Topic: has something changed do tick bites itch now???
lpkayak
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posted
Thx
-------------------- Lyme? Its complicated. Educate yourself. Posts: 13712 | From new england | Registered: Feb 2004
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Keebler
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- Do you have some bites that you suspect are tick bites and they are itching but did not do so before when you were bitten? Or is this a general inquiry.
Assuming the first, and your surprise of an itch you did not expect, it would be hard to say just want it is.
Yes, tick bites can itch - or not. All bets are off.
And a person's personal reaction could change - still, each tick is individual and it may not be all tick bites would cause the exact same skin reaction all the time.
Unless you saw a tick or have other tell-tale signs, it would be hard to say what kind of critter caused the bite or if it may be some other kind of skin eruption.
A dab of TREE TEA OIL can help relieve the itch. And it has some antiseptic properties. -
[ 08-30-2013, 02:49 PM: Message edited by: Keebler ]
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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GretaM
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Hi LP,
Mine didn't.
But my strange, "pop up" EM rashes do.
And they swell up to look like mini donuts under my skin.
Yum...mini-donuts
I put diluted thieves oil on any itchy patches on my arms and legs and it helps immensely.
There's a bug dabber that has some sore of ammonia in it, but I find it doesn't help the itch and I try to stay away from ammonia.
Posts: 4358 | From British Columbia, Canada | Registered: Jun 2013
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posted
Yes they itch really bad. When I was bitten by over 200 ticks last summer, the itching and burning of each bite was unbearable. And it lasted for 3 weeks before they started to go away.
Obviously my system was in complete overload- so that contributed to the intensity- but between then and now both my husband and our neighbor have been bitten by single ticks and both also complained for weeks of the itching.
Back in the 90's I didn't even feel tick bites. In fact, the ones that gave my RMSF in 1998 and the one that gave me Lyme in 2002 didn't itch or burn at all.
So, I think something has definitely changed.
Were you bitten Ipkayak?
Posts: 428 | From Midwest | Registered: Dec 2012
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Keebler
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- daynise,
Very interesting. I wonder if "the" tick has changed or your body's reaction has changed, or both?
Also wonder if maybe some kind of chemical exposure they may have encountered could change this aspect. Certain phases of the tick's life?
Maybe the ticks are hanging out with too may fire ants and picking up some bad habits?
Like Greta, my initial bites did not itch. Though I've read that some do.
But, later, many satellite rashes did, for a weeks, the spot later on and off for months after the rashes faded - each time. And they looked liked swollen donuts, too. Up to 13 at at time, quarter size. Always in the same places. Very odd.
I was so glad to have finally read about after-the fact satellite rashes to put it in some kind of perspective. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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Kudzuslipper
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I never saw a bite... but 25 years ago i started getting rashes like Keebler explains... sometimes they blew up huge (dermatologist said an allergic reaction to an allergic reaction) and... they were always in the same places too. would start one leg, move to the other, and then I would get them on one arm then the other. a smart a** dermatologist called it cellular memory. I can't tell you how many allergists and dermatologists i went to.
These were so itchy once they were on both arms and legs... I would have to come home from work to take a bath... then put gold bond powder on them and then go back to work. these rashes would morph and spread for 6-8 weeks...
but I think regardless of lyme, some people react to tick bites with an allergic reaction just like some people react to spiders or mosquitos more than others...
Posts: 1728 | From USA | Registered: May 2011
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Very interesting. I wonder if "the" tick has changed or your body's reaction has changed, or both?
Also wonder if maybe some kind of chemical exposure they may have encountered could change this aspect. Certain phases of the tick's life?
Maybe the ticks are hanging out with too may fire ants and picking up some bad habits?
Like Greta, my initial bites did not itch. Though I've read that some do.
But, later, many satellite rashes did, for a weeks, the spot later on and off for months after the rashes faded - each time. And they looked liked swollen donuts, too. -
Yes, that's a thought too- maybe after getting TBI we become hyper-sensitized to the tick bite?
And I don't doubt that chemical/environmental factors have ticks morphing!
And I should add that although the early bites I got did not themselves itch, the Lyme rash did burn- it was not in the same place as the bite however- so I could distinguish not feeling anything at the bite site from these later bites...
Posts: 428 | From Midwest | Registered: Dec 2012
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lpkayak
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I didnt see a tick but i felt something behind my knee. I was too tired to get out of bed and look...i really thought it was a skin tag...but then it came off and got real itchy
It looks like an itty bitty bullseye and has been driving me nuts for a few days
I thought it couldnt be a tick cuz it itched
I have doxy left from my eye infection. I'll take that
U guys are way better than google...thx
-------------------- Lyme? Its complicated. Educate yourself. Posts: 13712 | From new england | Registered: Feb 2004
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I had an LLMD tell me once that initial/early tick bites don't itch - later tick bites tend to itch because you can develop antibodies to the tick's saliva.
Posts: 118 | From New England | Registered: Apr 2013
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LisaK
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I read that just 10 yrs ago ticks carried less disease than they do now, so it would be no surprise to me if a bite could itch more now than in the past just on that fact alone.
Any bite that you are sensitive to has the possibility of itching. and each person itches more or less according to their system's reaction.
-------------------- Be thankful in all things- even difficult times and sickness and trials - because there is something GOOD to be seen Posts: 3558 | From Eastern USA | Registered: Jul 2013
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Sammi
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From what I understand, lone star tick bites can really itch. I believe these ticks are now found in the northeast also.
lpkayak make sure you get photos of your rash and let your doctor know.
Posts: 4681 | Registered: Oct 2000
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posted
Mine do not itch. but hubby's itch him terribly (he does not have lyme). Funny, one bite on him and then all past bites, even a couple years old, start itching him. I never have a reaction to their bites.
Guess we all have different reactions!
Posts: 250 | From East Coast | Registered: Jan 2013
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Catgirl
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Mine itched like crazy when bit, and some of them still itch off and on, even though it's been a few years later.
-------------------- --Keep an open mind about everything. Also, remember to visit ACTIVISM (we can change things together). Posts: 5418 | From earth | Registered: Mar 2011
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lpkayak
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posted
Thieves oil stopped it...it took a few tim e s of putting it on
-------------------- Lyme? Its complicated. Educate yourself. Posts: 13712 | From new england | Registered: Feb 2004
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map1131
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posted
Lone star ticks and their bites itch like crazy and continue to itch for long periods.
I had Lone star bites in '05 that took weeks to heal. One month later they became infected tick bites again. This went on for 6 mths and finally my voodoo doc did some type tx that finally zapped it.
Or so I thought. I still have an itch so severe that I always look to see if there's another tick attached. Nothing on the skin. But for sure something under the skin. I'm not crazy this experience is freaking crazy.
Pam
-------------------- "Never, never, never, never, never give up" Winston Churchill Posts: 6478 | From Louisville, Ky | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
I was bit twice in 2010. The bites were like two weeks apart.
Went to the dr with the rash and they gave me doxy for about 3 weeks.
About a week later, I found another one behind my knee. (Ticks must like it behind knees), and since I was already taking doxy, I didn't go back to the dr.
About once a month, a welt will come up at the bite behind my knee. It will feel itchy, and it looks and acts just like a mosquito bite.
It has done that since 2010. Weird...
Posts: 213 | From Tennessee | Registered: Jan 2013
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Rivendell
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My tick bites have always itched.
Pam, thanks for sharing. Not only do mine itch (maybe they were lone star), but I've had the bullseye return and then spread over my body.
This would happen after a couple years of receiving the "standard" treatment.
And now in treatment with LLMD, when asked to stop an antibiotic for a month, I felt the itching return.
If I hadn't started back on the antibiotic, would have the same bullseyes senario started again?
This stuff is freaky.
Posts: 1358 | From Midwest | Registered: Apr 2009
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Rivendell
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Kayak,
you have been through so much. You don't need another tick bite.
Hope the itching stops and that you will be okay.
Posts: 1358 | From Midwest | Registered: Apr 2009
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posted
Mine never itched until this year. I've had six that I know of this summer, and I'm glad they itched because that's how I found three of them.
Posts: 117 | From Pennsylvania | Registered: Jul 2010
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