Just found a tick on the kid and flushed it. D'oh! Freakout!

[tjdee]

Called the doc, they said I can bring her in tomorrow...
It was in her ear, and I just thought it was weirdly placed wax, LOL! I pulled it out and realized it was a tick! I put it in the toilet and flushed it away!
Is she going to have to undergo a battery of blood tests because I was so stupid and didn't put the tick in a cup or something?
Her ear was bleeding a little, but she seems fine, her usual self.

I hope she doesn't have Lyme disease!

/insane mother with only one child freakout

[donco6]

1. Lyme disease is carried by deer ticks

Teeny tiny - head of a pin things. If you could see it was a tick, it probably wasn't a deer tick.

[proud patriot]

6. the big ugly ones don't carry Lyme disease

I put one of those in a bag and that's what our
health department told me . This was ages ago .

[fudge stripe cookays]

2. You may want to check her out with a tweezers....

I know sometimes they'll leave a little bit of themselves on there.

FSC

[MidwestMomma]

3. She will be fine

I think they start you on a preventative antibiotic or something nowadays to prevent lyme disease. The doctor will probably make sure you got the....gross part ahead....head out. Ewwwwwww.

Ticks are super-ecky!

[salib]

9. Not as icky as leaches.

And it always seems to be in the crotch that they end up hanging on to.

[wildeyed]

4. I thought you only had to worry if there was a ring around the bite

area the next day. Or something like that? Call her pediatrician tomorrow to be safe. But I doubt it is a huge deal.

[marions ghost]

12. the rash is inconclusive...don't go by that

I had RMSF (Rocky Mtn Spotted Fever) confirmed by tests = no rash (nearly died from the misdiagnosis)

My SO had Lyme Disease = no rash (though our friend who was in the same area DID have the rash)

1. For Rocky Mountain you will have a fever and feel terrible within about 7 days. There is no question you are sick, rash or not.
If you do not have these symptoms, the tick was not a carrier.

2. For Lyme or STAR the symptoms are more ephemeral, though my SO and friend both reported exactly the same flu-like symptoms about 7 days following being in the tick-infested area. They did not feel well, didn't feel like eating (unusual for both of them) and knew it would be best to get the antibiotic. I was in the same area, but wore long pants with socks (they wore shorts), and I did not get any Lyme symptoms. The rash may actually be quite large, if it appears.

For kids, who can't always tell subtle symptoms, they may just give the antibiotic. Advice for parents--Just look for the symptoms, and try not to worry. It's not a big deal, if you get treatment early.

[wildeyed]

15. Good info.

It is hard to tell exactly how sick a kid is, especially if they are pre-verbal. Plus they are sick all the time, so it would be hard to know whether they had some random bug or Lyme.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

5. If they catch Lyme Disease early enough, they can get rid of it...

Just watch for a rash or something. I remember a Strong Medicine episode where some kids got Lyme Disease and she saw a rash and that's how she knew what was wrong. :shrug: It's usually a pretty accurate show.
Duckie

[HeeBGBz]

7. Wow, you go to the doctor for tick bites?

I guess I've just lived in the woods too long. And lyme disease info has only been in the last decade or so.

[tjdee]

11. If it was me, no. For the kid, I overreact.

I only have the one, so everything's a big deal.

[HeeBGBz]

16. No, it's good to be careful

And take preventative action. I just live in a very ticky region.

I would go broke.

[Bossy Monkey]

8. Flushing the tick doesn't make a difference

Doctor's offices don't test ticks; they send them (theoretically) to the Health Department. When I got bit and panicked and went and got tested, I saved the tick. They took it, but I'm reasonably confident they just flushed it. If you're in an area where Lyme is endemic, she'll need to be tested. If not, probably not. Regardless, saving or not saving the tick doesn't make a difference.

Here's the CDC Lyme disease page: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/
Here's a picture of deer ticks that Google claimed was on the page, but I don't see it:

[Elidor]

21. Ack! They remind me of the facehuggers in Alien

Nasty crawly little things with insane determination to latch onto you. During the 18 months I worked as a land surveyor in Georgia, I was bedeviled with ticks. It was nothing to find them on me almost every day of the week. And I'm talking FAT FRIGGING TICKS! Sometimes I'd shake them off before they got their hooks in. Other times not. I couldn't just rip them out. I'd smear them with Oxy10 and they'd die and fall off in a few hours. Never got sick, though. YIECK!

[tjdee]

10. Thank you everyone....

But I'm still all worried that I should wake her up and give her some Advil and/or Benadryl....no one said to, LOL.

Look how many exclamation points I put in the original post! Man. I should have about six more kids so I don't get so freaked at things like this. Sigh.

[marions ghost]

17. she wont show any symptoms yet

don't worry tonight...but good idea to take her in to the doc, since you don't know how long the tick has been there. The only thing that fights the bacteria some is vitamin C, but I wouldn't bother with that. IF there are symptoms, she'll need to take the full dose of doxycycline (or whatever they give). I wouldn't give Advil or anything that could mask the symptoms right now.

IF the tick WAS a carrier (a low percentage are carriers)-- it could take a few days for symptoms to show. The doctor might not start the antibiotic unless there are symptoms.

Also another good thing to know is that if the tick has not been biting down very long, the chances are extremely low that enough bacteria has crossed over to cause systemic disease, even if it is a carrier. It takes several hours for the tick to transmit bacteria. So usually a daily check will suffice. "Tick Check" is the routine around here when anyone comes in from outside. Ticks especially love piney woods, but of course can be found in grasses or anywhere.

Check out www.webmd.com has a good page on Lyme or other tick diseases

[NV Whino]

13. I've been bitten ad infected twice

Believe me, you know if it's an infected tick. The area swells up, turns red and expands in a concentric circle from the bite. And, I gotta tell ya, the cure seems worse than the bite. They give you something called dexacycaling (as near as I can spell it) and by the 7th day, your tongue is raw hamburger. Nasty stuff. Regular tick bites are nothing to worry about. A little Bactine or Neosporan and everything is hunky dory.

[cornermouse]

14. Be grateful you didn't find it in your kid chewing it in his/her mouth.

I think Lyme disease has a sort of bull's eye appearance. I'm sure you can find it on the internet.

Its amazing what kids survive.

[marions ghost]

18. Right but

know that it CAN be a bullseye (I've seen that) or simply a big red weltish area. My bro-in-law had the rash undiagnosed and it grew so big it looked like a burn and got scaly. It never at any point looked like a bullseye. They show some variations on web MD I think. And there are cases with no rash at all.

Best to go on the sick symptoms, and if the rash shows up, great.

ANYTIME anyone living in a tick area has a weird flu in summer (not in flu season) be suspicious.

[katinmn]

19. did it look like the smaller one?

the one on the left is a deer tick and the kind that carries Lyme disease. The other (more common, I think) is just a regular ol tick.

[marions ghost]

20. theres also the lone star tick

with a white dot in the middle of the back

but remember , not all ticks are disease carriers--it can be helpful to try to find out the average incidence in your area. Some places are hot spots, whereas others are lower.