Any info on tick bites appreciated. | Arthritis Information

 

I know people have posted on Lyme Disease here so thought I would ask. My husband just got home from Orlando. Spent a week there. He found a tick in his hair. The tick was engorged so he knew it had bit him. He came home on Friday...had a goose egg type bump on his head with an area of redness around a central scab. I had him go into the doctor Friday afternoon and his doctor told him not to worry about it. This morning, he has a headache and joint pain and stiffness. He is not sure if this is related. It looks like Florida has a very low incidence of Lyme Disease. Any input would be greatly appreciated. LoriI wouldn't let a tick bite followed by those symptoms slide.  And I wouldn't go by any chart about Lyme, either, because 'low' isn't zero.

And looking for the bulleye's rash on your scalp would be hard!  A friend here had those symptoms (no rash) after a tickbite and was tested for Lyme.  It was positive, he was treated (ten days maybe?  not super long) and is fine.  I wouldn't let it go.   Good luck.
He has a rash but I cannot see if it is a bulleye because of all the hair. There is definitely redness and swelling to the site. Can you go to an Urgent Care today?  Even while be treated, my friend was very sick.   Even if it isn't Lyme, it sounds infected or something. Get him on antbiotics immediatley. See another doctor. Actually an emergency room would probably put him on antibiotics. This happened to me once. At least they gave me antibiotics. Clindamyicin i believe works best. Also Plaqunil and clindymicin is supposed to work for lyme. The bump and headache are the signs that you are supposed to look for after a tic bite. When i had that i had several bumps and it felt as if i had been kicked in the head. I mean the headache was so bad it felt like an injury.

milly2008-06-08 09:06:56Go to the doctor immediately, don't mess around with ignorant doctors.  I was on doxycycline for one month, good luck!!  Also not everyone has a bite mark.If I remember correctly, up to 50 percent of Lymies report no bullseye rash.  6t5, are you here?  Any advice? Reegie - I don't think one month of doxy is enough.  I don't even think doxy is the right med.  When were you bitten and when did you get RA?  If I were you, I'd go find a LLMD too.  If your RA is Lyme - you're cureable dude!

My rd and pcp don't think that I ever had it know, I was treated with doxy, which they said is how the treat lyme, for one month.  They said that I don't have the symptoms for lyme as my joint pain is symmetrical both ankles, tops of feet to toes and knees.  I haven't started taking my meds for ra because I am still a little skeptical.  Also they are convinced because my father has ra, mom thyroid problems, sister crohns, brothers both have raynaulds, ulcerative colitis and pancreatitis, all autoimmune problems.  My insurance does not cover another rd or llmd, I have had my pcp for years and have talked with him in depth about this and he has said that he's had lymes and treated many patients with it and to him that is not what I have. 

Oh, I also had a positive high rf and they think that I had a false positive lyme test.Lorster, I had tick bite fever a few years back, I was bitten by my belly button and i had swelling with a raised lump and then a black scab in the middle, this was followed by blinding headaches , nausea and joint pain. I was given a course of antibiotics from my doctor and told to lay flat and drink lots of fluids, i was really ill for 48 hours and then felt better. I hope hubby is better soonhi lorster my advice on tick bite is..

Bite as hard as you can.. I think if you get treatment as soon as you know you had the bite, you are okay with a shorter course of abx.  George Bush had a tick bite and was treated promptly, remember?  No LLMDs for him.  Of course, most of us see drs. like lorster's hubby saw - 'don't worry about it'.  Sigh. To get proper treatment you will probably have to find a LLMD. To find one in your area go to:- http://flash.lymenet.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=forum;f=2 Here is another site to find LLMD's:- My 84-yr-old father was bitten by a tick a week ago and my mother had the sense to keep the tick and bag it.  Now he has the bulls-eye rash.  He is going to the VA hospital today to get it checked, but my mother thinks they are going to blow it off and they're going to have to go to a private doc. (Just want to say that in general, my father has received exemplary care from the VA with everything else)

 

BTW I found this interesting article, originally from the major newspaper here, which outlines the two camps of thought:

http://www.angelfire.com/biz/romarkaraoke/BeyondLyme.htmlReegie, Pinny and others - Reegie -  my RF was 706. did you ever test positive for lyme?by the way, I never had a bite, I am also not a big outdoors person, and it was the dead of winter here when I tested positive.  Other than my joint pain I have no other symptoms of lyme's diseaseThere are many tickborne disease, Lyme is just one of them. I live in Alabama, one state above FL. I'm not saying that we don't see Lyme here cause we do but surprisingly we see maybe 10 cases of Rocky Mountain Spotted fever where I work a year. It's called Spooted Fever not because the ticks themselves have spots but because the disease gives you a petechial rash. They're little broken blood vessels under the skin. They look like dark maroon spots. The lump you describe on his head may just be an intense local reaction to some protein in the tick's saliva. If it is it'll be raised and sore but extremely itchy at the same time. Me, the ER nurse, agrees with everyone else who said, call the doctor.
Copyright ArthritisInsight.com