‘I didn’t think she was going to make it,’ says husband of tick victim
ELANORA HEIGHTS great grandmother Elizabeth Denham had a tick pulled out of neck with tweezers at a chemist — then doctors say, she could died from the tick toxin.
Manly
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A GREAT grandmother is lucky to be alive following the removal of a tick using tweezers at a northern beaches pharmacy.
Shortly after Elizabeth Denham suffered a serious reaction to the tick toxin.
Her blood pressure and heart rate dropped so dramatically, doctors said she could have died.
Her husband John, who rushed to her side after she collapsed at Manly Leagues Club, said he feared the worst when he saw her.
“She was a grey colour, her mouth was partly open,” he said. “It was not good. I didn’t think she was going to make it.”
Paramedics who attended discovered her blood pressure had dropped to 53 over 34 and her heart had slowed to 40 beats a minute.
Mrs Denham was treated at Mona Vale Hospital.
The Elanora Heights couple said the drama began when Mrs Denham realised she had a tick on her neck.
Earlier the couple had been reading a Manly Daily story about a man who needed emergency treatment when a tick in his neck was incorrectly removed.
Tick allergy expert Prof Sheryl van Nunen recommends using a freeze spray, such as Wart-Off and waiting for the tick to drop off.
Present government advice includes using fine-tipped tweezers, which is confusing for pharmacists.
A Department of Health spokesman said they were aware of Prof van Nunen’s advice, but were awaiting the publication of data demonstrating the safety of killing in situ.
“So far the findings are promising and may lead to changes in tick bite first aid,” he said.
Unsure on what to do, the concerned couple went to a pharmacy.
“We normally pull out ticks ourselves, but after reading the story we went straight down to the chemist,” said Mrs Denham.
She said the woman assisting used a freeze spray on the tick, but instead of allowing the parasite to drop off by itself, which can take one or two hours, she immediately pulled it out with tweezers.
The couple do not blame staff in the pharmacy.
Initially Mrs Denham felt fine, but as she was driving to Manly she began to lose hearing in her left ear.
“By the time I was at Dee Why I was itchy all over,” she said.
“I felt bloody awful.”
Mrs Denham made it into the club, but then collapsed.
Luckily, the paramedics arrived in time to treat her before she was taken to Mona Vale Hospital.
Pharmacist Craig Bird, from Belrose Chemist, said he stopped using tweezers to remove ticks from customers about 18 months ago after going to a lecture held by Prof van Nunen.
“We are in a tick hotspot,” he said.
“The latest advice is breaking new ground. We need to get the message out.”
Go to tiara.org.au for advice on tick removal.
HOW TO REMOVE A TICK, ADVICE FROM PROF VAN NUNEN
■ If you are bitten by a tick, kill the tick where it is.
■ For small ticks (larvae and nymphs), use permethrin cream (available at pharmacies).
■ For adult ticks, freeze them with an ether-containing spray (available at pharmacies).
■ Wait for the tick to drop off or remove it taking the utmost care to not compress the tick (as this will squirt allergen, toxin and possibly infection into you).
■ And remember, household tweezers are tick squeezers.
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