Ticks and Lyme's Disease

[Paul in the woods]

Down here in Devon we get ticks all year round, you just get more in the Summer. I've had a couple this year and they've all been the tiny nymphs, one in my belly button and one somewhere where it is hard to see... They can scuttle off of me onto my OH who hasn't been outside - so worth checking everyone.

 

I gather if you get them off quickly (24hrs?) then you're far less likely to get Lymes. I have found those tick twisters quite good at getting the tiny ones off, I don't pull but just twist. 

 

Worth mentioning again don't burn, freeze, squeeze, smother, show them the Mail; but pull/twist them out by the head to stop them regurgitating into you. I find special tick remover ideal.

[Con]

Did the llangollen round a few weeks ago. 35 mile charity walk. Everyone else got blisters, pulled muscles etc. I got a tick on my bollocks! Didn't notice it until the following day. I've got it out, in stages though. A few days before I got the head out. I've been told to watch out for symptoms.  It was 3 weeks ago. Anyone know if I'm out of the woods by now? No symptoms to date

[devon TWiG]

2 hours ago, Paul in the woods said:

Down here in Devon we get ticks all year round, you just get more in the Summer. I've had a couple this year and they've all been the tiny nymphs, one in my belly button and one somewhere where it is hard to see... They can scuttle off of me onto my OH who hasn't been outside - so worth checking everyone.

 

I gather if you get them off quickly (24hrs?) then you're far less likely to get Lymes. I have found those tick twisters quite good at getting the tiny ones off, I don't pull but just twist. 

 

Worth mentioning again don't burn, freeze, squeeze, smother, show them the Mail; but pull/twist them out by the head to stop them regurgitating into you. I find special tick remover ideal.

I have had a few in the past , best thing is to avoid them getting to you in the first place , always long trousers and boots , sometimes gaiters as well , long sleeved top tucked in to trousers etc etc ...When I get home and shower I check , but it is not easy to look everywhere on your own body !!!  when I have found one I usually put soapy water on them and shave them off , this does leave the head /jaws in place a bit like a thorn ...but...the disease is inside the belly of the beast mixed in to your blood that it has taken , and as others have said if you squeeze them in any way you are potentially injecting yourself with a dose of your own blood that is now potentially contaminated , I have not found the tick removal tool to be easy to use at all .....

[shillo]

in Devon also, ive had 2 already this year, usually 10 or so every year. to be honest I just scratch them off. My son got one on his head which we didn't notice until it was gorged and fit to drop off. He developed facial paralysis down one side of his face. lymes diagnosed rapidly, lots of antibiotics given, soon cleared up.

[sime42]

Devon is getting a lot of mention so far. I know Dartmoor is often quoted as a hotbed for ticks, I didn't know that extended to the rest of the county. Though I do remember one occasion when we were back visiting the folks. Out on a cross country bike ride, in the back of beyond, out behind Crediton somewhere. At one point we rode down hill through some woodland covered in Bracken. Thought nothing of it until we got home and found that me and my dad were festooned with the horrible little bstsrds. 15 - 20 each or something crazy. Weirdly my brother and mum had non. Subsequently learned that Bracken is one of their preferred plants for questing from. 

 

 

 

 

[Vedhoggar]

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne infection in UK however tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) has also been detected in UK but risk currently considered very low; if working or visiting central, eastern and northern Europe TBE is endemic in some rural and forest areas (also found in Asia). A vaccine is available for TBE (in three stages and good for 10 years) but as far as I am aware there is no cure for TBE whereas with Lyme disease it can be treated with antibiotics.  

[spuddog0507]

Worked in forestry and shot on a lot of land over the last 45 yrs and only ever had one tick on me but taken hundreds off my dogs, doing some thinning work ATM on a estate that has a large head of both deer and sheep on it so i will be looking more often now,,

A forestry co we do a bit for have health and safety days now and then and  Lyme,s disease is a big thing, on one of these days they had a young lady there who was the daughter of a bloke i had done a bit of work for on a park home site across the rd from me, you can check her story out on the net and its quite sad really, such a beautiful young lady with big prospects in life and all ruined by 1 tick, Sophie has done a lot of work raising awarness on Lyme,s disease on BBC radio Lancashire and on TV as well, you can check her story out by just googling Sophie ward lyme,s disease and it will bring a few sophie wards up but i am sur you will find it,,