Tick bite on DD, head still stuck in her skin...

[skysmom]

I found a tiny tick on my 4 yr old DD during her bath. After the bath I tried to remove it. I was careful to not twist or anything. I pulled straight, but the head broke off anyway. It is still in her. I cleaned it with alcohol, and then put PRID salve on it. I don't know what else to do for her. She has several bites in that area where it had bitten her. This bite where the head is stuck is in the crease of her leg/groin area. I am letting her sleep without panties because they would rub it really bad. She is terrified that this "yucky head thing"(that's what she calls it) is stuck. There is a little bit sticking up but not enough to grab with the tweezers.

Anyway, I found a tick bite instructions webpage and it says if part of the tick remains in skin after attempted removal, to call the child's doctor. I am worried now. It is too late to call tonight. But I am concerned what this could mean for her. Is it dangerous? Won't the prid salve help the head come out? Will this cause infection? If I DO call the doctor, what good will that do? Will they have to cut the head out? And I am concerned too because we live near woods, almost in them, and there are deer that even come up into our yard. What are the chances of her getting Lymes Disease? I don't know that she got the tick here though, we also visited a park this weekend.

She's had some of these bites since our visit to the park, but I never saw a tick until tonight. I am not positive the other bites are from the tick, but they do look like tick bites to me. It is possible I guess that this tick has been living on her since Saturday.

So, should I call her doctor? Or just watch the bite and try to get that head to come out? I don't mean to manipulate the area at all. I just mean by keeping it clean and using the Prid salve. Those other bites are pretty bothersome to her. She says they hurt like bruises. One is on her buttock, one is on her thigh, another lower down toward the knee, and now this one.

Thanks for any advice.

Connie

[Mayapple52]

I wouldn't take a chance if it were my child! I'd get her to the doctor right away. I would have probably called the doctor last night for advise or taken her to the ER even. Ticks and Lyme Disease is nothing to mess with. My child's well being is worth more to me than the worry and the waiting to see what happens!
Of course I tend to panic when it comes to my children being hurt, too. So you may have a better hold on things than I have. But please consult a doctor as early as possible, or at least someone who has dealt with this same issue.

Foxy 1

[TraylorMS]

I would also call doc. Although this does not help now, but I soak the area with alcohol while the tick is still in, this will kill the tick and loosen its hold so it will come out much easier.

Mary
Please let us know how she is doing and what the doctor says.

[gingerb]

Call the doctor or hospital ASAP. That's why they're there...it's never to late to call a hospital---they expect calls in the middle of the night or whenever....hello! Life doesn't stop at night! [:p]

I once said something to my doctor about bothering him after hours (I was getting ready to deliver my second dd) and he was like, 'Ging, if it bothered me to get up in the middle of the night, I wouldn't have picked this career, okay? My job is 24/7 and that's just fine with me.'

Reassuring for me.

Call. Ticks are not something to mess with, especially since you said that there are other bites and such. DH (farmer and outdoorsman) seconds this...he's reading over my shoulder now saying CALL YOUR DOCTOR NOW!! :)

Let us know how she's doing, too.

~ginger[:X]

P-L-A-Y Come on, push it. You can do it.
Just tapp already, would ya?!?

[skysmom]

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you all. I hope you all aren't too worried. DD's doctor's office said there is nothing they can do at this point. They said to put on neosporin and a bandaid. They said it will get puffy and swollen and red and fester up. They said that Lyme's Disease is rare and not likely, that the media plays it up... I don't know. I hate when they are so nonchalant about things we are conditioned to believe are serious (if it really isn't serious like they are acting). They don't even want to see her... I will say that it does look okay. There is NO swelling, or redness. It's not even raised. It doesn't even look like a bite. It looks like a small brown dot(that's the head). She is feeling fine, no fever or anything. No itching or pain. They said if she starts complaining about body aches or gets a fever, or if it starts to bullseye, to bring her in. Basically, if she is getting Lyme's Disease, wait until it's obvious, past reversal, near death.....:(. They were the same way when she had that terrible flu. I just finally got fed up and INSISTED they let me take her to the ER for fluids with that. Anyway, with this, she probably will be alright. I just got online last night because I remembered hearing that it is bad if the head gets stuck, and then I freaked out with worry.

Thank you to all of you for worrying with me. I will keep you all posted to the condition of the bite. I am still using the Prid salve, hoping to draw the head out. Plus that will draw out infection too if one starts. But if this last application doesn't take it out, I will probably go on ahead and do the neosporin.

Ginger, you must have a wonderful doctor. I called one once in the evening for an allergic reaction to an antiobiotic and severe pain... he was extremely aggitated with me. He didn't SAY so, but it was in his attitude. Kind of a "how stupid are you that you didn't know on your own to stop the medication?" Like I said, he didn't SAY that, but he implied it. Of course, I don't know, I might have just interupted something important. He was on call at the hospital. But it turned me away from him....

Thanks again to you all. Thank you for caring. I will keep you updated.

Connie

[bkrdr]

Connie~please don't take this the wrong way, but you really need to think about getting another doctor for your daughter! Doctors work for us, we pay their salary!! If they make you feel stupid or bothersome, they are not doing their job. Lyme disease is serious. I live in CT where it was first discovered. It is named after Lyme, CT where the first cases were documented. And remember, you don't have to have anyone's permission to take your child to an ER!! Many years ago as a young mother, my 4 year old son had his first asthma attack. It was Memorial Day weekend and I called his Dr. who said to just keep an eye on his breathing, well he got worse and I called him again and again and finally after my third call he said (not too happily) that he would meet me in the ER. and just as I was leaving at 2am, he called back and said that he was not coming and to let the ER resident handle it. Well I got to the ER(25 minutes away from my home) and my son ended up being hospitalized for 5 days on oxygen!! His dr came in the next day and apologised profusely and I promptly fired him!!! That is when I realized we have to advocate for ourselves concerning our health care!! these drs are not infallible!! If I had listened to him and just kept waiting, who knows how long my son would have ended up in the hospital!! I truly believe we must dictate our health care and not let the drs make us think we are pushy or overreacting, especially with children. Please think long and hard about switching drs for you daughter and never hesitate to use the ER. I hope I didn't offend you with this post~take care bkrdr

[RoseTapper]

Connie,

If a bull's-eye hasn't formed yet about the bite and your daughter doesn't have a horrendous headache, the chances are good that she does not have Lyme Disease. My daughter was bitten when she was 14, and the bull's-eye rash formed immediately, and she developed a bad headache that lasted for about four months. The pain in her joints started exactly a week later, and sometimes the shaking in her hand on the side where she was bitten shook so much, she couldn't hold a fork. It was very hard to convince the doctors that she had Lyme Disease because I didn't realize what it was until the joint pain started up. That's when I looked up the rash on the Internet and realized that she had Lyme Disease and that it was progressing in textbook manner. Because the rash was then gone and only a scar remained of the bite, I had to put my foot down about giving her the correct antibiotics. When her condition didn't improve after two weeks, her regular doctor had her tested (the test, though, will come up negative if antibiotics have been started, so, of course, it was negative). Even so, he gave her a stronger drug, and she eventually recovered (vomited and had headaches for months, though). It sounds as though your daughter escaped this particular malady, but don't believe those doctors about the scarcity of this condition. The doctors kept telling me it was too rare for my daughter do have contracted it, but I have two friends who contracted it about the same time. They had to fight for medication, too.

Laura H. (RoseTapper)

[skysmom]

bkrdr, I take no offense. But the doctor I mentioned in the above post was MY doctor a long time ago, he isn't anymore since that night. As far as my daughter's doctor goes, I like him, but I don't like how his office is ran. They never let me talk directly to him. It's always through the nurses. I have asked him about this before and he says he doesn't like that but that is how "they" are, to be persisitant. Well, persistance doesn't work on the nurses there. The only way to talk with the doctor is to SEE the doctor. I took DD to a different location of his practice one time and she saw another doctor, (the flu time), she was actually concerned and cared enough to call back that night and check on DD. I was touched. And it was that doctor that convinced me to pitch a fit to get them to let her go to the ER. And in the end, SHE called DD's regular doctor and told him that she REALLY felt she needed some fluids. She said she sounded like she was failing significantly just since the office visit that afternoon. There was something with our insurance, they had to okay it. Although, with or without "permission" if she had been in danger of dying, I would have taken her. Of course, I was afraid it was getting to that point, and so did this doctor from listening to her cough on the phone. The nurses never pay attention to that stuff and they don't seem to care. I was glad that the doctor cared to call and check on her. Once at the hospital, I got attitude from the staff there. She was "ONLY" in the "beginning" stages of dehydration, she didn't need to be seen "YET". That made me so mad. But since I had the doctor's okay in advance, he had already ordered IV for her. So, they had to give her one. When we got there, she could not sit up, could not hold her head up on her own, couldn't drink, pee, or anything. Couldn't even cry, though she tried. Oh, and she had been coughing and sneezing out bright red blood...very scary... Half hour into the IV, she was sitting up playing and drinking, and had to go pee for the first time in 48 hours. Tell me she didn't need to be there "YET". The whole system is screwy if you ask me. And the doctors have to answer to the other staff etc.... But, I have thought about switching to the doctor at the other location. I'd still have the problem of not being allowed to talk to her on the phone, but she seemed to care enough, maybe she just takes it upon herself to make calls on the patients she is asked about during the day... But absolutely no offense was taken. I appreciate others opinions and caring.

Thanks Laura for sharing your story. I am relieved to hear that she'd have symptoms by now if it was going to be a problem. So, did your daughter completely recover? Was it caught in time?

I did go ahead and call my homeopath's office to get their advice as well. They have seen DD too. But we do still have a regular pediatrician for her. Anyway, they are confident from my description that she will not get an infection from this particular bite and that the her body will get the tick head out. They told me to not even put the Prid salve on. To just let it be. So, I suppose she will be fine.

She is still acting just fine. Not sick or itching. It's still white. No bump, no redness. She just plays and forgets all about it until I go to check on it. Then she just says she can't wait for that yucky tick head to leave.

Thanks again everyone. I will update when the head is gone, or if anything unusual occurs from the bite.

Connie

[Air Angel]

Hi Ya!!!!!:D

I just seen this and I'm glad your DD is doing fine. I had a tick in the back of my neck when I was younger and I scratched it off because I thought it was a scab or something. Well, it took awhile (I think a week or more) but that head finally popped out. It did hurt though.


Well, HugS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D

Once apon a time a girl was born as happy as can be. But with time she would look in the mirror and say," Who's that? It can't be me!" For in her minds eye she was strong, healthy, and could do anything. "So you see that girl in the reflecting glass could NOT be me." But at last she know it was true, so she set out on a great quest. With T-Tapp, health food, and a new sence of herself by her side, she traveled the unbeaten path. And with every curve she knew, with all her heart and soul, that one day (maybe soon) she would look in the mirror and say, "I was never lost, but now I'm found. And I'm HAPPY with who I am now and with who I was because if I wasn't that way I wouldn't be where I am today." And with that she keeps on walking with a smile in her heart and an open soul, knowing that when she comes to that mirror she has total faith in what will unfold. ---- The story of my life :D

[Mayapple52]

I'm glad also, that everything has turned out for the better. It's always better to be safe than sorry. I'm glad there are others out there who have the knowledge to help make wise decisions. There are good doctors and bad ones, keep looking until you find the one who can help you and that you feel confident will take the time to listen and actually "hear" what you are saying. I have a wonderful female, Greek/Italian doctor whom Ihave given t-tapp introduction material to and she likes what she sees. I don't think she has tried it yet but she has liked what she sees when she sees that my numbers are down.

Keep looking, there are good doctors out there! And be thankful for the fine ones you all have.

(BTW, I'm a Connie too)

Foxy 1

[RoseTapper]

Connie,

For future reference, I just learned of a Web site that sells a product that removes ticks. It can be used on animals and kids.

http://www.ticksgone.com

Hope it helps!



Laura H. (RoseTapper)

[skysmom]

Thanks everyone. Thank you Laura for the link and info.

DD is doing fine. The head is still in there, but it is still just a little brown speck. No redness or anything. There is a bump near the bite that is probably unrelated. I don't know what it is. It is white, under the skin, and hard, oblong. Not in the groin, but on the thigh. The bite is in the groin. The bump is odd. I don't know what it could be from. The homeopathic doctor's office did say to call if she got any swollen glands. But I don't think this could be a gland. Do you?

Anyway, she is just fine otherwise and not even itching. She has several other bites but they aren't itchy either. Lucky her. I get one bite and I itch everywhere.

[gr8fisch]

Just a thought...Tea Tree Oil on a bandaid is a drawing sap that may help.

[skysmom]

Thanks gr8fisch. I think I have some tea tree oil, I might try that. The head is still in there. But she is still doing good.