Only me Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 My daughter found a tick embedded in her armpit area today. She works outside every day so she isn't 100% sure how long it's been there. She doesn't think longer than 36 hours. It was very small but she also thinks she would had noticed it when she shaves if it was there longer than today. She discovered it while shaving. My husband pulled it out but the head broke off. He thinks he got all the pieces out but isn't sure. Is there anything else she should do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saddlemomma Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 If the tick was still tiny, it hadn't been there very long. However, since you didn't get the head, you should definitely tell her to visit her Dr. Depending on the type of tick (she should keep it in a baggie filled with alcohol to take to the Dr's office) she may need to take doxycycline(?). Anyway, there are a host of diseases related to tick bites; not just Lyme Disease. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 What kind of tick and where do you live? You should Google tick-borne diseases in your area and see a doctor if it's a tick that could be carrying any kind of disease. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 Yes, I would go to the doctor. My son had a tick so severely embedded, all I could see were two hind legs. The doctor had to cut it out. He was then treated with a course of doxycycline. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 Yes, I would go to the doctor. My son had a tick so severely embedded, all I could see were two hind legs. The doctor had to cut it out. He was then treated with a course of doxycycline. how did you ever spot it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjeepa Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 My ds is recovering from being very ill from Lyme. I would recommend going to the doctor and possibly getting the tick tested. Lyme is awful and a preventive dose of doxy might be in order until you get the tick results back. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 If you still have the tick, see if you can get it tested--the tests on ticks are more reliable. If the tick was still tiny, it hadn't been there very long. I used to think that, but my mom told me that she had a tick on her back that she couldn't reach and my grandma (who she's living with) couldn't see it to get it out. It was imbedded for more than 2 days before she could get to the dr. to have it removed. I don't know why it didn't get big and engorged (maybe it was dying or something?). Thankfully she didn't get a tick-borne illness. My dh has Lyme and a couple of other tick-borne illnesses that led to his being disabled back in 2000. I'd err on the side of caution. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 I would probably make sure it's clean, put antibiotic cream on it, and then keep an eye on it. If it starts to show redness or anything else unusual, I'd see a doctor. We live in an area where we generally find embedded ticks on us a few times each summer. I'm a lot more careful these days about keeping an eye on where they had been embedded and paying attention to unusual symptoms, but otherwise I don't do much. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 how did you ever spot it? It itched. He came to me asking if there was a bug bite or what it was on his back because it was itchy. There was a tiny black dot that looked very much like a freckle. Using a magnifying glass, I could see that there were two little "threads " protruding - the legs. Also, the area was raised up in a bump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 I used to think that, but my mom told me that she had a tick on her back that she couldn't reach and my grandma (who she's living with) couldn't see it to get it out. It was imbedded for more than 2 days before she could get to the dr. to have it removed. I don't know why it didn't get big and engorged (maybe it was dying or something?). Thankfully she didn't get a tick-borne illness. My dh has Lyme and a couple of other tick-borne illnesses that led to his being disabled back in 2000. I'd err on the side of caution. Just like how human babies fill baby-sized tummies and adults fill adult-sized tummies. Nymphs can be so itty bitty. Filling up will not make them adult-sized. My family deals with ticks on a routine basis, and we've found some pretty full ones a small number of times. They're generally noticed (itchy) before very long. But we found a kitten in my engine last year and, even with all my experience, I didn't recognize the things on her as ticks right away! I'd never seen them so engorged in person before. I was gagging like crazy, and nearly lost my lunch. And I'm practically an expert tick remover! Anyway, yeah. Tick size may vary greatly. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 Just like how human babies fill baby-sized tummies and adults fill adult-sized tummies. Nymphs can be so itty bitty. Filling up will not make them adult-sized. My family deals with ticks on a routine basis, and we've found some pretty full ones a small number of times. They're generally noticed (itchy) before very long. But we found a kitten in my engine last year and, even with all my experience, I didn't recognize the things on her as ticks right away! I'd never seen them so engorged in person before. I was gagging like crazy, and nearly lost my lunch. And I'm practically an expert tick remover! Anyway, yeah. Tick size may vary greatly. Blech! I did know the size varies greatly, but every picture I've ever seen of an engorged tick compared to a regular one showed a marked difference in size--so it was surprising to know for certain that a tick had been attached for a minimum of 2 full days yet was still small--and a good reminder too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remudamom Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 Try to get minocycline, not doxy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasider Posted June 22, 2017 Share Posted June 22, 2017 Just like how human babies fill baby-sized tummies and adults fill adult-sized tummies. Nymphs can be so itty bitty. Filling up will not make them adult-sized. My family deals with ticks on a routine basis, and we've found some pretty full ones a small number of times. They're generally noticed (itchy) before very long. But we found a kitten in my engine last year and, even with all my experience, I didn't recognize the things on her as ticks right away! I'd never seen them so engorged in person before. I was gagging like crazy, and nearly lost my lunch. And I'm practically an expert tick remover! Anyway, yeah. Tick size may vary greatly. And isn't it the nymph of the deer tick that is pretty notorious for carrying one of the tick borne illnesses? Seed ticks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Only me Posted June 22, 2017 Author Share Posted June 22, 2017 (edited) My husband convinced my daughter that she didn't need to go to the doctor. He tends to belittle things. My daughter isn't one to go to the doctor anyway so she was quick to agree with him despite my opinion that she should go regardless of what size it is. I called the doctor today to see what they say. The nurse told me their practice was to just keep an eye on it. I felt better about it until she insisted that it must not be a deer tick because it wasn't small enough. I don't think that is correct information. It was small but big enough to see. She works at a forest preserve as an intern but the full timers deal with this all the time. They were also pretty casual about it when she told them she found one stuck in her arm. I would feel better if she would get profilactic antibiotics but I can't talk her into it. Btw we live in northern Illinois. I checked and our area doesn't have a lot of tick borne illnesses but it does have some. I wish she was under 18 and I could insist that she goes. Edited June 22, 2017 by Only me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted June 22, 2017 Share Posted June 22, 2017 If everyone here ran to the doctor every time they found an embedded tick on them there would be lines outside of all doctors' offices 24/7. Watch and wait is the standard of care. And I live at ground zero for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, which can kill if not treated very promptly (as in within a few days of onset of symptoms). 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted June 22, 2017 Share Posted June 22, 2017 If everyone here ran to the doctor every time they found an embedded tick on them there would be lines outside of all doctors' offices 24/7. Watch and wait is the standard of care. And I live at ground zero for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, which can kill if not treated very promptly (as in within a few days of onset of symptoms). (I do not literally "like" that post, but yeah.) We're in one of the heaviest Lyme areas. 2 of the 7 of us have tested positive, 3 have been treated overall. (Dd's rash was very suspicious, but not typical.) It's a constant worry. But it's also a fact of our everyday life. We spend a lot of time in the woods, but we can also pick them up just walking from the house to the car. We have to be vigilant, but we can't live our lives on abx. Or, frankly, afford to be tested every few weeks... more frequently in the summer. (Yes, even in winter, our area has tick issues. It's out of control!) Anyway, I guess my point is that 4 out of the 7 of us have not contracted Lyme in the 12 years we've lived deep in Lyme Country! Had we treated every bite we've had, we'd probably be at greater risk of dying from a minor issue that's supposed to be able to respond to antibiotics. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halftime Hope Posted June 22, 2017 Share Posted June 22, 2017 SAVE the tick. Do not throw it away, even if you decide to do nothing but wait and watch. You may need to have it tested, now or later. We just went through this with dh who came home with a tiny tick (a nymph) embedded at his ankle. As near as we can tell, it had been there about 6 hours, and he probably got it from it crawling on the clothes that he was changing out of, when he was leaving the outdoor area. (It could not have gotten onto his ankle while he was wearing the boots and sock he wore most of the weekend.) We flailed around trying to get some wisdom on what to do, but the factors made it a difficult choice: 1) Geographically, we are not in a lyme hotspot. 2) Geographically, the most likely tick species could have been Lone Star or deer tick. 3) The tick was SOOO tiny, it was impossible to tell its species without a microscope. It was so tiny that pulling it off without squeezing it (thereby injecting more material into the bite) was not possible. 4) Dh has chronic health issues that include a marginal immune system and had just been on meds that made it more compromised than usual. His PCP would not do anything except prescribe a 200mg dose of doxy, which is of little value and would mask testing of anti-bodies later. My great PCP wouldn't see him, not taking new patients. The local lyme specialist's office was the most helpful: "Don't come in, our initial consultation is $600; get the tick tested." So off we went to tickreport.com (UMass' zoology lab does the testing) and overnight mailed them the tick. We ordered the $50 testing package based on the slightly greater likelihood of it being a Lone Star tick, and that's what it was indeed. If dh comes down with something suspicious, they still have the sample and can do further testing. (Further testing is much more expensive than ordering the full $200 panel to start with, but we were playing the odds in what seemed a prudent manner.) We now have lovely pictures of the little critter, and they have it properly stored in case it needs further testing. We also have a report which says the tick tested negative for everything, so giving dh a proper weeks-long course of prophylactic abx would have been a bad move. The best tick ID and "geographical risk" information is on the Tick Encounter Resource Center website. (Sorry, I can't seem to link it this morning. :-( ) Seriously, kick around on that website for awhile; it is a fabulous resource!! Oh, and we now have some permethrin spray on our pantry shelf. It's not worth risking this again, toxicity or not. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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