I've been bitten a couple of times by ticks leaving the tell-tale ring.?ÿ I've been tested and they never show a high white blood cell count. One time I saved a tick it came back negative.?ÿ Never been sick a some people I know with Lyme, but each one I've gotten the affects have also gotten worse.
Be careful.
Thanks for the reminder to remain vigilant on ticks this time of year. I always worry about the one you can??t see in an inconspicuous location.?ÿ
I also eat a lot of garlic, wear a hat, long sleeves, long pants, and boots year round in an area of high temps and high humidity. I believe this deters a lot of bugs as well as sun exposure.
I also am a chigger/red bug magnet. I use Deep Woods Off on my boots, ankles, and pants from the knees down and that seems to work for me.?ÿ
Mosquitos don??t bother me too much. Maybe because of all the garlic and deet I now have in my system.?ÿ
Deer flies/yellow flies - hate them. I almost quit surveying back in 1988 because of the dang yellow flies. Those bastards will land on your eyelid while trying to take a shot. I will spray my whole body with deet if those things are biting.?ÿ
Noseeums/Gnats - I can tolerate them here in NC. But the Savannah, GA area gets the award for most aggressive population of these insects.?ÿ
Nothing like setting an appointment with your GP to make all your symptoms magically disappear. ?ÿI go in at 3:10PM EST today.
Seeing the EST reminded me of something.?ÿ Is all of Indiana now on EST??ÿ Years ago the South Bend area and several other counties were CST.?ÿ Does Indiana still avoid the switch to Daylight Savings Time?
@holy-cow I wish. ?ÿNo our governor broke our clocks years ago. ?ÿNow we have to spring forward and fall back like the rest of the fools on the planet. ?ÿPeer pressure on a global scale.
Doctor is treating the tick bite as if it already had the Lyme Disease with an anti-biotic. Hopefully this one won??t try to kill me.
@bushaxe I use a very fragrant dryer sheet tied to my hat to keep the no-see-ums and flies away. It certainly helps a lot, you might want to try it.
@mike-marks?ÿ For chiggers, take an old sweat sock and fill it about halfway up with sulfur powder.?ÿ Dust yourself from the waist down in the morning and at lunch time.?ÿ I had hell with chiggers until someone gave me that advice.?ÿ I will still get an occasional bite, but I'm not covered from my arm pits to my ankles anymore.
I've had Lyme's for years now. The hardest thing was to figure out if I was getting old or there was something else. A younger buddy mentioned he had and it sounded the same. Got tested and sure enough. Not a bad case though. And it never goes away. Doc's can med the symptoms but it can always come back.
Worst part for me was when I lost the hearing in one ear, I mentioned the Lyme's to the doc and wound up having a spinal tap. Now that was a real fun day and it had nothing to do with my hearing loss.
My doc warned me about unscrupulous medical providers with respect to this disease.
After I learned about this side effect of tick bites, I always get checked.
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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4235259/
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/alpha-gal-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20428608
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Forget the debilitating disease part--imagine being allergic to steak!
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Hang in there!
I stopped using dryer sheets on my cloths when I discovered how effective they are at repelling nearly all living creatures.?ÿ?ÿ
I got married on horseback in the mountains of Kentucky a few years back.?ÿ Lost the horses, and spent a lot of time on foot through rough country looking for them and picked up a few ticks (found the no good #*&^##! at a pile of deer corn at 2 am).?ÿ After a couple days in the woods, I emerged and found the little buggers, red rings and all.?ÿ Coincidentally, had a lump that started growing in my neck at the same time and went to the VA to get it looked at.?ÿ My Lyme test came back positive and I took the antibiotic regimen, which the doctor said would also cure any STDs if I had any.?ÿ Good news, bad news, ultimately, it was a false positive for Lyme disease but the lump was lymphoma and I spent the next year bald.?ÿ It is a little funny that I took medicine for STDs right after I got married.?ÿ My wife does not think it is funny.
As others have said, don't fool around with Lyme disease. My wife knows a fella who was athletic, good shape, wildland firefighter and he contracted Lyme disease from a tick. Within a year he was in a wheel chair and about 2 years after that he passed...ALL from Lyme disease.
