We have been in France for the past 3 months and walk Benson twice daily in wooded areas habited by deer. 2 weeks ago I developed an itch in my navel an on inspection found to my horror a bloated tick! I was able to remove the tick in its entirety but my immediate concern was the risk of Lyme disease. II have 2 friends in the UK who have had this nasty disease which is both difficult to diagnose and treat. Keeping fingers crossed that after 2 weeks have had no symptoms and hoping I am past the incubation period?
Oh what a nasty shock - yuck,simply hate the thought of ticks! I've had a quick look for info and overall the risk is very small of being bitten by an infected tick but it seems the first symptom is normally a rash........ anyway, here's an informative website. http://patient.info/health/lyme-disease-leaflet Is Benson OK? We've been lucky here with Juno and not had any problems with ticks, and neither have any dogs we know.
Can you take the tick body to your Public Health Office (that's what it would be called here) to be examined? Here we are asked to provide the ticks so spread of Lymes can be tracked. And of course it might give you an early heads up to your own health.
Oh yuck,yuck,yuck.....there we are so careful with the dogs and you forget about yourself...what a worry.A vet nurse told me once that your dog would be really unlucky to get poorly from just one tick....it's the poor dogs that are covered that usually succumb to Erlichia so I'm sure the same will follow for humans x
Just to say I have just come back from the drs after feeling progressively unwell, and developing a very distinctive "bullseye" rash where something had bitten me a couple of weeks ago. I have a tentative diagnosis of Lyme disease and am being treated very aggressively...hopefully will start feeling better very quickly...:feeling rather sorry for myself...
Oh Kate, that's rubbish - so sorry to hear that. I do hope the treatment is effective and you feel better soon.
That's no good! How miserable. I hope that the treatment will banish it very quickly and that you feel much better soon.
Ugh. A friend of mine had Chronic Lyme, which was absolutely awful. Roger, you don't always necessarily get a rash or symptoms, so get yourself to the doctor (oops, nearly said vet - habit!) and explain the situation. I think you should probably be on meds as a preventative measure. Kate - I hope that you feel better soon. It's a nasty, nasty thing.
We live in a woodland area,,actually we often have deer in our garden. Our wildlife area is 30 foot from our front door, you just walk up a grassy bank and through the gate. I spent a lot of time sat in the long grass with Blake waiting for him to calm down in his early weeks here. So it is likely I picked the blighter up there. The large weal has only come up in the last couple of days, prior to that it was just a small mark. combined with feeling ill, and a really stiff neck. I am on an initial 2 week course of antibiotics, quite a long course but if caught early works very quickly. Just a warning for others, even living in the UK, worth just checking you having picked up any visitors on those lovely walks!
Wishing you a full and speedy recovery Kate. I was on a gun dog training seminar a couple of weeks ago, and felt something crawling up my leg, towards my thigh... In the middle of the field, in front of all the other participants and the trainer, I had to pull my trousers down... Sure enough a large tick was half way up my thigh!! Yuk... Lesson learned - always tuck trousers into socks, and check carefully after any time out in the fields or woods.
So sorry to hear that you are not too good at the present. Hope you are soon on the road to recovery.
Oh Kate how awful I really hope you start to feel better very soon, please take care of yourself I came back from a woodland walk with Hattie this week, I was making my lunch and a tick was crawling on my hand. David removed yet another tick from his leg already buried and I must say he is really prone to tick bites so is my youngest son Thomas as he does lots of camping trips. Awful, awful they are. My neighbour Tim suffered terribly for weeks due to a tick last year, he was out of action and told us he had never felt so ill in his entire life. They really are terrible and everyone must check themselves it's so important. xx Get better soon Kate. xx
I really new very little about Lyme disease before I got Lilly. As far as I know, Public Health here are NOT interested in testing ticks for Lyme's, but I do know there is some monitoring of ticks and Lyme in the deer population. Please don't catch your ticks and take them to your GP . But DO mention you are worried about Lyme if you have a bite
I posted something a while back about a friend who had chronic lyme. I don't want to worry anyone unnecessarily, but it can be a life-changing disease if not properly treated. She didn't have prompt treatment for her original bite and, many years later, ended up in hospital for ten weeks, effectively paralysed as her muscles refused to respond. It's not something to take lightly, so if you believe you have been bitten, you need to get yourself on the medication immediately. In this case, over-medicating is far better than the alternative.
Ah gee, so it is Lymes, I'm sorry. A friend has just learned he has it too. Guess what kind of dog he has? Yup, a Lab. Not that I'm suggesting a correlation. We do not vaccinate the dog for Lymes as it is controversial and if caught early fairly easily treated. I've not heard about how early catches affect human treatment. I think you and our friend both caught it early though, so good wishes to you for a quick and complete recovery.
I quite agree - I have to say our lab advise NOT to treat unless infection is confirmed. I think that is pants, and would always treat if there is a good story of a rash after a bite even if not definitely a tick but was target-like It might not look like the typical target though. Don't be afraid to tell your doc what you think it might be, seriously.
