Could this be a tick bite ?

[Beryl]

Didn't feel it at the time, but feel it now!

Did walk through longish grass in cropped trousers to retrieve ball for my dopey dog. I shall probably pop in the Drs just for peace of mind, but does this look like a tick bite? It is ready and hard in the centre and the skin is slightly blistered and feels taught and waxy, the photo doesn't really show it but the skin is a paler red some distance away from the darker red blotch.

[IMG]http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i165/beryl41/TICKBITE-1.jpg[/IMG]

 

[Martin963]

Ouch!   We were told to be on the lookout for a red circular rash about 8 cms across,  with a smaller pale disc around the bite itself,  which doesn't look lie what you've got.

But do go to the doc;   at least one person in our area was paralysed for two years after contracting Lyme's disease.......

[M]

I don't want to panic you - that could just be an allergic reaction to a bite - or it could be one of the symptoms of Lyme disease called erythrema migrans. Is the red patch raised, and perceptibly warm ot the touch? It usually appears about a week after the bite. Other symptoms include headaches, slight temperature, a vague malaise - it feels a bit like a slight case of 'flu.

I contracted it in 2004 from a tic bite. Do you know when you were bitten, and how long the tic stayed attached? It needs to be attached for a good long time (24 hours) to pass on Lyme disease. In any event, even if it just might be Lyme disease, you need to see your doctor. Treated now, it is easily dealt with (large doses of antibiotics for a month) and will probably have no long-term effects. Left untreated it can have some very unpleasant consequences (including crippling arthritis, facial paralysis, heart failure and cerebral problems). Don't panic - that could be 10 years or more away - the problem is, if it isn't treated the spirochete gets into the central nervous system. So see your doctor as soon as you can.

M

[Tony F Dordogne]

I have a few bites which look similar - mine tend to be spider bites from when I disturb them while I'm working in the garden.  If there's two puncture marks tho, could be tick or spider.

Pharmacist I think, they seem to be able to identify any sort of bite.

[Beryl]

Thanks everybody. Not wishing to sound like a hypochondriac but it looks a lot worse in the flesh than in the photo .

Anyway, I have just come back from the Drs ( the pharmacy is closed today ) and he has given me some creams and antibiotics as he isn't sure what bit me, but  from what I understood of our conversation anything  carrying something really nasty lives in forests further south and not by me, so that is reassurring. [:D]

[Patf]

Beryl - not sure if you've realised that to be bitten by a tick means that it adheres to you firmly for some time. You can actually see the creature and need to remove it carefully. There are two kinds - little flat brown ones which look like a large freckle, and bigger grey bulbous ones. Both have mouthpieces which can attach to your skin. I've had several on me and now check every night when I get undressed. Only a small proportion of them carry disease. Pat.

[Beryl]

No I didn't see or feel anything until much later. I have read many account of pet owners having  to forcibly remove the ticks from their pets but I also read (somewhere) that once they are full and bloated  they drop off, which if true might account for why I didn't feel anything , assuming it was a tick of course.

Still with amount of goodies the Dr has given me, touchwood, my leg will soon be back to its old self .[:)]

[Pads]

I have a horse fly bite that looks just like that, was very sore but now very itchy, its driving me nuts ..........................[:'(]