Tick season!!!

I have done some reading on the suspected source of the Lyme disease.  I did not know that it is also in mosquitoes.  In this corner of the our state, so far, deer ticks are rare.  The wood tick has its peak and by September it is less of an issue.  Go east a little way or south and it is a whole different deal.  A family friend called and told me about a deer he shot in November, that was crawling with little ticks and wondered if those were deer ticks.  I presumed they were.  Another I talked to at lunch the other day was down in the lower Loess Hills.  He said that from a hill, he watched turkeys all over one field and rolling around raising a ton of that Loess soil dust in the process.  He was not adequately prepared himself, and told me to stay on the dirt if at all possible down there. He had sprayed his pants with OFF, it was not good enough.  he had a bunch of ticks in his hair and several attached to his his head in his hair.  He found several deer ticks on him with the wood ticks.  He also said that he is never going back there ever again.

[Rob DiStefano]

"lyme disease" bacterial infection is right up there in the pandemic class diseases such as aids, ebola, zika, and west nile virus.

there are more than a few theories circulating about the origins of lyme disease and spirochetes, here is a popular one ...  https://sites.newpaltz.edu/ticktalk/social-attitudes/story-by-smaranda-dumitru/

the type of tick that can carry the lyme disease spirochete is ... ALL of them, anywhere and everywhere.  so don't be concerned what type of tick just stuck its proboscis into your blood stream, just get it out without it regurgitating its nasty stomach contents into your system, and then seek proper health care help, which does NOT need to be antibiotics.

the general consensus is that once you have lyme disease, it's systemic and you have it for life.

there is an excellent chance that along with the lyme spirochete you will also inherit some even nastier co-infections, such as babesia and ehrlichea, which can be just as difficult (if not more so) to control than the spirochete

early lyme detection is paramount.  all the current crop of tests for lyme are not foolproof - false negatives and positives abound - it is pure gambling.

i had lyme for over 6 months - it was never properly detected, i was treated for tendinitis and given anti-inflammatory drugs that caused liver issues.  the "cure" for me was accomplished through a very savvy naturopath (who's office is a town away from lyme, CT) and i became asymptomatic within 2 weeks. i was lucky.  i get checked twice a year.  lyme symptoms have come back several times, and treatment abated those issues.

[dirtguy]

Rob,

You give a real mish mash of information and I have to take you to task on parts of it.  Please note that I live two towns away from Lyme CT and have know people who have died from complications due to Lyme.  I am an environmental scientist and have spent the last four decades of my life predominantly outside, within shouting distance of the epicenter of Lyme disease.  I have been treated for it several times. I have pulled as many as 18 ixodes ticks off of me at one time.  

Is it possible that Lyme disease entered the US via Plum Island - Sure, but there is no good evidence to support it. Its just an unsupported conspiracy theory.  Why propagate that? The lab in Italy tested Otzi the iceman's blood and found Lyme disease.  If it was present in Italy 5000 years ago, there are many ways that it could have come to the US.

Can you show me any scientific evidence that any or all ticks carry Lyme Disease?  I mean peer reviewed articles in scientific journals?  What about the same for mosquitos?  If not it is irresponsible to claim that this happens.

You say the treatment does not need to be antibiotics.  Are you a doctor? Do you have any kind of medical license?  If not you should not offer any opinion on this.  Its great that you found something that worked for you, but you have no place advising others unless you are appropriately trained and licensed.

You are correct in that lab tests for Lyme can be inaccurate and come back as both false positives and false negatives. But it is not pure gambling. And you can ask for a better test - the Western Blot.

You are also correct in that ixodes ticks (deer, and black legged ticks) are out year round, even in the middle of winter.

Yes, there are other tick borne agents out there (babesia,  ehrlichea and now Powasson) that are of great concern. This is something people should know about.

Please be careful with the information you put out. In a case like this, it needs to be evidence based.  

I wish you the best in your recovery from Lyme disease, and I empathize.

Bob

[Captain*Kirk]

Interesting read, Rob. Scary, too.

[Rob DiStefano]

bob,

the problem with "lyme disease" isn't only the bacterium itself, it's the medical and journalistic society that clearly has little clue as to what the hell "lyme" is really all about, its diagnostics, certainly its treatment, and only spreads more conflicting disinformation.

my link to the plum island article was just that, a link - i did not render nor have an opinion on that article, other than to use it as a reply to part of pavan's post.  

treating ALL ticks as carriers of "lyme" is part of preventative medicine - whether or not there is scientific evidence of this or not.  who really cares?  i'd rather pass on to everyone to beware than to patiently await "the truth" from the scientific community.  so far, i haven't seen any and doubt i ever will, unless our gov't finally declares a war on "lyme disease".

i've gone full circle on the matter of antibiotics and avoid them like the plague, because they ARE the antidotes i will need to be effective later on in life, rather than earlier.  there is a time for antibiotics and lyme, but not as a blanket prescription (in this Rx crazy society).

no, i have no doctorate in either the medical or scientific community. my wife and i spent the last 8+ years researching, sorting out, and sifting through all "facts" about "lyme disease" and have had extensive testing by noted "lyme doctors" such as daniel cameron in NY, which was a huge bust and waste of time and money.  

our current conclusion is not to put much if any faith in western medicine, and not to trust western doctors in general.  a bold statement, but one based on personal experiences with doctors in NJ, NY, CT and PA over a period of 8 years.  

the only truth i have with my "lyme" experience is that it was abated via a naturopath, jeffrey klass in guilford, CT, who made the "lyme" diagnosis inside of 10 minutes and was "cured" inside of 3 weeks.  a fluke?  a placebo?  maybe.  see, this is where we're ALL at with "lyme" disease - no one really knows for sure what the hell they are doing.  no one.

while "lyme disease" IS a pandemic issue, along with all the other bacterial and viral pandemics, nothing in the world right now is worse than the benzodiazprene pandemic the WORLD is dealing with right now, thanx to big pharma and western doctors.  

r.

[dirtguy]

Rob,

I can see we have been down many of the same paths. Lyme disease is a terrible thing and we simply don't know enough about it.  We need a lot more research and a lot more awareness - yes we need a war on Lyme.  Until that happens we are both stuck working it out for ourselves. Again, I am glad that you found something that works, and wish you well.


Bob

[Cyclic-Rivers]

I've pulled at least 200 off myself and the dogs this year. We spray and do what we can but them little buggers still get through at times.

I have the same lack of trust in the local medical doctors here.  I have been misdiagnosed both of the last two times in ten years that I bothered going to them.  Ten years ago they declared that I just had a virus that I had to get through.  Roller coaster fever, everything, other than bananas and chocolate milk, tasted like salt, rapid heart rate.  Six months of that and 50 pounds lost I called a homeopath, cancer.  A month later I was on the toughest canoe trip that we ever went on in Canada.  A few years ago, I was feeling like crap, then my wife had thyroid trouble.  I was in no shape to handle the stress and passed out one evening.  I had an irregular heart rhythm and could barely move.  They declared that I needed heart surgery, further testing said there was nothing wrong with my heart.  I went back to the homeopath, Lymes disease and a fungus over growth attacking my lungs and gut.  He said it was in its first stages and was optimistic.  The symptoms have left and so far not returned, but I do take some very fancy supplements that make me poop.  I should add that I went prescouting that year for turkeys on a warm day in late February when the snow was melting fast.  I had an inch wide red spot under my arm for a few days that I thought was just a minor rash. By late April I was feeling sick.

[KeganM]

We have an abundance of ticks around our home. So far my wife, indoor cat, and myself have all had ticks buried into us. My wife's had a red ring that expanded by the second day. She got antibiotics and it seems fine. They always scare me though, especially with so many misdiagnosis. One of the archers from our local club went through Lyme disease years ago and still suffers from some of the effects.

[KentuckyTJ]

They are really bad here this year.

[highlow]

Yup. They are possibly the worst I've seen them at this time of year. Lost count of how many I've pulled off. Been using permethrin but still found some. They did look like they didn't want to be on my pants though. Nothing is guaranteed. Check and double-check.

[highlow]

I've always wondered what precipitated this plague. I'm 73 and when I was a kid here in Jersey, spent most of my time in the woods. At that time I always wondered what a tick was. Never saw one nor had one on me. The dog got a flea (know what they are) and tick collar. Climate change perhaps? No empirical evidence but to me very coincidental.

[Rob DiStefano]

everyone has their pet theory about the origins of lyme disease.  plum island aside, scientific research seems to now declare that lyme has been around before the existence of humanity.

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2643339/The-bacteria-longer-humans-Lyme-disease-discovered-15-million-year-old-amber.html

whatever.  it's here.  it's a pandemic.  be careful.  know what to do.

[Bryan Bondurant]

Seems the big deal is people no longer burn off fields and even grass around houses like they used to do to thin them out. There is so much benefit to periodic burning, it was one of the main ways natives made prime hunting areas by creating feed for game. We should get back to that, but never will, civilization has gotton to civilized for that, everytime lightning strikes it seems to burn down a bunch of fancy houses.

Ticks are truly terrible, but its the chigger that was created by the devil. I will never forget growing up in the Ouachita Mountains, my days in the woods, longbow and dog, then grandma stripping me bare naked on the front porch with a giant sized Case folding knife in hand, to dig the chiggers out off my private parts. A few lucky times the neighbors came over to watch, that knife and its doings in front of an audience, worse than getting poison ivy down there.

[D. Key]

I just read this week a method of tick removal that I will try for sure, which will not leave the head of the tick embedded in the skin.  Take a cotton ball and place a few drops of dish washing soap onto the cotton. Rub onto the tick until he/she backs out and the cotton will capture the tick.  Hope this works for all of us.

Be safe out there.

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by D. Key:
I just read this week a method of tick removal that I will try for sure, which will not leave the head of the tick embedded in the skin.  Take a cotton ball and place a few drops of dish washing soap onto the cotton. Rub onto the tick until he/she backs out and the cotton will capture the tick.  Hope this works for all of us.

Be safe out there.

personally, a very DUMB idea.  

there is NO PROBLEM with leaving a tick head/proboscis under the skin after removing its body, but you will be almost guaranteed that a tick that's been disturbed by squeezing its body and or applying a chemical to its body because that bug will regurgitate its stomach contents into your blood stream.  you do NOT want that to happen, that's when the nasties enter your body.

the cotton ball soap thing can have the same bug reaction as using nail polish or match or burning string/rope/cigarette/cigar.  big gamble with yer life.  no thanx.

it's not the tick head or body that's the issue, it's what's inside the tick's body that you don't want inside yer body.

[D. Key]

Rob:

Thanks for the clarification.  I guess if it's on the internet, it isn't always true.          

[Captain*Kirk]

So, then what is the preferred method of pulling ticks, Rob? Just yank them off?
I've used a hot match head before.

[Rob DiStefano]

a pair of fine pointed QUALITY tweezers, who's points actually meet and mate, OPENED and pushed down AROUND the tick, which pushes the skin down as well, then close the tweezers to grab as little of the body as possible, hold tight, pull out with a quick flick.

not having that good tool, and if you have fingernails on a thumb and forefinger, attempt to do the same.

no tweezers and no fingernails, grab down as close as you can, pull and flick.

i've never always had a good experience using other tick removing tools.

[Captain*Kirk]

Thanks for that tip. I have a set of tweezers in my Swiss army knife. If they don't work I will "pick and flick". I will no longer use the burn method!