Can an oral anti biotic kill an embedded tick?
Oct.04, 2011 in
Uncategorized
I had 3 ticks that were in my skin and the doctor who helped me remove 2 of them suggested a roound of anti biotics to kill any chance of Lyme disease. The 3rd tick that was pulled out of me was after the anti biotics and was supposedly dead on removal.
Tags: Anti, anti biotics, chance, disease, doctor, doctor who, kill, Lyme, lyme disease, removal, roound, skin, TICK, Ticks
October 4th, 2011 at 3:36 pm
Although we have lots of deer in our neck of the woods, Lyme disease is encountered rather rarely. Added to that, my advancing presbyopia would make finding the deer tick more unlikely. The an appropriate antibiotic would kill the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria that cause Lyme disease, but probably not the tick.
The larger wood tick can transmit Rocky Mt. Spotted Fever which is endemic in these parts. Sometimes you can get them to back out by applying a heated match tip to the tick. My little patients rarely held still for this procedure. Smothering them with Vaseline supposedly works, but I didn’t have uniform success with it. My favorite, if unorthodox, method of easy removal was to give the tick an enema of expired Lidocaine, using a tuberculin syringe.
Vet Tech.
Report this comment
October 4th, 2011 at 5:36 pm
At least the ticks are out of you. Immediate antibiotics were a good idea. How much antibiotics did you have? Did you ever develop a rash or other overt symptoms that could be Lyme? If so, you’d want more of the medication.
Good sources of info about Lyme disease:
http://www.lymedisease.org
http://www.ilads.org
http://www.canlyme.com
http://www.lymenet.org
http://www.lymeinfo.net
http://www.lymediseaseassociation.org
http://www.lymedoctor.com
Vet Tech.
Report this comment
October 4th, 2011 at 6:36 pm
No. The doctor gave you antibiotics to prevent infection getting in through the sites from which the ticks were removed.
Vet Tech.
Report this comment
October 4th, 2011 at 7:37 pm
Consider the tick as similiar to an injection capsule. You know how their body swells up as they draw blood inside their body. This has the bacteria inside. The first few hours (24?) they are only preparing your skin for the injection – so the point is to get it out quickly. Heating it, squeezing it. smothering it, etc. all present the risk of the bacteria leaving the tick and entering your body.
Have a pair of tweezers ground to a point. Put the sharpened points of the tweezers between the head of the tick and your skin. Then lift the tick away from the skin without causing the ejection into your body. Cleanse the skin (and tweezers). The anti-biotic of choice is usually Doxicicline. Caught early enough will clear your body of the bacteria with a couple weeks of the anti-biotic. It doesn’t kill the tick!
15 years of having chronic Lyme Disease, years of treatment, many more years of listening, reading, films, support groups – and personal challenges from brain damage (frontal lobe), and all the Lyme Disease-related side effects. Don’t take a tick bite lightly – it’s serious stuff!
Report this comment
October 4th, 2011 at 8:36 pm
Do NOT use matches,vaseline,or any other crazy stunt. USE the tweezers as described in last post ONLY!!!
And if that abx was rxed at too light of rate,chances are IF the tick had bad bacteria your going to travel the rough and long Lyme road!!! Catch that and it RUINS your life. research for yourself people improve sometimes,after chronic lyme,but never get completely well if NOT treated early. so make SURE your treated long enough,strong enough NOW!!!
15 years of having chronic Lyme Disease, years of treatment, many more years of listening, reading, films, support groups – and personal challenges from brain damage (frontal lobe), and all the Lyme Disease-related side effects. Don’t take a tick bite lightly – it’s serious stuff!
Report this comment