6 Month Lasting Bite (Page 2)

The solution for me was NEOSPORIN. The trick you have to open the sore up each time you apply it so that it can get in. This has healed mine in a week. I had a tick bite for 2 months it never got any better and was this big welt that itched constantly. The tea tree oil helped with itching but I wanted it gone. This is a miserable situation so good luck and I hope this helps.

Nesporin. Open the bite up each time by taking off the scab or using a needle. Mine swelled up and itched for 2 months with no improvement until my husband got me to try this. It took about 2 weeks applying it twice a day, but it finally healed.

If it is Lymes disease, that will not help, but great news for any other kind of tick or bug bite.

Hi, I'm from Spring Hill TN and I was bitten about 4 months ago. The bite is still here and itching like crazy. I have a raised bump in the area I was bit. It is so annoying. I really need some help. Could this be that I'm allergic to ticks?

I'm starting to wonder if we aren't talking about a new as yet unrecognized blood born pathogen transmitted by insect bites. My story: I'm 51 years old. I've played and worked outside all my life, and have been bitten many many times by various insects and they always healed quickly. Then about 5 or 6 years ago I got a tick bite. It lasted all that summer, all that fall and winter and was still around when the next spring rolled around. It was almost healed at that point but then I got more bites. These in turn lasted for about a year maybe a little longer. Anyway each year I've gotten more bites that have taken longer and longer to heal. Now my lower legs are looking poka dotted with little red spots. All this despite the fact that I really try to avoid being bitten. I've seen doctors, and even a dermatologist that all seam to brush my concern aside.

I also live in North Carolina. I have numerous bug bites on my right arm - mostly above the elbow and on the front of my arm. I have had the bites for several months. At first, I assumed they were from mosquitos. Nothing I do makes them go away. I have used neosporin, pink calamine lotion and rubbing alcohol. The calamine lotion stopped the itching and oozing but they didn't go away. The rubbing alcohol is drying up the bites. I put in on several times a day. The bites are still slightly red. I am going to try the tea tree oil as suggested in a previous post. I have no idea where these bites came from - I haven't been hiking, camping or any other obvious activity that I would have been bitten by fleas/ticks. I also don't understand why they are only on the upper part of one arm. If the bites were from fleas(from my dogs), I assumed the bites would be all over my body. Any ideas?

Add me to the list. I got bitten two months ago (Florida) by an incredibly tiny tick that I had a heck of a time getting out. He'd only been latched on a couple of hours when I found him. He was so tiny, I have no way of knowing whether or not I got the head, and as hard as he hung on, I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't. But it didn't get infected and I've treated it almost every day with either Neosporin or Cortaid and today it was Benadryl gel because it just won't stop itching. The skin over the bite mark will regrow a very thin layer of skin, but anything will cause it to rupture and ooze (clear). I'm going nuts. I have to keep it bandaged all the time or I will claw my leg off.

I live in upstate NY, I was at work about 3 days ago i was bite by some thing while i was working i didn't see what it was i thought a leg hair was pull out it wasn't a major pain. it under the back of my nee cap at first it was just a red dot now its swelled up and turned pretty hard, iv been keeping it clean, at this point it probably wouldn't be anymore pain, just to pop it. iv had spider bites before, and they didn't hurt like this it makes it difficult to walk or just stretch my leg, I'm gonna give it a few day then go to the doctor and if he says its OK ill give it some time.. good luck to others

My partner and I went canoeing in Costa Rica and camped in the jungle. We brought back more than pictures. We had tick bites that lasted several months. I tried alcohol as it had successfully cured my planter warts and foot rot years ago. I used 95% Everclear grain alcohol soaked in a cotton wad, covered it with a plastic film, and taped the edges of the plastic with white medical tape. This was to prevent evaporation of the volatile alcohol so that it had a chance to soak into the skin and kill any critters in there. I left this on the bite overnight, and removed it in the morning. I applied this treatment 5-10 times over a month, and voila, bites and itching be gone!

Hey so I've had this weird bite for the past four months and I work out and aggitated it and it puffed up pussing out a jelly pinkish color liquid. I had it looked at earlier and its not staph but I'm going to an infectious disease doctor to get it looked at where they send a sample to the state database where they can compare it and tell you exactly what it is- my mom had something like this happen and they found it was some rare fungus that they were then immediately able to treat and it went away in a matter of days so if you've already checked with your primary care doc I'd suggest seeing someone in infectious disease area who will have a better understanding and be able to help you rid of it better.

I was bitten by a tick this past summer on my stomach. It just so happened to bite me on a tattoo I have, which is now ruined, and it keeps getting worse and worse. I came back negative for lymes. But if you guys/girls google tick bites it will explain that they can carry a form of Rickettes bacteria. All I know is that i have an eraser size hole in my tattoo, it's itchy as hell and nasty looking. I hope this helps! Good Luck

Yet another case here in Roanoke Rapids North Carolina. My mother got a tick bite camping in Medock Mountain several months ago. And she still complains about the itchy bump on her back. Wierd thing. Hope you all get it figured out. - NC.

I have similiar bites with the oldest one being about 2 years ago. The site is very callous now and flakey. I am sure it was not from a tick but may have been a spider. All the 3 sites are on areas of exposed skin - lower leg below the knee. The dermotologist said the the surrounding area was sealing off the bite forming a hardened area. Sounds weird. I just wish it would go away. I am in middle Georgia.

So one day I had a little itch on my scrotum, so I reached down and I felt a little bump. Turns out it was a little tick, brown in color. I realized this because I yanked him off and cussed her out. (I live in rural south Georgia). Well, 3 weeks have gone by and there are no signs of healing. Still itches like crazy and can tell there is a "bump" inside of the bite site. I need to find out how to take care of this because it is A:making me spend more time scratching and messing with it than I would like, and B:making my hands smell funny.

For anyone who's skipped to the last comment, I'll summarize what I've read on here so far (and add what I've read elsewhere, afterward):

(1) It seems that tick (and other insect) bites can last quite a while, stemming from different causes (infection, allergic reaction to the bite itself, transmission of a disease).

(2) Some of the topical applications that people have tried with some varied success are: Teatree Oil, Neosporin, and grain alcohol.

(3) It's not uncommon for a tick bite to itch for weeks, and in some cases for months.

(4) Some doctors have suggested a medical procedure to remove the "affected" area, but in some cases the itching returns (perhaps not all of the allergen was removed?).

Put simply, this does all point to a medical reality that some people will have this many-month-long reaction to tick bites (even when the entire tick is properly removed from the bite area). There are some sites that are stating that some people are so allergic to tick bites that they can go into anaphylactic shock, sending them to the emergency room.

So, it boils down to this: if you have a tick bite that has lasted more than a week, go to your doctor and get tested for "Lymes Disease" and possibly "Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever". At the very least you can start eliminating those two as possibilities. With those two out of the way, you can focus your energy on eliminating the itch, if not actually eliminating the cause.

I have three current tick bites that have been with me for over two weeks, and I've also seen bite-like, itchy areas pop up where I didn't remove any ticks. Are they related? Not sure, but I'm treating them all the same right now.

I've been applying Hydrogen Peroxide as an anti-infection precaution, and it's effective at temporary itch control. It stings like crazy when I first dab it on (especially if the bite is "open"), but I do notice that the center of the bite usually "bubbles up", signaling an open wound.

I don't think anyone is going to find a magic bullet for this issue. Prevention is probably the best bet going forward, if you have come to realize you're one of the many people who have this bad reaction to tick bites.

Looks like I'll be going to the store soon to pick up a few pair of white sweat pants so that I have something to wear when I'm working in the yard, for easy spotting of ticks crawling up my legs. <sigh>

Forgot to mention this good, simple tick removal page from the CDC:

http://www.cdc.gov/ticks/tick_removal.html

Ticks are attracted to white, do not wear white pants or socks when you are outdoors in areas where there may be ticks.

An abundance of ticks live on the tall grasses in the borders between lawn and woods. Keeping your grass mowed will help with ticks. An effective way to reduce the numbers of ticks in your yard is to create a minimum 3' area on the edge of your property where it meets the woods and fill the area with wood chips. They will not crawl over the wood chips, mostly they just hang on a blade of grass until they detect you coming (they can sense CO2, your breath), then they grab on to you as you walk by. So keep those borders clear and your lawn mowed, but be diligent in checking yourself and family members, especially little kids!

I live in Raleigh, NC. I go camping at Falls Lake and I have a bite in the middle of my back that itches like crazy and I have had it for three months now. It is red and raised. The frustrating part is that I can't reach it to enjoy some scratching relief! It is not getting better and I fear it may be getting more itchy. Help!

I was bitten on the head by a tick about a year ago (in northern Queensland, Australia). I only realized it was a tick about four days after being bitten. I went to the doctor to have it removed, and she was confident she got it all.
Now, a year later, I still have an itchy swelling. It goes up and down. Some days I can hardly feel it, and other days (like today) it's as bad as it was the day after I was bitten. I've taken a course of antibiotics, had various blood tests, and had a biopsy taken. Everything came back negative. The doctors I've seen are at a loss to explain it.
I might try the Neosporin and see what happens.

I too have received a tick bite that won't heal. Mine was on 7-13-09. I developed a raised red rash immediately after and want to the doctor the next day. He started me on antibiotics for an allergice reaction. I went back 2 days later, antibiotic shots, more antibiotics. After two months, numerous blood tests for every known tick disease plus (all negative) I still have my bite. A biopsy showed nothing. I have been on antibiotics and although the bit is slowly healing, I continue to run a temperature off and on throughout the day. It is this that is most worrisome since my fever has persisted for so long. Just wondering if any one else has had anything similar and what they found out.