Calling the doctor tomorrow

tiredmommy

Well-Known Member
Duckie may have two tick bites, one on each inner thigh. She was playing at some friends' house that backs up to a wooded area. Sigh. :faint:
 

totoro

Mom? What's a difficult child?
I hope she is OK.
We don't get a lot of ticks here. But at the Bark Parks there seems to be a lot, the trees and grass. Of course Dexter the Dog gets one almost 3 times a week...
Ours are no big deal luckily.
 

SRL

Active Member
Take a picture now and again if there are any changes so you'll have a record in the future, or in the event you'd need to consult another doctor.
 

busywend

Well-Known Member
I think you can remove them with tweezers, but you have to be sure to get the entire thing or there can be problems. So, hopefully, that is all the doctor needs to do - remove them....carefully...

Sorry for difficult children trauma that this may cause.
 

Marguerite

Active Member
We get these. Yes, you can remove them with tweezers. Better to get them out ASAP because of the risk of allergic reaction and further irritation/inflammation from the ticks' saliva.

Do not put anything on the tick to kill it - it only makes them cranky (they're arachnids, not insects) and that can make them pump out more poison faster. Better to just grab the ticks with tweezers and nothing else. Once the tick is out, dab on a bit of antiseptic. Keep the tick in a small bottle if you want to show them to the doctor.

At this time of your year, those ticks should be small, maybe even hatchlings. Almost impossible to see. If they are too small to see well enough to grab with tweezers then let the doctor do it (with magnifier glasses) and don't worry too much. There's not a lot of damage baby ticks can do, in 24 hours.

Marg
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
Praying it amounts to nothing and hoping they weren't deer ticks!! Tick bites send fear running through me and this time of year, the dogs are constantly bringing them in. In fact, I ran out of Frontline = time to get more.
 

tiredmommy

Well-Known Member
It's completely better this morning so I'm not taking her in. I took photos last night so I'll save them just in case. husband thinks the cloth from her shorts rubbed on the area to cause the redness (kind of like scratching the area) rather than the redness being caused by a bite. I'll keep an eye on the area.
 

Fran

Former desparate mom
Welcome to my world. I never even saw a tick until I moved to the woods. LOL. Actually it's walking the dogs in the woods that is the problem. I get several a summer. We don't have much Lyme Disease in this area, so I pull them out with tweezer, wash thoroughly and move on. They itch something awful but I tend to react strongly to any sort of invasion to my body. (viral, insect etc) I have had the poor luck to have had the pinchers of the little buggers left in and they are a bear. I scratch, itch and itch some more. I had two injected last summer by the dermatologist.
The only answer is to wear long slacks tucked into your socks. Long sleeves and preferably a hoodie to keep them off your hair/head. Not such an easy thing in the NC summer heat.
husband had antibiotics for a tick and it's bite because it got red and swollen. They drew blood but fortunately no Lyme. He doesn't get out there much but he is cautious when it comes to diseases. I tend to slough it off but one day I'll end up flat on my back. Just different ways of dealing with stuff.
With Duckie's allergies I can imagine you were very concerned.
 

Marguerite

Active Member
The only answer is to wear long slacks tucked into your socks. Long sleeves and preferably a hoodie to keep them off your hair/head. Not such an easy thing in the NC summer heat.

Fran, we have this problem in the Aussie heat and humidity. Try getting your hands on (or making) long loose lightweight cotton trousers, and tucking those into your hiking boots. On top, wear a long-sleeved muslin shirt. The thin fabric is still a barrier to the ticks (as long as the weave is tight enough - doesn't need to be very tight) but still sheer enough to let the breeze through. Alternatively, wear a long muslin caftan over your usual clothing. The ticks are more likely to cling to outer clothing anyway, and crawl up it until they can reach skin somewhere, somehow. The longer the journey, the better chance you have of spotting them. And when you remove the caftan, any ticks in it will not end up on you.

Alternatively - if you have bare legs and arms, make sure your clothing is also very loose and chances are, you'll see the crittur (or feel it when it reaches skin) and the loose clothing will easily allow you to see it and brush it off before it latches on.

As for husband's swelling at the bite site - antibiotics will be useless. It's purely a histamine reaction because he's sensitised to the tick saliva. We get the same reaction here - me and difficult child 3. I CAN'T take antibiotics except under rare circumstances. So we tough it out. Antihistamines help a lot.

Marg
 

Fran

Former desparate mom
Marguerite, I keep thinking of hospital isolation gowns that are very thin and sheer with elastic at the wrist and ankles. Maybe I should make one with a hood. LOL. Sounds like an outfit out of 2001 Space Odyssey. Too funny.
 

Marguerite

Active Member
Hey, whatever works.

I actually scavenged an old hospital gown from years ago, back when they were all cloth, and I use it for dirty jobs around the place such as painting. There's nothing like a gown with rib trim at the sleeves that ties at the back, for keeping the paint off your clothes.
 
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