Stay Out of the Woods in June!

[Black_Fly]

Last week, after days of crappy weather induced cabin fever for me and my dog, we went for a walk. Upon returning home, I found more ticks on my body than ever before. I stopped counting in the 30s as I was getting a little freaked out. They were EVERYWHERE. They were also still clinging in mass to my clothing. Now I itch, am monitoring for bullseyes or weird looking red spots. The most annoying bite is in my navel. In June, I’m sticking to the river from now on. I bet the canoe was invented in June.

 

[clemency]

I have stumbled through what I can only describe as a nest of ticks. Hundreds it seemed like. Tiny ones. Ick.

 

[memaquay]

Still relatively tick free in Greenstone! An abundance of of black flies, mosquitos, horse flies and tent caterpillars, but no ticks.

 

[Boatman53]

When we adopted our current dog we took him on one of our daily walks, three miles round trip to the end of the peninsula including an off leash romp in the field at the end. When we got home it was time for a tick check for all of us, we pulled 52 ticks off his little 21 pound body. None were attached yet but holy cow. We found some on ourselves too but just the typical we expected. Turns out the edge of the road tall grasses were where they were hanging out. On later walks with out him I saw many on the tips of the grass, all I saw died.
Jim

 

[Steve in Idaho]

I've collected more ticks than usual this year, but nothing like that! Ick!

 

[ppine]

It can be overwhelming. Last year in June on the Klamath River in norther CA we found lots of them. I took 48 off my dog.

 

[Marten]

My personal best was 165 picked off my body and clothes after working on a grassy trail in northern MN. After that I started treating my cabin attire with Permethrin so that record will stand. A needle nose pliers assured no double counting.

 

[Bob B.]

I second that Martin. I have been working in the timber at my house from early am to supper - day after day. We have had biblical rain ... I grade my driveway with my tractor at least 1 time a week - often more. The mosquitos and ticks are at an all time high. I have been living in my tripping clothes and a head net. Tripping clothes treated with Permethrin. It has made a tremendous difference and I can still work in the timber. I just came in from working for breakfast - grade driveway for myself and neighbor, walk Jake, pick a quart of berries for desert tonight with wife. After some eggs, have to go out and clear trails of fallen timber - ground is too soft from all the rain. Permethrin has made these activities bearable ... and so far no ticks

 

[Penns Woods]

Over the weekend I had a adventure with some kind of bug, not sure if it was tick or spider. I ended up in the ER Sunday morning with fever, and extreme pain. Docs did blood work looking for 25-30 different items, results shown my body was fighting off infection but good news no Lime Disease. They started an IV with antibiotics and pain reliever, which really helped. So, today I feel better, most of the body aches or gone but the back of my leg is still pretty gross.

Day 1 after bite




Day 3 after bite

 

[Boatman53]

Yikes!
Jim

 

[Roybrew]

Is it a simple blood test for Lyme disease? I've never seen many deer ticks here in TN till the past few years. Dog ticks have always been plentiful. I hate them all.

 

[Boatman53]

Yes it’s a simple blood test and here in Maine they test for many different tick diseases at the same time. I came down anaplasmosis three years ago. Same antibiotic treatment.
Jim

 

[Penns Woods]

I wanted to give a little update on my bite situation. Today I had a follow up appointment with my family doctor. He's an old country doctor that probably has seen hundreds of bites. After a very thorough examination He assured me it was not a tick bite. He believes it is a spider bite. Based on my good reaction to the IV, and oral antibiotics, I feel very confident we're on the right track. So for now I guess it's take my meds and keep an eye on things. Any new developments I'll be sure to post.
Thanks for all your input, it has been helpful.

 

[yknpdlr]

I had some kind of bite on my under arm where I could not see it a few weeks ago. Fearing a tick bite, I visited my family doc and he gave me a complete blood work up. It hurt for a couple of weeks and left an entrance wound that has not yet healed. Negative for Lyme, probably a spider. He's a great doc who also races in the Adk 90 miler and paddles a lot. As a matter of fact he came to my camp this evening after work and we paddled for training our first 5 miles together on my lake, and then I showed him my Yukon race photo video slide show.

 

[Penns Woods]

Is it a simple blood test for Lyme disease? I've never seen many deer ticks here in TN till the past few years. Dog ticks have always been plentiful. I hate them all.

This reminds me of my college days at LMU in Harrogate Tenn. I had been spring turkey hunting and after hunting back at the dorm while taking a shower I found 7 ticks on me., 5 were impeded. I used Right Guard spray deodorant on them. One good spray and they backed right off. Back then the big threat was the ticks with Rocky Mountain Spotted Feaver. Nothing every developed out of all that, but it sure taught me a lesson.

 

[Roybrew]

It would be nice if there was a little stick a person could pee on, and if it changed color then see your doctor.

 

[Blukanu]

Mentioned this before in the tick thread. Did a 4-day trip two weeks ago. The whole time my buddy was picking ticks off himself. I didn’t have a single one the entire trip.

The difference: I soaked my clothes in Permethrin before the trip.

 

[Black_Fly]

Yes it’s a simple blood test and here in Maine they test for many different tick diseases at the same time. I came down anaplasmosis three years ago. Same antibiotic treatment.
Jim

My doc doesn’t bother with the test. When I present symptoms, she gives me antibiotics. Not sure the test helps unless the visible symptoms go undetected. My son contracted Lyme in SC, before heading to Europe for 6 weeks. He got pretty sick and they tested, treated him in Spain. He was pretty miserable by the time they caught it.

 

[Boatman53]

Being sick while traveling is my worst nightmare. I’m sorry your son went through that.
They ran the test for me because all it presented in me was an unexplained fever, you couldn’t even see the bite location anymore. As it turns out I live in the county with the highest cases of anaplasmosis.
I now have tick gaiters as one of my defenses.
Jim

 

[snapper]

I experienced anaplasmosis for the first time this fall. I was working in my wood lot so that must be where I picked it up. I discovered the tick when I woke up in the middle of the night. Something felt odd so I began exploring and found the little b______d attached to my scrotum! I headed off to the bathroom, got out the tweezers and extracted him.

A day or so later I came down for breakfast and went to turn on the TV. I couldn't figure out how to use the remote. After a couple of attempts, and totally screwing up the Smart TV along the way, I put the remote aside and grabbed a book. The words disintegrated before my eyes and the sentences broke apart. Obviously, something was wrong so it was off to Urgent Care; my wife drove. They took blood and sent me on my way to the pharmacy to get the appropriate drugs.

The tests showed I didn't have Lyme but definitely tested positive for anaplasmosis. While it resolved itself via the drugs, it's something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Not fun and definitely not something I'd recommend you get just to have the experience. Believe me, it's not worth it.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper