BBC article on the impact of Lyme Disease and the hit and miss diagnosis currently available on the NHS
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22468181
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22468181
Tick Repellant
- Thread starter Bartooon
- Start date
Actually the biggest risk is the tick disgorging its stomach contents into you. You really really shouldn't use tweezers.
Yank off with otom remover or similar. I guess you could make a lasso out of hair or thread to do the same.
The 'twist' thing is supposedly to get the tick's head out. Well, it doesn't always work, you have more chance of tick stomach contents going into you - just get the things off without squeezing them.
My step-daughter got lymes, very very young. Mum spotted it and had her on the right antibiotics dead quick. She's fine now.
Tick would most likely have been transferred from a cat or dog as she was too little to have been playing in the grass.
I'm usually irresistible to anything bug like and i use Deet all the time. If its not 95%, i dont buy it. I can honestly say I've never had a tick on me, might be just coincidence.
In fact, been at Giants Seat over the weekend and I've used Deet on arms,hands,head etc but kept it away from my watch...and guess what....
Sorry, nothing to do with ticks.
In fact, been at Giants Seat over the weekend and I've used Deet on arms,hands,head etc but kept it away from my watch...and guess what....
Sorry, nothing to do with ticks.
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More confused than ever now at what is the best protection, I must admit I am a bit freaked out by the thought of ticks
I was teaching shelter building over the weekend and if there is foolproof way of getting ticks it is picking up armfuls of leaf litter in a woods packed to the treetops with deer (figuratively speaking, of course!).
Sure enough, when I got home an itch on my calf revealed itself to be one of the little b*ggers. I got it off quickly before it had started to feed seriously, but the spot still itchs like crazy two days later.
I think Goatboy's patches are going to be the way I go. Only problem is that they apparently have to be attached to a hairless bit of skin. I'll have to ask my Good Lady if I can borrow her Veet. That should get her worried!
Sure enough, when I got home an itch on my calf revealed itself to be one of the little b*ggers. I got it off quickly before it had started to feed seriously, but the spot still itchs like crazy two days later.
I think Goatboy's patches are going to be the way I go. Only problem is that they apparently have to be attached to a hairless bit of skin. I'll have to ask my Good Lady if I can borrow her Veet. That should get her worried!
DEET should repel them, just depends if you want to use it-maybe just on your lower half. Have a bottle of lifesystems 50% that claims to repel them, never tried it for this, but worth a try if you don't want to use permethrin- which I suspect doesn't do technical fibres, DWR coatings etc much good.
What ever you do don't let Turbogirl know you're wanting Veet... she's a demon that lassie.
ATB,
GB.
Roll in the grass at your own risk...mwahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
xylaria
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
I wouldnt use permethrin on my body[it doesnt work applied to the skin anyway], I have seen what it does to a cat. I would use it on clothing if I was going somewhere like dartmoor or the brecons which is heeving with the things. I wouldnt touch DEET either, it doesnt work very well at all for ticks, and it is nasty stuff. Permethrin at least works when used on clothing. Last time we when for a walk on the brecon i knocked up a soft cream with lemon eucalyptus which we applied to our legs and arms. None of us got any ticks, we didnt get hit by a bus either. Neem is what is used in animal herbal tick repellants, there are a few plants extracts that seem to stop them from wanting to bite.
Personally for seriously protecting myself I go for treated clothes and herbal repellant cream.
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Is there a herbal repellant out there for sale that does the job Fiona?
Yours, for instance?
Best.
Cat.
Have you seen what chocolate does to dogs?
And aspirin? Kills cats.
Permethrin is a toxin but just because it is bad for cats doesn't mean you shouldn't use it on yourself.
xylaria
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
MyggA has been tested by the swedish army. The midge repel we make is not barrier cream/oil for creeping mites, it confuses the scent detection on flying insects. The midge cream in the little tins is made very hard so it lasts a long time and is used very sparingly it is not smothered over the skin.
The cream i used on the brecons was just coconut oil and lemon eucapyltus, because that is what I had in the cupboard. We plastered our legs in it. I have thought of doing a cream, but it could not be tested in any way safely. I dont think I would run through tick infested under growth to test my own product, and wouldn't ask anyone else to.
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xylaria
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
The oils on human skin deactivate permethrin, it doesnt work applied to the skin. I like the idea of having clothes treated with it.
Looks like there isn't many options for stopping ticks then! I'm always doubtful of natural based products, the theory of using natural oils etc which are safer does sound more appealing, but in reality I wouldn't like to use them to prevent mosquito's just a risk I'm not willing to take....
I don't know about that. I do know I spent the first 20 years of my life sprayed with Mortein; which used to use the natural version of permethrin. It kept off flies and mossies and hasn't had any deleterious effect on me. I've always had this twitch
One doesn't get out much does one?
One gets out plenty, but one has invented a hovering machine, so that one does not even have to touch the ground!
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