Re: Help! Bitten by ticks today

[Guest guest]

Steve,

Good thing you found them so fast. How did you find us so quickly?

I'm not an expert, but here are some ideas.

#1. put a wet cotton ball or tissue in with the ticks so they don't dry up

and die. they can be tested for lyme.

#2. consider going to the local emergency room to get some antibiotics.

I'm not sure if people do this only when they see a symptom or immediately.

Having now had the debilitating experience of advanced lyme disease, i would

find a doctor who would put my on two weeks worth of antibiotics

immediately.

#3 call your doctor or have him/her paged even if it is the weekend. this

is definitely an emergency.

the ER might send the ticks to a lab to get tested, i don't know.

I noticed somewhere on the Massachusetts department of public health website

this morning that there is an address for a tick-testing lab.

good luck. keep asking until you get the information you need. this is not

something to take lightly.

Wouldn't it be great if those ticks are not infected?

bluesky

>

> Hi. I'm hoping folks on this list could give me some advice. After

> hiking in the woods today I discovered two ticks on my legs and I'm

> wondering what I should do.

>

> The ticks were attached, but I was able to remove them intact with very

> little resistance. They couldn't have been there for more than 1.5

> hours and were not engorged. They looked like deer ticks, though I'm

> not an expert, and this was in Massachusetts in an area where deer

> ticks (and others) are prevalent. I saved the ticks in a plastic

> container and I applied an antiseptic to the bite areas. I can't

> really see any irritation or rash and so far I feel ok.

>

> Should I call my doctor about this? If so, what would be the most

> appropriate testing and treatment? (Would testing even show anything

> this early?) Also, should I have the ticks tested, and if so,

> how/where would I have this done?

[Guest guest]

Steve,

Dear Steve,

Here is a website for Massachusetts, perhaps it will help you decide

what to do.

Good Luck, Michele

http://www.lymesite.com/

>

> Hi. I'm hoping folks on this list could give me some advice. After

> hiking in the woods today I discovered two ticks on my legs and I'm

> wondering what I should do.

>

> The ticks were attached, but I was able to remove them intact with

very

> little resistance. They couldn't have been there for more than 1.5

> hours and were not engorged. They looked like deer ticks, though I'm

> not an expert, and this was in Massachusetts in an area where deer

> ticks (and others) are prevalent. I saved the ticks in a plastic

> container and I applied an antiseptic to the bite areas. I can't

> really see any irritation or rash and so far I feel ok.

>

> Should I call my doctor about this? If so, what would be the most

> appropriate testing and treatment? (Would testing even show anything

> this early?) Also, should I have the ticks tested, and if so,

> how/where would I have this done?

[Guest guest]

> Hi. I'm hoping folks on this list could give me some advice. After

> hiking in the woods today I discovered two ticks on my legs and I'm

> wondering what I should do.

Besides Lyme, you have HGE=Ehrlichosis and Babesia in your area. Talk to

your Dr ASAP. Watch for any symptoms that may come up, headaches,

stiffness or flu-like symptoms, if you get any of these, bring it up to your

Dr. Best of luck!

[Guest guest]

Good point. I keep forgetting they exist.

Besides Lyme, you have HGE=Ehrlichosis and Babesia in your area. Talk to

your Dr ASAP. Watch for any symptoms that may come up, headaches,

stiffness or flu-like symptoms, if you get any of these, bring it up to your

Dr. Best of luck!

[Guest guest]

<<<<Some doctors diagnose Lyme automatically if you've got the EM rash

around the

bite.>>>

They should, and can be held for malpractice if they don't. EM RASH

is a definite dx of Lyme.

Conniek nwnj

When our bodies & minds are out of balance........we suffer!

Leave no stone unturned, research!......The mind is a powerful tool!

[Guest guest]

You may want to call the local colleges near you that have a vet

school. When we lived in Illinois the vet department (University of

Illinois) was doing research on ticks (for lyme vaccine) and was

testing ticks for lyme. They would have you mail the ticks to the

department and would call you with results. (no charge except to

mail) At the time in the late 90's the head of U of I vet school

had lyme and he was a wealth of info.(don't know if he is still

there) They even sent a team to where I was bitten because two of

us were bitten at the same time and both contracted lyme. Anyway,

you may want to call or e-mail the vet scools aroud your area. Hope

this helps.

Lynnelle

[Guest guest]

Steve,

I did a search, " labs that test for ticks " on .

It came up with:

http://srd./S=2766679/K=labs+that+test+ticks/v=2/l=WS1/R=6/H=0/*-ht

tp://www2.lymenet.org/domino/nl.nsf/UID/3-07

Ticks and Lyme Disease

.... Most hospital labs can do species identification. ... Control District,

155 Mason Circle, Concord, CA 94520, 925-685-9301, will do the test on live

ticks only. ...

www.scoutway.net/scouter/lyme.html cached

http://srd./S=2766679/K=labs+that+test+ticks/v=2/l=WS1/R=11/H=0/*-

http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Oasis/6455/tick-testing.txt

15. 1 Lyme Disease Advisory Committee Minutes of the March 14, 2002 ...

(PDF)

.... Public health agencies that test ticks for individuals were ... Ticks

were collected and tested for B. burgdorferi ... degrees of accuracy (some

labs use fluorescent ...

www.dhs.cahwnet.gov/ps/dcdc/disb/pdf/LDAC%20minutes%20March%2014%202002.pdf

more results from this site

If the above are too hard for you to unscramble for the URL, and you want to

pursue it, " labs that test ticks " is the phrase that seems to produce the

best answers.

I think they do have to be alive.

You could also call area hospitals to see what they do.

Or a weekend number for the department of public health.

good luck.

bluesky

> Thanks everyone for all the advice. I saw a doctor this morning about

> the bites. She seemed to be reasonably in sync with the info suggested

> here and what I found on the net.

>

> She gave me a single dose of doxycycline, which is supposed to prevent

> Lyme in most cases if given within 72 hours of the bite. I also had a

> Lyme antibody (Igg + IgM) done (which should be negative since it is

> still too soon to show up) and I will be tested again in about a month

> to make doubly sure. And of course I will keep an eye out for

> symptoms.

>

> She told me the lab at the hospital could only identify, not analyze

> the ticks, so I decided to hang onto them and will try to find another

> lab that will test them.

>

> Does anyone know if these buggers have to be alive to be tested? I

> have put some grass and some moist cotton in the container with them,

> but they're looking kind of sluggish and I don't know how much luck

> I'll have contacting a lab during the weekend. Hmm... I suppose I

> could stick them on my cat for a while... just kidding! :-)

>

> Steve

>

>