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Thread: First deer tick of the season

  1. #1
    Boolit Master
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    First deer tick of the season

    Cat must have brought it in. Pretty early in my book. I have also picked them up in late October on a warm day, even after a hard frost. Little buggers are a menace.
    "If everyone is thinking the same thing it means someone is not thinking"

    "A rat became the unit of currency"

  2. #2
    Boolit Master fastdadio's Avatar
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    I hate ticks with a passion. Worse than mosquitoes even.
    Deplorable infidel

  3. #3
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    About 4 years ago, A tick put me on 4 weeks of IV antibiotics. Pills did not work.
    There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism—by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide. Ayn Rand

  4. #4
    Boolit Master
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    Well these deer ticks are small, like a black sesame seed and hard to find. I pretty much quit romping the woods during springtime because they are really active then. No more hunting for morel mushrooms. I have friends who like turkey hunting and got lyme. They quit. These ticks are a scourge for the outdoorsman.
    "If everyone is thinking the same thing it means someone is not thinking"

    "A rat became the unit of currency"

  5. #5
    Boolit Buddy kaiser's Avatar
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    Rocky Mountain fever put me out of commission for a few weeks. Anyone know the purpose of ticks, except to plague mankind?

  6. #6
    Boolit Master
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    My barber says he runs into them sometimes!
    "If everyone is thinking the same thing it means someone is not thinking"

    "A rat became the unit of currency"

  7. #7
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    Well, here's a true story for you. About 2004 I went to bed one night, and my left armpit started itching. I scratched and scratched and it got worse and worse. In the morning I examined it in the mirror and it was a deer tick. Little black guy, well into the skin. The area around it was puffy and red, sore to the touch.

    I was well aware of the warnings about ticks and Lyme Disease, but thinking myself a man's man, I got a pocket knife with a pointy blade and tried digging it out. It wasn't big enough to successfully pull out. I got most of it, and went off to work. The next morning the puffy redness had turned into a definite ring and wasn't any better. I could see a couple of little black specks of the tick remaining, so I gave it the pocket knife treatment again, getting the rest of it out, and a dab or two of hydrogen peroxide. It stayed sore for a couple of weeks but eventually went away.

    Fast forward to 2009, the left shoulder became increasingly sore. I'm a side sleeper, usually on the left side, so I changed over to the right side and in about a week that one also became sore. So I tried sleeping on my back. My neck became sore, and suddenly I had sore lumps on the back of my head and neck which I was told were lymph glands. Stupid me, I didn't know one had lymph glands in the back of their head!

    I couldn't sleep at all. It got worse and worse and I began getting weaker and weaker, didn't want to eat, and spent most of the day sitting upright in my recliner watching movies and dozing. The local medical clinic wouldn't give me any antibiotics because, they said, they didn't know what was wrong. All I could do was to take aspirin, which helped somewhat, but I was concerned about getting ulcers from too much aspirin. Finally the clinic referred me to an oncologist, but a few days before the appointment I went to bed one night and felt so weak and so bad that I figured I'd not wake up in the morning. I prayed about the situation and asked God that if maybe, since King Ahab was an evil guy but was given 10 more years when he repented, if maybe he wouldn't do the same for me?

    About 1 a.m. I woke up just absolutely dripping wet. It was like I had just stepped out of the shower. I got up and toweled off and put on dry underwear, and when I woke up again about 8 a.m. it was the same thing again. Every night for a week I had these cold sweats, but they gradually diminished. But the pain didn't, and every joint hurt and even my bones seemed to ache. The oncologist took 8 - 12 vials of blood every visit and finally said he didn't know what the problem was and sent me down the hall to see a rheumatologist. His diagnosis was Polymyalgia Rheumatica (means "many pains"), but he had no treatment to offer other than rest.

    Well, lying around, one thinks of a lot of things, and eventually I remembered the tick bite. I told the doctor about it and the said, "Now I know what's wrong with you." He prescribed a week's worth of antibiotics for Lyme Disease, and after two weeks I was feeling almost normal, but still very weak. Eventually I pretty much recovered. Prior to my incident they thought that Lyme Disease bacteria could linger in the body for 2 years before suddenly making you sick, but I made it about 5 years. I guess maybe God thought me a bit more deserving than King Ahab, because he's given me another 12 years. Myself, my wife and all those around me at that time think it to have been a miracle, because I was definitely checking out. Thank you, Father.

    Seriously, folks, don't mess around with tick bites. Get them treated immediately.

    DG

  8. #8
    Boolit Master
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    One of those turkey hunting friends went to the ER in Sandstone Mn (close to his shack) because he had one on his breast nipple. The next day he went back because he had one on the tip of his doober dabber. The ER crew found it quite humerous. His Black lab would crawl up on his bed at night and he figures that is how it happened.

    DG - You are lucky to have recovered from that!
    "If everyone is thinking the same thing it means someone is not thinking"

    "A rat became the unit of currency"

  9. #9
    Boolit Buddy
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    Spray clothing down with a permanone based repellent or something similar. The military has been using this for decades and it is featured in some of the orientation films at Fort McCoy, WI for incoming troops. Fort McCoy is a hot spot for Lyme disease.

  10. #10
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    Tick season kicked in here about a week ago. Found three so far. Not near as bad as Delta Mosquitos. But I reckon I am used to ticks.
    Britons shall never be slaves.

  11. #11
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    I hope they are not as bad this year as they were last year.
    NRA Benefactor Member NRA Golden Eagle

  12. #12
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by pworley1 View Post
    I hope they are not as bad this year as they were last year.
    Think i recall reading that they will be bad two years after a heavy acorn drop. The deer mice are part of the ticks life cycle.
    "If everyone is thinking the same thing it means someone is not thinking"

    "A rat became the unit of currency"

  13. #13
    Boolit Grand Master Nobade's Avatar
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    I wonder what would happen if I started eating Nexgard? It works great for the dog.

  14. #14
    Boolit Buddy
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    Im a bit late to this thread, I will share my story with you all.

    Got a couple of tick bites a few years ago. One happened at home, while mowing some neglected weeds out back.
    The other one was collected after a shooting session at my brothers place.
    I never really knew what one got me, but I ended up sick, a few days after the 2nd bite. Both bites occurred with in 2 - 3 weeks, of each other. So I was eventually treated to Rocky Mountain Fever, and got to feeling better, after a few days.

    I thought it was over, and thought no more about it, until I started waking up at night with swollen lips and tongue, about Christmas time.
    This started out mild, but soon worsened to full on anaphylactic shock, complete with my air way shutting down.
    In between incidents, I would be normal, and was seeing a doctor, who was trying to figure out what I was allergic to.

    I suspected that I had contracted Lymes, as I had tremors, and weakness, as well as a slight fever, and chills that would come and go.
    One night while reading about tick born illnesses, I discovered an article about Alpha Gal allergy.
    This is an allergy to red meets, or Alpha Gal sugars that are in them. So I printed the article off, and took it to the Doc's appointment a few days later.
    My Doctor had no idea, and had never heard of this, but she took my article, and read it with some interest.
    She excused her self and left the room, and was gone for a good half hour.
    When she came back she had a print out from some medical source, and it basically said the same thing as the article that I brought in. She had a big smile on her face, and told me, I think I know what is wrong with you.
    I left with a hand full of lab orders, and went to the hospital to get blood drawn. They took a lot of blood, more than I have ever seen them take, and sent me home.
    The next day I got a call, from the nurse, asking me to stop by the office, for some instructions. So I was told to not eat any read meets, at all, and too go to the pharmacy and get antibiotics. I took them for 3 weeks, and felt no better, so she gave me a second round, and that seemed to help some. After about 2 months, I was finally able to get into KU Medical Center in Kansas City, and they ran tests.
    It was confirmed that I had Lymes, and the Alpha Gal allergy, caused by the Lone Start Tick.
    This all started about the first of the year, and I continued to have problems through out the summer months, and into the fall.

    In October I had appendicitis, and was mis-diagnosed, and the appendix ruptured. I spent 5 days on I V antibiotics, had surgery to fix this, then was dismissed to go home. I then took oral antibiotics for 2 or 3 weeks after I went home.
    When I finally recovered, the Lymes symptoms were better, and I have not had much trouble since.
    In my own mind I think the massive doses of antibiotics finally killed the Lyme infection, but who knows?

    However, I still to this day cant eat read meats. Its been over 7 years now, and I really do not know if I am still allergic to red meats or not, as I have not been tested.
    When this happened to me, there was not much info available on Alpha Gal Allergy, but this is common knowledge now, and there are lots of people who have this problem.
    As much as I like the out doors, I am very careful of tick, and for the most part stay away from where they are.

    Also I purchased my own antibiotics from a vet supply source, and take them, if I am bitten. I knew what the dosage that I was given, and these meds are exactly the same as I was prescribed.
    A friends Dad, who is a retired Vet, said these meds will stop this infection, before it starts and that they are the same as the Doctors give, at a lot lower cost.

    Well I hope this helps some one, and be safe out there.

  15. #15
    Boolit Master

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    anyone else feeling a little "crawly" after reading this thread?
    ..

  16. #16
    Boolit Master
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    I was out burning some brush day before yesterday. I found a tick latched on the right side of my neck. With the handy dandy tick removal tool our vet gave me, it came off easily. Just watching the bite site for a few days, to see if a ring develops.

  17. #17
    Boolit Mold
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    I live in northern Virginia and had one of the little ******** (DEER TICK) bite me on my upper leg. The area started to itch for a few days and I didn't see anything. Thought I had a infected hair follicle. Day three I got out a pair of tweezers and pulled the infected hair. Attached to the base of the hair was a real small scab or so I thought. Looked at the scab with a magnifier and it had legs. I went to the doctors and got antibiotics. Two pills a day for two weeks. Day nine I did a couple of hours of yard work. Day 10 did a couple more hours of yard work. My hands started burning as if someone had blow torches on them. I mean REALLY BAD Pain. Seens the antibiotics had a real small note to stay out of the sun. Back to the doctors for pain cream for SUN BURN. In 71 years I have never had sun burn on my hands. NEXT TIME I READ THE LABEL.

  18. #18
    Boolit Master RKJ's Avatar
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    Around here they seem to be pretty bad already. My Grandsons and I went fishing yesterday and walked down a grassy path to the river. We sprayed down with Repel (with that whatever that is supposed to be so good) my oldest GS had 2 on his legs and I found 3 stuck to me and 4 crawling. I hate those little devils. I was told by the guy at the WM sporting goods counter that they had some spray that was real good but I haven't tried it yet (I don't recall the name but know what it looks like) I'll get some the next time I go there.

  19. #19
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cosmic_Charlie View Post
    One of those turkey hunting friends went to the ER in Sandstone Mn (close to his shack) because he had one on his breast nipple. The next day he went back because he had one on the tip of his doober dabber. The ER crew found it quite humerous. His Black lab would crawl up on his bed at night and he figures that is how it happened.

    DG - You are lucky to have recovered from that!
    People who let their dogs sleep with them should take note.
    Don Verna


  20. #20
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by dverna View Post
    People who let their dogs sleep with them should take note.
    I do let one sleep in the bedroom, but not in bed just physical reasons and they are not allowed up on furniture. Never had any of the very tiny ticks, but lots of lone star ticks for example at times. For years no ticks on my place, then all of sudden for about 8 yrs ticks and now they just disappeared and I do not know why. I am in northwest florida.

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