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I just pulled the 11th tick of the season off me last night! Fortunately, most of them hadn't even attached yet. But geez..........
This past harsh winter has really made everything come back to life with a vengeance. Unfortunately, that must include the tick population.
At least they are only dog ticks and not deer ticks.
My dog had his first tick but I use the meds perscribed by the vet and the ticks fall off or die so they are managed that way. I did get ticks on my body depending on where I was working in the woodlot but no longer doing that so no more ticks on me.
They are a real pain and nuisance. Take care with them!
MPR reported that this would be a bad season for ticks because they were protected under the thick blanket of snow all winter here in Minnesota.
My daughter had Lyme last summer and we don't want to repeat that!
I found a deer tick crawling on my leg a few days ago. I was just in the lawn and not in any tall vegetation. Ugh.
We are wiping our dog down from head to tail every time she comes inside, with a damp washcloth, that we then rinse out. She has thick fur that ticks could easily ride inside on. She gets Frontline, but that only kills insects that make it down to her skin.
I'm just everywhere during the day.......in the chicken coop, in the garden, in the back yard, riding my golfcart all through the woods........so I guess I'm a prime target.
At least my skin is so sensitive that I usually always feel them crawling on me, before they attach. But since I've had so many, I feel things crawling on me all the time..........even when they're not there!
Rosemary.......did you DD get treated immediately? I've heard that the bull'seye rash only occurs in 50% of the bites.
Do you have deer ticks where you are?
I don't believe I've ever seen a deer tick here.......unless I'm just missing them, since they are so small.
I thought I had Lyme for a long time, with all my funky fibromyalgia/perimenopause/arthritis symptoms, but I don't think I did. Too bad there aren't more reliable tests for it (and the other diseases that seem to occur with it). It's a perfect disease for people to think they have, when they have unexplainable symptoms.
I hope your DD is okay now. It's a very bad disease.
awakenedsoul
5-30-14, 1:43pm
Yuk. I'm glad they didn't attach. I've been lucky so far. I give the dogs flea and tick treatment I bought at Costco once a month. I know what you mean about those symptoms. I started tap dancing, going to a vocal coach, and writing again. It's erased a lot of the aches and stiffness I was feeling. Maybe it was blocked creative energy?
CathyA, DD was unfortunately misdiagnosed when the rash first appeared. We had just arrived in another state to visit relatives - a state in which Lyme is very uncommon. I had never seen the rash before and although I thought it was odd that DD was diagnosed with cellulitis, the dr seemed confident. The antibiotics she received cleared it up - we thought - in a couple of days. Then about 3 weeks after she stopped that antibiotic, the redness came back in the initial spot and she developed another rash in a satellite location. Took her to her normal pediatrician in our state and she was immediately diagnosed. So there was a delay of about a month, and because of that and the satellite rash which showed the spread of the bacteria, she was on doxycycline for a solid month. However, so far, thank goodness, there have been no signs of further issues.
So yes,... here in MN, we have abundant deer ticks, and Lyme disease rates have been increasing rapidly in recent years. I know of several people within a 1-mile radius of our home who were diagnosed just last year. One was a child who never got the rash, and who had various symptoms for months before being diagnosed with Lyme. He had a more serious case than DD, with some serious depression due to the physical symptoms.
The deer tick that was crawling on me a few days ago was large enough for me to feel... while it was moving. It was tiny, but large enough to see that distinctive tick shape. However, from what I've read, a person is much more likely to receive the bacteria from the tick nymph than from an adult deer tick, and the nymphs are smaller still. We never saw the insect that bit DD - we did see the bite though. It was itching her and she thought it was a mosquito bite... and then we thought it got infected.
I'm glad that your DD doesn't seem to have suffered any sequelae. I'll keep my fingers crossed for her! I've heard that they seem to congregate in areas that have bodies of water.
Was your DD tested for it, and the other 2 diseases that sometimes occur with the Lyme? I believe they are treated with a different antibiotic.
It's pretty scary that we can get such horrible diseases from a little bitty bug. I remember when they required all DNR people to get vaccinated. The vaccine caused some people to get horrible arthritis. :(
Ticks can strike fear, the creepy crawlies,I kites, into me fast. I took years to get prepared for a brown dog tick in MI to be on me or the dogs. Then being in TN way to much, I have the TN tick ID site saved to bookmarks! I keep hearing bad year, but knock on a dog biscuit, I have not seen it. I was in the garden and yard all day yesterday and not one. Neighbor came over to tell me how bad they were.
I really think that Lyme is being under reported by the media.This disease needs the same kind of public outcry as AIDS got in the 80's.
I know of all kinds of people who have experienced Lyme disease. Getting treatment early seems to be very important. My uncle has suffered for over a year with Lyme. He is just now getting better. Says he is about 80% recovered.
I had a co-worker tell me last week that several years ago two people died from Lyme at a local hospital while his wife was there being treated for something else.
Last month I felt something tickle me in my sleep so I scratched at it and thought I picked at a skin tag. It was there for a few days and I was waiting for it to darken and fall off. Finally got a magnifying glass and saw that it had legs!! It was an adult deer tick, feeding on me for at least 3-4 days! Yanked it out and saved it and waited a month for a rash or other symptoms. Thank goodness nothing happened but OMG!!! I had the creepy-crawlies for days!
It wasn't big but definitely an adult. If it was a nymph I probably never would have seen it. I've met several people who have had Lyme and it's awful. I'm always outside with my horse or walking/hiking and never knowingly had one bite me before (deer or dog/wood tick).
I don't know pony mom.........if I were sure it was a deer tick, I think I'd take some doxycycline preventatively. You could also have saved the tick and had it tested for the diseases. Just be aware of some funky flu/arthritis type symptoms in the future. Good luck! It's pretty scary to have those things around......
DD was telling me about the bizarre reaction some get who are bitten by the lone star tick - they become severely allergic to red meat. I thought at first it was an urban legend but apparently not.
Hmmmm.........I had never heard of that. I'll have to do some googling.
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