Ticks!!!!!!

[fishsmith]

I've felt like chit the last 2 days, I just found a tick 1/2 embedded in my side, well I'm off to the Dr. to find out.

THank god the spring run hasn't started yet.

[justplugit]

Good luck FS, good thing you saw it and can be treated, if needed, early.

My wife has had Lymes 3 times and each time we were fortunate to see the rash in time to get treated for a complete cure.

[Fish On]

Good luck dude.

[fishsmith]

No problems

Ticks 101:
Deer Ticks are the bad boys that carry lyme. They're tiny, pin head sized and will create a bulls eye sore on you that increases in size fairly rapidly.

I had the run of the mill tick but got 2 doses of antibiotics just in case. The trick to get these guys to back out is to put vaseline or bacitracin (spelling?) on them, they start to suffocate and instinctivly start to back out. The Dr. said even if a leg or tick part is still under your skin, don't dig it out, your body will take care of that on its own. My guess is a via a big white head zit.

[woodbutcher]

A couple of things about Lyme's:
-Doc said it was important to keep the tick for ID and testing, alive if at all possible.
-Don't rely on the appearance of a "target lesion" or rash. In a very large number of cases it never develops.
- A large number of patients report no recollection of a tick bite.
-Symtoms can vary widely and be quite vague making accurate diagnosis a challenge. Nonetheless, longterm, the disease can be very debilitating.
-Prevention; If you are like me and find the new repellents containing Picaridin both effetive and much less uncomfortable than DEET, beware, Picaridin is less effective than DEET aganist ticks(maybe not at all, I can't remember). In any event, ticks are not included in the list of varmints appearing on the label.

[woodbutcher]

Dave, 3 times? Poor lady, glad it turned out ok.

[justplugit]

Yeah Bob, we traced it back to,once while fishing with me, another from a dog laying on her lap, and the third from petting a farm animal.

Very lucky she developed the rash, and like you say ,that is not always the case. I read somewhere that only 50-60% get the bulls eye rash.

Also, wether it's a deer tick or wood tick, get checked out as there are other otrher diseases both ticks carry.

[Karl F]

Don't even want to get started on this topic.. almost lost my wife to this.... she hasn't ever really been the same.. Rash don't alway show..
She was misdiagnosed for over a year, flu like, arthritis, Vertigo, lack of focus... she even had to stop work, couldn't drive, or even do stuff around the house.. got into her Nervous System.. docs thought she had MS.... AMA and most Docs know Very Little about Lyme, (although they won't ever admit it).. Thank God we stumbled across one specialist who sent us to a Lyme Specialist.. 3 months of IV Rocepherin, followed by several months of oral antibiotics.. helped get most of her back, took almost a year and a half of treatment.. Really took a Toll.. this was in the early 90's.. tick paranoia at my house, ever since. Put me in a world of debt too...

Don't take Lyme lightly.. detect early, and insist on a month of anti biotics minimum.. Learned it never really fully goes away.. can hide in your system and sit dormant for years....wife had a couple of small reoccurances.. none the last few years tho.. Thank God.

[justplugit]

Originally Posted by Karl F

Don't take Lyme lightly..

You are so right Karl,and i would send any member of my family bitten or suspected to an "Infectious Disease Specialist". Nothing to fool with.

[vineyardblues]

I hate them ugly s-o-b things.
Just put some k-9 advantage on the dog
VB

[FishermanTim]

Whenever I venture into an area that I'm not sure about (typically when fishing) I perform a routine I call the "tick flick".
I hav gotten adept at spotting the little peckers, and will check my clothing and "flick" them off. I may even resort to a controlled (although it looks rather frantic) flailing and slapping to add further security that none are hitching a ride.
I haven't been bitten yet, and God willing, I'll catch them in time to prevent it in the future.
Although I don't know first hand about Lyme's disease, I did have an episode with a large horsefly that gave me ringworm. The bitemark also developed the "bullseye" rash, and my doctor prescribed the antibiotics for Lyme's just to be safe.
I hope every outdoors man and woman will take the necessary precautions ove the year.

[Raven]

pennyroyal oil or 100% deet helps deter them ....

just don't get deet on your hands or plugs.

[Rockfish9]

Hate 'em... back when I used to trap, I dusted my clothes with flea and tick powder and wore a bandana around my neck soaked in Bens with %100 DEET soaked my hat in it too...

Last fall I shot a buck that dropped tickes for three days.... I was almost too disgusted to eat it... almost.

[Raven]

how many ticks do ya think dropped off of that buck...?

25?, 50?, 100?

i'll never forget the day my wife and i decided to take a stroll across a grass field next to the charles river....a place we never hiked to before.... midway thru the field i decided to do a tick check on our pantlegs to see how many we picked up thus far if any...and we were covered with them - 20 easy per leg.... luckilly we had the foresight to pull our socks up over our pantlegs. we dusted off ....turned around and headed back to car and dusted them off again.

you'd have to wear smooth waders to cross that damn field...

[Rockfish9]

Originally Posted by Raven

how many ticks do ya think dropped off of that buck...?

25?, 50?, 100?

i'll never forget the day my wife and i decided to take a stroll across a grass field next to the charles river....a place we never hiked to before.... midway thru the field i decided to do a tick check on our pantlegs to see how many we picked up thus far if any...and we were covered with them - 20 easy per leg.... luckilly we had the foresight to pull our socks up over our pantlegs. we dusted off ....turned around and headed back to car and dusted them off again.

you'd have to wear smooth waders to cross that damn field...

enough for me to put a fish box dusted with tick powder under it and I still swept someoff the floor of the garage... hundreds...plural!

[Raven]

imagine that... they're always saying that: that many ticks would kill a dog taking all the hemoglobin from its blood....so how does a buck live with that size a population i wonder. vegetarianism ??

i can see why you were hesitant to eat the venison...
even if only for awhile....

[Rockfish9]

yea, hard to figure, I've skun fishers that had as many as a dozen on them....must be why I preferd water trapping.

[ProfessorM]

Ticks get the bacteria from mice. ticks have 3 stages of life. The middle stage is the nymphal stage and is the stage most responsible for lyme. as adults they prefer deer as hosts. Been bit twice by the deer tick. No rash I just found them scratching. I live in a heavy tick area. Lots of deer. Dog is covered with them constantly although most are regular ticks but disgusting none the less. Have already found some on dog even in this cold spring. P.

[JFigliuolo]

Originally Posted by Karl F

Don't even want to get started on this topic.. almost lost my wife to this.... she hasn't ever really been the same.. Rash don't alway show..
She was misdiagnosed for over a year, flu like, arthritis, Vertigo, lack of focus... she even had to stop work, couldn't drive, or even do stuff around the house.. got into her Nervous System.. docs thought she had MS.... AMA and most Docs know Very Little about Lyme, (although they won't ever admit it).. Thank God we stumbled across one specialist who sent us to a Lyme Specialist.. 3 months of IV Rocepherin, followed by several months of oral antibiotics.. helped get most of her back, took almost a year and a half of treatment.. Really took a Toll.. this was in the early 90's.. tick paranoia at my house, ever since. Put me in a world of debt too...

Don't take Lyme lightly.. detect early, and insist on a month of anti biotics minimum.. Learned it never really fully goes away.. can hide in your system and sit dormant for years....wife had a couple of small reoccurances.. none the last few years tho.. Thank God.

My wife is going through that now... It will be three years this June. Her life is w/o a doubt a living hell. We have done just about all the meds the Lyme doc can think of including IV rocef for 3 months... un f'ng believable.
Pm me your wife's doc if you don't mind. We are at the point now we'll try/investigate anything.

[Jenn]

gosh I hate reviving this thread but hubby has now had 2 deer ticks and 1 wood tick in as many days.................I have to go mow...................and I am freakin out......

[Raven]

about pennyroyal oil Jenn.... you can put it on pant legs
ticks hate it - as good or better than deet
you can order seeds and grow it....
its a member of the mint family if my memory serves me correctly.

[Jenn]

maybe I wiil plant the whole yard with it!!!!!! the other night we were literally out there for less than five minutes!!!!! I hate ticks!!!