i know i havent been posting but wanted to chime in to remind you guys to PLEASE check the kids for ticks!!! many of you saw on FB that i got lyme - thank god i got this massive bullseye within a few days of the bite so it was caught early and i dont have any symptoms besides exhaustion/fatigue (which are already clearing up with the abx) - anyway PLEASE be careful out there this summer! a lot of the time you dont even get a reaction like this, so you have no clue you even have it for months and sometimes years, and then you're screwed. since i've gotten this, i've heard HORROR stories about longterm symptoms - anyway be diligent!! even *i'm* tempted to get some heavy duty chemical repellent going!! (kidding - kind of -- i'm using CA baby for now). i hear citronella is good, but lemongrass is sort of a scam. here's a pic of the bite. xo.
I will second this. We picked DS1 up from summer camp last Friday and we knew in advance that he had a pretty bad sunburn. When DH got there he asked John to lift his shirt so he could check out the sunburn and he found a deer tick (these carry Lyme disease) embedded in his back! It had been burrowing into his skin for at least 2 days! And they are tiny too so you could overlook them very easily. DH got a pair of tweezers and some alcohol and removed it - it was very inflamed by that time. Luckily it healed up and I'm hoping he doesn't get Lyme disease!!
I called his ped and they didn't seem concerned at all . . . which I found surprising.
-- Edited by kris on Friday 18th of June 2010 05:04:28 PM
I will second this. We picked DS1 up from summer camp last Friday and we knew in advance that he had a pretty bad sunburn. When DH got there he asked John to lift his shirt so he could check out the sunburn and he found a deer tick (these carry Lyme disease) embedded in his back! It had been burrowing into his skin for at least 2 days! And they are tiny too so you could overlook them very easily. DH got a pair of tweezers and some alcohol and removed it - it was very inflamed by that time. Luckily it healed up and I'm hoping he doesn't get Lyme disease!!
I called his ped and they didn't seem concerned at all . . . which I found surprising.
-- Edited by kris on Friday 18th of June 2010 05:04:28 PM
just watch for the bullseye, but seriously that only happens in like 60% of cases (i heard) - i know some docs do a round of abx if there's a tick embedded in the body at all (did you have the tick to have tested?) last year we yanked one out of rachel's chest and the doc didnt prescribe abx. she never had any symptoms, and i didnt know to save the tick. i never found the tick on my leg - that rash just showed up.
I will second this. We picked DS1 up from summer camp last Friday and we knew in advance that he had a pretty bad sunburn. When DH got there he asked John to lift his shirt so he could check out the sunburn and he found a deer tick (these carry Lyme disease) embedded in his back! It had been burrowing into his skin for at least 2 days! And they are tiny too so you could overlook them very easily. DH got a pair of tweezers and some alcohol and removed it - it was very inflamed by that time. Luckily it healed up and I'm hoping he doesn't get Lyme disease!!
I called his ped and they didn't seem concerned at all . . . which I found surprising.
-- Edited by kris on Friday 18th of June 2010 05:04:28 PM
just watch for the bullseye, but seriously that only happens in like 60% of cases (i heard) - i know some docs do a round of abx if there's a tick embedded in the body at all (did you have the tick to have tested?) last year we yanked one out of rachel's chest and the doc didnt prescribe abx. she never had any symptoms, and i didnt know to save the tick. i never found the tick on my leg - that rash just showed up.
I have the tick in a baggie on the side of my fridge.
I remember during the summers as a kid my mom would check us for ticks being that we lived in the woods. And it never even occurred to me to do it now! We're very routine about keeping the grass cut down and limiting what areas we go into at home! But I guess I shouldn't be so lax given the deer population here!
Off to check DH and I! We both were tromping in some pretty high grass today mowing for our neighbor!
And the thought of camp! He goes to KinderCamp on Monday out at this wonderfully wooded area. Will most definitely be checking him for ticks.
I thought the copperheads and coyotes were the only pests (not that snakes are pests in my book). I never thought to check for ticks.
I remember during the summers as a kid my mom would check us for ticks being that we lived in the woods. And it never even occurred to me to do it now! We're very routine about keeping the grass cut down and limiting what areas we go into at home! But I guess I shouldn't be so lax given the deer population here!
Off to check DH and I! We both were tromping in some pretty high grass today mowing for our neighbor!
And the thought of camp! He goes to KinderCamp on Monday out at this wonderfully wooded area. Will most definitely be checking him for ticks.
I thought the copperheads and coyotes were the only pests (not that snakes are pests in my book). I never thought to check for ticks.
we are seriously never tromping through woods here, at all. our yard has a lot of trees, but we dont go around the perimeter (there's poison ivy back there) so we stay in the manicured part - we have a gardener weekly to keep the grass cut. i was weeding over the weekend which is probably when i got bitten, but that wasnt even in the woods - i was just pulling weeds around our front path (which is slate)!!
it really is the deer thing i think - we get plenty of deer even though we are 20 miles from manhattan. it's unbelievable, and the deer population is on the rise - it's been in the papers and everything, and there are even higher rates of lyme in the city now than ever.
i am currently looking into natural ways to keep deer away without having to fence in the entire yard.
good luck with the tick searching - HUGE pain but i'm diligent now!!! my kids get m&ms for sitting still through the checks!
kristi, i have read to go out in long pants and socks too - i'm not quite to that point yet, but i will NEVER weed anything in a skirt and teeshirt again. (actually i think i'll just never do yardwork again - i hate it anyway - good excuse right?!)
Glad that you caught this early. It's a nasty disease when it isn't caught. We've lived here for about 6 years and have deer that come in and eat all our apples. Can strip a tree over night. I'd never even thought about ticks fom them.
We found our dog starving to death on the streets of the city about 8 year ago and he was covered in fleas and ticks. I pulled all he ticks off of him and then took him to the vet in the morning. I brought with me a container of ticks in case they needed them to test for Lyme. The receptionist looked as if I had put a pile of poop on her desk! Honest, they were in a container, with a lid! They did not test the ticks. LOL!!!!
Oh that is insane Kelly. So glas you caught it early. I am so bad about this. I was just up in Peekskill yesterday with the kids and they were running around my aunt's yard. I don't ever think to check them and they get tons of deer. Ok will be checking them over before I go to bed...
I hate Lyme!!! I cannot even count the number of people I know who have had it! So glad you got a bullseye. So many people don't. And, don't forget, the bullseye isn't necessarily in the spot of the tick bite. It can pop up anywhere. What we do is mark the calendar the day the tick is found and count 30 days...mark there. Then, watch for bulls eye and flu like symptoms in that time frame.
My dad had is really bad. They figure he had it 1 yr to 1 .5 yrs before being diagnosed. He was SOOOO unbelievably tired, was dizzy, passed out at the gym. Finally he was diagnosed with lyme last nov. I hate ticks. Blech!
