Wood Tick

[LLigetfa]

Pulled the first tick of the year off me today.

 

[Battenkiller]

I hate the damn things. They've become a menace. I never remember so many ticks when I was a kid. Now it seems I pull one off the dog or one of the cats every day.

Never had one get embedded bad until the last few years. Got a deer tick last year with a huge ring around it. Doctor said it wasn't the "bulls-eye" Lyme disease ring, but they put me on antibiotics anyway. Never got sick, but I have a friend who will never be the same because he didn't know he had it and never got treated until a year or so later. He's hurting bad from it, can't canoe anymore, or even hike. First test was negative so they never put him on the meds. Now it's too late.

 

[hareball]

Hate the ticks and chiggers

 

[gzecc]

Bet the Dr would have put their own kid on antibiotics if they even suspected lyme. My wife and I had to almost lie to get her antibiotics when she had all the classic symptoms. They don't want to cure the patient, they just want to cover their a@# and send you to a specialist.
She had most of the symptoms, and was definetely getting worse. Everyone (except me) in our family has had it in the past. She was feeling better after a week of the atibiotics.

 

[Rob From Wisconsin]

It used to bother me quite a bit, but I don't let it so much anymore.
It is the price of spending any sort of time in the woods.
As a woodsman, it is easier to do your nightly "body check", along with
knowing the symptoms of advanced Lyme's Disease, than it is to live a life of fear & restraint.

 

[Danno77]

I've spent a lot of time in the woods, but not as many years as some of you all. Never had a tick that I noticed. NEVER. I do a quick check every trip and regularly flick them off the pants or something, but never had one latched on. now that I posted that, expect me to report back sometime this summer with something, lol.

 

[muncybob]

I hate the damn things. They've become a menace. I never remember so many ticks when I was a kid. Now it seems I pull one off the dog or one of the cats every day.

Never had one get embedded bad until the last few years. Got a deer tick last year with a huge ring around it. Doctor said it wasn't the "bulls-eye" Lyme disease ring, but they put me on antibiotics anyway. Never got sick, but I have a friend who will never be the same because he didn't know he had it and never got treated until a year or so later. He's hurting bad from it, can't canoe anymore, or even hike. First test was negative so they never put him on the meds. Now it's too late.

I've had a few on me over the years but so far I've seen them in time to avoid any problems. I also have a friend that is suffering...and it's painful for us to see him go through life this way, he was very active outdoors but now he is worn out at the end of each work day...sometimes even needs help getting his legs up and into the car. He's on a new medicine now and hope he can get at least some of his active life back.

 

[kenny chaos]

Take your lickin' and keep on tickin'. :lol:

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I've spent a lot of time in the woods, but not as many years as some of you all. Never had a tick that I noticed. NEVER. I do a quick check every trip and regularly flick them off the pants or something, but never had one latched on. now that I posted that, expect me to report back sometime this summer with something, lol.

Danno, I am the same way where we live. However, when we lived in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, they were thick there! One had to constantly be aware of them and we even checked the dog on a regular basis. Nasty things....but I hate skeeters even more. I expect it won't be too much longer before they become active. I'm ready to treat the standing water as soon as it is time. Then we'll break out the Thermacells.

 

[Wood Duck]

The ticks are thick around here, and I have found many crawling on me already this year. I find mostly the large dog ticks, which makes we wonder if I simply miss the Deer Ticks because they are smaller.

 

[Battenkiller]

The ticks are thick around here, and I have found many crawling on me already this year. I find mostly the large dog ticks, which makes we wonder if I simply miss the Deer Ticks because they are smaller.

The deer ticks are in the nymphal stage at this point in their lives and are very small, the size of a poppy seed. They like to latch onto the back of you and they are hard to find there. My regular doc insists that all Lyme-positive patients he has treated never knew they were bitten. I was lucky and it was way up on my upper thigh, almost in my groin (they like to go there as well). By the time I saw it the damn thing was embedded right in and filled up with blood. I couldn't get it out so I went to urgent care. I'm sure the very pretty lady doc on duty that day got quite a thrill removing it.

A couple years ago, Lady BK and I were watching a movie and I started to feel something irritating the inside of my naval. It felt like a piece of belly button lint that must have got stuck in there, and I kept picking at it the whole movie trying to get it out. When we got to bed, I asked her to take a look at it. She found a big old dog tick in there. She tried everything we heard of to get it out to no avail. Finally, I told her to just keep pulling on it with a tweezers until it let go, but don't break off the head.

She broke off the head.

It was buried right in their, so I told her she'd have to cut it out with a scalpel I keep for delicate woodworking tasks. She fought me and fought me about it, but I said, "Look, I can't even see it. I have seen the lower side of my belly in ten years." So she cut it out. She was so nervous that I couldn't stop laughing, so she made a mess of me, but she did finally get it out.

Coulda been worse. A guy I am acquainted with said he went to the doctor about a bad hemorrhoid he had that kept growing. The doc was a bit shocked to find a dog tick the size of a small grape in there. :sick:

 

[Danno77]

BK, i will never, ever, ever be able to read a post of yours without picturing a lady with a scalpel going at your inny....

 

[leftyscott]

Earlier this week just as I got into bed, I felt the unmistakable tingle of a tick latching on. They seem to prefer one's waistline area. Yup, there he was. After 10 minutes of trying to pull him off I gave up. Thank goodness I have a wife with sharp fingernails. She pulled him on on her first try.

 

[LLigetfa]

BK, i will never, ever, ever be able to read a post of yours without picturing a lady with a scalpel going at your inny....

Even more so, is the picture of the 'roid. :ahhh:

 

[Bobbin]

I used to be freaked right out by ticks. But they're so common here I'm well "over it" now.

I've had Lyme Disease and so has the husband (twice). It was probably the sickest I've ever been... no kidding. Pounding headache in the back of my head that didn't go away for nearly 4 days. My teeth hurt. It sucked. The Lyme titer performed to determine antibody levels that indicate the disease came back negative which is quite common. I finally reported two huge "bull's eyes" and was given the anti-biotic which worked like a charm in under 18 hrs..

The "tick check" has become a bit of a joke in this household, but it's something we do regularly. We use Frontline on the dog and the cats and rarely find ticks on them. I think we don't pick up ticks in and around the property because deer don't tend to come around because of the dog, but it's only a theory.

Most intimate tick removal? under the husband's sac... (yeah, really). I used a little gizmo called "ticked off", a white plastic spoon with a slit on the bowl. You slide it up under the offending tick and and then scoop up and out... removes 'em perfectly every time.

Every time we remove a tick from ourselves we note it on the calendar along with the site of the bite. If we start feeling crummy we call the good doctor and bring the calendar along with us.

 

[Flatbedford]

I had Lyme's back in 1988. I was very sick. I felt about as close to death as I ever have. everything hurt, fever, etc. Went to doc, he found the bull's eye on my back. About 12 hours after the antibiotics I felp fine. I'm sure the fact that I was only 18 at the time had something to do with the quick recovery.

 

[Joe in MI]

We're in a bad brown dog tick area here. We treat the dog with Frontline, but she still brings them in. She's got longer hair so by the time they get to the poison she's already back inside. A few years ago my wife counted over 40 that she found, dead or dying, in the house. Yuck yuck yuck.

The first year we had them the vet said they were basically new to the area - she'd hardly ever seen them, and suddenly they were EVERYWHERE. That year, I used SEVIN dust as a carpet powder - we had them in the house that bad. (That was before kids)

A few years ago we started treating our yard with Ortho Bug-b-gone pellets. I spread it with a Scotts spreader. It REALLY cuts down on the amount of ticks we find. I hate spreading crap on the lawn, but I guess I'd rather keep my kids off the lawn for a few days after treating it than have them crawling with ticks every time they play outside.

In fact, we need to buy the stuff and spread it this week.

 

[billdiesel]

I found my first two crawling up up my pant leg on March 15.
For those that get latched on, I take a cotton ball doused with peroxide
and keep wiping it over the tick until he lets go.

 

[WES999]

The last two times I was out in the woods playing paintball, I found a tick on me when I got home :ahhh:

I picked one of these plastic fork thingies for removing ticks.
http://www.otom.com/
The is a video of the remover in action. Is is much better than trying to remove a tick with tweezers.
Nasty buggers!

 

[thewoodlands]

Something bit me but I don't think it was a tick.

zap

 

[ihookem]

I got bit by a deer tick 2 weeks ago today. The last few days I've had a head ache off and on. My knee seems real sore for the easy week i've had at work. Does this sound like the start of lyme disease?

 

[Flatbedford]

I got bit by a deer tick 2 weeks ago today. The last few days I've had a head ache off and on. My knee seems real sore for the easy week i've had at work. Does this sound like the start of lyme disease?

I would see a doctor ASAP! Lyme's can be very severe if left untreated.

 

[firefighterjake]

Never had any problem with ticks until this year in my little corner of Maine . . . once in a while I would find a tick on my cat . . . but never had any issues myself. Went hiking this weekend and ended up with 4 of the buggers on me . . . found one on my leg . . . 30 minutes later found one on my scalp . . . 2 hours later found one of my arm . . . and 2 hours after that found one on my belly . . . I'm sitting here right now convinced that every itch I have is another undiscovered tick . . . although it's been several hours.

 

[thewoodlands]

Never had any problem with ticks until this year in my little corner of Maine . . . once in a while I would find a tick on my cat . . . but never had any issues myself. Went hiking this weekend and ended up with 4 of the buggers on me . . . found one on my leg . . . 30 minutes later found one on my scalp . . . 2 hours later found one of my arm . . . and 2 hours after that found one on my belly . . . I'm sitting here right now convinced that every itch I have is another undiscovered tick . . . although it's been several hours.

Start sleeping in the barn with Mr.Ed!

Zap

 

[firefighterjake]

Never had any problem with ticks until this year in my little corner of Maine . . . once in a while I would find a tick on my cat . . . but never had any issues myself. Went hiking this weekend and ended up with 4 of the buggers on me . . . found one on my leg . . . 30 minutes later found one on my scalp . . . 2 hours later found one of my arm . . . and 2 hours after that found one on my belly . . . I'm sitting here right now convinced that every itch I have is another undiscovered tick . . . although it's been several hours.

Start sleeping in the barn with Mr.Ed!

Zap

I would . . . but he talks in his sleep and I can't get any rest at night.