Yuck! It's sucking my daughter's brain out!!
By imadriscoll
@imadriscoll (2228)
United States
May 8, 2007 1:21pm CST
Ok, so sucking her brains out might be a little over the top, but the tick was on pretty good! I found it (I think it was a brown dog tick) this morning when I was brushing her hair. It made me jump when I ran my fingers over the top of it! It was so disgusting.
I called the doctor's office immediately. Then I called my husband ... he thought that I should take her to the emergency room. We were both pretty sure that she has lyme disease. After calling the doctor's office back the nurse assured me that it wasn't an "emergency" and she didn't answer when I asked her if she thought I was going overboard!! LOL.
She suggested taking a cotton ball and putting dish soap on it and squeezing the tick. She said that he should let go and end up sticking to the cotton ball. Well, it didn't happen, it didn't do anything. Another friend suggested taking heated tweezers and pulling it out by its head.
Do you have any ideas of how to remove ticks?
5 people like this
9 responses
@CritterKeeper (519)
• United States
8 May 07
Ugh yuck gross!!!! I can pick up and enjoy scorpions, tarantulas, snakes, you name it but ticks just make me feel like I want to vomit! LOL
I'd say you've got some good advice from zukepr there (hope I spelled that right?) but just to clarify, when you pull on the tick with tweezers don't yank suddenly. Just give a nice, steady, long pull so that the head comes out too. If the head pulls off and stays on your daughter it'll be much harder to get off and continue to cause problems.
Best of luck, I sure don't envy you!!
1 person likes this
@imadriscoll (2228)
• United States
9 May 07
Do you know what kind of problems can occur if you don't get the head out too? I know that everyone always says to get the head too, but I don't know why they say it! Not much of tick expert (obviously!!!).
@CritterKeeper (519)
• United States
9 May 07
I believe the only problem with leaving the head in actually is the same as any other foreign object, it can cause an infection at the site. That's why you should clean the area after removing it.
I'm so glad you got it! I had a tick on my back as a child and have had to deal with loads of them since with dogs. It's something I'll never get used to, eeewww LOL
1 person likes this
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
8 May 07
Is it still on her???? I would take her to the emergency room. It might not be an emergancy to your doctor, but it sure would be an emergency wo me!!
@imadriscoll (2228)
• United States
9 May 07
The nurses seemed to calm me down a little bit, and since I was able to get it out I stopped freaking out a little bit!
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
9 May 07
So glad to hear that you got it out! This will be a story to tell your grandchildren!
@Foxxee (3651)
• United States
9 May 07
From what I read, it looks like you finally removed the tick, but make sure the head of the tick is not still in your daughters head and that it is still attatched to the tick body.
And I would also keep an eye on her just incase she does get sick.
It pretty much looks like you have it covered...
Just in case here is a website that is very helpful with tick removel and other things about ticks and kids.
http://pediatrics.about.com/od/safety/ss/05_tick_removal.htm
@crazynurse (7482)
• United States
16 May 07
OMG, I hate ticks! I grew up in the mountains of North Carolina where ticks were common. Each night after my bath, my mother inspected my body and scalp for ticks. It was not uncommon to find one or two if I had been playing outdoors a lot. Mom would find them and Dad would remove them. They used tweezers to gently pull the tick out. Just a piece of advise, note the day on a calendar that you got the tick off your daughter. That way, should she develop flu-like symptoms a week later, you can alert the physician. It is very rare, but ticks do carry Rocky Mtn. Spotted Fever (some ticks, in certain areas). It is easily treated IF CAUGHT EARLY by antibiotics. HOwever, if it is allowed to go on, it becomes harder to treat. Just jot down the day of the tick removal. I had hundreds of ticks on my as a child and I never got it! I have only seen two cases in my entire nursing career! (28 years!)
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
8 May 07
LOL This is so funny. I was raised around ticks all my life. That is why it is funny to me. If I were not around them, it would not be funny. We used to have to check our heads every night before we went to bed to verify that we did not get ticks on us during the day. More often than not, we had ticks on us. The only thing you have to worry about is to make sure that you get the head out. If you get the head out, you have nothing to worry about. Had it turned white yet or was it still brown? As they suck the blood, they swell and turn white. We always just got hold of them with tweasers and pulled them out.
@stephanie78 (122)
• United States
9 May 07
I know what you mean! We were raised in the country, and played in the fields. We always had to be checked for ticks. Chiggers too!
1 person likes this
@haxorfreek (524)
• Philippines
17 Oct 10
Well you could also use oil dips or cover it with gauze with cooking oil to suffocate it and it will let go anytime sooner since it will dislodge its head to try to get some air. Im sure it would stick on the cotton or just die there suffocated. It would live without oxygen thats for sure.
@sillygirlsd (959)
• United States
21 May 07
My bf and I have had a dog for over a year. I never heard of dogs getting ticks. So thanks for posting this. If my Daughter or any of my nieces get something like what you described I know what it is.
@josephperera (2906)
• Sri Lanka
20 May 07
It is difficult to pull out a tick when it it holding on to something. Another thing is if you pull it, it will break into two and a small part will be left behind. That is why everyone is saying to make sure that the head is remove. My sure method of removing a tick is using salt water. When stron salt water is poured to the spot where it holds something it will remove it's grip. Then it can be removed easily.
