TICKS..????

[Frankn]

The best way to remove a tick is to heat a pin and put it against the tick. It will immediately drop off. Frank...

 

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[Atomic Ed]

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 !!

I'm sorry to hear of your difficult time, thank goodness you survived it. I know what your saying about alot of doctors dismissing it because it is actually still pretty rare for someone to get infected with RMSF and they just don,t see it much or have alot of experience with it. i was lucky my doctor was very good and the fact that I had explained to him that I had thought it was rocky mountain fever but dismissed it because I was still alive after so long was a help. He certainly took me seriously and ran the tests right away. Once it was confirmed rrom the tests he sent me to a infectious disease specialist who handles rocky mountain cases. That doctor was also good and explained alot of things about the condition to me that most people wouldn,t know including most general doctors. For instance there is a good percentage of people who get infected and never display a rash at all. I of course had the rash and had it bad. it made my ordeal with chickenpox as a kid look like a walk in the park compared to the rash I had with RMSF.

I didn't want to scare ime either, hence my preface saying I don't mean to scare you.... However because this disease is so bad and can kill so quickly, I felt it better to at least warn the guy so he might have a chance in the event the tick that bit him infected him. Chances are he should be fine but you just never know, look at my case where I went out in my own backyard for an hour or so and got infected with it. When the health department in my area was notified of my case, I was only 1 of 2 people who had gotten infected with RMSF that year here. However my doctor did tell me he had personally diagnosed 7 cases of west nile virus that same week I was there.

So all in all I don't want to scare anyone either but I would rather he be aware since he had been bitten and can quickly get checked out if he has symptoms which if we did not share the info he may not have known until too late.

I know what you mean about feeling like being beaten with a stick, that describes it exactly as I feel too. I sure hope we fully recover someday, but from the stories some people have told me about their recover, some are on like their 10th year and still suffering some long term issues from it.

So lets hope we get past it and I am praying that this gentleman here that was bit, does not have any infection from it and is totally fine. i wouldn't wish rocky mountainnfever on even my enemies.

 

[Atomic Ed]

Hey, i just wanted to check with you and find out how you were doing? Hope all is well.

 

[kuger]

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

...JFYI...there are 18 known varieties of Lyme's,and not much is known about most of them....I had it for six years before i could finally get a diagnosis..and yes,extreme joint pain,I guess I will have forever.The seed tick is what is usually the carrier and is usually not even seen...I didnt

 

[kuger]

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 !!

amen!Your deal sounds very similar to mine!!!Blows when most doc's dont even beleive in it and tell you nothing is wrong!!

 

[Lil' Brudder]

My brother and dad got Lyme disease from tick bites, cured with medicine. They developed a circular rash around the bite site so keep an eye out for that...

 

[Joshr29]

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.

I haven't seen a tick in years but after that story I think I'll head on in to the Doc. Hearing the words "the plague" come out of a pharmacists might have killed me all its own. On a very serious note I am very happy for you and your family that you beat those odds. There had to have been something extra at work there to give you that second chance.

 

[Atomic Ed]

Thank you for the well wishes I appreciate that. I'm praying this gentleman who was bitten is ok and no infections from it. Hopefully he will post back and let us know he's ok.

I think alot of people don't realize that while it is more rare to get infected, it can be deadly if you are unlicky enough to be bitten by an infected one. I guess having been through it, I now always warn everyone who was bitten to be alert for the symptoms.

 

[Joshr29]

That's also some good info for all of us Ed. I have always been told that unless they are attached to you for a couple of days you don't have to worry about it. That is obviously not the case. I had also always been told the same as most of you about not trying to pull them off of you. I didn't know that doing that could leave the head embedded in you. Thanks again for sharing that with us. Now if we could just here back from the OP.

 

[Keppy]

Hey, i just wanted to check with you and find out how you were doing? Hope all is well.

..... So far so good see the Dr. this week see if he can do something,,,,, But the bite looks fine ..

 

[Keppy]

Well all the ones that had problems i am glad to here that youns are feeling better..... and thanks for all your good replies.......

 

[thrillathahunt]

WOW, It looks like many here have had some serious problems with ticks! Here in Texas they are appetizers for the fire ants.

 

[mercury1]

Keppy, hope you don't get sick. Ticks are nasty. A couple people mentioned a match or hot pin to get them out and this will work but its not recommended because it can cause the tick to regurgitate into the bite and inject infectious material. This is related to the time frame others have mentioned. An infected tick might not get you sick if its not on you (biting you) very long but when you burn them, chances of infection go up. The Vaseline method is safer. They are a big problem here in NY. Also, if you get home and find a tick crawling on you or a pet, a good way to deal with them is a small 2x3 piece of clear box tape. Just press it on the tic, then fold it over on itself so the tick is in the middle like a coin in a 2x2. The tick will quickly suffocate. Good luck to you.

 

[mercury1]

WOW, It looks like many here have had some serious problems with ticks! Here in Texas they are appetizers for the fire ants.

At least the fire ants are good for something.

 

[rock]

Make sure you have somebody check your back. I went a few weeks ago and got 2 on my back and didnt see them till a week later. First time I ever got any on me. I havent been "back" since, little pun lol.

 

[Atomic Ed]

..... So far so good see the Dr. this week see if he can do something,,,,, But the bite looks fine ..

Thats very good news that the bite looks fine and your feeling well! I was praying you didn't get infected from that tick.

Be careful next time your in the areas you were last where that tick go onto you. You know there is a certain type of bug repellant you can apply the your clothes, some spray it on their shoes and bottom pant legs and ticks will not crawl on you as they hate the stuff. Here is a link not for the purpose of supporting the site selling it but for your info. Sawyer Premium Permethrin Clothing Insect Repellent Trigger Spray : Amazon.com : Sports & Outdoors

You can probably find it at your local sports shops near you as well. Might be a good idea to spray this stuff on your shoes and pants prior to visiting those areas again. An ounce of prevention with ticks is the key.

Best of luck to you.

 

[hikeinmts]

Just to let anyone hunting in Korea, or in Japan.....there is a new tick (from China) now in Japan and Korea. It's called "Killer Tick." There have been deaths in all three countries. About a 100% get-real-sick rate, and about a 25% kill rate. Key is, spray down well with flea and tick spray. Keeps most off me. But, last week I picked 2 off my legs......don't seem to have been the killer variety. If you do get
a tick, best thing is to take it to an emergency room (Korean hospital), and have them pull it off. They will test it, to see if it is the bad type. I almost died last year....not from the killer tick, but from another one, that had a disease that it gave me. I went to a U.S. military dr., and he spent 15 minutes telling me that almost no one has died from ticks in Korea.....ever. The next day, it was all I could do to get into a cab and be transported to a Korean E.R. The dr. there took 5 minutes, and told me I had been bitten by a tick, and I ended up staying in the hospital for 3 days. But, the dr. said that if I had put it off, then there would have been a good chance of very serious problems, including the possibility of death. Spray down, and then inspect yourself very very thoroughly. They are in S. Korea and Japan.