
I once thought a scab was a tick also. It seemed that it had legs. Once I picked it off and really examined it closely with a magnifying glass, I saw that it was not an insect at all.
I really see no reason why a tick would want to go totally under a person's skin, so I don't think you have a tick at all.
I have seen many attached ticks. It is always just the mouthparts that are inside the skin.
So, I wonder if you could just have someone look at this for you. Ask them what it is. Don't tell them you have a tick under your skin. You don't want treated like you are crazy.
Or, pick it open yourself to satisfy yourself that it is not an insect at all.
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Rumigirl
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At this point I'm not sure that I have to worry about it, since whatever it is isn't getting any bigger.
I did find a whole lot of people online who had had ticks completely embedded in their skin, or in the skin of their dogs. As I said, one guy was in the process of trying to pull the tick out when it went completely under his skin.
But the fact that it isn'g getting any bigger makes me think that it probably isn't anything to worry about. TC may think differently, and maybe I'm wrong.
If I hadn't just been at Shelter Island, I wouldn't have done a tick check, and wouldn't have thought anything about it---or even noticed it. I've just been burned too many times by ticks in the past (and still to this day from the past bites never having been diagnosed until I was
really, really ill with a ton of permanent damage).
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Tincup
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I'm disappointed you didn't get assistance. Hope it all works out for you.
Rumigirl
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TC, yes, I should have gotten to bed earlier the night before last and taken care of it yesterday, although the migraine was horrific and not responding well to anything.
I will take care of it today, even if I have to go to the ER, which I may well have to do (crazy, right?).
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-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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me
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Rumigirl, How are you doing?
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Rumigirl
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Well, I FINALLY went to a dermatologist today, and i was lucky! She was great. I had no reference, I had had bad experiences at this Urgent Care place in the past. But this doctor was quite sympathetic.
She removed the whatever is was (she didn't know, and couldn't tell by looking at it before or after removing it). She is sending it to pathology, as she said that if it wasn't a tick,it looked like a "funky mole," so she would want to remove it anyway.
She said, "the pathologist will have fun with this!"
She also gave me the full dose doxy rx that I asked for, although she was surprised that it was needed at that dosage. She correctly noted that it had been there for 72 hours (if indeed it was a tick, which I think it was). So, therefore, meds were needed.
I was sooo grateful that she turned out to be so sympathetic! I was really hesitant, since I had twice had bad experiences there.
As it is, I need to go back to my LLMD to get a new protocol soon, but knew that wouldn't be immediate.
Thank you, everyone!! Thank you, TC, I know I seemed like a reluctant patient. I am just battling so much at once, I'm really overwhelmed. I wish there were some magic bullet for the overwhelm (or anything else I have), but there isn't, of course.
What a saga. Now I will have to see if anything is any better or worse from the saga, aside from all the agita about it.
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me
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Thanks for the update, Rumigirl. Thinking of you. Keep fighting!
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posted
Tincup, as much as I appreciate your knowledge on this site, you may have just earned yourself Least Favorite Blogger status for that picture of chiggers in their red evening gowns! I will be absolutely unable to unsee that image the next time I end up with chigger bites. Eeeewww!
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Brussels
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I've seen literally thousands of ticks in the last decade. I've never seen one that went inside the skin, to tell you the truth.
My eyes used to be very good, so I could recognize even the whitish tiny spots that were ticks, in fact. I recognize them when they start shifting to light brown, then brownish, till almost black.
Really, I've never seen any tick entering totally inside the skin, specially the tiny ones. The tiny ones, I can pull them off almost entirely (even though, they are smashed in the process).
Bigger ones can have their heads inside the flesh, and then they may lose the heads when you try to pull them off. But if you twist counter clock wise, you have 98% of chance of getting the full tick off.
That is my experience, pulling ticks off my cats and ourselves. Just reminding you, that I pulled thousands of ticks really, from my previous cat.
Since we started on anti-tick treatment, we are less lucky: we get less bites. I'm pulling less than 50 a year from my new cat.
These were European ticks though. Maybe the American ones are different??! Posts: 6199 | From Brussels | Registered: Oct 2007
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My eyes used to be very good, so I could recognize even the whitish tiny spots that were ticks, in fact. I recognize them when they start shifting to light brown, then brownish, till almost black.
- They can be whitish too??
-
Glad you got it taken care of and out of there, Rumi!!
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Brussels
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Tutu: very tiny ones are almost white, transparent(larva).
When they grow a bit, they get light brown (still tiny though), then blackish (dark brown to black). They are nymphs already.
These are the Swiss and German ticks I know, from the area I live!
They look awful.....
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hiker53
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All I can say is UGH!
-------------------- Hiker53
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Rumigirl
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quote:Originally posted by Tincup: That small of a tick is not likely, this time of year, to be infected. Few are “born/hatched” already infected. In the next stage of the ticks life- which it won’t live to see now thanks to you- that wouldn’t be the case.
I knew this wasn't right when I read it---or at least what I thought you are saying here. Some of the literature say that laval ticks don't have any pathogens until they have had a blood meal from an infected host.
BUT, nymph ticks often are infected. Plus, other literature says that they are born infected, often. I'm talking about scientific literature. In this case, it was either a nymph tick, or just a small adult.
BUT, Shelter Island is extremely endemic for at least 6 TBD's: Lyme, Babesiosis, Anaplasma, Ehrlichiosis, STARI, and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever! And that doesn't even consider Bartonella, since mostly the "experts" aren't aware that ticks carry that.
In my case, the tick WAS completely under the skin. But it wasn't enlarged/engorged. However, I'd be foolish not to think that it was a problem, esp since it had been there so darned long by the time I had it removed.
Yes, it's possible that I was wrong, and it wasn't a tick. But I really doubt it. I did see little legs. It's like that saying, "If you think you saw a mouse, you saw a mouse."
In any case, the pathogens that the blasted ticks often carry at Shelter Island, that's a lot! It also doesn't consider Borrelia Mayamotii (sp?) or nematodes. Hopefully, this small a one didn't carry that many, but who the heck knows??
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TF
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Brussels, your link is about the lone star tick. This is a tick we have in the U.S.
Are you saying that this is the tick you have in your country?
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Rumigirl
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Well, guess what? The dermatologist called today and said that the pathology report, in which the pathologist even did a special staining, said that it wasn't a tick! (I know some of you will say "I told you so."
It was a tiny seborrheic keratosis. I said that the reason I had thought it might be a tick was because I saw tiny legs. The derm said that these keratoses sometimes have tiny "legs."
Well, I'm relieved that it wasn't a tick. I was so freaked out because I had just been in such an extraordinarily endemic area. Not to mention the HE double hockey sticks that I have been through, and am still going through.
Thanks, everyone. That's the end of this particular saga. I'm still glad that I got it checked out and dealt with. Better safe than sorry.
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Judie
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That's great news! I've been following the thread and am really glad you gave an update. Posts: 2839 | From California | Registered: Jul 2012
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