I got a call from a former pastor's wife today stating her husband had a tick embedded with a red angry spot around it. She emailed me the pic with the tick still embedded. Not a very good photo, but obviously a bulls eye.
Went to the local ER. All they gave him, naturally, was 2 weeks of Doxy 100mg, 2 times a day. Ugh. Well, at least they called me first! I think I'm going to direct them to contact my LLMD. I don't think the local doc will double the dose.
Picture below:
[ 04-01-2013, 09:04 PM: Message edited by: Tricky Tickey ]
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Ugh .. I hope they get more help!!
Posted by Tricky Tickey (Member # 26546) on :
Me too......that fact that she called me first tells me something. I'm going to check on him in a day or two, then give them my former LLMD contact information. They really need to bypass the doctors here before he gets worse.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Yes, you are making progress!!
Posted by Tricky Tickey (Member # 26546) on :
Lymetoo, I figured even if they give him the low dose to start, it's better then NO dose at all or them saying "...let's wait & see if you feel bad". At least he's got some antibiotics in his system, he'll have a better chance of kicking it.
I talked to a lady from a local television station who went to an ER for a bulls eye rash. You know what they did? Ha...they lanced it then drained it!
Hhahahahh
Is that not ignorant?!!! They don't even know what to do with a bloomin' bulls eye rash!!!!
Posted by Carol in PA (Member # 5338) on :
I would not consider that a bullseye rash, it looks more like the inflammation surrounding a bite or an imbedded object.
I have a thin sharp tweezer that I use to remove foreign objects. You can numb the skin first with Choraseptic, which is a spray used for sore throats.
You can speed healing of the inflamed spot by doing hot compresses as often as possible, twenty to 30 minutes at a time.
Posted by Tricky Tickey (Member # 26546) on :
She said it was really red......and big.
Posted by Carol in PA (Member # 5338) on :
How big...I can't tell from that picture. How wide is the diameter of the red ring?
Does she know how to do the hot compresses? I've seen some awful looking infections improve quickly with them.
Posted by Judie (Member # 38323) on :
"She said it was really red......and big."
That's what mine looked like. It was huge, warm. and hurt like hell (even though they're not suppose to hurt).
I did not have typical rings like a bulls-eye and one doc thought it was a spider bite.
On a whim I showed my PCP whom I went to to get a physical therapy referral. I wanted to know if the "spider bite" was infected.
She immediately said it was an erythema migrans rash and put me on 3 weeks of doxy.
I still didn't believe it was a bulls-eye rash.
Well, I got blood work a month later and found out I'm CDC positive for lyme (my first test).
Don't mess around with this, it CAN be a bulls-eye rash even though it doesn't look like one.
Posted by Carol in PA (Member # 5338) on :
Arkie, if your friend's husband can do hot compresses several times, ask her to do a follow-up photo, with a ruler in the picture.
And be sure to remind her about doxy precautions -- protect skin from sun exposure, orange juice can make the reaction to sun worse, and probiotics are needed.
Drinking Kefir would be a good way to replace the gut bacteria.
BTW, do you still have that little dog you took in? He looked like such a rascal.
Posted by Pinelady (Member # 18524) on :
Apply heat, not enuf to burn but kill the infections. They do not tolerate heat at all. I would use a heat pad on it. And get the body temp up with sauna or soaks.
Posted by Tricky Tickey (Member # 26546) on :
Found out the actual red spot was only maybe an inch across, or less. It now has a scab on it. The tick was embedded for 48 hours. It's definitely infected...he said he put an alcohol bottle on top of it and that's what made the ring around it. May be a false alarm, but I wouldn't be too sure about it.
Better safe than sorry.
Posted by Tricky Tickey (Member # 26546) on :
Here is how the bite looked today, April 1. It has a large scab where the tick was. He doused it with alcohol before pulling it out, but it was already red and inflamed & sore.
![[bonk]](graemlins/bonk.gif)
![[spinning smile]](graemlins/spinsmile.gif)
