I'v been ghog hunting for over 15 years and always find a few little brown ticks on myself after returning from the fields. 2 &1/2 weeks ago I found one firmly attached to my leg and I grabbed the thing and threw it into the toilet. I noted he was firmly attached but did not really look at him. A few days later I had a sizable red rash at the site and figured a little skin infection so I applied antibiotic ointment. The rash got dark and spread. I remembered Lyme disease is due to a deer tick bite and had a distinct rash so I Googled "Lyme dis". Holy crap!!! I had that rash! Lyme dis is indigenous to the NE states but has been see in the South. I was prescribed doxicycline twice daily for 2 weeks. The rash is gone and I trust I avoided the disease. One of the side effects of this med is sunlight hypersensitivity...a rash or very easy sunburning. I got the latter. I used sunscreen and wore long sleeve shirt, but the backs of my fingers got hit...very red and very sensitive. Shower water was painful and running my hand into my pocket was unpleasant. I learned a valuable lesson as full blown Lyme dis can be crippling. I now spray DEET on my ankles and pant legs and put an elastic around my pants at my ankles, and very carefully examine my body after getting home. Warm wet spring and the presence of deer everywhere means these ticks can be in your backyard. Be observant!
Ticks and Lyme disease
- Thread starter lpreddick
- Start date
Once you get Lyme disease it's in your system for good. I know a half dozen people in this state that have it.
I'm about half way through my treatment . I got the bullseye rash around the bite , and I also got the flue symptoms .my flue symptoms came on so fast I still can't believe it . I'm taking two per day 875mg of augmentin for 10 days , and a 14 day course of prednisone 6 per day and tapers off to a half per day . I have a blood test in late July . lymes does not show up right away , it takes about 6 to 8 weeks , so I'm being treated just in case . I have my fingers crossed for a good blood test .
good luck to you buddy , I hope this works out for you too . lymes is bad stuff !
good luck to you buddy , I hope this works out for you too . lymes is bad stuff !
Something else to remember about deer ticks and a rash: When you remove the tick, be sure to grab it as close to the head as possible. Tweezers work best. If you grasp the body, you are squeezing the bacteria from that blood filled tick into your skin. Although rashes are fairly common, only 30% of Lyme patients experience a rash, and only 9% develop the classic "bulls eye" rash.
Yes, it does, and is one of the ingredients in most tick, mosquito, gnats and chigger repellents. I use OFF Deep Woods, not only for me, but also on my dogs.
AckleymanII
Gold $$ Contributor
+1 on OFF Deep Woods.
JEFFPPC
Gold $$ Contributor
Number one thing! Check yourself every time you come in, even out of your yard. I am amazed that everyone I know who has Lyme has told me they never knew they had a tick on them. If you skip this and spend any time outdoors you are being very unwise.If your in a known risk area put your clothes in a hot dryer for 30 min. after coming in,that will kill them.
snert
Silver $$ Contributor
I think I likely ticked off (pun intended) all the green bean weenies that complain about insecticide etc on lawns becuase I bought two big bags of lawn treatment and blasted my lawn with it. Why? Because in 1/2 hour of sitting on a park bench under my 50 year old maple, my son got 4 ticks on his ankle. I plan to do it again in the fall.
Nice side effect, no centipedes either!
Nice side effect, no centipedes either!
As a coon hunter that runs dogs year round in some of the worse tick/lyme disease noted areas in existence, I can tell you what we all do...use a permethrin based spray on all your gear and clothing and use DEET 100% on your body. Make sure the DEET product that you buy is 100%. Ben's 100 is a good one. I always find it at Wal-Mart. If they are bad where you live I would also suggest that you use duct tape to tape your pants leg closed to your boots or shoes.
Lyme disease can be fairly easy to get rid of if you have not been infected for a long period of time...it can go undetected for quite a while and that is when it gets a lot tougher to get rid of. Due diligence to remove any possible ticks that you might have picked up goes a long way to prevent this disease. When you get out of the woods or fields check yourself real good. Mexican girls can be helpful as well as a lot of fun in searching for ticks. They are all gorgeous.
Lyme disease can be fairly easy to get rid of if you have not been infected for a long period of time...it can go undetected for quite a while and that is when it gets a lot tougher to get rid of. Due diligence to remove any possible ticks that you might have picked up goes a long way to prevent this disease. When you get out of the woods or fields check yourself real good. Mexican girls can be helpful as well as a lot of fun in searching for ticks. They are all gorgeous.
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I don't know if it works for real or not but I recently read where soaking a cotton ball in liquid soap and blotting over the tic and leaving it that the tic will detach and be in the cotton ball. They recommended every first aid kit have cotton balls and liquid soap. It is a big problem here in PA I know several people here in the last month who have had a tic, the rash and have been treated. I guy at work told me he has successfully removed a few from him by lighting a match n blow it out and place it on your skin next to the tic,he said they come right out. If you break one off they recommend you immediately dig out the head.
Brians356
Silver $$ Contributor
I've owned my house since 1988 and never saw a wood tick at home, or in this area back to 1973. Last summer I raked up some old leaf litter and later was shocked to find a wood tick on my calf. I have seen plenty of deer ticks out in the surrounding country, both on deer and on hunters' clothing. Happily we don't have much tick-borne disease around here, but we do have some mosquito-borne (West Nile) and flea-borne (bubonic plague). Where I grew up in N. Idaho we got inoculated for Rocky Mountain spotted fever carried by wood ticks.
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My cousin was unknowingly bit in the summer and did not develop any symtoms until after Christmas that year. He had to take antibiotics for almost 6 months to get clear. Still has pains that he describes as arthritis. I tie my pants, spray, and Some of the 3gun shooters I have met talked me into wearing Flea collars around my boots and belt loops. Sounds silly, but seems to work pretty good.
LarryDScott
Site $$ Sponsor
According to a friend who has it, when he started on antibiotics,
even though he had first tested negative, the flu symptoms are
a positive indicator. He later cked positive.LDS
Those are often repeated Folk remedies that might have worked on American dog ticks, but don't work on Deer ticks. Deer ticks attach with great tenacity, and insert their longer mouthparts deeper into the skin than the American dog ticks. They also have more backward pointing barbs, and secrete a cement type substance that glues them to the skin of the host.
LarryDScott
Site $$ Sponsor
Spray your clothes and boots w/permanone,days in advance, and not on your skin.
Sprays such as OFF and sprays w/deet are very iffy. Permanone is advertised to still be effective after your clothes are washed.
LDS
Sprays such as OFF and sprays w/deet are very iffy. Permanone is advertised to still be effective after your clothes are washed.
LDS
LDS, aren't you over by LBL? Western KY has lots of deer and even more deer ticks. Our family reunions down there always involve gallons of DEET
20%-40% DEET is safe to use. 100% is not safe.
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