It’s tick season, and that means that it’s important for you to understand the different ticks in your local area and to take action to minimize the risk of ticks biting you, your family and friends or your pets.
There are several common ticks that you should worry about in Indiana, which include the brown dog tick, deer tick, American dog tick and Lone Star tick. Each of these has the potential to spread illnesses such as:
- Lyme disease
- Ehlichiosis
- Rocky Mountain spotted fever
- Canine tick paralysis
- The Heartland virus
…as well as many others. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have a list of tick-borne illnesses that you may want to explore to learn more about the risks in your local area.
You may need to see a doctor after a tick bite
It’s not always necessary to see a doctor after you’ve been bitten, but if you are bitten and start having symptoms like fatigue or nausea, a stiff neck or a bullseye rash, you may want to talk to your doctor about the exposure.
If you’re sure you were bitten by a tick or you assume so because of a bullseye rash, see your doctor right away. If you have the tick, it can be sent away for testing. If not, your doctor may still want to start you on prophylactic antibiotics.
If you’re already dealing with the effects of a tick bite, your medical provider should order testing to determine the exact illness and to decide on a treatment plan. You may need long-term antibiotics for certain tick-borne illnesses, so you can get them out of your system and get back to a place of better health.
What can you do if you got sick but kept getting misdiagnosed?
Not identifying a tick-borne illness quickly and taking care of it with antibiotics or other treatments can lead to patients getting sicker and struggling with a chronic illness. A delayed diagnosis can be, in some cases, the cause of severe illness or death when it comes to a tick bite. If you suspect medical malpractice, you may want to look into making a legal claim.
