TICKS..????

[Keppy]

...WELL HERE I AM HAVE BEEN METAL DETECTING FOR OVER 40 YEARS....NEVER SAW A TICK NEVER HAD ONE ON ME............. TONIGHT I HAD ONE ON MY ANKLE ...... Did not know what it was till i reached down got it between my fingernails and pulled it off...........Yes it was stuck to me pretty good.... I took a match and burnt it......... Still don't know were it came from....Or if i will live or die i read up on them on the net pretty scary..........

 

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[bravowhiskey]

Don't freak, odds are good in your favor, of no problem. Ticks been doing their thing for quite some time and humanity persists.
Many tick species are now known to carry Lyme disease.

I wouldn't wish them on anyone, but since fire ants have taken over 'round here, there have not been any ticks. Not on any of us and not on the dog.

 

[GioTheGreek]

Every time I get into the tall grass I feel as though I am gambling.

Next time, use Vaseline . It will smother him and he'll back himself out of your body.

Why am I itchy all of a sudden...

 

[kevin hoffman]

most ticks are harmless, however some carry rocky mountain fever or lyme disease, you will know in a month if you have either,rocky fever gives a fever so bad you hallucinate, lyme your joints hurt so bad you think you cant walk, if there is no rash i would not worry, always wear tick and bug spray,mosquitos are deadly now too,good luck

 

[Keppy]

Don't freak, odds are good in your favor, of no problem. Ticks been doing their thing for quite some time and humanity persists.
Many tick species are now known to carry Lyme disease.

I wouldn't wish them on anyone, but since fire ants have taken over 'round here, there have not been any ticks. Not on any of us and not on the dog.

.............. Hope i persist................

 

[Jeremy S]

The are awful in Indiana. I think you'll be ok as long as it wasn't sucking blood from you for several days or anything. You can get really sick from tick bites, especially if they have been latched on for a longer period of time. Not only physically but it can mentally screw you up too.

 

[Keppy]

Every time I get into the tall grass I feel as though I am gambling.

Next time, use Vaseline . It will smother him and he'll back himself out of your body.

Why am I itchy all of a sudden...

........... Thanks if i get any more i hope not i will try that.......

 

[Keppy]

The are awful in Indiana. I think you'll be ok as long as it wasn't sucking blood from you for several days or anything. You can get really sick from tick bites, especially if they have been latched on for a longer period of time. Not only physically but it can mentally screw you up too.

That don't sound good.......

 

[TerryC]

Keppy, You need to will all yer detecting to yer best friend.... ME! Time is a'waistin'... TICK tock, TICK tock. Just kidding! TTC

 

[Keppy]

Keppy, You need to will all yer detecting to yer best friend.... ME! Time is a'waistin'... TICK tock, TICK tock. Just kidding! TTC

... You know i will Terry ..... But first i have to see the doc to see if i will live....

 

[Jim of PA]

Keppy don't worry to much about it in order for you to get Lyme's it would have to in for 24-48 hrs Don't just pull them out the head can break off inside you They sale a tick removal tool for that. Also you should keep the tick in a sealed container in case you should develop systems they can test the tick to see what it has I been on meds for over a year.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

...WELL HERE I AM HAVE BEEN METAL DETECTING FOR OVER 40 YEARS....NEVER SAW A TICK NEVER HAD ONE ON ME............. TONIGHT I HAD ONE ON MY ANKLE ...... Did not know what it was till i reached down got it between my fingernails and pulled it off...........Yes it was stuck to me pretty good.... I took a match and burnt it......... Still don't know were it came from....Or if i will live or die i read up on them on the net pretty scary..........

Be darned sure you got the head out. Use a magnifying glass.
Jim

 

[Atomic Ed]

Hi, sorry to hear about the tick bite. I don't want to scare you or anything but..... Last year around this very time I was bitten by a tick in my own yard. Never saw one before nor had one on me. At the time I never knew I was bitten because sometimes ticks will bite you and then jump off and not stick around. This must have been what happened to me because I never could find one on me but I know I was bitten because unfortunately I became deathly sick from it. I did not know at the time but the tick that bit me had given me Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Initially I started to feel as if I was coming down with a cold or something. Same type of symptoms you usually get but then out of nowhere I started getting this terrible rash all over me. It was spreading by the hour all over my body and itchy like murder and hurt like fire ants at the same time. I started to worry about it and at the time chalked it up to being some kind of virus and was just waiting it to run its course.

However each day became harder and harder to tolerate the rash and by then I was feeling like I had zero energy to even get up or walk around at all. I am disabled and have had severe arthritis since I was 18 years old and now in my 40's, so alot of the aching joints and such are normal for me everyday anyway, but this was like I had never felt before. So I started researching my symptoms on the net and initially thought it might be Rocky Mountain Fever, but then read most people die fairly quickly from it without quick treatment of anti-biotics, Something like the first few days. By that time it had been a few weeks of me having it, so I figured it couldn't be that or I would be dead already. Well by the 4th week of this insanity, I decided to see a DR. which I told him what I had ruled out and that I was stumped as to what it could be. He said he wanted to test my blood for Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain anyway just to be sure.

Well a few days after they took my blood, the local pharmacy I go to calls me out of nowhere and says I must come there immediately and pick up this medicine my Dr; had called in right away and said I needed to start taking it right away. I started to freak out because I never heard back from the Dr. yet on my tests. Anyhow I ran down to the drug store and started taking the medicine right there in the parking lot. When I asked the pharmacist what it was for, he said it was for the Plague and a few other serious things which scared me even further but mentioned that my doctor didn't tell them my diagnosis just what medicine to give me.

Well that afternoon my Dr. office calls me and starts asking me how I am doing and if I am ok. The nurse on the phone sounded really concerned and asked me if I was still able to walk and stuff. I told her I was still the same. Well she then told me that my tests came back positive for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and that they were not sure why I had somehow made it through it without any treatment till now. They then gave me medicine for the next 2 months and a couple more blood tests and a visit to the infectious disease specialist who was also amazed I recovered after no treatment. I believe it was God who had saved me, especially when I read all the stories of what can happen. I was extremely lucky but, once you have this nasty thing, it takes a very very long time to recover. It has been a year now since I had it and I still do not have all my energy back. And I didn't have alot before that because of my disability.


Anyway, I didn't want to scare you but maybe warn you if you start getting a rash and feeling like your getting the flu, don't hesitate to go to the Dr. and have them test you for these things. It could kill you and quickly, if you are infected from that tick bite. Hopefully it was not an infected one. Always better safe than sorry and don't listen to people that say the tick has to be butting you for a certain length of time, Rocky Mountain is a bacteria and the second it bites you it transmits it, even if it never stays on you, like in my case.

Wishing you the best of luck that your bite was nothing to worry about but felt I needed to warn you in case you start getting symptoms.

 

[dustytrails123]

6 Tick Myths, Debunked | Yahoo! Health

 

[Atomic Ed]

Well not too sure I would take Yahoo Health all that seriously when it comes to life and death illnesses....

I believe having lived through Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever personally and consulting with multiple health care professionals including a Rocky Mountain specialist for infectious diseases, that there is alot of conflicting info on the internet and trying to manage your health care on your own using info found on the net can be very dangerous.

As I was told by more than one specialist, there are some ticks that at times to a "Bite & Drop" this means they bite you, feed and then drop off on their own for whatever reason. Now since tick bites are painless as they possess a type of natural anesthetic in their saliva, you will never feel the bite and thus never even know you were bitten if a "Bite & Drop" happens to you. This is exactly what happened to me. The tick could not have been on me very long because I was only outside in the yard for about an hour max and when I came in there was no ticks on me at all. As the Dr's told me, the bacteria for RMSF within the tick, only has to be present in the ticks saliva to infect you. Other things like Lyme disease, generally takes longer for it to travel from the ticks stomach to its saliva, but there are alot of variables as to when the tick bit last and such before biting you.

I think it is imperative that anyone who thinks they may have been bitten by a tick, consult with their Dr. if they show any symptoms. DO NOT use internet medical advice as a means to rule anything out when it comes to this disease, it could cost you your life.

Read about it and absorb what you can, but don't rely on the info as fact because alot of the info out there is both old and not accurate for every scenario or disease. For example below are a couple of links, one of which is the CDC (Little more reliable than Yahoo medical) and it clearly states that some people never remember being bitten like me. Yet they still get infected. Anyway the real myths to debunk IMO are its safe to rely on internet medical info... Please consult your Dr if you feel bad after a tick bite or it may cost you alot more than you think.

Diseases: Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever | CDC Healthy Pets Healthy People

This site below says the tick must be attached only several hours, while other say 24 and yet other sites say 6 hours and yet some infectious disease specialists who routinely treat Rocky mount fever say immediate infection is not only possible but has been studied recently.... You decide what your willing to bet your life on....

http://www.afpmb.org/sites/default/files/pubs/techguides/TG26/files/RMSJusttheFactsApril2006.pdf

 

[Keppy]

A lot of good answers .... Don't know if i got the head or not but when i put it in buy the candle flame it tried to walk away ...... so i had to drop a match right on it....... UT it looks like i should see a Doc. for sure the more i find out about them the more i don't like them......

 

[HutSiteDigger]

Keppy if you got the bite in Ohio.. Ohio is like Virginia very very low risk of lyme or rocky mounted fever. The bite is going to get itchy and red and may even look like that "bulls eye" rash but if you got the tick off you within 24-35 hours you are perfectly fine.. I would not freak out over it. I normally wear tick repellent and always stay away from high grassy area. That is where 70% of the ticks are is in grassy area and around well traveled animal trails. I have been bitten probably by probably 80-100 ticks being a avid outdoors person, if you are going too be spending lot of time outdoors while it be hiking,MDing,camping,hunting,logging,etc you are going too be bitten by a tick. The odds of getting Lyme in a low risk area is about 1 in 100,000. Very high risk areas like some parts in CT can can be 1 in 5,000. I do not think you have anything too worry about at all but if you see a bulls-eye rash or get a fever in 2-8 days then just go to the doctor and they will give you meds too beat the lyme.

Also want too add since you been doing it for over 40 years i am pretty sure you have had a few tick bites and not even know. The small deer ticks can go without notice and can look just like a small freckle and most of the time they bite you in areas you can not see. Ticks been breeding for probably million years and have learned too bite in areas where you can not see them.

 

[NorCalPilot]

Plucked 4 off me already this season, all crawling on my pants, after walking through tall grass.

 

[doc-d]

Ticks are common and generally not a problem if they are NOT on you longer than 24 hours...........
If longer you can ask your doctor, if you can have the tick can have it sent for testing, or you can do nothing and wait for symptoms..
Insect repellant, tucking your pants in, long sleeves can all help to reduce tick bites, BUT it is not an absolute protection.
Certainly inspecting yourself each day after being outside, with a mirror is a good idea.........

 

[kevin hoffman]

Well atomic ed, I didn't want to scare him to death, you got lucky with a good doctor , i went to 4 doctors before he had enough sense to check for for tick diseease's, it was a couple of years and i ended up completely debilated, even after the 6 mos of i/v antibiotic I still feel like I have been beaten with a stick most days, the good news is the blurred vision went away, and so did the slurred speach.This stuff is real ,but they act like your a nut if they dont see the rash or can verify the fever, i didnt want to make him paranoid , because the doctors will dismiss your symptoms. If you have sudden arthritis onset you should be checked !!