death warmed up (tick bite)

[jake trg]

I'm not show any signs of lyme desease but i feel rank 4 ticks loads of midge bites.My tempreture is 102 and my typing is drivel at the moment aint life great

 

[Toddy]

Deepest sympathies; they can really make you feel so ill
If your temp is up to 102 it might be worth your while trying to get an appointment with the Doctor or the surgery nurse and see if she can recommend anything that might help.
At this time of year I feel as though I'm rattling with anti histamines and anti inflammatories, but the midge bites are really awful, the cleg ones are a nightmare. The ticks appear to have gone nuclear this summer, my friends are avoiding certain areas and walks because of them though no one I know has had Lyme disease.
atb,
Toddy

 

[anthonyyy]

I'm not someone who advocates going to the doctor for minor ailments. In your case, it seems to me that you should go and get yourelf checked out.

Remember if you have a fever it can impair your ability to make a rational judgement.

 

[pothunter]

Quick note on ticks, I carry either a small bottle of alcohol or alcohol wipes. When I find one of the little b****s give it a good dose of alcohol and put gentle pressure on the thing until it lets go, more alcohol to clean the wound and to date no ill effects.
Your chemist is a good source of alcohol only it comes by the litre, but cheap. Also makes a good cleaner and useful to have in a first aid kit.
Hope you feel better soon Jake.
All the best Pothunter.

 

[AJB]

Hi Jake,

I sympathise. I always have a really bad histamine reaction, making summer evening hell, but I got bitten a week ago by something that looked like a grey/brown bluebottle (I felt it bite me!) and I’ve had an arm like a leg of pork for a week.

Hope you feel better soon.

 

[andyn]

Jake, I would echo the above and seriously recommend a trip to the docs, a friend of my mothers ended up on a drip in hospital after contracting lymes disease from a tick in the new forest this year.

I hope you recover speedily.

Andy.

Quick note on ticks, I carry either a small bottle of alcohol or alcohol wipes. When I find one of the little b****s give it a good dose of alcohol and put gentle pressure on the thing until it lets go, more alcohol to clean the wound and to date no ill effects.
Your chemist is a good source of alcohol only it comes by the litre, but cheap. Also makes a good cleaner and useful to have in a first aid kit.
Hope you feel better soon Jake.
All the best Pothunter.

Hi Pothunter,

I'm afraid mate, that the advice you give above is potentially dangerous.

For the best way to remove ticks speak to a vet...but this is the advice generally given by them...

Using alcohol, oil, vaseline or heat to encourage ticks to let go is not a good idea. These methods cause suffocation/distress and can causes the tick to regurgitate the ingested blood into the wound, this gives a much higer chance of infection or disease to be passed on.

Using tweezers or long fingernails, grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible and with a slow but firm twisting motion pull upwards. Clean the area with an antiseptic or alcohol wipe.

The ideal advice is that the tick should be placed in a tissue and put in a dated film canister and kept so that should any problems occur later on the tick can be identified, the disease can be culured and identifed and appropriate treatment given.

Redness should disappear within a week, any swelling or fevers especially that occur afterwards can be potenitally life threatening and a trip to the doctors is highly recommended.

 

[Marts]

Andyn's post basically covers it. We had quite a discussion about the subject recently.

Information here

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=12431

 

[jake trg]

thanks for all the adivce folks if i'm not better in the morning i think i will go to the quacks>anthonyyy mate my judgement according to my wife went the way of the dinosaurs.
EVERONE MAY ALL YOUR NIGHT BE BUG FREE

 

[scanker]

That thread doesn't advise against the use of vaseline though:

You may find that a tick will become detached more easily if it is covered with petroleum jelly for 10-15 minutes before attempting removal.

 

[Culicoidis]

Hi Jake,

I sympathise. I always have a really bad histamine reaction, making summer evening hell, but I got bitten a week ago by something that looked like a grey/brown bluebottle (I felt it bite me!) and I’ve had an arm like a leg of pork for a week.

Hope you feel better soon.

It sounds as though you were bitten by an horse fly. They don`t pierce the skin to suck your blood they chew their way through, quite painful.
All bites should be cleaned with a suitable disinfectant when you can. If you do get any symptoms such as fever/flu like etc I would consult a doctor.
I can think of 7 diseases that ticks can carry in this country, none of them particularly pleasant but all treatable if correct help is sought in time.
As a vet, parasites are one of my personal hates.

 

[bogflogger]

Just to make it clear, do NOT cover Ticks with Petroleum jelly (or anything else) as this increases the chances that they will regurgitate the contents of their stomach back into your Bloodstream!

 

[Labrador]

Hi,
Lymes disease can be extremely dangerous. I now always carry an O'Tom tick hook set to remove them (I bought a set because the dog was picking up ticks last year & can confirm that they work superbly).
Link below....

http://www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk/information/tick_removal.htm

And please GO TO YOUR DOCTOR to get it checked out.

 

[Marts]

That thread doesn't advise against the use of vaseline though:

You didn't get far enough through the thread mate

OK.

'Folk' Methods that are now considered bad

Smearing with Petroleum Jelly, ointments, ether or gasoline
Fingernail polish
Grease
"using a suture needle to apply pain to the tick's face for removal."
Cigarettes, matches or any other form of direct heat.
70% isopropanol

 

[pothunter]

Hi Andy
Thanks for the information, I had adopted this method as removing the little b****s manually might leave some debris behind. Will now investigate a ‘tic hook’ as suggested by Labrador.
Best regards, Pothunter.

 

[Wayne]

My friend lectures at the school of tropical medicine. He recommends using Vaseline. I tend to use the plastic hooks. I used to kill then first with permethrine.

Now i just twist and pull. I had a confirmed case of lymes a couple of years back. I though I had a case of ME as I felt so ill and lacking energy. If in doubt after a tick bite get it checked.

 

[Moonraker]

My friend lectures at the school of tropical medicine. He recommends using Vaseline.

I am sorry to go on about this but I feel it's important that this popular myth is laid to rest. The NHS, EUCALB (European Concerted Action on Lyme Borreliosis) and Lyme Disease Action (LDA. a UK organisation), to name just a few, recommend quite clearly that people DO NOT use such a method, including the use of Vaseline (petroleum jelly). The relevant links (and quoted reference) are here:

NHS Direct Online Health Encyclopaedia - Lyme disease

If a tick is found on the skin, it should be removed by gently gripping it as close to the skin as possible, preferably using fine toothed tweezers, and pull steadily away from the skin. Do not use a lighted cigarette end, a match head or volatile oils to force the tick out. Some veterinary surgeries and pet supply shops sell inexpensive tick removal devices, which may be useful for people who are frequently exposed to ticks.

EUCALB - PREVENTION: Tick removal

If a tick is found attached to the skin do not panic. Even in areas where Lyme borreliosis (Lyme disease) is endemic, only a small proportion of ticks carry the disease and even then it usually takes up to 24 hours after attachment before transmitting the disease.

Remove the tick as soon as possible by grasping it with a pair of tweezers at the place where the tick's mouthparts are attached to the skin. Apply gentle pressure and pull upwards firmly and steadily. Clean the area around the bite with antiseptic disinfectant.

DO NOT

Panic.
Crush the tick's body.
Try to burn the tick off.
Apply petroleum jelly, nail polish or any other chemical (other than antiseptic).
DO

Use a pair of pointed tweezers. *
Cleanse bite site with antiseptic before and after removal.
Wash hands afterwards.

LDA - Ticks - Lyme Disease & other tick borne diseases in Britain

DO NOT try to burn the tick off, apply petroleum jelly, nail polish or any other chemical. Any of these methods can cause discomfort to the tick, resulting in regurgitation, or saliva release.

The reasons why you should not use use methods are as stated by bogflogger earlier i.e. as the tick, if suffocated, will regurgitate its stomach contents into the host (as it moves quickly to detach itself) and with it the bacteria that causes the disease.

I posted a thread on the recommended methods of tick removal last year here:

Tick Removal

 

[BorderReiver]

My friend lectures at the school of tropical medicine. He recommends using Vaseline. I tend to use the plastic hooks. I used to kill then first with permethrine.

Now i just twist and pull. I had a confirmed case of lymes a couple of years back. I though I had a case of ME as I felt so ill and lacking energy. If in doubt after a tick bite get it checked.

What does he specialise in?

I bet it's not ticks and lyme disease.

 

[Moonraker]

What does he specialise in?

I bet it's not ticks and lyme disease.

To be fair Mike, I have seen it recommended on a LOT of web sites etc. It was a common suggestion until reasonably recently when the effects became better known. As was trying to burn them off with a match.

 

[demographic]

It's perhaps worth noting that lymes desease isn't the only thing you can get from tick bites, one of my sisters lives in Australia (where it is admittedly more of a problem than over here) and she mentioned that TICK PARALYSIS is a worldwide problem.
Some more info HERE

One of my brothers said that it's even possible to get it over here as he has seen someones labrador that aparently has it

Anyway, it doesn't sound nice.

 

[beachlover]

I can't believe that we are into the 20th post on this and while everyone is indulging in a p****ng contest to show who knows how to remove ticks, and no-one has thought to enquire how the poor sod is who started this thread nigh on 3 weeks ago! Doesn't this say something about BCUK?