First A Spider Bite, Now A Tick Bite

[Tarot Farm]

I had quite a scare with a tiny spider that bit me about a week ago. Going to the Dr was no help; other than to make him some money.

Well, I had a tick attached to the back of my knee today. It was a tiny tick (seed tick size) and it had already dig 'in' to the back of my knee. I dug ti out and used peroxide on the hole it left. Now the darned thing is itching me to death. I do not want to 'stratch it', so I can see if it is going to make a 'bulls eye' (Lyme disease).

I was talking to one of my neighbors today and she had a tick dig into her arm. It looks terrible! It has lots of little red blisters all around the bite area.
She is a 'tight wad' and will not go to the Dr about this tick bite. She is sure that it is a tick bite, as she said she pulled off a tiny tick about the size of a seed bead....so, now I am really worried about the tick bite I have.

Does anyone know if Lyme disease also makes little blisters around the bite area? I have only heard about Lyme disease making a bulls eye around the bite. I did a few searches and all I see is to look for a bulls eye around the bite...nothing about little red blisters.

So help me, I am going to die before I can get moved away from this place!

[MELOC]

i have been to the doc twice for tick bites. one that got red and made a red circle and another that was embedded in my naval.

the physicians ass that saw me for the red bite said that it would have "raised" if i had lyme disease. my bite was red and about the size of a nickel or a quarter. it itched but did not raise up. it was not like a bullseye but just a large red mark that kept getting bigger and freaking me out. she said it was a "local reaction to the bite".

i had the head of a tick that i could not coax out of my navel (i tried vasaline and later a hot match) removed at the emergency room because it started to itch and get red. i had pulled out the tick and left the head in. i could not get it out myself, the deep skin in the abdomal is sort of tough. when the needle started going "TINK...TINK", i had to stop diggin. just a local reaction there too.

i don't know about blisters. i would see a doctor if that is possible just to be sure. a guy i used to work with has a wife who got lyme disease and has suffered terribly. in my opinion, i would bet it is just a reaction but the risks are high. definately look for the bullseye and if the thing raises or raises in a ring pattern around the bite.

i have probably had 50 tick bites. i remove about a dozen every trip to two of my favorite morel hunting spots. it is a given...i will have ticks on me if i go there. i don't always find them all in the field. i can say two things that probably cancel each other out. one...i have had so many tick bites and have never had a problem and the odds are against it. two...i have had many bites but only a few have given me cause for concern. when i reacted, i got attention.

the last thing i can say is that you should get that head out. it will get infected possibly. it will definately itch until you do remove it or until it grows out, if it does.

good luck.

[rr]

The Lyme disease rash can vary quite a bit, unfortunately. There's also some difference of opinion among doctors about how long it lasts, whether there will be just one rash from a single tick feeding and whether the skin of the rash is always elevated a bit from the skin. Most doctors say that in their experience, the rashes don't itch, at least after a few days has passed.
Web searches tend to turn up the most common or most interesting variants but miss some others. (As with so many subjects, it tends to become painfully clear that many, many sites have simply plagiarized the same source for their information.)
To make it even more miserably complicated, there are two types of tests: one is often wrong and the other is better but not reliably.
And there are diseases that mimic the Lyme rash: granuloma annulare, a rash produced by sarcoidosis, granulomatous rheumatoid arthritis and others. (Some of these are usually harmless.)
Nevertheless, you don't want to have untreated Lyme disease because of the possible damage it can do.
I'm sorry I'm not able to offer very helpful advice. All I can say is that if you're suspicious -- and it sounds like you have reason to be -- it's probably a good idea to get some followup testing after a little time has passed -- a couple months maybe -- to let telltale antibodies develop in your body, but before neurological damage is likely.
I hope it's nothing -- there's a good chance that's the case.
rr

[FreightTrain]

ive been bit by 100s of ticks... walking from MAine to Georgia across the Mtns and canoeing across the country with a dog will do that to ya... i just "pick em and flick em". only time ive ever been concerned is one time when i was bit, by the next AM there was a brite red ring around the bite site... I checked the CDC website for ticks at the time from a hiker Hostel.... turns out it was allergic reaction to the ticks saliva... no problems.. it cleared up in a few days...

a bullseye can turn up anywere but most likely wont be around the bite.... a true bullseye grows in size daily and a allergic reaction bullseye will stay the same size.

I know several people who have Lyme disease .... its bad news!! ya never get rid of it!

i also know several hikers who have been bit by a brown recluse..
some were knocked off the trail for the remainder of the year... one was able to continue hiking after a week or two off.

[Tango]

I was bitten by a spider a year and a half ago and it became infected within 24 hours. The most painful bite from any small critter I've ever gotten. Way more painful than a wasp or hornet. Had to go to the doctor for antibiotics. On the other hand ticks have latched on to me more often despite my precautions and they are merely a nuisance and a worry about lyme disease.
Critter bites are a fact of life; education is your best defense.

[dixiedoodle]

Originally Posted by Tarot Farm

I had quite a scare with a tiny spider that bit me about a week ago. Going to the Dr was no help; other than to make him some money.

Well, I had a tick attached to the back of my knee today. It was a tiny tick (seed tick size) and it had already dig 'in' to the back of my knee. I dug ti out and used peroxide on the hole it left. Now the darned thing is itching me to death. I do not want to 'stratch it', so I can see if it is going to make a 'bulls eye' (Lyme disease).

I was talking to one of my neighbors today and she had a tick dig into her arm. It looks terrible! It has lots of little red blisters all around the bite area.
She is a 'tight wad' and will not go to the Dr about this tick bite. She is sure that it is a tick bite, as she said she pulled off a tiny tick about the size of a seed bead....so, now I am really worried about the tick bite I have.

Does anyone know if Lyme disease also makes little blisters around the bite area? I have only heard about Lyme disease making a bulls eye around the bite. I did a few searches and all I see is to look for a bulls eye around the bite...nothing about little red blisters.

So help me, I am going to die before I can get moved away from this place!

my husband got bit quite a few years ago. It itched, he got Rocky mtn fever. Didn,t bother him much. Just itching and tiny spots on bottom of feet and palm of hands. Dr. gave him tetrocyclineTry baking soda and some butter-milk rub on the bite site.That may relive the itching.Just keep eye on it .You will get tiny spots on hands and bottom of feet,that I do know.

[ChiliPalmer]

There are no ticks on the west coast. People occasionally think I'm squeamish and girly, right until they kill a moc or pick out a tick or try to get rid of a horde of banana spiders and I tell them we don't have these things on the west coast.

Then they understand. (LOL)

Anyhow, I digress. We like to backpack in Georgia and there's the one place that we always pick up some ticks. Sleep in long clothes, rubber bands around ankles and wrists, get ticks anyhow. I'm sure you did this already, but slap something on that (iodine, betadine, peroxide, witch hazel, bag balm), keep it clean and dry and allow air to get to it. There is a breakable vial of some green stuff we used to keep in the camper for itchy bites, I don't recall the name of it though (sorry). If there is an obvious or alarming change, see a doc. Other than creeping me out, ticks are not a big concern for us, we just take care of them and watch them carefully.

[carly]

Asking for real medical advice on a forum is asking for trouble. I am a former ER nurse and rescue squad medic.

GO TO YOUR DOCTOR. Do not fool around with this. It could be nothing or the worst thing you don't want to deal with.

Never ask a musician to shoe a horse.

[MarleneS]

I'm one of those people go get the drive you insane itch...and sometimes a large raised red bump from tick bites. My doctor said having the itch reaction is actually for the better because you will know you have a tick before it has a chance to do any harm. Something about it takes time for the tick to do it's thing with lyme disease and Rocky Mountain fever - but I haven't a clue what the time line is.

This might gross some of you out but the best thing I've found for getting a tick to backout is the little scoop thing with the slit in it that comes with the animals tick meds. Just make sure you sanitize it after each use to be on the safe side. Funny, how people adapt -- prior to living where there are lots of ticks - the idea of even having one of the nasty critters on me grossed me out.

And shame on the person who said they pick and flick -- leaving them to bite again, and reproduce??? Kill 'em!

Hugs
Marlene

[Wolf Flower]

Originally Posted by ChiliPalmer

There are no ticks on the west coast.

Somebody forgot to tell the ticks I pick out of dogs every day here in California.

I had embedded ticks on ME for the first time in my life this year... they hurt, and itched like crazy for about three weeks. No blisters or bulls-eye, but they were red and raised and irritated. It was about four months ago and I can still see the spots where they attached. Nasty.

[Oxankle]

I generally ignore them until they get large enough to get my fingers on. Digging them out with scrapers does not suit my fancy. If a hot bath and soap does not dislodge them they wait until I can get around to them. Worse I ever get now is a little welt like a mosquito bite.

I have been bitten by so many ticks that my telephone number is posted on their restroom walls. Only once have I been bothered, and at the time I did not know it was a tick--Dr. treated me for RM Spotted Fever and I improved within two days. I have an idea that immunity to tick bites and lyme disease is something that is very much individual. Thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of people are bitten by ticks every year and we hear only of the few disasters. In most of the Southern or Southeastern part of the USA you could not venture outdoors if you were afraid of ticks.
Ox

[wilderness1989]

If you look here you will find what I believe to be good information about tick bites. If you need more information do a search on the site for"tick bite".http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fir...-bites/FA00062
Hope this helps.

[Ravenlost]

The ticks are so bad here that from Spring to mid-Summer I keep a jar of bleach water next to the bed for ticks I find crawling on me at night! Of course, I keep telling my DH that if he'd keep the seven dogs out of the bedroom at night we wouldn't have this problem! (We treat all the dogs with Frontline, but that doesn't keep them from bringing ticks into the house.)

I've been bitten by ticks my entire life. I just pull them off and flush them. Right now I have a tick bite that is red, raised and itchy as all get-out. The bite is about the size of a dime and I know it's going to itch for a long time. I put Tea Tree Oil on tick bites and it definitely helps the itching.

I hate ticks.

[ChiliPalmer]

Wolf Flower, that is genuinely the first case I've ever seen, heard or read about. Between ticks and Los Angelinos, you sure got the short end of the stick.

[homebirtha]

How quickly did the reaction start? if it was shortly after you removed the tick, it's probably not lyme. The itching sounds more like a reaction to a localized infection, not lyme. I've had two tick bite spots that acted like that. Itchy and weird-looking for awhile. The one still has a hard, little raised bump where it was.

I personally wouldn't waste money on a doctor at this point. They will most likely run the bloodwork for lyme, which won't work this soon after the bite. And put you on prophalactic antibiotics, which is a bad idea as it just helps bacteria build up more resistance to abx. Put some calendula or tea tree oil on it. If it gets really bad, go see someone. If you start developing lyme symptoms, go see someone. But an itchy rash over the bite isn't really a lyme symptom.

Also, we save deer ticks that we have found embedded in family members. If someone started showing symptoms, they can test the tick more accurately then your blood.

[shadowwalker]

If you do get treated for lyme desease watch bieng out in the sun. Last year I was well on my way to my usual tan. I got it and the medicine caused migrane type headaches ad sunburn. I haven't had a sunburn in twenty years.I could stay in the sun only a couple hours at most.

[Wolf Flower]

Originally Posted by ChiliPalmer

Wolf Flower, that is genuinely the first case I've ever seen, heard or read about. Between ticks and Los Angelinos, you sure got the short end of the stick.

Did someone actually convince you that ticks don't exist on the West coast? You've had your chain yanked!

I will say that the ticks around here really seem to prefer critters over people. I've lived on the West coast all my life, done plenty of hiking and camping, and though I've seen them crawling on me before, this was the first time I'd had a tick bite me.

I'm a dog groomer by trade, and I see tick-infested dogs all the time.

But, fortunately for me and Los Angeles, I'm on the OTHER end of California.

[e.alleg]

normally spiders don't bite people. I thought a spider bit me one time when I was sleeping it turned out to be a millipede or something, the doc said spiders don't bite except 2 or 3 rare ones.

[ChiliPalmer]

Originally Posted by Wolf Flower

But, fortunately for me and Los Angeles, I'm on the OTHER end of California.

LOL! I'm with you in spirit; a person can't possibly be far enough away from Los Angeles. Thems just crazy folk right there.

No, no one convinced me of it. My folks are Washingtonians going back several generations. Quite literally at that, my grandfather's side is Native American. I've backpacked and camped all over, through and around Washington, the Cascades and the Blue Mountains. Some northern Oregon and Klamath Falls region, but not as familiar with it. If I wasn't backpacking or backcountry camping, I was on the rodeo circuit (it was a family thing, older brother and I kind of went along to appease Dad and the horse-crazy sister who actually competed in Vegas). Again all over Washington, throw in more Oregon and add Idaho and Montana. With all this, I didn't know what a tick so much as looked like until I visited Mom in Michigan one summer. Granted, I think my experience with California is limited to a summer in Sacramento when I was four (Mom was stationed there) and driving through it (trying not to stop, so's I didn't have to meet crazy Californians).

I still think you got jipped and, having backpacked in Georgia, you have my utmost empathy. I'll take coyotes and rattlers any day over what folks get in these other states; gives me the willies.

[mrglock27]

there's definately ticks in WA. I saw alot on a dog on whidbey island, WA and had 'em all over me at a little lake by moses lake, WA. and my friend got one in his arm in Yelm, WA.