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Thread: Lyme Disease

  1. #1
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    Lyme Disease

    Here's some info for y'all that could be helpful in the future for those of you not familiar with this issue. This could help to demystify it as well. Thought it may be helpful.


    Just reminded of the Deer Tick situation, so thought I'd share this link about http://www.aldf.com/usmap.asp



    The above states are most prone to contact... interesting that VT and NH and ME are not. Remember preventive measures while in the outdoors. Stay safe - we don't want to lose any members!

    Here's a quick overview/reminder:

    Lyme Disease (LD) manifests itself as a multisystem inflammatory disease that affects the skin in its early, localized stage, and spreads to the joints, nervous system and, to a lesser extent, other organ systems in its later, disseminated stages. If diagnosed and treated early with antibiotics, LD is almost always readily cured. Generally, LD in its later stages can also be treated effectively, but because the rate of disease progression and individual response to treatment varies from one patient to the next, some patients may have symptoms that linger for months or even years following treatment. In rare instances, LD causes permanent damage.

    See site for symptoms and treatment info.

    Prevention & Control

    Larval and nymphal deer ticks often hide in shady, moist ground litter, but adults can often be found above the ground clinging to tall grass, brush, and shrubs. They also inhabit lawns and gardens, especially at the edges of woodlands and around old stone walls where deer and white-footed mice, the ticks' preferred hosts, thrive. Within the endemic range of B. burgdorferi (the spirochete that infects the deer tick and causes LD), no natural, vegetated area can be considered completely free of infected ticks.

    Deer ticks cannot jump or fly, and do not drop from above onto a passing animal. Potential hosts (which include all wild birds and mammals, domestic animals, and humans) acquire ticks only by direct contact with them. Once a tick latches onto human skin it generally climbs upward until it reaches a protected or creased area, often the back of the knee, groin, navel, armpit, ears, or nape of the neck. It then begins the process of inserting its mouthparts into the skin until it reaches the blood supply.

    In tick-infested areas, the best precaution against LD is to avoid contact with soil, leaf litter and vegetation as much as possible. However, if you garden, hike, camp, hunt, work outdoors or otherwise spend time in woods, brush or overgrown fields, you should use a combination of precautions to dramatically reduce your chances of getting Lyme disease:

    First, using color and size as indicators, learn how to distinguish between:

    - deer tick* nymphs and adults
    - deer ticks and two other common tick species - dog ticks and Lone Star ticks (neither of which is known to transmit Lyme disease)

    *Deer ticks are found east of the Rockies; their look-alike close relatives, the western black-legged ticks, are found and can transmit Lyme disease west of the Rockies.


    Then, when spending time outdoors, make these easy precautions part of your routine:

    - Wear enclosed shoes and light-colored clothing with a tight weave to spot ticks easily
    - Scan clothes and any exposed skin frequently for ticks while outdoors
    - Stay on cleared, well-traveled trails
    - Use insect repellant containing DEET (Diethyl-meta-toluamide) on skin or clothes if you intend to go off-trail or into overgrown areas
    - Avoid sitting directly on the ground or on stone walls (havens for ticks and their hosts)
    - Keep long hair tied back, especially when gardening
    - Do a final, full-body tick-check at the end of the day (also check children and pets)

    When taking the above precautions, consider these important facts:

    - If you tuck long pants into socks and shirts into pants, be aware that ticks that contact your clothes will climb upward in search of exposed skin. This means they may climb to hidden areas of the head and neck if not intercepted first; spot-check clothes frequently.
    - Clothes can be sprayed with either DEET or Permethrin. Only DEET can be used on exposed skin, but never in high concentrations; follow the manufacturer's directions.
    - Upon returning home, clothes can be spun in the dryer for 20 minutes to kill any unseen ticks
    - A shower and shampoo may help to dislodge crawling ticks, but is only somewhat effective. Inspect yourself and your children carefully after a shower. Keep in mind that nymphal deer ticks are the size of poppy seeds; adult deer ticks are the size of sesame seeds.


    Any contact with vegetation, even playing in the yard, can result in exposure to ticks, so careful daily self-inspection is necessary whenever you engage in outdoor activities and the temperature exceeds 40 degrees F (the temperature above which deer ticks are active). Frequent tick checks should be followed by a systematic, whole-body examination each night before going to bed. Performed consistently, this ritual is perhaps the single most effective current method for prevention of Lyme disease.


    If you DO find a tick attached to your skin, there is no need to panic. Not all ticks are infected, and studies of infected deer ticks have shown that they begin transmitting Lyme disease an average of 36 to 48 hours after attachment. Therefore, your chances of contracting LD are greatly reduced if you remove a tick within the first 24 hours. Remember, too, that the majority of early Lyme disease cases are easily treated and cured.

    To remove a tick, follow these steps:

    - Using a pair of pointed precision* tweezers, grasp the tick by the head or mouthparts right where they enter the skin. DO NOT grasp the tick by the body.
    - Without jerking, pull firmly and steadily directly outward. DO NOT twist the tick out or apply petroleum jelly, a hot match, alcohol or any other irritant to the tick in an attempt to get it to back out. These methods can backfire and even increase the chances of the tick transmitting the disease.
    - Place the tick in a vial or jar of alcohol to kill it.
    - Clean the bite wound with disinfectant.

    *Keep in mind that certain types of fine-pointed tweezers, especially those that are etched, or rasped, at the tips, may not be effective in removing nymphal deer ticks. Choose unrasped fine-pointed tweezers whose tips align tightly when pressed firmly together.

    Then, monitor the site of the bite for the appearance of a rash beginning 3 to 30 days after the bite. At the same time, learn about the other early symptoms of Lyme disease and watch to see if they appear in about the same timeframe. If a rash or other early symptoms develop, see a physician immediately.

    Finally, prevention is not limited to personal precautions. Those who enjoy spending time in their yards can reduce the tick population around the home by:

    - keeping lawns mowed and edges trimmed
    - clearing brush, leaf litter and tall grass around houses and at the edges of -- gardens and open stone walls
    - stacking woodpiles neatly in a dry location and preferably off the ground
    - clearing all leaf litter (including the remains of perennials) out of the garden in the fall
    - having a licensed professional spray the residential environment (only the areas frequented by humans) with an insecticide in late May (to control nymphs) and optionally in September (to control adults).
    Last edited by Blatant; 04-28-2006 at 09:02 AM. Reason: trying to get link to work.

  2. #2
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    God, I hate ticks. Just reading this gives me the willies. A few years ago I was one my way home from a backpacking trip. Gave myself a once over tick inspection before hoping in the car for the long drive home. Low and behold, hours later while stopping for lunch, I find one of the little fuckers crawling on the collar of my shirt. Couldn't help but think they were still some I had missed crawling about my body days later. Give me a 1,000 leaches over a tick anyday.

  3. #3
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    Last year I was riding some trails in Lawrence next to the river and did a quick check. No ticks. 2 days and 3 showers later I find one of the fuckers imbedded in my lower shin. Get teh tweezers, pull em out and things appear to be fine. Week passes, I start to feel like crap all the time, very tired, yada, yada, yada. Go to the doc, just to make sure it isn't, and they think it is. They drew blood and gave me a perscription for 2 months of antibiotics. Blood test came back negative for it, but they said that doesn't mean much, and it doesn't always show up. So now its the waiting game to see if it manifests itself later in my life. Hopefully we killed it quick, cause I don't wanna deal with this shit. I still have a small mark on my leg from where the tiny bastard bit me...

  4. #4
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    yet another reason to move west..



    I hate ticks with a violent passion..

  5. #5
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    Is that supposed to be cases ber year? A few days after I went to the doc my friends dad was watchin the news in Wichita and they said "the first case of Lyme disease was reported this year in Douglas county..." Bastards didn't even mention my name...

  6. #6
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    I had one inbed itself in the back of my neck when I was 6. It hung out there for about 3 hours until my P's got it out. This set the stage for my tick paranoia. 2 years ago I felt a pair cruising in my sleeping bag. At midnight, I unzipped my bag and shaking the crap out of it trying to find more of these fuckers. I got a spoon and crushed them, (they have a really hard exterior shell) then had a shitty nights sleep feeling faux ticks crawling on me. I fucking HATE ticks.
    Bush got C's.... Obama probably failed lunch

  7. #7
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    DOGS...IT'S GETTING NIGHTLY

    I live in Sage Brush country of the North Cascades....Tons of Deers. My car is proof of Deer overpopulation.

    Anyhow...THose evil little fuckers give me the willies....I've got 6 off my puppy in the last week alone...AND one off of me. I cringe at the thought of those things. Kind of funny, I found it crawling up my leg while I was in the bathroom...I started doing the heeby jeeby moan...agh..agh...aaahhh....My girl thought I was rubbing one out!

    ANOTHER TIP!!!! Make sure to clean your tweezers in alcohol, bacardi 151 is fine, after every tick procedure. I heard that LD can live on your used tweezies

  8. #8
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    Found one on my American Bulldog about two years ago... Swollen up like a balloon.

    There's not that many here is Quebec, so it came as a bit of a shock.

    Sent off the tick to be tested for Lyme and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (Also transmited by ticks.. And can be fatal if not treated... People living in Tick country should know about this disease as well as Lyme)...

    Thanks Christ everything came back negative.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by PassTheDutchie
    ...I hate ticks. Just reading this gives me the willies...
    Attachment 12827

    Ditto. I hate em too. Growing up back east, I was (nearly) a feral child & my mom would pull them from places you don'tr want to know about.

    An older guy I know got (has) lymes and it put him down for about ten years. He couldn't do anything, could barely get out of bed in the morning. It just seemed to go away one day. Strange.

    Glad I live in Wyoming.

    Good FYI post.
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  10. #10
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    Thanks for the post, thats good information. I live in northern IL and we have had a very warm spring. I started finding them on my dogs about three weeks ago, which seems to be about a month early. I've found some almost every day, maybe 20 or more already this year. They seem to be really bad in the spring and then taper off.

    You guys out west aren't totally in the clear, one of my bud's got rocky mtn. spotted fever from one.

  11. #11
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    Keep in mind if its biggun, it doesn't have lyme. Still nasty as fuck, but no lyme. My favorite thing to do to the bigguns is grab a knife and cut off half their legs and watch em run in circles. Then shoot em.

  12. #12
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    If you think you have been exposed to Lyme, be persistent with your doctor, or find another doctor. Often blood tests come up negative in the early stages. Some docs, especially on the West Coast, can be reluctant to treat for Lyme.

    One of my kids had the bull's eye rash after a camping trip three years ago. One pediatrician to this day doesn't believe my kid had Lyme because that doc believes Lyme is an East Coast problem. Luckily, another doc wrote the antibiotic prescription. Since we're pretty convinced it was early stage Lyme, we hope our kid will have no ill effects in later life.

    My spouse was extremely persistent in pursuing this. Without his diligence, including sending photos to specialists on the East Coast, my son would have gone untreated. Since many docs, including our former pediatrician hand out antibiotics like candy for ear infections, I still can't understand why this doc refused to prescribe for the symptoms of Lyme. It just points out that a doctor doesn't have to get A's in med school to get a license to practice.

    To learn more about Lyme, check out these books.

    Bull's Eye

    The Widening Circle
    Keep it off my wave...Soundgarden

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by cloudpeak
    we hope our kid will have no ill effects in later life.

    Maybe this is why I'm so fucked up to this day
    Bush got C's.... Obama probably failed lunch

  14. #14
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    I took 2 antibiotic pills a day for 2 months. At least my skin was perfectly clear the whole time!

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by cloudpeak
    If you think you have been exposed to Lyme, be persistent with your doctor, or find another doctor. Often blood tests come up negative in the early stages. Some docs, especially on the West Coast, can be reluctant to treat for Lyme.

    One of my kids had the bull's eye rash after a camping trip three years ago. One pediatrician to this day doesn't believe my kid had Lyme because that doc believes Lyme is an East Coast problem. Luckily, another doc wrote the antibiotic prescription. Since we're pretty convinced it was early stage Lyme, we hope our kid will have no ill effects in later life.

    My spouse was extremely persistent in pursuing this. Without his diligence, including sending photos to specialists on the East Coast, my son would have gone untreated. Since many docs, including our former pediatrician hand out antibiotics like candy for ear infections, I still can't understand why this doc refused to prescribe for the symptoms of Lyme. It just points out that a doctor doesn't have to get A's in med school to get a license to practice.

    To learn more about Lyme, check out these books.

    Bull's Eye

    The Widening Circle

    You just proved why the case numbers are so high in CT and RI. The docs there know what to look for. I wouldn't feel safer in those blue zones, just the opposite. I just think there are that many missed diagnosis.

    My folks have a summer place in the town next to Lyme,CT(ground zero for Lyme's Disease). Almost half my family members have it. It is not always terrible. It will mostly manifest itself as arthritis later in life. Some cases are really bad, though. Best thing you can do is just check yourself a lot when in tick country.

    I have had friends lose dogs to it, though. That is tragic, as their kidneys just give out and they go slowly. I'll never forget asking my buddy where his dog was. He had a 3 year old golden that was always with him. Well, I only see this guy once a year when I am back in CT, and he just about started crying when I asked. Check the dogs too.

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by warthog
    You just proved why the case numbers are so high in CT and RI. The docs there know what to look for. I wouldn't feel safer in those blue zones, just the opposite. I just think there are that many missed diagnosis.

    My folks have a summer place in the town next to Lyme,CT(ground zero for Lyme's Disease). Almost half my family members have it. It is not always terrible.
    Warthog,

    I grew up in East Lyme, CT...... (which is- shocker- the town directly East of Lyme)... and lots of my family members, including my dad, have had Lyme disease at some point. It is barely a bleep in the radar in terms of general health scares.

  17. #17
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    Tacomaluv, I also am from CT and people in my area are pretty chill about it as well. However, I do know a few people that have had it and recovery was a bitch.

    I think your general health/age when you are bitten is a big factor. It seems if your immune system is okay, your recovery is normally not-so-bad.

    Sprite
    "I call it reveling in natures finest element. Water in its pristine form. Straight from the heavens. We bathe in it, rejoicing in the fullest." --BZ

  18. #18
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    Ok thi sthread scares the crap out me. I moved to St. Louis last spring. I have woods all around me and my Dogs were getting pummeled by these bastards. i used Frontline this yr and they are fine.

    The only problem is, I have been zapped 3 times this month. One was in a bad place, i didnt get his head out, otherwise fine. The second was on my back and thrid on my waistline. Both left small skin "blemishes" I would'nt quite call them rashes. Just some redness around the bite. Am I screwed? I feel fine.

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cono Este
    Ok thi sthread scares the crap out me. I moved to St. Louis last spring. I have woods all around me and my Dogs were getting pummeled by these bastards. i used Frontline this yr and they are fine.

    The only problem is, I have been zapped 3 times this month. One was in a bad place, i didnt get his head out, otherwise fine. The second was on my back and thrid on my waistline. Both left small skin "blemishes" I would'nt quite call them rashes. Just some redness around the bite. Am I screwed? I feel fine.
    FWIW, the CDC says not to sweat it if the mouth parts stay in. Here are the CDC recommendations for tick removal:

    Tick Removal

    The whole CDC site has pretty good info about ticks and tick diseases.
    Keep it off my wave...Soundgarden

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by TacomaLuv
    Warthog,

    I grew up in East Lyme, CT...... (which is- shocker- the town directly East of Lyme)... and lots of my family members, including my dad, have had Lyme disease at some point. It is barely a bleep in the radar in terms of general health scares.

    Yeah, we have a summer place in Moodus(East Haddam) right on Bashan Lake.

    Cono- if you don't have a ring around the bite, you are most likely fine. You would feel pretty crappy at first.

  21. #21
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    Sounds like another good reason to avoid the least coast.

  22. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cono Este
    Ok thi sthread scares the crap out me. I moved to St. Louis last spring. I have woods all around me and my Dogs were getting pummeled by these bastards. i used Frontline this yr and they are fine.

    The only problem is, I have been zapped 3 times this month. One was in a bad place, i didnt get his head out, otherwise fine. The second was on my back and thrid on my waistline. Both left small skin "blemishes" I would'nt quite call them rashes. Just some redness around the bite. Am I screwed? I feel fine.

    The ticks that carry the disease are TINY. Generally the ticks we'll find on us are a good amount larger. The ones you pull off the dogs that get massive don't carry the disease. I grew up in scouts, camping every other weekend, many trips to CO and I've probably pulled a 100 ticks off off me. The one that quite possibly gave me lyme disease was miniscule. Took 2 days of feeding for me to even notice it, and that was at work cause I thought I had a tiny spot of mud on my shin. THe thing literally wasn't bigger than this period .

  23. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by P_McPoser
    Sounds like another good reason to avoid the least coast.

    You have fun with that...

    *Deer ticks are found east of the Rockies; their look-alike close relatives, the western black-legged ticks, are found and can transmit Lyme disease west of the Rockies.

  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by Theodore
    You have fun with that...

    *Deer ticks are found east of the Rockies; their look-alike close relatives, the western black-legged ticks, are found and can transmit Lyme disease west of the Rockies.
    Bah, at least I live where I can see mountains.

  25. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by Theodore
    The ticks that carry the disease are TINY. Generally the ticks we'll find on us are a good amount larger. The ones you pull off the dogs that get massive don't carry the disease. I grew up in scouts, camping every other weekend, many trips to CO and I've probably pulled a 100 ticks off off me. The one that quite possibly gave me lyme disease was miniscule. Took 2 days of feeding for me to even notice it, and that was at work cause I thought I had a tiny spot of mud on my shin. THe thing literally wasn't bigger than this period .
    My son's tick was also as tiny as a period like this one. Until the bull's eye rash (erythema migrans) and the splitting headache showed up, we thought the tick was a small scab.
    Keep it off my wave...Soundgarden

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