I'm freaking out. I just found a wood tick on my shoulder blade, biting me.
It seemed to be just getting started. There was no hole where I pulled it off. However, he was holding a piece of my skin in his filthy ****ing mouth when I got him off. There is no mark that looks like an insect bite or anything.
I flushed him, swabbed the bite area with iodine, showered and did a thorough check, and swabbed again.
I know that wood ticks are also Lyme vectors. Is there a difference between an embedded tick and one that's just biting you? I really don't think this guy got through. There was no blood or anything.
Can someone help me to not be freaked out as I am? There is a panic washing over me and I don't know how I'm going to get to sleep tonight.
I have to leave the northeast. I can't take it here anymore. Who has a spare ticket to the desert?
[ 05-23-2014, 02:30 AM: Message edited by: Robin123 ]
Posted by Dogsandcats (Member # 28544) on :
I am sorry, I know this must be frightening. First of all, breathe. Stress does not help, know that you are informed and can tackle this.
Look at the website above - knowledge is power!
Hang in there! Others will pop in and help.....
Posted by springshowers (Member # 19863) on :
In so sorry you have to deal with that and the worry and living In area where there are ticks even No ticket. But info live in the desert. Come on over. !!
Posted by Robin123 (Member # 9197) on :
For the immediate future, what about putting some tick repellent on? Like essential oils, which are not pesticidy?
Posted by rera2528 (Member # 29886) on :
Nothing really helpful to add except to wish you the best. The anxiety part is the absolute worst! I'm with you on the desert part - I hate cities, but concrete jungles sound pretty appealing right now.
Take care, and here's hoping that it didn't break through!
Posted by dbpei (Member # 33574) on :
Keep dousing it in peroxide! It sounds like you caught it early. So sorry.
Posted by desertwind (Member # 25256) on :
Lymeboy; They are everywhere here in NJ. I keep finding them everywhere in my house, on my dog and on me.
I am back in treatment from a bite about 2 months ago.
Do you have a llmd? If you are concerned at all then get yourself on doxy. You know the drill...
Not sure where in NJ you are but I have gone to a few walk in clinics/urgent care centers that have given me doxy post tick bite w/ no problem. I would add flagyl to it and keep an eye on for co'infection symptoms.
Other option is to wait and see if you develop any symptoms and then treat.
If it were me I go w/ the better safe then sorry attitude and treat for 4-6 weeks and take it from there.
I too am seriously contemplating leaving for the desert....never made that connection when I came up w/ my screen name!
Posted by Catgirl (Member # 31149) on :
You probably caught it early, but Desertwind is right, getting some doxy couldn't hurt.
Posted by jwick25 (Member # 15190) on :
So sorry this happened, lymeboy!
Since you saw the tick - and therefore caught it early - you should be ok if you go to your LLMD soon for tests/direction/treatment.
This way, you don't have to worry about becoming chronic with this bite.
I would keep track of any symptoms to tell your doctor.
So long as you don't wait and wait....you should be ok.
Wishing you all the best!
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
lymeboy, the things in your favor are:
it was not a black-legged tick. The dog tick can carry lyme also, but not as often as the deer tick.
you pulled it off and the head came with it. That means it hadn't been attached very long and it had not yet started feeding.
The mouthparts are like barbs, so that means some skin will come when you pull. But, if the head was in you to start feeding, the head would not have come out with the body when you pulled it off.
If the tick is feeding on you, you have to give the tick time to withdraw the barbs. You do that with a tick removal tool. You gently pull up on the tick and wait and wait until it finally can't stand the feeling and withdraws itself. That is the only way to get the entire tick when you take off a feeding tick.
So, if you just pulled it off quickly and just got a little skin, the tick was just getting into your skin.
Also, I have read that if a person who has had lyme gets a new bite that transmits lyme, the person WILL get a bulls eye rash at the site of the bite.
I discussed this with my lyme doctor. He believes that what I read is correct.
I had an attached tick on me 2 weeks after stopping my lyme treatment. The head stayed in my abdomen when we pulled off the tick. I had it tested at Igenex and it was negative.
I never got a bulls eye from this bite.
But, I was totally freaked out. Found it just as I went to bed. Like you.
Then, a few years after getting rid of lyme, I laid some weeds on my arm for about 1 minute and then threw them away. Within 3 days I had a bulls eye on that arm.
I went to lyme doc and got treated for 30 days. Had very mild herx at day 2-3. That was the end of it.
So, I really believe that if this tick transmittted lyme to you, you will get a rash there within a few days.
I don't know if that is because you have antibodies circulating in your blood, so they react to a new invasion of lyme germs or what. I can't find much on it.
However, if you go a week with no rash at that spot, then I think you can have peace of mind that you didn't get any disease from that tick.
Posted by lymeboy (Member # 24769) on :
That's interesting TF, I'd never heard this before. I'll keep an eye on it. I've only looked at it about 12 times so far today! a small pink spot is there now, no bigger than afew grains of salt. Does the rash spread gradually? what if the pink spot gets bigger? I keep hitting it with peroxide.
Thanks to everyone who's responded. I'm having severe psychological issues with this. I fly into panic mode every 30 minutes or so. I've been through hell, only to get bit again, and I know if I stay here I will get bit again. I love the outdoors. I love adventure. That's how I got Lyme in the 1st place. I have been mostly indoors since I got sick. My life is nothing like what it was, and that's part of what damaged me so badly. I've struggled with depression and pretty regular suicidal thoughts for years now. I'd been doing quite well off of abx for the first time in years, and I was starting to think I might get some of my life back. But this just dropped the floor out from under me. I can't really talk myself down. I don't think anything but leaving here will work. I've never been a fan of NJ to begin with, and I'd been trying to plan a move out west for a long time. Now it is time though. I don't think I'm gonna stay here past another year. I'd been seriously trying to figure out a way to do it, being a single parent and low on cash. But I'm done thinking. I'm just going to work and save as much as I can and leave. I can't keep having panic attacks when I go to my mailbox. The beautiful green woods that people around here like so much are a living hell to me. All I see is a pit of disease. It's really bad, and I have to go. Being here is definitely not helping me heal. I'll have to deal with my child hating me for a while I guess.
I would rather not pay a LLMD, seeing as I have no money to spare anyway, and just try to get the Doxy and Flagyl on my own. Even if I see no rash, I'm going to lie awake at night freaking out. another round of abx won't hurt anyway.
Before anyone suggests this, I do know that there are ticks and lyme everywhere. But this is ground zero. It is so much more endemic than anywhere in the world. the tick population here is offensive. If you've never spent time out here, you cannot imagine how bad it is. As an example, I went straight from work to home yesterday, and only left the house to get mail and walk the dog. The dog doesn't run around in the yard, he goes on the side of the road. I may have gotten it from him, but he doesn't go anywhere that I don't. I could see if I was doing yardwork or hiking through brush, but this is nuts. It's time to go.
Posted by desertwind (Member # 25256) on :
Lymeboy; You are so right - cannot live a normal life in NJ. I moved here 10 years ago and that is when my life changed. Not a fan either and we continue to get our house ready for sale to move.
Even on days when I am not in nature I still find them. Today sitting outside at a coffee shop I found one crawling on my leg.
Work so hard to get better when you know it is just a matter of time before you get reinfected.
Many times I have taken abx.s after finding a new tick bite on me because if not then all I would do is worry.....Even w/out symptomns I would still take something.
Average of 5 ticks bites a year.....I agree, not a way to live.
Posted by applewine (Member # 26220) on :
I've never seen a tick bite me, but I was at work a few years ago in a meeting and there was a tick crawling on me somehow. At least I thought it was a tick. I never go into the forest anymore.
I took it off and put it on the table and another guy squashed it so I couldn't take another look or get it tested.
No idea how a tick got on to me.
I already had health problems and been treated for lyme disease and not gotten better, but it was a strange thing to find a tick like that.
Posted by oceangirlSA (Member # 40873) on :
I am so sorry to hear about this Lymeboy! I would be freaked out too!
I don't walk on the grass anywhere anymore. I also used to spend all my spare time outside in the garden, hiking trails etc but I have stopped gardening, stopped hiking and only walk on paved areas.
I spray my lawn for ticks 4 times a year - the whole lawn, not just the perimeter. I have been doing this for 3 years now and its made a huge difference.
The dogs no longer come in with ticks either now. But I still worry about being bitten again.
Posted by springshowers (Member # 19863) on :
If you need up wanting to come to AZ let me know and I will help in any way I can. K So sorry you have to live that way On the other hand getting good Lyme doctors here is a challenge but it's getting a little better with more HMD and NMD docs learning more and adding it to there treatment protocols. But overall it's not easy here treatment wise
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
lymeboy, regarding the rash:
When I was bitten again a few years ago, I never saw the tick. But, in about 2 days, I got an itchy spot where the bulls eye would later appear.
I scratched it for a while while reading. Finally, I decided to look at what was itching me. It was a small hive, about the size of a dime.
So, I looked at it again the next day. It stayed the same. Small hive.
Then, in another day, it was a large red rash, about 2 inches across. No more hive. Then, the next day it grew larger. It ended up at least 3 inches across, an approx circle.
I don't know if it is different for others, but that is the one bull's eye I ever got and that is how it developed.
I had no symptoms during those days. I also had no symptoms in 7 days when I got in with my lyme doctor.
If you self treat and get a herx, that still doesn't mean the new bite (I don't even call it a bite, based on your description) gave you lyme. Since you are not totally symptom-free, you could get a herx from any treatment.
If you treat for a month and then quit and feel the same as you do now, then I would forget this even happened.
Believe me, I remember how it felt to find an attached tick right after stopping my treatment. I went only 2 weeks after treatment before this happened. It can make you a mental case.
But, I believe you will calm down in about a week.
But, that dog is a tick magnet and can certainly be a source of ticks for you and in your home. I suggest you check the dog for ticks after each outdoor trip.
Posted by CD57 (Member # 11749) on :
Well I'm in CA and just to let you know they are here too! I also see the beautiful green woods as scary now, very sad. I'm thinking the desert is the way to go too!
Posted by Judie (Member # 38323) on :
"Also, I have read that if a person who has had lyme gets a new bite that transmits lyme, the person WILL get a bulls eye rash at the site of the bite."
Not everyone. I know people who have been reinfected and didn't get a rash.
I believe the rational for what you doctor said (and I've heard this before), is the first time you get bit/infected, you don't get a rash but then your body remembers the infections so when you get bit again, your body reacts to it.
It's a good idea to keep an eye out for a rash any which way since it's 100% diagnostic.
Lymeboy - It really sounds like the caught it in time.
Posted by Lymedin2010 (Member # 34322) on :
There are some reports that heat will kill the bacteria. It was reported that 20 min at 108 will kill it.
If it is only in the local bit tissues & not circulating already then this is possible.
So with any bites, besides alcohol or peroxide, I then heat the area with a heat pad to as much as can bet taken & for as long as possible 20 min to 1 hour.
Posted by lostlyme (Member # 38561) on :
For myself working with asphalt at 300 degrees + or minus had no effect on killing bacteria and out side in hot sun combined for years.
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
Judie, the people you personally know who have been reinfected and didn't get a rash, are you POSITIVE that they got a new bite and THAT is how they got reinfected?
Could they have gotten reinfected from another person (through sex, etc.) or just relapsed?
If they were symptom free for less than 3 years before getting reinfected, it could easily be a relapse that caused the reinfection.
Burrascano says that if you don't relapse in 3 years, you won't relapse.
My lyme doctor is well known, so his opinion is weighty. If he believes that a new bite will cause a rash, that is something in my book.
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
Also, there are strains of lyme that give only the rash but cause no illness. These "rash only" strains of lyme are mentioned and discussed in "Cure Unknown" by Pam Weintraub.
So, knowing this, my lyme doctor said to me when I reported a very mild herx while treating my new bite, "It looks like you got the real thing."
Just to let everyone know that even if you get a rash from a tick bite, you may not get lyme as we know it. Some strains cause only a rash and will never cause any other symptoms of any kind.
Read it in "Cure Unknown" page 343:
"Eventually the researchers focused on twenty strains, each with a different version of the changeable OspC. Working with those twenty strains, Luft learned that six didn’t infect humans and ten caused only a rash. Only four of the twenty could leave the skin to invade other tissue like the heart and joints or the brain. The most virulent of the strains turned out to be the prototypical B31, the version of B. burgdorferi … ultimately isolated by Burgdorfer and Barbour at the Rocky Mountain labs in 1981.”
The implications are profound. One of the most important is that if just four strains of the twenty cause disseminated infection, then the roster of rash-based studies on the treatment of early Lyme disease, conducted from the 1980s to the present, would have to be reassessed. Take a moment to ponder the simple math: It would be impossible to accept results based on the assumption that 100 percent of Lyme rashes can cause invasive disease when a significant percent cannot. Some of the classic studies claim very high cure rates for early infection; yet if the causative strain were of the rash-only variety, then even orange juice would be a “cure.” Are recommended treatment protocols truly curing most of those with early, invasive borreliosis? Or has noise from rash-only strains obscured less rosy results?” (p. 344)
Posted by ukcarry (Member # 18147) on :
Exactly, TF. I am glad that you posted that, as i remember it clearly from reading Cure Unknown and have often felt that it makes a nonsense of some claims of short antibiotic course 'cures'.
Lymeboy, good luck with your treatment and also with formulating a good plan for a move.
Posted by Lymedin2010 (Member # 34322) on :
"For myself working with asphalt at 300 degrees + or minus had no effect on killing bacteria and out side in hot sun combined for years. "
If you got your WHOLE body at that temp, then you would be dead or brain dead most likely.
We are just talking about overheating a specific area, i.e. the bite area & nothing more.
Posted by GretaM (Member # 40917) on :
In my job I often work next to equipment running at 600 degrees celcius. My core temp is always "fever temp" when I work in that area.
It just makes my neuro lyme worse.
In order to reach "kill temp" the human body needs to reach 113 degrees F. That's deadly for humans. Serious necrotic damage to tissues and neuron damage.
Lyme is a real bugger. I joke it is a bacteria made in hell, because it could survive the temps there.
Posted by Judie (Member # 38323) on :
"Judie, the people you personally know who have been reinfected and didn't get a rash, are you POSITIVE that they got a new bite and THAT is how they got reinfected?"
Yes, I know two people personally where it happened. Neither are sexually active. One had several tick bites (removed the tick) and no rash, but got reinfected with Lyme, this is after being infected previously.
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
Lymeboy, how are you doing?
How about an update. I am hoping you are doing well.
![[Frown]](frown.gif)