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?

So glad you went quickly. When I had a tick the GP insisted on having to look to make sure I'd got the head out properly.

It is a good idea for everyone to have a look at safer tick removal, you need to avoid the tick regurgitating , as that hugely increases the disease risk. There are various films online showing you the best way to remove one. I keep a tool in my medicine cabinet but certain type of tweezers are good too. (The sort with an angled tip, not normal brow tweezers).
I have a friend with Lyme’s, and her bite was also at the edge of her hair. The tick most likely to give you Lyme’s disease is the nymph stage, and they are tiny, the size of this full stop. So they are hard to spot, and impossible in hair .

It is not full on. Lyme disease is a real risk and she is having trouble walking after a tick bite!

Sorry - I just hadn’t realised the seriousness of a tick bite and what could happen.

Weve been triaged and she’s been given paracetamol- just waiting in the waiting area now to see a doctor.

Wishing your daughter a full recovery. I recommend the twister type tick removers in the first aid box too.

Hope you aren’t waiting too long!

Just as an FYI a friend of mine's son has got Limes and the NHS test came back as negative so they paid for private and it is positive. NHS tests are apparently only 70% accurate.

Yes!!! Get the remover from the chemist

Yes!!! Get the remover from the chemist

Shit sorry I'm too late!!! Good luck

BTW, to echo a previous poster, do try to avoid using tweezers to remove ticks. They squeeze the bad stuff inside the tick back into the person. Same also for old tricks of putting Vaseline over them or using a lighted match etc. Just buy several special tick removers - one for home, one to carry with you etc. Always check for ticks after being in grassy areas, woods etc. I’ve certainly changed my behaviour outdoors over recent years as they’ve become far more prevalent (fewer cold winters etc). That said, not every tick carries Lyme so it’s not a given. Always better safe than sorry though, it’s an extremely nasty disease.

Bless you both OP. Hope she's on the mend soon x

glad they took it seriously and sent you to A and E.

Oh goodness I hope she's alright. I pulled a tick off DS1 after an outdoor education trip last year, I'd never seen one in this country but there it was - he never developed a bull's eye, but it was pretty red so he was given antibiotics same day by the GP just in case. Best to be on the safe side with ticks for sure, you're in the right place!

Hope she's ok...I don't think I knew about ticks on humans!

You're in the right place, the other things with the tick are worrying. Hopefully she'll soon be feeling better.

A rufty tufty farmer friend of mine got bitten by a tick and got the bullseye lymes rash, he had the antibiotics but was properly unwell and incapable of work for a couple of weeks afterwards, normally he'd just push through any illness.

There was a thread on here a few weeks ago when someone said they took their (human) daughter to the vet because they didn't know what to do :)

Hope your dd is ok OP.

Hope all is well

@Alwayswaiting glad you are in A and E now! Don't let them fob you off!! I got bitten by a deer tick in Greece and they put me on a course or Amoxicillin for a whole month. As I'm pregnant they didn't want to take any chances but your daughter's immune system is still developing so she is also vulnerable and needs antibiotics. Where abouts are you as some parts of the UK have the ticks which carry and other diseases such as TBE (tick bourne encephalitis which is viral and serious, it is like meningitis. Not wanting to scare you but since she has a high temperature it's a concern, if any confusion or rash develops straight back to A and E and make a BIG fuss. I think the areas are Thetford and parts of Hampshire but it may have changed, they should have microbiologists at the hospital who can check current maps. Sorry this has happened, it's horrible isn't it?! Mine was in my scalp too and I pulled it not realising what it was, I think it was in my sunhat! They also go for dark clothing apparently. Best thing to do after going out in tick season is go home have a shower and check for ticks also wear long sleeved clothing and check hats. Hope she is ok! X

That'll be it's mouthpart.
Vile things.

Highly unlikely your daughter will have picked top a tick from a tree, it is far more likely to have been in a the grass.

They await, forelegs out, waiting to climb onto a passing mammal.

Hopefully she hasn't had it long, but it looks like it has had quite a good feed..But they can grow to enormous size! Sweetcorn kernel size.

I saw you were hesitating. Please don’t. I had to go to A&E for a tick bite. Was Lyme Disease. They have me antibiotics on the spot. It’s really important to catch it early. Show them the photograph you have put here. Don’t wait. It is an emergency.

A vet treated my friend for a bad cut.. They were friends though, made a difference.

Saved a long wait in Casualty. {It needed stitching and antibiotics}

But I don't think generally they treat humans , possibly their insurance won't cover it?

I believe they are only legally allowed to help in life-threatening situations where intervention would potentially save life and there isn’t access to medical treatment quickly enough. The situation you describe would not be legal - especially dispensing antibiotics. Not to themselves, family, their friends or strangers.

I hâve a uni student who is in a wheel chair thanks to Lymes Disease. Onset was a decade or so later. It's really horrible.

We are in France and she had to be tested by the vet. No reliable testing here.