MnGCA

[bflentje]

[sigilwig44]

[Red_Devil35]

I have pulled TWO ticks off my dog this week!
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"We never seek things for themselves-what we seek is the very seeking of things"-Pascal

[pattenclan]

[XHawk]

Yesterday morning I found a deer tick on me that I picked up in Crosby Farm Park on Sunday. Never saw or felt it until I felt a sore spot on my hip and there he was.
Earliest Dr appointment was right after work. I saved the tick, Dr confirmed it a deer tick. I am taking Doxycycline for 10 days, and won't have to go back for follow up. There was no target ring on me, but Lyme Disease is one I won't take a chance on.

[tonkaMN]

[seamusbleu]

I don't know if the same applies to humans, but my vet said the tests almost always come back (mostly false) positive if your dog has been exposed to ticks. He said diagnosis is mostly done by having the symptoms (or the red bullseye of course). Lyme's scares me too.

[Trekkin' and Birdin']

Trekkin' has had lyme three times now. Lately he's been finding the little buggers again. When people post questions like "what's the most dangerous animal seen while caching," we don't mention the wolves, coyotes, bears or elk. It's the ticks.

He only had the bullseye one time, and then only after being sent home by the first doctor with the comment it was probably just a virus. (This was his second time around). Once you've been bitten, your titer (?) will always show a level of infection. They have to look for acute spikes to confirm a new case. We don't know why the little stinkers like him so much. He douses himself in all the preventatives and any little thing he feels while driving down the road elicits all kinds of terror until he can figure out if it's a tick or not. Tick checks in this household are thorough, to say the least.

It's not fun stuff. Each time he's had it, it's worse, and takes longer to recover.

[bflentje]

[Moe the Sleaze]

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2011/11/10/lyme-disease-gives-pat-kessler-a-reality-check/
_________________
"Hi, I'm Moe, or as the women know me - Hey! You in the bushes."
-Moe, The Simpsons

[Pear Head]

[theodellfamily]

I ended up with Lymes this summer.
I was thinking maybe I picked up a unseen tick while out caching in Elm Creek park earlier in the summer as we picked off a ton of them, regular and deer ticks ... maybe I missed one. Or I could have picked one up somewhere else along the line who knows.
My symptoms began with a week of flu like body aches. The end of the week brought on horrific headaches and a trip to the doc who sent me home with vicodin and steroids and two days of missed work. Two days later after a round of evening caching in Saint Clouds with the guys I noticed what I thought were perhaps several mosquito bites - small redish spots. Mosquitos don't bother me so I blew it off. But in the week and a half to follow I observed those spots growing in size (no itching or swelling) to about 4 inches and more! I finally went to a new doctor and laid out my symptoms of the previous weeks. She did a sed rate test and mine came back at 67 almost twice the normal range (notes the inflamation in the blood cells??) and she also did the lymes test which came back positive so they sent it off for further testing to the mayo. Yes Lymes. Three weeks of antibiotics and 5 days of steriods. My normal doc just blew it off at a follow up visit. I hope those three weeks of meds were enough. I heard from another cacher that was on meds for three months.
Of course I must take the blame for this - all my fault. I did buy the Permethrin spray and just never treated my caching clothes, nor am I in the habit of using the body spray. I think it is time to learn better preventative habits.

[Moe the Sleaze]

I pulled a tick off my dog on Saturday.
_________________
"Hi, I'm Moe, or as the women know me - Hey! You in the bushes."
-Moe, The Simpsons

[northtrekker]

I picked off a deer tick on 11/12/11 as it was wedging itself into my arm. I dropped it on the floor of my car and spent another 30-45 minutes looking for it. I spent that day watching it die a slow death in a ziplock bag. I never would have thought I'd get a tick in November. I'm pretty cautious about my caching jaunts during "tick season." A couple summers ago I spent a couple weeks in Fairview thanks to a tick bite (99% sure) and a few months of recovery beyond that. Crap. I can't stand those things! Now that we have a bit of snow, perhaps they will do whatever it is they do when winter is here.

[termdisc]

Warm winters bring tick-infested springs...

http://www.startribune.com/local/east/137802778.html