I went to the Appalachian mountains. I left 2 days ago. Just now, I found a tic in a crevice of my ear. It was alive, but wasn’t full of blood. It was still thin. I also don’t feel any bite marks.
I don’t know much about tics or Lyme’s disease. Is there anything I should do or watch out for?
Yeah, just watch for any signs of change in the region where it could have fed. Looking for things like redness and inflammation, discoloration, pain, tenderness, itching, etc etc. If you notice no outward symptoms you are probably fine. Most tick bites do not cause infection anyway.
- Search for more ticks. Places like behind the knees, bellybutton, armpits, and groin are favorite tick spots. Check everywhere on your body, including your scalp. Have someone check hard to see places for you, like your back.
- Make sure that the head of the tick is not still embedded in your ear. Have someone check for you.
- Try to identify the type of tick. Different ticks carry different diseases so knowing the type of tick can help you keep watch for symptoms and/or inform doctors if symptoms do develop. Lyme disease is the big one transmitted via ticks but it is not the only one.
- The fact that it wasn’t full of blood is a good sign. Breathe. You are going to be just fine. Know what symptoms to look for and try to not worry yourself.
It’s entirely possible the tick you found was still looking for a good place to dine. Obviously keep track of your scalp and where you found this one so you’re sure there are not others and you aren’t actually bit or anything. But 2 days after contact is kinda when they hunker down and start sucking so there’s a good chance you found it before the problems could happen.
Your local health department can probably test the tick for disease if you still have it. (At least mine does in my state). If not, there is pretty good success with early treatment: https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/pdfs/FS_TickBite.pdf
If I were you I’d see a doctor. Assuming you picked it up two days ago, that is sufficient time for it to settle and bite. The fact that it was not engorged is not assurance that you weren’t bitten. Some people catch lyme and never show a rash, although that is uncommon.
Your doctor may prescribe an antibiotic as a preventative measure.
If you feel the need to see a doctor, by all means do so. As someone who has spent several decades camping and have been bitten by multiple ticks in my lifetime, I would not worry to much about it unless you start to notice the symptoms of Lyme disease. The CDC recommends seeing a doctor if you develop a rash or fever within several weeks of a tick bite. Source: https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/removal/index.html
While it sounds like you’ve been pretty lucky, keep in mind that the prevalence of Lyme disease has grown significantly over the past few decades
