Day 1: 8/28/09 Went hiking at Harris Lake with PJ. Took the 5-mile trail. Noticed ticks crawling on PJ at about 2.5 miles. Too late to do anything, kept walking. After hike, notice ticks all over him, and some on me. Ticks crawling over seats in car. At home, bathed him immediately, noticed two sizes of ticks all over his legs and belly. Washing didn't help much. Noticed ticks on me--mom finishes bathing PJ, while I go scrub myself. Easily remove ticks around my ankles--a few nymph size, and many larval size. Ask mom to visually inspect me for any more tick bites--none found. Together we remove any nymph ticks we see on PJ. Later see even more ticks crawling on my shirt. I showered again, and started research on ticks and tick-borne diseases. With the use of a magnifying lens, ticks are determined to be Lone Star Ticks. Covered PJ in Frontline (which is supposed to kill ticks), made him spend a day in his cage.
Day 2: 8/29/09 Fearing another tick bite, I scratched a wound on my ankle trying to "remove" the "tick." Rubbed with alcohol. Left with open sore.
Day 3: 8/30/09 Asked dad to check my ankle sore with magnifying lens--no tick. Felt confident that any tick bites were not sufficient to transmit disease (it takes at least 12 hours) unless the bite alone did it (so I could still get a rash.)
Day 4: 8/31/09 A couple itchy itchy spots starting to show up on my ankles.
Day 5: 9/1/09 A few more itchy spots showing on my ankles.
Day 6: 9/2/09 A lot more itchy spots showing on my ankles--of different sizes. The spots are in the same places where I found ticks on me on Day 1, with the bigger spots where the bigger ticks were (and fewer of them.) All spots becoming more pronounced. A few mysterious spots on my legs as well. Also, I found an engorged tick in my bedroom--bad news. Engorged means it fed (presumably on me) and was probably on long enough to transmit disease, if it had any. Taped it, in case I need it to be tested for diseases later on. Searched entire body for rashes. Found one mysterious spot, larger than the itchy spots on my ankles, and which looks like it might be taking on the bulls-eye appearance (very bad!) of tick-borne diseases. Measured it to be 1cm in diameter. Now thinking I might need to go to the doctor.
:-(
Please make du'a for me, that I don't get ill.
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3 comments:
yes, get it checked out immediately!
Rash on extremities (wrist, ankles, palms, and soles) which moves towards the trunk is characteristic of RMSF
To the second anonymous--
I am having what looks like an "outbreak" more than a rash on my ankles. I've been checking for a fever and my temperature has been between 97.5 and 98.0 for the last couple of days--so no fever. No fever, nor headache, nor the other symptoms typically associated with RMSF.
Plus, the bumps around my ankles do itch, and I thought the RMSF rash isn't supposed to itch.
Mind, I'm still worried about it, especially since I don't know what's causing the itchy bumps on my ankles.
But I can't really identify any other symptoms of sickness. I am a little weak but I'm fasting which pretty much accounts for that, I think.
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