Ticks - Given it is said the best cure is prevention, what tick......?

[Silverclaws2]

What tick repellant would folk through experience recommend, and yeah I know it is commonly suggested a good insect repellant would do the job given ticks are insects, but has any any other thoughts on this.

Got my first tick in twenty years and before released what it was I had destroyed it to leave the mouthparts embedded and well embedded at that, the other half had to stop me taking a scalpel to it, to just in the end soak in rubbing alcohol under the belief the skin will eventually reject it and yes I am watching out for untoward symptoms though not sure any would notice any difference in my usual demeanour.

My last tick was in the forests of Sweden, one of the kind that generally has a taste for deer blood

 

[stonepark]

1 tick in 20 years is doing well.
In damp Scotland, you might end up with 1 a day if out in ticky areas.

Lightly spray (i.e. don't soak through) outside bottom few inches of trouser legs with permethrin, kills ticks on contact.

https://www.lifesystems.co.uk/products/ex4-anti-mosquito-spray

A set of decent tick tweezers will help remove, I tend to crush the head for 10 sec before pulling to remove, works well on most.

Tick Tweezers | Tick Remover | Lifesystems

Get rid of ticks with these Tick Tweezers designed to remove all parts of the body.

www.lifesystems.co.uk

 

[Silverclaws2]

1 tick in 20 years is doing well.
In damp Scotland, you might end up with 1 a day if out in ticky areas.

Lightly spray (i.e. don't soak through) outside bottom few inches of trouser legs with permethrin, kills ticks on contact.

https://www.lifesystems.co.uk/products/ex4-anti-mosquito-spray

A set of decent tick tweezers will help remove, I tend to crush the head for 10 sec before pulling to remove, works well on most.

Tick Tweezers | Tick Remover | Lifesystems

Get rid of ticks with these Tick Tweezers designed to remove all parts of the body.

www.lifesystems.co.uk

Thanks.

Permetherin, okay, to be fair am unfamiliar with insect repellant chemicals as generally I tend not to get bit by stuff, at least not out in the sticks, and yes I have been carrying a tick card in my wallet for years to not have a chance to use it through not recognising what the thing was in brushing off what I thought was a bit of dirt until I saw the free flowing unclotted blood, to think, oh crap that was a tick.

Where I got it I think was during my walk along the SW coast path as I do remember brushing through some overgrowth.

 

[Pattree]

I may be the only person in Norfolk wearing long trousers, socks and long sleeves.

I’ve only been bitten once and did exactly the same, wrecked it before I realised what it was. The head stayed in there for a couple of months. I used a bromine paste on it for a week or so. 13 months on and still free of symptoms of anything tick born.

I now carry a tick key.

 

[Pupers]

I swear by Trek50, but I am led to believe it may damage certain materials, although I have not experienced this, but it certainly works. But I am, for some reason, not a Tick magnet…..Thankfully! I am in shorts and tee shirt from around April till October.

 

[Silverclaws2]

I may be the only person in Norfolk wearing long trousers, socks and long sleeves.

I’ve only been bitten once and did exactly the same, wrecked it before I realised what it was. The head stayed in there for a couple of months. I used a bromine paste on it for a week or so. 13 months on and still free of symptoms of anything tick born.

I now carry a tick key.

And to say this morning the remains of the tick that was embedded in my skin finally came out, to on looking at it under a useful magnifier discover it was only the needle like proboscis a couple mm long that had remained and yes I could see the barbs that had caused it defy mechanical removal. To add I have suffered no adverse effects from the attack and now not only am I carrying Deet to use in likely spaces, my ' out in the sticks' wear has been treated with Lifesystems EX4.

I have also made up a small ' tick/insect kit ' comprising tick remover, magnifying glass, button cell LED light, alcohol swabs a few round pimple plasters, where also is a small bottle of jungle formula and a travel tube of antiseptic cream and a piezo electric itch stopper.

 

[Pupers]

And to say this morning the remains of the tick that was embedded in my skin finally came out, to on looking at it under a useful magnifier discover it was only the needle like proboscis a couple mm long that had remained and yes I could see the barbs that had caused it defy mechanical removal. To add I have suffered no adverse effects from the attack and now not only am I carrying Deet to use in likely spaces, my ' out in the sticks' wear has been treated with Lifesystems EX4.

I have also made up a small ' tick/insect kit ' comprising tick remover, magnifying glass, button cell LED light, alcohol swabs a few round pimple plasters, where also is a small bottle of jungle formula and a travel tube of antiseptic cream and a piezo electric itch stopper.

What is the Alcohol swabs for Silver?

 

[Silverclaws2]

What is the Alcohol swabs for Silver?

Cleaning around the area prior to the application of a dressing and that following on from what I did with my own experience with a tick bite for perhaps the IPA I doused the site in helped. I dunno but am trying.

 

[Laurentius]

I am one of those people who doesn't attract ticks, I have never been bitten by one despite wearing shorts in prime tick country. Cleggs, wasps and midges however is another matter.

 

[Silverclaws2]

I am one of those people who doesn't attract ticks, I have never been bitten by one despite wearing shorts in prime tick country. Cleggs, wasps and midges however is another matter.

I do have a wonder given skin is an organ of toxin expulsion, I do have a wonder if it is something our body excretes that describes attraction and yes, repulsion to biting insects.

 

[Chris]

I am one of those people who doesn't attract ticks

Have you considered an alluring dance?

 

[Pupers]

Cleaning around the area prior to the application of a dressing and that following on from what I did with my own experience with a tick bite for perhaps the IPA I doused the site in helped. I dunno but am trying.

The reason I asked the question Silver, is that you should not use an Alcohol swabs/wipe on an open wound. They are for things like swabbing pre injection etc. Keep alcohol free moist wipes in your first aid kit, not Alcohol wipes.

Alcohol can actually slow down the healing process, and on a larger wound…….Sting like *@*@!

 

[Falstaff]

The reason I asked the question Silver, is that you should not use an Alcohol swabs/wipe on an open wound. They are for things like swabbing pre injection etc. Keep alcohol free moist wipes in your first aid kit, not Alcohol wipes.

Alcohol can actually slow down the healing process, and on a larger wound…….Sting like *@*@!

But doesn't the alcohol evaporate?, how does it slow down the healing process on minor holes/injuries in any significant way? I can see that on a larger wound there is a balance conflict between killing infection vs delaying healing.

 

[Pattree]

It doesn’t. The theory is absolutely correct but in practice just keep doing what you’re doing - you are using a sterile wipe on a minor wound. You’ll heal fine.

 

[Silverclaws2]

The reason I asked the question Silver, is that you should not use an Alcohol swabs/wipe on an open wound. They are for things like swabbing pre injection etc. Keep alcohol free moist wipes in your first aid kit, not Alcohol wipes.

Alcohol can actually slow down the healing process, and on a larger wound…….Sting like *@*@!

Oh yeah it stings like *@*@, I have been doing for years to be well ready for that little experience, but when I treat wounds of which I am in fact dealing with three separate other one's at the moment I keep the well cleaned and covered wounds moist as I know keeping the moisture in there aids, even accelerates healing.

But alcohol or rather the rubbing alcohol I use (99.99% pure according to the label), I know is rather good at killing bacteria, viruses, and fungi , hence why I use it, for given I use IPA for other things it's always to hand unlike the small expensive squeeze tubes of whatever propriety potion that when I need I find have gone lifex.

 

[Pupers]

Oh yeah it stings like *@*@, I have been doing for years to be well ready for that little experience, but when I treat wounds of which I am in fact dealing with three separate other one's at the moment I keep the well cleaned and covered wounds moist as I know keeping the moisture in there aids, even accelerates healing.

But alcohol or rather the rubbing alcohol I use (99.99% pure according to the label), I know is rather good at killing bacteria, viruses, and fungi , hence why I use it, for given I use IPA for other things it's always to hand unlike the small expensive squeeze tubes of whatever propriety potion that when I need I find have gone lifex.

OK Silver, what you use is entirely up to yourself, but Alcohol Wipes and Rubbing Alcohol should NOT be used on an open wound. In addition to burning pain and irritation, it will hinder the healing process and can cause damage to the tissues of a wound and potentially worsen the injury.

Just clean a wound with cold running water, saline solution or Alcohol Free Moist Wipes, then cover with a sterile dressing or plaster. If serious enough to need medical attention, get the bleeding stopped, wrapped up and get to an MIU or A&E, thet are pretty good at infection control!

You should, most definitely, NOT use IPA on the skin, let alone a wound!

You don’t need potions or lotions.

 

[Great egret]

If you are bitten by a tick, the latest advice is to go to a doctor and get a preventive dose of Doxycycline.

 

[Falstaff]

Good luck with getting either to see a Doctor or getting a dose in any realistic timeframe.

 

[Pupers]

It doesn’t. The theory is absolutely correct but in practice just keep doing what you’re doing - you are using a sterile wipe on a minor wound. You’ll heal fine.

OK.

 

[Pupers]

If you are bitten by a tick, the latest advice is to go to a doctor and get a preventive dose of Doxycycline.

Where have you seen this Ge?