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Lyme Disease Is on the Rise Again

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Re: Lyme Disease Is on the Rise Again

#91

Post by Symmetry »

jjeaff wrote: post #73
49bc wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Removing them requires two very vigilant people. Also getting hit by a bus is arguably better than life-long listleness caused by lyme disease which might be inheritable to your future children.

Two people to remove a tick? And I thought these little removal tools were crazy. You'll feel it itching after it digs in. Just be vigilant in the shower and use a loofa or other abraisive scrubber. Fingernails work perfectly fine as well. Of the literally thousands of ticks I have had to remove over the years, probably less than 5 were ever left on for up to 48 hours. Most people will scratch them loose accidentally…

I've never felt itching with any of the ticks that've gotten me. A few big ones I just noticed running my hands over my body. The one that gave me Lyme I never saw at all. Luckily I got a big bullseye rash and with antibiotics never had worse than an afternoon fever for a few days.

Re: Lyme Disease Is on the Rise Again

#92

Post by notadoc »

nonbel wrote: post #88
notadoc wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tick populations have surged, mostly because of mice, rodent, and deer overpopulation. And we've killed off huge numbers of natural predators to those carriers. Anecdotally, 15 years ago I used to maybe find one tick a year after frequent walks/hikes in grasslands or woods. Today I can walk the same trail systems and find 10+ ticks per dog after a single days walk even when they have tick/flea treatment applied. It's…

I see. Do you (anecdotaly, in your opinion) rule out that people are more concerned about ticks these days, so they are checking more carefully and/or often?

I find most people are naive of the problem especially in the west coast states, unless they spend a lot of time outdoors either recreationally, or landscaping, gardening, ranching, farming, hunting, etc.

You certainly want to check yourself after going out, but for dogs and animals the difference is just very outwardly obvious as you will see them crawling on their fur, on their beds, or you feel the lumps on their skin once they embed if you are petting them. Anecdotally this was not something I ever found 15+ years ago in the exact same environments. But beyond anecdote, by all official recordings (often from deer hunting, they measure a small portion of the deer and count how many ticks are found in a square) the numbers are skyrocketing, largely in line with concurrent overpopulation of deer and rodents.

Re: Lyme Disease Is on the Rise Again

#94

Post by jemfinch »

jjeaff wrote: post #75
baud147258 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A long time ago, I tried to remove a tick with tweezers. I failed horribly and left the head in my upper skin layer, having removed only the body. So I had to use a a rather sharp pen knife to remove the rest. Two year later, while camping, I had to remove a handfull of ticks and a tick removal tool (shaped like a crowbar) was very usefull.

Next time, just use your fingernail. Never fails. Much better than any tool.

Will you please stop spreading this misinformation? If you want to use backwoods folk medicine on yourself, you're free to do so. But stop recommending this bullshit to others. What you're doing here is no better than the tick-removal version of the anti-vaxxer's playbook.

The American Medical Association says in multiple places to use tweezers in a very particular way to remove ticks:

* https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/207551 * https://books.google.com/books?id=2Yg7LVohnXEC&pg=PA314&lpg=...

So how about you let the doctors be doctors and stop spreading misinformation and ignorance?

Re: Lyme Disease Is on the Rise Again

#95

Post by macintux »

jjeaff wrote: post #73
49bc wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Removing them requires two very vigilant people. Also getting hit by a bus is arguably better than life-long listleness caused by lyme disease which might be inheritable to your future children.

Two people to remove a tick? And I thought these little removal tools were crazy. You'll feel it itching after it digs in. Just be vigilant in the shower and use a loofa or other abraisive scrubber. Fingernails work perfectly fine as well. Of the literally thousands of ticks I have had to remove over the years, probably less than 5 were ever left on for up to 48 hours. Most people will scratch them loose accidentally…

Some spots on your body are very difficult to check carefully and/or reach for a clean, safe extraction.

I went to the ER once to have a tick removed. I felt absurd doing so, but I simply couldn't reach it properly, and I had no one else around to take care of it.

Re: Lyme Disease Is on the Rise Again

#97

Post by nonbel »

notadoc wrote: post #92
nonbel wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see. Do you (anecdotaly, in your opinion) rule out that people are more concerned about ticks these days, so they are checking more carefully and/or often?

I find most people are naive of the problem especially in the west coast states, unless they spend a lot of time outdoors either recreationally, or landscaping, gardening, ranching, farming, hunting, etc. You certainly want to check yourself after going out, but for dogs and animals the difference is just very outwardly obvious as you will see them crawling on their fur, on their beds, or you feel the lumps on their…

>"I find most people are naive of the problem especially in the west coast states, unless they spend a lot of time outdoors either recreationally, or landscaping, gardening, ranching, farming, hunting, etc."

Right but those different groups of people would have also existed 15 years ago so this is not really relevant. I'm just asking if the group that does care about it is more vigilant and careful than before, and if that could explain it.

>"You certainly want to check yourself after going out, but for dogs and animals the difference is just very outwardly obvious as you will see them crawling on their fur, on their beds, or you feel the lumps on their skin once they embed if you are petting them. Anecdotally this was not something I ever found 15+ years ago in the exact same environments."

Ok, so the answer is that the level of vigilance required to notice a difference is so low that it can't be the primary explanation? Regarding the dog anecdote though. If it is 15 years later the dogs are either much older or different dogs, so they may be rolling around in different areas, etc. Still interesting but that is why anecdotes are anecdotes.

Re: Lyme Disease Is on the Rise Again

#98

Post by clumsysmurf »

baxtr wrote: post #48
rb808 wrote: post #27

I've stopped hiking and camping largely because of this. Its just not worth it any more. This page has an uncommon photo of just how small the nymph deer ticks are. https://sectionhiker.com/backpacking-lyme-disease-prevention...

I recommend to have one of these on you at all times while you're hiking https://www.amazon.com/Life-Systems-34020-Lifesystem-Remover...

I've tried similar tools, and found fine point tweezers are the best. Some of these buggers get so dug in, they don't fit well between the sharp edges.

Re: Lyme Disease Is on the Rise Again

#99

Post by 24gttghh »

cujo wrote: post #89
simonsarris wrote: post #66

Ticks were bad last year in NH, but not 5 ticks on a stick bad: https://imgur.com/a/bGdAvLD Photo taken yesterday. I bought some old farmland and it has been a completely insane year so far for ticks. I wish I could do a prescribed burn of the field but it's not well set up for that.

The good news there, is that none of those appear to be deer ticks (lyme carriers). If my amateur eye is correct, those are dog ticks.

I concur, and photo evidence backs this up:

https://extension.umaine.edu/ipm/tickid/tick-photos/

Re: Lyme Disease Is on the Rise Again

#100

Post by clumsysmurf »

zaargy wrote: post #54
rb808 wrote: post #27

I've stopped hiking and camping largely because of this. Its just not worth it any more. This page has an uncommon photo of just how small the nymph deer ticks are. https://sectionhiker.com/backpacking-lyme-disease-prevention...

Just remove them? As long as you remove them within 48 hours you'll be fine. Why go outside? You might get hit by a bus.

I think state of the art understanding is that some of the communicable disease can be caught in under 24 hours now, 48 hours is way too optimistic.

I've read from a few researchers that if you find a tick, just start taking the 21 day antibiotic course right away regardless - even if the thing just dug in.

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