There is no Lyme disease in my area of southeast Kansas. Mostly all Lone Star Ticks here. They do carry Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Heartland Tick Disease, though.
Ticks Are GROSS!!!
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Try dusting your jeans from your knees down and especially the cuffs of your pants and boots with powdered sulfur (like what you can buy in the garden store) before you go walking in the grass and weeds. I know it will deter chiggers/red bugs and I’m guessing ticks too, because I’ve never found one on my person after doing this.
I know a guy who was a rural electric co-op meter reader. He had to check a lot of electric meters around irrigation wells and was always having problems with chiggers and ticks. At the beginning of the summer, he would buy a couple of dog flea collars and put them on the outside of his jeans right at the cuff. He swore this kept the chiggers and ticks away. Every evening, he’d take them off and store them in a ziplock bag in his work truck and put them on again the next morning.
I know a guy who was a rural electric co-op meter reader. He had to check a lot of electric meters around irrigation wells and was always having problems with chiggers and ticks. At the beginning of the summer, he would buy a couple of dog flea collars and put them on the outside of his jeans right at the cuff. He swore this kept the chiggers and ticks away. Every evening, he’d take them off and store them in a ziplock bag in his work truck and put them on again the next morning.
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That don't sound like a tick, sounds like a spider. Never saw one bite & bite & keep biting.
Ticks suck though. Don't really bother me, I just dont like them. Not as bad as chiggers, anyone never had them bastards is really missing out on a lot of fun. Hate them.
gettinbirdie
Active member
you aint kidding about the chiggers!!
I was on a deer lease years ago, 3500 ac goat and cattle ranch. I would maybe go once or twice during the summer months to check on my things along with hunt axis deer near waterholes early morning or late evening. I would sit under some huge live oak trees to stay cool. I swear you could see the soil moving around your feet,, the ticks were so bad!! After two summers of that sh#%$-I wouldnt go back when it was hot. During the fall and winter, you couldnt find a tick -not even on an animal. The old cowboys told me they were especially bad during the drought years.
Drs are all full of shit -- I got lyme and it messed me up for 2-3 years until I went out of state to seek treatment and find an infectious disease Doc to help me in Missouri.
Dont even get me started on the 99% stuck up know it alls --- Most physicians are worthless.
I got to a point I didnt know who my wife was on multiple occasions, nor who my son was, no clue who many of my employees were many times. Heart palpitations, panic attacks, hormone issues, depression, needing to sleep constantly, ZERO energy, full body pain, joint pain, muscle issues, inability to sleep, random dizzy spells, memory issues, brain fog, inability to think etc etc -- A long course of antibiotics is what finally helped do the trick. I can narrow it down to 2 or 3 occasions when I think it may have happened and transferred to me - but I kept a health journal to know exactly when I got sick as I had so many weird things happening to me that were unexplainable -- My own research when I had some better days and could think kept pointing me in that direction however the dr's kept blaming it on other things and my former primary care doc who is really locally loved where I'm at wanted to refer me to psych thinking I was making these things up in my head. I dont know how many times I was poked/prodded, heart tests, scans, stress tests, brain scans, chest scans - all coming back negative.
Here's some food for thought on what the infectious doc told me in Mo -- the present lyme test was developed to detect the strain of lyme common on the east coast -- he firmly believes MO and KS and parts of the midwest have a version that is hard for the test to detect -- You can find documentaries on the subject -- one was really good and somewhat recent made by a fellow over in Europe -- he interviewed a # of top folks in the US Govt on infectious disease, and drs and they said some of the same things.
I thought I let it go -- I can NOT stand that piece of dog feces woman doc who did not believe me and thought I was crazy. I wouldnt let my dog pee on her if she was on fire. She could have tried a course of antibiotics as I was pointing to that very early on when I was experiencing strange things and it likely would have helped me sooner -- I let so much go in that time and cost our business lots of money not to mention lost time with family, not being able to interact with my wife and son how I should have and extended family.
Dont believe these know it all pieces of overeducated garbage that have likely just read an article or two or maybe had a short segment in school on the topic. Go get another opinion and push for a long course of antibiotics if you think you have it or the classic early symptoms. I never developed a welt that I remember - but went through a period of time cleaning up our overgrown farmstead where I was constantly bit by ticks for a year or more - spray didnt help and my dumb butt was handling ticks on the dog with no gloves. I doubt that may have caused it but after doing more reading my best guess is I had some ticks that really latched on -- I did the old wives tale trick of taking rubbing alcohol and putting on them so they'd "let go" -- well per research that in effect makes them "Barf" when they release and is the best chance to uptake any toxins/bacteria they are carrying.
The 2nd type of tick that is most likely to transfer the bacteria per research is the little bitty seed ticks as you guys are calling them - something about their size -- I wish I could recall those articles that talked about both scenarios -- I've read more on the topic and symptoms than I care to remember and unfortunately had a # of incidents where I was exposed to the seed ticks -- I believe my dog may have laid in a nest then exposed me as we went on a road trip and she road up front. It wasnt long after that trip I started feeling bad.
I'll never forget the out of body experiences of being in the room with my son at times and my wife a couple times and suddenly not knowing who in the hell they were - I wasn't scared as I knew they were familiar to me - but no damn clue what their names were or who in the world they were or how I knew them. My employees - I just OFTEN forgot their names -- I was able play it off -- about the only thing they all noticed when I was down and out was I wasnt at work much, I limped often and moved slow and was often in pain when walking, and I just couldnt think straight at all or get much done.
I never wish to relive that experience. These past few months I've felt better than I have in a long time -- When I look at my photos or photo memories that pop up where I store them - you can literally tell when I started getting sick by photo and how my expressions were. I knew my quality of life had degraded - but man it went to shit and was the worst in 2020 or so. Whole episode started in 2018 from what I recall.
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birddude
Well-known member
Wow, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I watched a guy on Joe Rogan that went through something very similar. He said he once set at a stop light with horns honking because he couldn't remember if green meant go or stop. Hang in there Husker! That guy was about 90% after I think 3 years. Earlier I mentioned a DIY pesticide I use on my cloths but I forgot to mention over the counter products. One is Sawyer, The other was Perminone. Both active ingredients is Permethrin.
gettinbirdie
Active member
KsHunter- why don’t you tell us how you really feel about your doctor!
Honestly, I’m sorry you had to deal with all that sh%%! I appreciate you sharing this with us-what you were feeling/dealing with. As hunters , we are all exposed to this every season and awareness is crucial. Super important to be able to identify early on what this looks like if anyone did catch it. I’m glad you’re past it.
BritChaser
Well-known member
Was at a restaurant having lunch with friends after bagging a turkey on a warm day. Felt an itch and scratched the back of my neck only to find a tick. I took it outside and then rejoined my friends. Felt another itch and went back outside. This time I pulled off five ticks. It may be poor manners to dine with others while infested with ticks, but I'm no expert.
rangerman
Member
I am a retired wildlife in Southern Illinois biologist and ticks can cause very severe illness. Many of the field biologists such as myself and wardens have suffered with tick born illnesses such as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Erthyolosis, Lyme Disease and Babeulosis. Many primary care physicians in my area will treat you prophlatically with a 10 day regime of Doxycycline. And 1 friend had a protracted case of Lyme disease and required a pick line with daily dosage of iv antibiotics.
I treat my field clothes with Permithan to act as a pesticide barrier. And when I can apply that, I am very vigilant.
My dogs are treated with Advantage Multi which prevents worms, ticks and fleas. Heartworm medicines such as Interceptor and Heartguard failed to protect my dogs from heart worm.
I never experienced a tick born illness but was bitten by a venomous snake, copperhead. Very unpleasant experience.
And here I thought working as a wildlife biologist was a safe profession. Let's see exposure to tick born illnesses, venomous snakes, pesticides, time spent in helicopters/fixed wing planes and farming equipment.
Be vigilant!
I treat my field clothes with Permithan to act as a pesticide barrier. And when I can apply that, I am very vigilant.
My dogs are treated with Advantage Multi which prevents worms, ticks and fleas. Heartworm medicines such as Interceptor and Heartguard failed to protect my dogs from heart worm.
I never experienced a tick born illness but was bitten by a venomous snake, copperhead. Very unpleasant experience.
And here I thought working as a wildlife biologist was a safe profession. Let's see exposure to tick born illnesses, venomous snakes, pesticides, time spent in helicopters/fixed wing planes and farming equipment.
Be vigilant!
birddude
Well-known member
I bet you got some Storys to tell! I have heard that in order to be infected the tic needs to be attached for a while. I'm not sure if that's correct. I also heard that opossums eat an extraordinary amount of tics!
BritChaser
Well-known member
Thanks for going in harm's way on behalf of wildlife
I dont think so -- I never dove deep into how you get infected -- just a little bit - but I believe the bacteria are transferred via the ticks saliva --
What can help transmission supposedly is what I have done more than once on one that had a firm hold on me -- use rubbing alcohol or something of the like to get them to let go as when they let go they essentially barf. -- I also found research but did not bookmark it that stated studies had shown the nymph (smallest size - or seed ticks as you guys are calling them - pin head sized) also are very likely to transmit.
My brother a # of years ago developed Alpha Gal syndrome from what he believes was a tick bite near Manhattan when turkey hunting. It took a year or so or maybe longer for him to figure it out after various er visits, dr visits etc -- he finally had a Dr that reviewed the symptoms and started to ask him questions and listened and he narrowed it down rather quickly. His only solution was to avoid all red meat and any products that had any red meat product in them -- what is strange is that after 10 or so years he is now able to eat red meat again -- His physician advised he could try it as sometimes the allergy can go away over time and your body wont react anymore -- his incident is just as strange. The allergic reactions in him came on rather quickly when they started -- it just took forever to narrow down what caused it.
We have/had plenty of possums near our house when it was overgrown -- I dont know what attracted the ticks -- question could be was it the raccoons/oppossums that lived in the prime jungle we had on our property and the ticks were living on the animals and falling off -- or was it the thick brush/matted grass/dead material they were attracted too -- All I know is removing most of our trees, planting a new yard and bulldozing all the junk into a pile and burning made the 3 acres surrounding the house relatively tick free -- dont think I've had one on me in a long time since cleanup was done.
The gist of this thread - if you suspect you have lyme -- dont listen to your doctor - follow your gut. Your physician is most likely suffering from pompous ass and God complex. Seek a 2nd, 3rd and 4th opinion. It's harder when you are sick to do so - but have to keep pushing on.
I listened to the Joe Rogan podcast today on my trip to KC and back where the author talked about his experience with lyme -- some of it was very familiar - some of his was different -- I had forgotten I had several spells of bells palsy where half my face and head went numb or partially numb -- The POS dr I can't stand blamed it on migraines which I had never had in my life. what was so weird about the whole experience was how the symptoms changed and came and went - the tiredness/lack of energy was the most constant - and the arthritis/muscle and joint aches and overall body pain lasted the 2nd longest and 2nd most consistent -- dizziness at completely random times for an instant lasted a while too - at the end was memory issues and heart palpitations and panic attacks/hormone issues which I'm still working on correcting. It certainly attempted to completely wreck my body.
Started medication in late late fall of 2020 and the road to recovery began about 3 weeks later. I considered it a small victory I was able to go outside and work on my truck for 15 minutes without extreme pain in my feet and knees and even having the energy to do that. I'm sure my wife remembers how happy I was when I was able to accomplish that and not feel like I was near death all the time with a severe case of the flu.
Feel I'm mostly there most of the time now. Been a long road and a lot of lost time. This entire ordeal has made me lose all respect for most physicians and some nursing staff I encountered. What I noticed the most is if your title is not Dr even letting them know what you are experiencing they wont listen. If you ever get ill have someone on your side and do your own research -- the Dr's dont give 2 shxts about you and most likely think you are there to just complain or making it up or a hypochondriac.
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Alaskan swamp collies
Well-known member
I think I will take my big brown furry friends anyday over those itty bitty monsters. No question as to what they do. But how late in the year do you have to worry about them? I don't come down hunting until there is frost and hopefully snow. When are they all gone by?
birddude
Well-known member
Sorry you had to go through that Husker. I've had a couple bad diagnosis's myself but nothing compared to that ordeal. Your lucky or one tough ass human being! or both. Hang in there!!
Miforester
Well-known member
Best tip, duct tape thebbottoms of yoir pants around your boots seals them off from getting on your skin or legs, then treat clothingvwith tick spray. Tick on clothing who cares on skin there is potential. Also there tick gaters, much like snow gaters, you can treat them to with spray.
25 years in the field as a forester i tried the gaters and spray and the ticks just crawled passed them. Best solution is check your body, if one is attached circle the area with a pen and watch for symtoms, also keep the attached tick, place in baggie and put in your freezer. If needed then can be evaulated.
On the lake states ticks have been bad the last couple of years. Just be diligent in checking yourself and hunting partner, i dont trust chemicals to ward the bastards off.
25 years in the field as a forester i tried the gaters and spray and the ticks just crawled passed them. Best solution is check your body, if one is attached circle the area with a pen and watch for symtoms, also keep the attached tick, place in baggie and put in your freezer. If needed then can be evaulated.
On the lake states ticks have been bad the last couple of years. Just be diligent in checking yourself and hunting partner, i dont trust chemicals to ward the bastards off.