Home Forums General Discussion New tick bites!

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  • #458914
    sunny22
    Participant

    Hi folks. Just wanted to let you know they are out in full force here in SE, CT! I have been on a visit here and I am always concerned about going outside. I decided to wash a car on Saturday. I was out for an hour. Saw a tick on my hand, brushed it off and ran inside to shower and scrubb like a crazy person. Three days later I finally took a mirror to my back because something was bugging me and I had been having a headache since Sunday. There it was…the bullseye. Then today, I saw a bullseye further down my back. I tell you this because even though we are so hyper aware of the tick situation, I forget ( or I am in denial) that even if something had bitten me during that 1 1/2 hour period and I srcubbed it off, I still should have taken a mirror a day or two latter to do a thorough check, especially when feeling discomfot on my back and neck. Oye vey! Be careful!

    #458915
    sunny22
    Participant

    And I am thankful for bulls-eyes if we are lucky enough fo them to show up!!
    Sunny

    #458932
    Maz
    Keymaster

    Sunny, this is really rough to hear. Have you taken a pic of the bullseye to document it and been able to get treatment with high dose abx for a good month or so? I swear those little devils fall out of trees, carried by birds. My last known tick bite on my scalp was just from walking up my drive to the mailbox. I didn’t touch a blade of grass on the way. One thing to be careful about is not to scratch, scrub or rub ticks off…or use anything to irritate the tick to spew its gut contents (match, oil, alcohol, soap, etc) There is a real technique to slowly and painstakingly detach them so that every body part pulls away and nothing is left behind.

    Hope you’re able to get prompt treatment! If you get bitten again, once it’s detached, be sure to keep it in a sealed baggie or pill bottle with a damp cotton ball, because it’s much easier and cheaper to send the tick off to test for infections than to rely on standard human tests.

    #458941
    sunny22
    Participant

    Hi Maz,
    Yes, I took pics (which was hard to do my myself, on the back!) and left my desperate msg for the good Dr. the evening that I found this. This is the 4th bite in under 2 years! I am so thankful to be his patient as I dont know of any other doctor other than this LLMD that would give me the proper tx. He wanted to know if I could give a description of the tick. I could not as the first one that I saw on my hand that was not attached, I quickly swatted and ran to the shower. I never saw the other two on my back. They must have fallen from the trees I was under, into the open neck of my t-shirt. After scrubbing franticly, I never imagined I got bitten on my back. I understand there is concern for the Pohassen virus year! He has me on Cefdenir/Omnicef 2x a day for 30 days. In addition, I have been on Zith. He said stay on that too. As a reminder, I cant take Doxy & Mino due to DILE. I just hope this is powerful enough. If you have any suggestions, please feel free. I am hoping this does the work. This area by the water here is just full of ticks. I have been seeing them since Feb. This was the first day I have stayed outside longer than a few minutes (because this area is loaded). No one else seems to get bitten (I took an informal poll). I wonder if people with certain pheromones attract ticks the way mosquitoes are atracted to certain pheromones. My brother’s home is at the other beach. The yard is loaded with ticks yet he has no fear because he says they dont touch him (He mows the lawn!). I didnt use my Honey Birch Farms spray because I knew I would get wet washing cars. But I probably should have since I dont have a hazmat suit!

    #458947
    Maz
    Keymaster

    Sunny, well done getting the rash pics, especially as you had to do it alone! Very good to hear Dr. M. is helping and you’re able to give the infection(s) a swift, high whack of a dose! Let’s hope that’s the end of it. I recall my first doc saying some people were “tick magnets.” A friend gets repeatedly bitten and infected every year and was told to wear a hazmat suit when gardening. He got so hot in it, he threw it out! Maybe the ideal is to soak outdoor clothes in permethrin, tie hair back, wear a hat, long pants, long sleeves and tuck pant legs into socks! Very attractive, don’t you think? Then spray exposed areas. Haha. Sucks, but maybe next time, just take the car thru the drive-thru car wash. Just not worth the agro. By all accounts, this tick season is going to be one of the worst yet.

    #458951
    sunny22
    Participant

    Yes, I think it has something to do with pheromones.
    Each time I got bitten in the last 2 years, the ticks got to me thru the neck hole of a shirt.
    A car wash is safer!!!

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