What is this I’ve found on my daughters head? Is it a tick?

[Alwayswaiting]

My daughter, 5, has had a temperature of 40 all night. Been in with me, sleeping in her knickers to keep her cool. Had some calpol.

This morning I’ve woken up to take her temperature and found what I think is a tick but I’m not sure?

I’ve pulled it out - and thrown it away - but it was alive when I pulled it out. Should I get my daughter checked over by a GP?

Gosh what a worry so glad you've got some answers as to what's going one. Sending well wishes to you and your lo.

Perhaps in Scotland Lyme's disease isn't so prevalent so need to be concerned it you get a tick bite? Perhaps colder temperatures kill off the bacteria? But it is England and if you Google the south downs is one of the hot spots. I read up quite a lot on this because I got a tick bite abroad (where the ticks transmit even nastier things than Lyme's!) Whilst pregnant and all the journals say if it is Lyme's early antibiotic treatment within 72 hours of the bite is recommended. However many people don't display symptoms that early hence the recommendations for prophylactic treatment. However we all know about the spread of antibiotic resistance so Doctors don't like to use antibiotics that way. If they don't catch it early however, as I understand it some people have to be on antibiotics for years and can have flare ups when they stop plus the serious and debilitating consequences of Lymes. I know which I would prefer. My GP had to Google the best course of action for treatment when I had mine. Glad I did my research! 😳 It sounds like OPs daughter has a coincidental condition caused by a viral infection which caused her joint pain, according to her doctors..

Its shocking that your GP had to google it. Not only was there an NHS campaign to raise awareness of it, I would have thought it was pretty common knowledge. I suppose its always good to check.

What chance does the average person have of seeing a GP within 72 hours in the UK? And then the inevitable fobbing off for 2 weeks while you deteriorate enough to "justify" antibiotics?

When I got Lyme Disease in The Netherlands, I wasn't even aware I had been bitten. All I knew was that I developed the classic symptoms. I was feverish and had a raised heart rate with even mild exercise and felt confused and lethargic. I explained all of this to the doctor and in passing also said "And I've got this strange rash at the top of my leg, and I've never had a rash in my life before". It was of course the classic bullseye rash, the doctor immediately recognised it, prescribed me antibiotics and said I could go to the hospital for a blood test if I wanted, but there were a lot of false negatives with Lymes.

28 days on Doxycycline later and I felt fine, if rather pale from avoiding the sun.

That's such good news @Alwayswaiting you must be very relieved! I still would query with them not treating for the tick bite given you are in a high risk area for Lyme's. However not all ticks carry Lyme's disease. That said it's a bit Russian roulette if you are in a high risk area! I would be keeping an eye on her over the next 3 months for symptoms in case, not just the obvious ones such as the the bulls eye rash but the nonspecific ones such as brain fog, tiredness, no energy, headaches and flu like symptoms. The NHS test for Lyme's is only 70 percent accurate someone else on here said so it can be difficult to diagnose. I hope that's the end of it for you all though! X

That's good news. Hope your dd continues to improve.

I stayed overnight at the Alex with my son. Those individual rooms are wonderful and the staff were lovely. I wouldn't have minded an extra night there because it was so restful 😁!

100% a tick

Really glad she is a bit better OP.

Yes it is a tick. Did you get the head out too? It will have 6 little legs in the very tip where the head is because the majority of their body is their abdomen, which expands when they have been feeding, so you’d see them wriggling when you took it out if you’ve got the head too.
Has she been playing in long grass or on a woodland walk with long grass areas she may have rolled in?
She should be ok BUT you should keep an eye out for Lyme disease symptoms.

100% agree with Purplefoxes suggestion.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrread the thread!

Reading your update they’ve sent you in because of the limp. A sudden onset limp and high temp is as they’ve flagged potentially very serious and always an A&E trip.

This thread is a classic reason why people shouldn’t seek medical advice online, a GP would have known instantly re limp yet everyone here was missing that and focusing on Lyme disease which really doesn’t warrant A&E.

Lyme's is very prevelant in Scotland (it's hardly the frozen north!). However ticks are even more numerous. Anyone active in hill walking through heather where sheep or deer have been is likely to have had tick bites. I would be very surprised if prophylactic antibiotics were given for every bite. In more than 50 years of hillwalking my dh is the only one of his friends to have contracted Lymes. 10 days after the tick being found he had a typical bulls-eye rash.

Fortunately he went to the pharmacist, who comfirmed the likely diagnosis, referred him to OOH and within 3 hours he had antibiotics. Thank you NHS.

I hope your daughter is feeling better soon. Thinking of you all x

Agree with PP not to completely disregard the tick bite as the cause of her symptoms (a bit of a big coincidence) and continue to follow up over time with the GP.
It’s in a very hidden place, could it have been there for several days?
Hope she continues to improve and makes a full recovery.

Really glad to hear your dd is ok.

My money is on the fact that they aren’t bothered about the tick. Neither about the fact that she needs antibiotics as a preventative from Lyme disease.

So pleased to see the update! Wishing her a speedy recovery x

OMG that is awful. Is she ok??
I'd be worried sick if that was my ds.

Really glad she is better.
I would immediately explain to your GP the situation and push for at least a Lyme test (even though they are not hugely accurate) if not precautionary treatment. What have you got to lose?
It just seems such a massive coincidence and knowing the effects Lyme has had on extended family I would be pestering my GP to investigate.
I think reading the thread you did not keep the tick, but if I'm wrong by any chance and you did they can send that for testing.

The onset of neurological symptoms of Lyme disease usually isn't immediate and it's usually preceded by a very specific rash. Then the antibiotics make sense. They're so strong that giving them as prophylactic could cause more damage to the body than just wait.
With ticks and those symptoms I'd be more worried about encephalitis or meningitis which they can also transmit. Glad neither was confirmed.

Haven't read all the posts, but I found a tick on my son in the US and they were able to test it for Lyme disease, so you may want to bring it to the GP.

Makes me mad when they say “by the time the sample got to the lab it had clotted” I work in the labs - the samples need to be well mixed as soon as they are drawn as the powder that stops it clotting is in the bottom of the tube… it need mixing into the sample straight away.

To all parents, to save your kids the distress of a redraw, insist that samples are mixed by turning them over and back at least 10 times. Xx

I had a tick once at the bottom of my hairline, just at the top of the spine. It's not a weird place at all for a tick.

And yes, this is a tick. When you pull it out, you have to be sure to get the head, or it will keep on sucking blood. The best ways to get it out are to put a match next to it (which you can't do if it's in the hair) to make it back out, or with tweezers. You have to be sure you get all the mouth parts out when you pull it with the tweezers.

You can also swab it with liquid soap, using a cotton ball, which will make the tick back out of its own accord.

You need to disinfect where the tick was sucking. Use alcohol. If you get a rash where the tick was biting, you need to see a doctor.

Ticks can be serious. You need to make sure you disinfect your hands if you've handled it.

It Does look like a faint red circle round where the tick was attached.
I’d push for antibiotics incase it’s Lyme disease cos I have a relative with that and it’s that’s something which Wouid be a chronic illness if it’s not treated quickly.
Great you saw the tick though and can preventative treatment.
Wish your little one better ! X

Take her to the docs as they needs to check all the tick is removed as pulling them out doesn’t remove all the tick