Tick bites!

[nightshade]

Did the mouthparts come away with the tick? this could explain the local infection/swelling.
You have been prescribed antibiotics so there is no reason to supose that you will contract lyme disease, unfortunately just the worry can produce symptoms such as you describe. Pop back to the GP to have your mind put at rest and check the site of the tick bite. You will be fine

[Hobjob]

This sounds like a cellulitis from the original bite - which itself does sound like a tick bite. Pain in the rash is not a symptom of Lyme Dis.

IMHO Fluclox 250 is a homeopathic dose!

You should seek help asap from your GP.

A proper does of Amoxicillin and flucloxacillin should sort you out, and also kill any Lyme borrelia that are floating around, assuming that you do not have an abscess.

Originally Posted by Stueysmummy

Hi everyone,

I've been doing a lot of research into tick bites as I was bitten by something 9 days ago which I assumed was a tick. Well, I say bitten - my husband spotted it on my back below my left shoulder at midnight and it was quite large and bulbous, and grey in colour and he thought it was a tick. Not being a bug lover, I declined to look in the mirror until he had removed it. I felt it with my finger (before he had seen what it was - I assumed it was a spot as it felt soft!) and I would say it was probably about 1/2 cm to 1 cm in size.

He wanted to burn it off, but remembering a time when my cat had a tick on her face a year ago, and the vet saying not to burn it off as it can cause distress to the tick and make them inject poison/infection into the blood, I quickly stopped him! He instead removed it with his fingers using a tissue as we had nothing else we thought we could use, and flushed it down the toilet!

It hurt when he pulled it off my back and since then I have had a red mark in it's place which is painful, such as when clothes rub against it or if it is touched, and I cannot lean on that shoulder for the same reason. I check in the mirror every day to see if it is reducing in size and yesterday evening I noticed the red mark had doubled in size, looking more like a rash. This morning when I looked it seemed to be about 4 times bigger and the first thing I noticed was when I woke up and rolled onto my back and the pain was awful!

I have been to see my practice nurse and she prescribed me with Flucloxacillin 250mg capsules to take 4 times a day, and Hydrocortisone cream 1% to apply to the rash. I initially spoke to my GP the day after the tick was removed and he said not to worry as I had not been to the Lake District (I live in York and don't go in fields/long grass etc) unless a rash appeared or if it became more painful, which has now happened 9 days later.

The nurse didn't seem bothered much by it and only said if it didn't start to go down, or feels worse over the next 24 hours to go back and see her, or the out of hours service at the weekend.

After reading various pieces of information on the net about Lyme disease etc and tick bites, I'm now worried that I may have "caught" something. I've had a headach for about 2-3 days and feel sick off and on for no reason I can think of. My neck and shoulders feel a bit stiff and tender and I feel a bit rubbish is the only way I can put it! I don't have a fever/temp but I do seem to get chills today. The area also feels hot now, which has come on in the last hour or so.

Can anyone advise at what point I should go back to the nurse/GP and how soon I could expect the rash/pain/stiffness to lessen/disappear??

Thank you for any advice and sorry for the long post. x

[outdoors]

i was away campin last week and i wasn't in tick country, but guess what i got bit with a tick , did'nt notice till a couple o' days... they must like the taste o' me ......

[earthdragon64]

This website may have been linked to earlier in the thread, but I think it's a good one to repeat;

Ticks - Lyme Disease & other tick borne diseases in Britain

It has straightforward information for anyone worried about tick bites, including how to remove one that has bitten, and just as importantly how not to remove them.

[Jason Claxton]

I know it is said that ticks get in the armpits and the groin area ,but I have never found them there,mostly I have found them around my waist,so maybe they are hitching a ride on my rucksack and crawling off it,the other place I generally find them is along the sockline,the horrible thing about ticks is they may brush off on to your boots and be waiting for you the next time you put them on

[ChrisR]

Originally Posted by Jason Claxton

the horrible thing about ticks is they may brush off on to your boots and be waiting for you the next time you put them on

I haven't tried it yet (I don't live in a tick area) but I think freezing the socks or (more fun) lightly mist them with water and stick them in the microwave for a minute ... that should kill em

[Jason Claxton]

Originally Posted by ChrisR

I haven't tried it yet (I don't live in a tick area) but I think freezing the socks or (more fun) lightly mist them with water and stick them in the microwave for a minute ... that should kill em

Oh yeh its payback time Chris ,LOL

[Trik]

Originally Posted by Jason Claxton

I know it is said that ticks get in the armpits and the groin area, but I have never found them there

In my fairly-considerable experience, they get anywhere on your body. My record is 10 in one go and they were all over me. Spare a thought for our vet, who had a tick on her eyelid.

Trik

[Jason Claxton]

One on the eyelid Trik,that is a new one.As Chris says ,put the blighters in the machine that goes ping!!

[Trik]

Good idea, but while you are travelling home, they will certainly migrate round your body - little b*st**ds do have eight legs after all, and are pretty nippy (no pun intended ). Best thing I found is to brush your clothes, footwear and skin vigorously after you have left the tick area. Since I started doing that, I haven`t had an infestation. Ha! that`s jinxed it for next season!

Trik