Acrawl
 

I was on the shoulder of the road today photographing the bike race.

The shoulder of the fucking road. I get back into the car and I am covered with huge brown dog ticks, which means, I am sure, that I must be covered in invisible deer ticks. Fine, whatever.

But ever since this afternoon I have the sensation of little critters crawling all over me, everywhere.

Thank god I'm not tripping.

I haven't found one yet, but I know they are here.

Get 'em off within 72 hours and you won't have to take a dose of doxy. Once you get the tweezers on one, just pull slooowly so the head stays on. Probably not how you were planning to spend Saturday night. :(

Ughh Feetz Deet is yer friend ,

Yuckety yuck! I hate tics!

eta: actually, it should read, Ickety Ick! I hate a tic!

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww!
I'll raise a glass of coconut water to your health. Can't do any more from this distance.

Thankfully, tic free but still acrawl. Going out again today, with DEET and pyrethrin.

I've got one of those awesome tick scoops.

Will ticks respect deet?

No, ticks only respect brute force. Carry a big hammer and when you see one on you smash it. :bonk:

Well OK, DEET and Permethrins help some, but physical barriers are best. Like tucking pants into socks.

Permethrin! That's the fellow, not that other one.

If *I* had followed that advice...


OWWWWWW!!!!

:lol:

Maybe if you pull the tick off your balls first, then smash it with a hammer...

Good advice! :thumb:

First tick of the season yesterday, and it looks to be a deer tick :mad2:
Got it out, but may head to the docs to be sure. It was just far enough around my side that I can't quite see if it's all gone. Definitely caught the crawlies ...

If you get it out within the first 24 hours, you won't get lyme, even if it was a carrier.

so far I've been lucky and with great diligence haven't found one bit into the skin.... bad enough that I'm pulling 4, 5 6, off my clothes when I come in - dogs have flea and tick prevention on, but with a big black dog its still hard to tell if they're riding around on him - gotta do a comb out and spray with cider vinegar this afternoon - not looking forward to it...

creepy crawly feeling keeping me awake at night

Very good article about why the tick population is exploding and what we might be able to do about it.

well now that article was enough to almost make me agoraphobic

Based on no evidence whatsoever, I think that sounds a lot like "you can't get pregnant the first time you have sex".

are you sure?

I'm no expert, but that's what the article says. It has to do with the length of time it takes the bacteria to leave the tick's stomach and work its way to the tick's mouth and into you.

Shurely if it's exploding, problem solved?

Very good article. I'm about 20 miles from Lyme so well within the ground-zero area for the little darlings. Saw the PA, looks like I had gotten the bugger out. One-time double dose of Doxy, and watch for symptoms (probably nothing).

That's the way it works naturally, but it depends on how you remove the tick. Smothering will make it puke, which is bad, and excess squeezing may also upset natures plan.

Blood work yesterday. See lung Dr. next week.

Got tested for Lyme and a million other things two weeks ago.
Avoiding getting the answers I already know I don't want.
Meh ... maybe I'll call them back this week.

Lyme's no big deal. two weeks of Doxycycline. The problems is when the doctor believes a false negative, which are fairly common. There are a lot of people who believe they have "chronic Lyme." Recent research has shown that they are merely being re-infected by different ticks. (DNA sequencing the Lyme bacteria)

But, feel better anyway, don't worry.

I'll probably go get tested soon as Him gets home this week ...

I'm always a bit paranoid about these things, and even if the list of symptoms can be explained by other things (joint pain? you're kidding right - been arthritic since I was 29, I live with an almost permanent headache, and chills? Well the temps did drop to 5°C this week, that neck pain? I could have slept on it wrong, and tired? I haven't slept properly since he left...)

There's just been so many of them - I can't walk across the yard without coming back to at least one if not 2 or 3 on me. And while I have been careful I have found them after stripping down on bare flesh. And early on there was a bite - didn't see any tick - didn't think anything of it at the time, I thought it was a black fly bite, but 3 weeks and it's still there and it does have that red ring around a white centre......

Yeah I'm being paranoid - I know that - BUT a test doesn't cost anything and MAY save me a world of grief down the line.

red ring around a white center = lyme. That's the only sure diagnosis.

The sooner you are treated the better. Just go to your doc, show him/her the bullseye rash, get the scrip, feel better.

not that sort of bullseye rash
http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/images/EMforWeb2.jpg

small, about the size of a dime, looks like a mosquito bite (I tend to be very reactive to those) that hasn't faded...
3 weeks in it's not getting larger, and I never did see a tick at that location.


all that said - err on the side of caution ... I will go and get tested later in the week