Tick bites and Lyme disease

[gerry100]

Funny you say that.. I commented to my father during the debate on how good George looked.

My understanding is that he's a hobby farmer up here somewhere

 

[Phoenix Hatchling]

It kind of frustrates me that Lyme is considered a "trendy disease", dismissed as paranoia. I read an article declaring Lyme and some other diseases "Fake", and accusing people of not wanting to be "healthy or normal".

My particular case of Lyme was mild, but I know a man who's "Fake" disease turned into Bell's Palsy which lingered on and off for years. I also know a man who suffered permanent tissue damage and now is in a wheelchair.

Major complications are rare, almost always from someone not getting treatment early. Doxycycline is a great medication.

Yeah fake. I'm 49 and my fake bout with it had me hobbling like a 90 y.o. man. Would walk a hundred yards and be ready for a nap. Can't stand the beasties and the new tick borne illness originated ten miles from where I am located in CT.

 

[mwhitnee]

Actually, only one in ten get the bulls eye. I got lucky...
View attachment 169668

My bite location was fine (unlike yours), just the tiniest red dot that went away.

 

[Andy S.]

I know all about them. Rashes don't randomly move.

Glad to see you're on top of it. Sorry for the unsolicited advice, I should have known better...

 

[mwhitnee]

Actually, only one in ten get the bulls eye. I got lucky...
View attachment 169668

My bite location was fine (unlike yours), just the tiniest red dot that went away.

Glad to see you're on top of it. Sorry for the unsolicited advice, I should have known better...

Lol that's hilarious!! I appreciate your concern, and thank you for the advice.

 

[warbonnet]

Can you explain a little more? Im not up on this one?
Sawyers?
I guess Im gonna have to go with sprays for a while here, I have alot of outside work to do yet.
Threw all my outdoor clothing in hot wash. Im wigged.
Wished they had Advantix for people.

I chase mature whitetail bucks with archery equipment. It involves an incredible amount of time in the woods 12 months a year. Running cams, scouting , blah, blah, blah. I have been infected twice, no picnic. I started with sawyers a few years ago and ticks on me have become nonexistent. I've watched ticks crawl up my pants leg and just drop off. That said it is a chemical and I wear the clothes as short a time as possible. On right before i go in the woods and off immediately after. Like anything else do your homework before using the stuff. Not good for cats or fish.

 

[Phoenix Hatchling]

I chase mature whitetail bucks with archery equipment. It involves an incredible amount of time in the woods 12 months a year. Running cams, scouting , blah, blah, blah. I have been infected twice, no picnic. I started with sawyers a few years ago and ticks on me have become nonexistent. I've watched ticks crawl up my pants leg and just drop off. That said it is a chemical and I wear the clothes as short a time as possible. On right before i go in the woods and off immediately after. Like anything else do your homework before using the stuff. Not good for cats or fish.

I have started using clothing from Insectshield™ which has the permethrin in the actual material. It's effective for something like 70 washes, and has the same effect as you are speaking of, but without the hassle of spraying your clothing outdoors and trying to avoid it blowing back on you!

 

[Dobish]

I got Lyme in 2003, and it sucks. I was living in Lyme CT at the time, and pulled a tick off of myself, but never got the classic bulls eye. Definitely get multiple tests, as false positives are a very common occurrence. I also lost a dog to Lyme, not realizing he had picked it up when we traveled back to visit the family one summer. Lots of deet is the answer.... just not on synthetic materials, it will eat through it!

Check check check!

 

[Lee Fontaine]

The University of Rhode Island Tick Encounter Resource Center has a wealth of information about ticks. http://www.tickencounter.org
My back yard is a wooded half acre surrounded by a stone wall. There are lots of tick carrying critters parading through it including deer and mice. I followed the Tick Encounter Resource Center's advice about controlling ticks using a perimeter spray and tick tubes. It works. I haven't seen any ticks on my dog since I started spraying.

 

[gerry100]

Had lyme twice contracted in my back woodlot.

Luckily there's 100s of wooded acres adjacent which means there's plenty of room for me and the wildlife to avoid each other.

My loudmouth dog harasses any deer that get on the lot and I relieve myself out there.

Stats show the if the deer density gets low enough it breaks the repro cycle.

I think I'm good w/o/any chemicals

 

[Lee Fontaine]

Yeah, I hear ya regarding the chemicals. The stuff that URI recommends is a chrysanthemum extract called permethrin. It's the same stuff with which tick repellent clothing is treated. I use is sparingly and in very low concentration. The tick tubes, are made with cotton balls treated with permethrin that the mice take to line their nests. It's supposed to kill the ticks but not the mice. They seem to work. Most of the cotton balls disappeared along with the ticks.

 

[VAfarmer38]

I was diagnosed with Lyme disease when I was 15 years old. Had the signature mark on my Achilles and went to get checked. About three years ago I started having some health issues that I couldn't explain. Went to different DRs and finally ended up with a Lyme specialist in Lexington VA. She basically said there are co-infections that can accompany Lyme disease that ticks in different areas carry. She put me on a long regimes of abx and some other meds and advised me to watch my diet, especially my sugar intake. I have some symptoms that Coke and go every few months but all is good for the most part. There's no real sure fire way to steer clear of these things when you're in the woods a lot.

 

[neverbilly]

Another option for permethrin is to find a bulk jug of concentrate, and dilute it yourself. the stuff I bought a few years back ended up being about $25/liter for 33? or 38 % strength. I need to mix water at a 65 to 1 ratio! I've no doubt praised permethrin in other threads, but this stuff is magic. I treat carpet sparingly, dog beds, my clothing, my bedding (sparingly), and even the hallway carpet runners. I even spray it in the yard....

Do you have any idea if one can spray in the yard and having free range laying hens? We let the chickens out each day for an hour to roam around and scratch for bugs. Then again, maybe just having the chickens is enough! We have ten and soon, five more.

 

[saskwoodburner]

Do you have any idea if one can spray in the yard and having free range laying hens? We let the chickens out each day for an hour to roam around and scratch for bugs. Then again, maybe just having the chickens is enough! We have ten and soon, five more.

I really have no idea on safety when it comes to chickens. I've talked to others on different forums, and they said chickens eat ticks, and something called guinea fowl (whatever that is) will take care of ticks really well in an area.

Best bet is to ask at your local farm supply store as to the safety for this product. I think they use it in chicken lice spray, but that's for wipe on use, not on a food source.

 

[Ashful]

Is Lyme disease often carried by regular ticks? Around here, it seems only the itty bitty deer ticks are of major concern.

 

[neverbilly]

Is Lyme disease often carried by regular ticks? Around here, it seems only the itty bitty deer ticks are of major concern.

View attachment 173111

That is a good photo.

I think I have read that the deer tick is the one carrying Lyme disease. Around here, I don't even know if we have them but I will have to find out. The ticks I see, and I have seen and pulled off a thousand of them in my life, are the ones with a white dot on their back.

 

[Oldman47]

Do you have any idea if one can spray in the yard and having free range laying hens? We let the chickens out each day for an hour to roam around and scratch for bugs. Then again, maybe just having the chickens is enough! We have ten and soon, five more.

Check the label cautions on that chemical. As far as permethrin, I thought it was only useful as a repellent, not to actually kill the ticks. Lyme is spread by deer ticks, the little ones.

 

[saskwoodburner]

Check the label cautions on that chemical. As far as permethrin, I thought it was only useful as a repellent, not to actually kill the ticks. Lyme is spread by deer ticks, the little ones.

As a clothing treatment, they don't usually stick around long enough and just drop off. If they're trapped inside your shirt or whatever, it kills them. As an area treatment, it eventually kills them as well. If they crawl on treated carpet for 10-20 minutes, and you remove the tick, it may not be physically dead, but it's dead to the world. They start getting agitated or excited, walking in circles, and trying to stand on their head or get on their back and die eventually.

 

[fran35]

They are terrible here. When I first moved here, I wasnt aware of the epidemic. Our lot had woods and about an acre of wild raspberry bushes. It was great to have the raspberry, then my wife got lyme and ended up in the hospital for 2 weeks. They misdiagnosed her twice and she used 4 antibiotics in a month's time frame. She then ended up with C Diff, which was amazing. It was terrible. Then I got bit and had the red ring. I went to my doctor and insisted they give me the 2 week course of Doxcycline. The tests for Lyme are very unreliable until the disease has been present for about 4 weeks. By that time, you are really sick. I read enough about the disease to know that taking a 2 week cycle of the Doxy early will knock out Lyme if it is present. I then proceeded to apply Agent Orange to all of the underbrush. The trees all stayed, but the underbrush is where they hang out. I have alot of deer, but I found out that mice are a primary vector. I then waged Jihad on the mice, with the help of my cat whom I starved to motivate(joking of course).

 

[Hasufel]

I have alot of deer, but I found out that mice are a primary vector. I then waged Jihad on the mice, with the help of my cat whom I starved to motivate(joking of course).

It's no coincidence that cats were also good at keeping bubonic plague in check. That's why I keep a goodly supply of felines on hand!

I just heard recently about a (broken link removed to http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2016/p0208-lyme-disease.html) that's found in Wisconsin and Minnesota...apparently this one doesn't come with the characteristic bullseye rash. Be careful out there!

 

[LocustPocust]

I'm hoping this crazy cold blast we just got over in the Northeast cut down further on the tick population. It didn't get about 5 around here for 2 days and it went down to -15 to -20 below zero two nights in a row. We didn't really have any snow on the ground to help insulate them either.

This past summer was the first summer in a very long time that my area wasn't infested with ticks though I found more once the deer started moving in September. We had two very harsh winters in a row, 2013-2014-2015.

 

[blades]

It's no coincidence that cats were also good at keeping bubonic plague in check. That's why I keep a goodly supply of felines on hand!

I just heard recently about a (broken link removed to http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2016/p0208-lyme-disease.html) that's found in Wisconsin and Minnesota...apparently this one doesn't come with the characteristic bullseye rash. Be careful out there!

Just read that article a couple weeks ago. It referenced Black Foot Deer Tick as primary carrier.

 

[Hasufel]

That is a good photo.

I think I have read that the deer tick is the one carrying Lyme disease. Around here, I don't even know if we have them but I will have to find out. The ticks I see, and I have seen and pulled off a thousand of them in my life, are the ones with a white dot on their back.

You might be describing the Texas Lone Star tick. I don't think it spreads Lyme disease but its bite has been found to trigger an allergy to red meat.

You are correct, deer ticks are the ones linked to Lyme. I just picked one off myself today. Seems wrong--it's only February after all, and we were getting snow and ice just a week ago. I hope this doesn't mean it's going to be a bad year for them...

 

[EPS]

The county in nh in which we live has the highest incidences of tick bites and Lyme disease in the country. I have it on my mind each time I go outside, let alone in the woods.

 

[MJSully]

. Nice little tick bit in my back