Deer Ticks Don't Seem To Hibernate!

[Keuka]

It's been a cold hard winter here in central New York but the ticks don't seem to mind. If you think snow on the ground keeps them away, think again. If your out in the woods, you'd be wise to look things over when you get home. I was looking for sheds on March 17th and brought home an unwanted quest.

We got a break in the weather and the snow melted in some of the open areas but still hung on in the woods. My dog needed a run so we hit the woods. The next morning I felt an itch on my leg and @%$& there was a deer tick. I would never have thought they'd be out this early. The snow hadn't even melted in most areas.

Anyway, I'm just finishing the antibiotics and waiting to see the lab results to see if the tick was infected with lyme disease.

Just thought I'd post this as a heads up. I live in the country and in the winter I'm in the woods cutting fire wood, etc. daily. I never thought ticks would be a problem during the winter. Well, I've been wrong all my life or the buggers have mutated.

[EL Mejor]

THANKS,GOOD LUCK

[WanderingSoul]

Hope all is well. I know what you mean about ticks, I'm over in Washington/Warren county near the Vermont Border and Lake George. We've seen ticks up the Adirondacks despite the cold weather.

I was bitten once, although that's when I was young and my parents were living in the city of all places. Not a big city, but I remember seeing the Tick crawling up my arm, I went to grab it and it bit me. So close! Had to go through the antibiotic routine. Stupid little creatures, but they serve some purpose... right?

Good luck, hope you make out well! G'nite!

[SEMO_HUNTER]

What is the antibiotic routine your speaking of?
Is it a special antibiotic or a specific regimine that the Dr. puts you on? Just curious.
Thanks

[GMASIUK]

Doxicycline(sp)? 21 days of treatment. I was bit a few years ago and went untreated. I ended up in the hospital for five days on a IV. I thought I was a done for. It was no fun! If you do get bit see you doctor and demand the full treatment of 21 days. Don't let them give you the three day mini dose. The tests stink and are very ineffective. Take this from someone that has been there.

[Swamp Yankee]

The ticks never really went dorment here all winter; but I'm only seeing small immature dog ticks, not deer ticks this early.  PITA, but not Lyme carriers.

[Lost Arra]

Are you guys taking 21 days of tetracycline (Doxicycline) any time you get bit by a tick?

[SEMO_HUNTER]

I began having symptoms last March and hadn't been bitten by a tick since the previous fall. These symptoms have gotten worse for an entire year and sometimes less severe and other times almost unbearable. I had no idea what it was and my Dr. was stumped also. Well after talking to a few different guys who either have Lyme disease or have had Lyme disease I decided to look it up on CDC's website.
Guess what.......my symptoms are an exact duplicate of those for Lyme disease. I was floored and my mouth nearly hanging open as I read each symptom and I have or have had every single one on the list.
I was relieved to see the treatment was a 4 week recommended course of antibiotics by the CDC.
I saw my Dr. yesterday and he immediately prescribed Doxycycline and I'm on it right now.

I hope and pray that this takes care of it because having chronic pain and fatigue for a year really sucks, especially when you don't know what is causing it.
I suspect that I got bit by a tick in late fall and had no immediate symptoms. The bacteria laid dormant in my system until it reared it's ugly head the following March. It started with about 3 nights of bad fever, chills, night sweats, and body aches. Then it just went away.
After that the muscle aches, pains, fatigue, heart palpitations, numbness in my hands, feet, and face started. It's been a year full of uncertainty and panic at times because I thought it might be my heart or worse maybe even cancer of some kind.

I've had lots of episodes and check ups to rule out the heart related issues, so I am almost sure that's not the case here.

I really hope this antibiotic treatment takes care of it.

Thanks for putting up with my long winded story, but I thought it may help someone else out there that could find themselves in the same boat as me.

[Al Dente]

Ticks can lay dormant for months.  In warmer weather they can stay on a blade of grass for an eternity waiting for a host to wander by.  Usually a deep long freeze will kill them off, but from what you guys are saying, that didn't happen.  The best prevention is just that PREVENTION.  Use the sprays with premithin, make sure all cuffs are tight around your ankles and wrists, wear light colored clothing underneath to facilitate a check, check armpits, behind the knees, and your crotch.  Ticks like warmth, and they will gravitate to those areas if not found.

If you have a tick that has clamped on, do not tug on it or pull it.  Cover it with a layer of either vaseline or dishwashing detergent.  LEt it sit for a bit.  The tick cannot breathe and will release.  Save the tick and get to doctor's ASAP.  Same goes for a dog as well, although they now sell the tick removers, it's a bit of a chore if you have a dog that gets annoyed.

Doxycyline is a powerful drug, it is the go-to AB of choice when you need a full frontal attack on what germ is harming you.  Drink lots of fluids and take some probiotics as this can wreak havoc on your stomach.  Hope you get better soon.

I once appraoched my deer kill and it looked like it was covered with green/brown coffee beans.  They were ticks that were engorged on the deer blood.  Literally hundreds were on this animal.  I left it for a while, giving them the time to jump off of their buffet before field dressing.  As a side note, the skull plate still had some hair on it, so I placed it in a plastic bag.  I forgot about it for a few weeks, and when I went to take the antlers out, there must have been some ticks on it and the ticks were still alive after weeks of being in a sealed plastic bag.

I don't know what positive purpose they serve, they carry disease is all that I am concerned with.

[Skipmaster1]

Originally posted by Lost Arra:
Are you guys taking 21 days of tetracycline (Doxicycline) any time you get bit by a tick?

Thats what I was wondering. On an average year I'll take at LEAST 6 or 7 out of me and at least another 3 dozen or so crawling on me. I have already pulled 2 out of me and 3 out of my fiance this spring. A few weeks back I pulled 17 out of my dog and he had only been in the yard, he's back on frontline for the rest of the year.

There is no point in taking antibiotics every time. It has to be a deer tick, must be an adult, must be in you for at least 24 hours and must have lyme's to transmit it to you. I've had it 4 times and it's no joke, but to take doxy every time is overboard

[ti-guy]

Skipmaster1 that's a lot of thick!!! would you guys have pics or link of this pest?

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Having been born and raised in Missouri all my life and living in the country for 90% of that time, I've been bitten by ticks since I was a child. It's just common around here and for country people to get ticks on them, even out of our yard. I honestly have never had to worry about Lyme disease on my whole 42 years, but I guess the odds finally caught up with me. 41 years of tick bites and finally in year 42 one of them got me.
I've always taken precautions by treating my clothes and showering after I return home from hunting, but I never freaked out if I got bit from a tick.

Having this Lyme disease has changed all that. I'll take even more precautions and shower immediately when I get home.

If I get over this and ever get back to normal, I'll look at tick bites in an entirely different way from here on out. I would seriously consider taking the antibiotic course of treatment the next time I get bit by a deer tick.

What Probiotics can a person take to counter act the Doxicycline? It says on the back of the bottle of my meds that I shouldn't take Vitamins, Iron, or dairy products within 2 hours of taking this medication.

[Bryan Bondurant]

Ticks are going to be bad this year. I took my hound out into the woods out back for fifteen minutes and the next day it had twenty ticks on it. That was a month ago after a good hard freeze, I could not believe it.

I'm still traumatized from being held down naked with my legs spread on the porch at my grandpas. Neighbors or whoever happened to be passing by would show up and there I was in my birthday suit getting chiggers and ticks pulled off, privacy? naked tick pulling was like the county fair, they let everyone get involved.

So far this year I have killed a dozen brown recluse and spent one day at the ER for a suspect spider bite. The bite was on a kid under the hair and the skin broke open and now there is a hard little knot under the skin three weeks later. Its also possible it was a tick bite but the doctor said we had to wait, no symptoms, no medicine.

Around here there are horror stories every year about tick fever and lime disease. One guy built a house out in the middle of a old 20 acre dairy pasture and started cutting the grass with a riding lawn mower. I was told he got sick three times last year and had some time in the hospital.

[Don Stokes]

If I took antibiotics for three or four weeks every time I pulled off a tick, I would rarely stop taking the drugs. Ticks are a way of life in the South, and getting bitten is routine if you spend any time outside. I use a lot of low-strength DEET spray for chiggers and skeeters during the spring, summer, and fall (under $5 for two cans at Dollar General), which seems to help against the ticks, too, but the only thing that I've found to give real protection from ticks is treating my clothes with permethrin spray. Even that's not foolproof, and I can't afford to treat every item of clothing in my closet! I've picked up ticks between the car and the door. Occasionally I find them inside the house.

[Rick Perry]

I have been fighting chronic fatigue and joint pain for nearly 10 years . About 8-9 years ago I went to a doc and I suspected Lyme . Test was inconclusive , not enough for the insurance to pay for IV antibiotics ....I have read that oral antibiotics wont cut it for a long term lyme infection..... My fatigue and joint pain have continued ever since . I have been to several docs and no one wants to put much into the lyme idea , but they have no answers for me .

Last month I had an appointment with a rheumatologst(sp ? ) and he p'd me off from the minute he walked into the room . He was plain arrogant and rude and told me that lyme , fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue were not even real worries ( in fact he said chronic fatigue doesnt even exist )and I walked out of his office . I have an appointment with another one next month . I have been living at about half speed for 10 years and no one seems to know why .

[Pointer]

Its nasty stuff...I have a cousin who lives in Westchester County NY....absolutely loaded with ticks...he's got it bad...had to wear the IV pump for months. I spray every article of clothing with permanone...wont go inthe woods without it. GOt bit myself 15 years ago but found the tick the same day and started the treatment immediately...

Was out in North Jersey stumping with my brother and nephew in March...COLD...didn't stop the ticks though..my brother had one on his pants when we got out of the woods..

[Bryan Bondurant]

Rick, We have a couple docs down here that specialize in treating Lyme Disease. Around here everyone knows somebody thats been hit hard with it. I have no idea about long term and how it effects but the people I know that did have it were serious messed up and on the verge of death.

Its possible that it could be active over years but i would like to learn more about that. Having lived in Asia the big one over there is Dengue. Kids get sick with fever, fever goes away, parents think its over then the kid bleeds to death. Nobody over there uses a thermometer outside of a hospital setting, most have no idea whats even going on with fever. A family uncle was bitten by a cobra and refused to go to the doc, shockingly he lived.

[Jeremy]

Originally posted by Al Dente:
If you have a tick that has clamped on, do not tug on it or pull it.  Cover it with a layer of either vaseline or dishwashing detergent.  LEt it sit for a bit.  The tick cannot breathe and will release

NO NO NO NO and NO

That's been proven to be one of the worst things you can do!

Grab it by the head with a pair of tweezers or a tick removal tool and pull it out in a steady motion.  Doing anything else (covering it with something, burning it, etc) causes the tick to regurgitate the contents of its stomach, increasing the chances of you getting Lyme or one of the other nasties they can carry exponentially!!  

If the tick has been attached for less than 24 hrs the chances of you contracting Lyme disease is remote.  Standard protocol is for 2-3 days of antibiotics, if you're doctor is paranoid and you're in an area with a high rate of the disease.  The full course of drugs is only given if there are signs of infection (bulls eye rash etc).  The rash presents in 3-30days after infection in only about 75% of cases.

The initial lab test to detect the bacteria relies on detecting antibody levels; by the time your antibody titer is high enough to be detected you've had the disease for a while and are well on your way to clearing your body of the infection.

Chronic symptoms occur in a small percentage of cases, and most of those are patients who didn't get treatment early on (ie no bulls eye so they didn't know it was LD or other reason for a misdiagnosis).  Causes of chronic LD aren't well understood.  There's good evidence that there is a strong autoimmune component to it, but small active infections can't be ruled out.  The basic premise is that the initial infection was screwing with your body so much that your immune system went into overdrive to try to clear your body of the infection.  In the process it ended up making antibodies toward something that, while they presumably helped with the bacteria, they're not specific for the bacteria.  If something triggers the production of those antibodies again you get a flare up.

Seriously folks, educate yourselves about the facts of the disease.
  http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/

[Jeremy]

I'm right in that dark blue section... about 5 miles from Lyme, CT

[Don Stokes]

I'm sure glad to see that north MS is blank on the map. Thanks for that, Jeremy! However, it isn't complete, because I know that it is more widespread in GA from my personal experiences there in the '80's when some of my friends, including Dan Quillian, contracted it. Dan showed me the red rash around his tick bite when I joined him for a hunt on our club in south GA, but his doc refused to test him because the CDC had not yet recognized it in GA. His joints got so bad he couldn't shoot his bow, which was understandably tough for him. Not long after, he was treated for a diabetes-related infection, and it apparently took care of his Lyme disease too. After the antibiotic treatment his Lyme symptoms disappeared and he could shoot again.