Child bit by a tick and two knots appeared.

My niece was bit by a tick on the back of her head and when it was found it was fully engorged. Some of the concerns we have are two knots have formed at the bottom of her neck one the size of a quarter and the other a dime. She has been complaining of stomach cramps, stiff sore neck, and seems as if she is catching a cold. We also have noticed her acting moody or depressed and today she just seemed out of it. Do we need to take her into the emergency room now or can we wait to call the doctor in the morning?

[JackieCalifornia]

I'm not medically trained and so can't give medical advice --

Your niece may or may not have Lyme -- you don't say how long ago the tick bite was -- and symptoms are a bit different in everyone, but the symptoms you describe could be consistent with Lyme and other tickborne diseases.

(Did you keep the tick?  If you did, put it someplace safe like in a little glass jar with a lid or a baggie or something and take it with you to the dr.  They might want to test the tick.)

Seeing an MD soon is important, as you already know, because the sooner a diagnosis is made and treatment is begun, the better.  Whether that calls for a trip to the ER is something I can't say.

I was very ill when first infected, and ended up in the ER twice in a week, but none of the MDs I saw even mentioned Lyme as a possibility, so sometimes the ER isn't helpful and they may refer your niece to her regular MD anyway.

Soon is important, but in my own personal experience, if I had not been having heart irregularities, I would not have gone to the ER.  If you decide not to go to the ER, then you should call your niece's MD first thing and request an appointment asap.  

Her MD may not be equipped to diagnose and treat an infectious disease, so you might end up having to go to a specialist, and that opens up a whole other set of questions, which we can get into here later, but wanted to give you a quick response.

Take care.