Is there a Tick doctor in the house?

ReenieHJ
ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been searching online for info but am curious if anyone else has had this issue. Or has any advice. I've been bitten by several wood ticks this year. :( The first few didn't really bother me but the last bite I got was behind my ear and almost a week later, is itching like crazy. I've been using anti-itch stuff which gives temporary relief. I'm 95% sure I got the whole tick when I took it out and it hadn't been embedded that long. I'm going to try Benadryl today as well. I keep thinking 'give it one more day' but this is driving me crazy.

I have read after you've gotten bit a couple times, the bites do tend to itch more. Dang little blood-suckers. :(

So any recommendations for more relief? I'm sure my glasses aren't helping but I don't have much choice.

Thank you!!

Replies

  • Lhenderson923
    Lhenderson923 Posts: 102 Member
    Tick researcher here! Yes, the more often you are bit, the more likely you are to have a mild skin reaction. Many people mistake these immediate reactions to be from a pathogen/disease, which it’s not (as you seem to know). For a positive spin to this situation, yes it’s annoying, but it is also kind of a good thing to get that reaction- you are able to know that a tick attached much quicker than if you didn’t have a reaction to the bite, which means you can remove it much faster! To answer your question, it sounds like you are doing all the right things to relieve the itch. Definitely try the Benadryl, and keep using the anti itch for temporary relief. Sorry that I don’t have any better relief recommendations!
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    Thank you. :)
    Every year we hear 'worst tick season ever' and up until this year, I'd only found 1 tick on me in my whole life, and I snatched it off before it bit. But wow, this year has been unreal. :( Learning as I go. :)
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,937 Member
    Kshama just posted about this in the Coronavirus prep thread...

    Here:
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    When "vaccine" side effects aren't

    On May 6, a Thursday, I had the Shingrix shingles vaccine. 24 hours later I was sick. I looked up the possible side effects on the CDC page and I had all of them. It said symptoms could last for 2-3 days. I did start feeling better Monday, but by Thursday I was sick again - fatigue, headache, chills, sweats, loss of appetite. All I wanted to do was curl up in a ball in a dark room.

    I found nothing, even anecdotally, about shingles vaccine symptoms lasting this long so on the 17th I wrote to my doctor explaining what was going on and asking to be tested for Lyme disease, as I've been bitten by several ticks this spring and the symptoms are similar. Then I found out that many of my mother's neighbors have had Babesiosis, another tick born disease.

    On the 18th I went to Urgent Care. To make a long story short, I got the full tick panel and tested positive for Anaplasmosis, a third tick born disease. While I didn't get the results back for almost a week, they started me on the antibiotic doxycycline the night I went to Urgent Care, and I started feeling better within a few days. I was mostly convinced I had Babesiosis, which is treated with anti-malarial drugs, and am so glad I didn't refuse the antibiotic because of that.

    I'm really happy I looked past my initial "It's the vaccine" thinking so I could get proper diagnosis and treatment. I still have some lingering fatigue, but all the other symptoms are gone.

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,937 Member
    ^^I know that doesn't answer your question, but she might have more insights.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,937 Member
    Also, how flippety amazing is it that a tick researcher read your post within an hour of you posting it? So cool.
  • Speakeasy76
    Speakeasy76 Posts: 961 Member
    I know this doesn't answer your question, but the ticks have been horrible here, too (northern Illinois). I have found 3 ticks on me, and before this had never had a tick on me (other than just briefly crawling on me when outside). I now use Deep Woods Off when I take my walks, but then I think that caused another skin reaction!

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,953 Member
    What anti-itch topical? Some of them already contain Benadryl (diphenhydramine). Probably don't want to double up with oral Benadryl, especially if it makes you sleepy.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,884 Member
    My mom's neighbor swears that a certain unusual essential oil will cause ticks to back out of your skin and gave me a small sample in a jar that is not labeled, so I don't know what it is called. (It was not neem oil.) While it did not work for me in that regards, it did seem to prevent the usual itching, which can go on for weeks and nothing seems to help. I also tried peppermint essential oil, as that is cheap. Did not get the tick out, but no itching. This could be a complete coincidence.

    I've been bitten 2 - 3 times this year, and get bitten several times a year every year I've been in Massachusetts, which is around 40 years, so lots of tick bites, despite taking most of the usual precautions. I'm counting myself lucking that this year is the first time I've had a tick-born illness, which @cmriverside: reposted above.
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    What anti-itch topical? Some of them already contain Benadryl (diphenhydramine). Probably don't want to double up with oral Benadryl, especially if it makes you sleepy.

    I had some leftover After Bite and have no idea if I doubled up or not. Edit: yep, it does contain it but seems to have left me with no adverse side affects.
    I had my sister take a look at it this afternoon; she lives in Tick central and has had so many bites she's an expert. I say that jokingly but knew if she'd see an issue or not. She said there is no head embedded and gave me some Cortizone cream to use. There's no infection or anything so will keep an eye on it to make sure nothing develops.

    I think I read that if a tick gets taken off soon after attachment, within an hour, it's not likely it'll pass anything to you. Not sure if it's true but I'm going with that until my body tells me otherwise. :) I feel fine, just this bothersome itch.

    Thank you everybody. :)
  • peggy_polenta
    peggy_polenta Posts: 310 Member
    witch hazel....keep it in the fridge so its cool when you apply.
    a polstice made from white bread that you have soaked in milk that has been heated as hot as you can stand it (careful its not so hot to blister your skin.) polstice is good to draw out any thing including glass, splinters and infection.

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