Today, there is absolutely no evidence it was ever there. The attachment seemed to be superficial as it came out very easily and there was a piece of skin in the mouth. No tick parts left in the head.

Chances are her ped would not think he should take action by putting her on abx, since there is no mark left, and no evidence of illness. That's the mentality round these parts.

From years of battling Lyme and Babs, I have lots of antibiotics on hand. I change protocols frequently and probably have 6 different types. I already started her on minocycline, a 100 mg. dose last night, and then another this morn. Where do I go from here?

I hate to be put in the position of treating her myself, but I am not sure I have any other choices. IMO, the risk is too much. She has always been healthy as a horse, and hasn't even missed a single day of school in several years. Would like to keep it that way!

Even if I called the LLMD and arranged to take her in, we are losing valuable time waiting even a day, IMO. Getting the antibiotics into her system right away seems important to me.

Can you call Dr. Jones and get his advice? From what I understand, they are very good at consulting over the phone. He is very aggressive in protecting children from risk, and I would trust what they suggest.

BTW, tetracycline family antibiotics, as I am sure you know, are good for both Lyme and Ehrlichia infections.

Best of all, let's hope she takes meds, with absolutely no symptoms at any point, and you end up wondering if it was even necessary.

I also emailed my LLMD to pose the hypothetical question, asking him what he generally recommends in a situation like this. I know his recs have evolved over the years, as he has become more familiar with all this.

Guess I need to update myself on the tetracycline family of antibiotics as well. I cannot remember which ones are which. Since she is 14, she is technically adult size, which is good. My LLMD will gladly treat her if anything develops. I just don't want to have to get that far.

To anyone who knows... that research where a single dose of doxy was given less than 24 hours after the bite .. is that pretty much crap, or is it any good? Are doctors using that protocol for early treatment of bites to be on the safe side? After all, didn't that end up in one of the top medical journals?

In the meantime, anyone have contact info for Dr. Jones' office? I would think if I can get someone on the phone, and explain the situation, they probably have standard recs. So will hope for the best. But in the meantime, until I hear back from one of these doctors, I will keep doing what I am doing.. the minocycline.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

If it were my child, I'd probably have begun antibiotics immediately, then left a message with our LLMD for guidance. Not giving you advice, just telling you what I would have done in the same situation.

I've thought this scenario through many times and am due to speak with our LLMD today. It's a question I plan to pose to him.

I've always wondered if it happened if it would be better to take my son to the ER to have the tick removed, or would I actually be more informed and thus do a better job of it myself. Also thought I'd take photographs of the attached tick before removing it.

I don't think Mino will cover ehrlichiosis. Doxy is best for now, then you could follow with mino if need be.

When I had my last tick bite, I didn't show any signs of illness until about 9 days later. I was on doxy within 5 hrs of finding the tick. I've had problems ever since.

Hope this helps!

Dr Charles Ray Jones
New Haven, CT
Phone: 203 - 772 - 1123
FAX: 1 - 203 - 772 - 0682

Tetracyclines are minocycline, doxycycline, and tetracycline. One dose is useless!!!!! To find recommeded amounts of various meds, you can look at Dr. Burrascanno's protocol. http://www.ilads.org/burrascano_1102.html

But Dr. Jones is the best for kids.

My son started tetra at 250 mg, 3x a day when he was 14. At 14 the teeth are formed so discoloring is not an issue.

I think you are wise to begin treatment right away.

From Dr. B's guidelines:
TICK BITES -- Embedded Deer Tick With No Signs or Symptoms of Lyme (see appendix)
Decide to treat based on the type of tick, whether it came from an endemic area and percent infected, how it was removed, and length of attachment (nymphs: at least one day; adults: anecdotally, as little as four hours). The risk of transmission is greater if the tick is engorged, or of it was removed improperly allowing the tick's contents to spill into the bite wound. High risk bites are treated as follows (remember the possibility of coinfection!):
1. Adults: Oral therapy for 21 days.
2. Pregnancy: Amoxicillin 1000 mg q6h for 6 weeks. Test for Babesia, Bartonella and Ehrlichia.
Alternative: Cefuroxime axetil 1000 mg q12h for 6 weeks.
3. Young Children: Oral therapy for 21 days.

Here is Dr. Jones' contact info:

Dr. Charles Ray Jones
203-772-1123
Fax 203-772-0682

Good luck to you,
Melanie

At least I am on the right track. I knew doxy would be the better choice, but I do not have any on hand. That's why I went to the mino, since I knew it is in the same family.

For now, I am going to get a fax out to Dr. Jones to see if I can get a response. Already called this number twice and it is busy. As expected.

When I do get an answer to this, I will post it. I think we all need to know how to react if a healthy member of our family is bitten by a tick. As we all know all too well, time is a critical factor. And we cannot rely on the typical ER to do the right thing.

I asked my former LLMD about this. She said the one dose of doxy was not enough. When I again asked what to do her response was that, and this is tricky, she had heard that a child can be taken from the parents by social services for giving unprescribed medicine. Charles05, are you reading this?

I have been trying to locate a doctor nearby that could take my daughter right away and treat prophylacticly. I'm leaning toward an IM injection of rocephin or bicillin, not sure which, followed by high dose abx for 8 weeks or more.

Sorry I'm not more help. Wish I knew what an LLMD does when their child has an engorged tick or a bull's eye rash.

janet

quote:

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Originally posted by janet thomas:

I asked my former LLMD about this. She said the one dose of doxy was not enough. When I again asked what to do her response was that, and this is tricky, she had heard that a child can be taken from the parents by social services for giving unprescribed medicine. Charles05, are you reading this?

]

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Now that's scary. I wondered about this, and the consequences from this. Think I should go back and edit my post? The parts where I said what I did last night and this morn?

Well, I have made contacts with both docs and hopefully I will hear back from someone on this.

Thanks for the support. It's kinda distorted, huh? We are doing our best to protect our kids from living a life of hell, and there is a risk in doing that.

I already have a response....

For any tick bite, no symptoms, as soon as possible .... start amoxicillin, 500 mg. 2 times a day for 30 days. No less than 30 days!!!

If she develops any symptoms at all ... would need to go on 2 different antibiotics, initiate testing, etc. at this point.

Then, of course whatever happens.

For now, I am on the phone with my LLMD to get things done. Hopefully, they will go with that plan, since I can tell them I consulted with the best!

Hope this helps others who find themselves in the same situation.

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Sonoma County Lyme Support
[email protected]

I say treat and to heck with the political correctness.. especially when a child is involved.

When the IDIOTS start playing FAIR and taking our little ones situation seriously.. I will let them handle it. Not until.

You said..

"To anyone who knows... that research where a single dose of doxy was given less than 24 hours after the bite .. is that pretty much crap, or is it any good?"

Pretty much crap.

Let us know how you all are doing. OK?

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If you get the choice to sit it out or dance...

I am happy to hear that the light from the end of the tunnel is shining in. Just a word of the wise though. I may be way out of line when I say this, and if I am, I am sorry, but it comes from the best intentions. PLEASE, BE CAREFUL to all who have posted with givening this doctor's full name and information. I have been WARNED myself, and I am by no means trying to dictate what should go on here, I am just trying to share precautionary steps.

Just so you know, AND ALL OF YOU SHOULD KNOW, this doctor who's last name begins with a J has BEEN REPORTED TO THE MEDICAL BOARD for SERIOUS FRAUD AND MALPRACTICE, and he is really under scrutiney here. AND OF COURSE, these charges are CERTAINLY not true. HE has also dodged this bullet before, BUT THEY ARE SCREENING HIS PRESCRIPTIONS, and really making life HELL for him. I am WORRIED myself, AND I THINK YOU ALL SHOULD BE TOO!

I removed a tick from my arm one year ago. It left the tiniest insignificant mark and no rash developed. It looked really benign but I got full blown Lyme. A tick bite doesn't have to look bad to be bad.