Ticks!

[Jellytot]

Oh how I hate em!
I was bitten by one 4 years ago in Canada and had undiagnosed untreated Lyme disease for over a month.
Upshot is I now still get flare ups.
We've been labouring under a diagnosis of Glandular Fever now but putting it all together it Lyme Time again.
I'll know for sure when I see the doc on Thursday. (AGAIN!)
GRRRRRR!!
Ah the Ticky in question by the way was a teeny tiny Deer Tick no bigger than a poppy seed, looked like a bit of thorn stuck in me til the rash hit. Despite being covered up head to toe I was bitten on my left middle finger, one of the only bits of exposed flesh. (Well this is the Flora & Fauna section after all!)
Just felt the need to share...

 

[Shambling Shaman]

I can tell you that once again we are nearly at stalking season - and I know the ones you mean, after handling stags in the larder even when fully covered they get every where little buggers!

 

[Toddy]

Are all these ticks something new ?
I grew up playing in bracken and heather every summer on a sheep farm up above Inverary. I remember seeing deer there, (I also remember getting rounded up by the old retired sheep dog who'd been made responsible for all the kids ) hauled out of the bracken by the ribbons at the waist of my frock ). We spent half our childhoods camping down the lochs along the Firth of Clyde, again full of sheep and deer.
I only once got a tick as a teenager and that was on LochAwe side when we were canoeing..........that's it, one tick, in all those years, yet nowadays folks seem to get them everytime they're out

cheers,
Toddy

p.s. Sorry you're poorly with the blighters Jellytot
M

 

[Cobweb]

I seem to be lucky with ticks as well, touch wood, I've never had one, must have bitter blood! Like Toddy, I've used to play in sheep fields that had deer as well up in Wales. Come to think of it, I never had trouble with mozzies, clegs or midges either, although they love me now? weird!

 

[Rebel]

I think the amount of bites you get could have a lot to do with the area. Toddy are people getting lots of ticks now in the area you lived in as a child?

I'm not getting any bites where I am now and neither is the dog or the kids. The deer count here is low I have to say but there's plenty of foxes and other warm blooded mammals. One part of Somerset that I used to live in the family got bites all the time and that was just in the garden but when we moved a few miles down the road we didn't get any.

 

[Nice65]

Handy thread, ta. Noticed one in my leg last night but completely forgot to remove it. Little bugger was still there of course, so I pulled it out.

With deer ticks, the carriers of Lyme's Disease, keep an eye on the area where the tick was removed from for a week or so. Any redness around the bite, get some antibiotics.

While we're on, I'm finding it to be a hell of a year for flying insects, clegs being a big problem at work, hundreds of them attacking all the time. Got a bite on the back of my hand and next day all my knuckles had disappeared under the swelling. Wasps everywhere too, but they don't seem at all aggressive this year, easily as mellow as the bees.

 

[marcusleftthesite]

I've been getting 2 - 3 a week for the last month,admittedly I wear shorts all the time.They are the little black ones too.

 

[Nice65]

I've been getting 2 - 3 a week for the last month,admittedly I wear shorts all the time.They are the little black ones too.

Keep an eye on bite areas mate, any redness around then get to the doc. Have a mate at work who had it, was hospitalised for a while and he still gets malaria type symptoms evey so often. Check for ticks often, they need to be in the skin for a while to transmit the disease.

Here's all you need to know.

http://www.idsociety.org/Content.aspx?id=3702

 

[Nagual]

The lack of ticks as youngsters I think has a lot to do with the sheep dipping, and various other chems use to control pests back then, plus all the burning of heather etc. Nowadays you can't even sneeze without a Minister Of Whatever sticking his nose in... lol

 

[Toddy]

Ah good point...........they used to joke about dipping the kids too ..............come to think on it, what do they use now, 'cos the sheep are just as healthy ? Or are they ?

cheers,
Mary

 

[Laurentius]

It's not just ticks you have to watch out for, I was bitten by something, possibly a horsefly that caused my leg to swell up and I needed antibiotics, only a week later I was bitten again by what were definately horseflies and my arm started swelling. They pack a nasty bite.

I reckon we are going to be in for more insect problems as the summers get warmer.

 

[mattweasel]

I think the amount of bites you get could have a lot to do with the area. Toddy are people getting lots of ticks now in the area you lived in as a child?

I'm not getting any bites where I am now and neither is the dog or the kids. The deer count here is low I have to say but there's plenty of foxes and other warm blooded mammals. One part of Somerset that I used to live in the family got bites all the time and that was just in the garden but when we moved a few miles down the road we didn't get any.

I also live in Hertfordshire and have never even seen a tick. So maybe it has got something to do with where you live. We also have many muntjacs and foxes.

 

[Jellytot]

Horsefllies like me too. In Fact I've had a bad horsefly bit on my elbow about 3 weeks ago.
My Tick was canadian through and through.
I got it on a quadding/fishing trip in Manitoba.
If you Google "Lyme Disease" there are warnings out there for the UK for The Lakes and Yorkshire.
These are accompanied with high tick reports.
We use tick twisters on Frodo and they would work on humans too.
Basically I got bit, got a rash then started with what we thought was a a bad summer cold whilst in Canada.
When I came home I got worse all my joints ached I couldn't eat and all I wanted to do was sleep an the finger where I was bitten
was still swollen and sore to touch.
The first Doc I saw diagnosed an infection in my finger tip and put me on antibiotics.
I just got worse.
When I went back to the doctor I saw my own Doctor who looked at my finger and asked me some very careful and pointed questions.
He did a blood test but put me on Doxicyline straight away for a month.
I've had two courses now and I reckon on Thursday when I go back to the Docs again I'll be on em again.
Unless I definitely have glandular fever that is!

As for insects getting worse with warm summers?
Two factors may help.
Cold winters will wipe out a lot of problem insects.
Drier weather will help to.
Mild wet winters will leave us with problem insect situations.

 

[Gailainne]

Its strange, as a kid I was never indoors, especially during the school holidays, and I can't remember ever seeing a single tick, I grew up in a rural area, with plenty of livestock and deer roaming around. Nowadays a weekend out means the removal of a multiple of buried ticks from various parts of my anatomy, time before last I had 9 buried and 1 roaming, the last I found in the skin above my collar bone 2 days after I got home. Didn't we notice when we were kids? or were they just not there?

I seem to attract them, so I have Permethrin if the Autan doesn't work.

 

[Miyagi]

When we were young the Winters were harsh and the Summers were scorchers.

I noticed big changes by the late 80's Winters were wetter but not severe and Summers were much the same as the Winters. We had a couple of good years Summer wise in the 1990's when my kids were, well kids.

Is it the change from the extremes of bad Winters and glorious Summers to mediocre weather in every season that has seen an increase or is it that we taste better as adults to ticks and cleggs etc?

Just a thought.

Liam

 

[Nice65]

Thing is, last winter was what I'd call a proper winter. We had a fortnight of below zero weather, yet I'm seeing more bees, wasps, clegs, hoverflies etc than ever before.

 

[Lurch]

Ah good point...........they used to joke about dipping the kids too ..............come to think on it, what do they use now, 'cos the sheep are just as healthy ? Or are they ?

cheers,
Mary

Compulsory dipping has been stopped (ages ago - 1992 I think). Some but not all farmers will use a 'spot-on' insecticide but this doesn't have the same tick mopping effect as traditional full immersion dip.
I remember we used to have to tell the Ministry when we planned to dip, sometimes someone would come out to make sure we were doing it right.
Organophosphate dips have been banned now, just as well really - 'orrible substance.

 

[Toddy]

I knew they'd stopped the organophosphate dip, I no longer break out in the most awful rash on my hands dealing with fleece, but I didn't know that they weren't using any dips at all.

I wonder then if the huge reduction in the sheep flocks might be the reason so many folks are ending up ticked ? and if it might eventually level off and subside if there's just not enough mobile hot blooded munchies about ?

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Lurch]

Dipping is a PITA, you'd only do it if you were a stubborn auld farmer set in your ways now that the compulsory dip is no longer in force.