Maybe….

Can anyone with experience tell me what they look like? I was out and about with the kids yesterday, had a little itch on my leg so scratched it – fingers felt wet so looked down and there was blood on my leg and and a little hole – I couldn’t see a beastie though. Today it’s a small, itchy red mark on my leg with a slightly larger, pinky patch around it.

Will I die?

I’m no doctor* but I’m afraid you’re well in to amputation territory.

Get yourself to the GP – Lyme disease is no fun.

Nor is cat aids. Unless it’s the good sort.

google tick bite – looks like a red ring / bullseye. Depends where you are but if it’s high risk Lymes disease area than get to the docs and get some antibiotics – several years of flu like symptoms and lethargy not something you want to take chance on…

Botfly larvae

I had some bites that turned into exactly the sort of rash my google image search of lymes was pulling up. Went to the doctor who basically said the way to know if you have had a tick bite is that there will be a tick stuck in there.

He said the rash was to do with histamines and as I had hayfever, this combined with the bite of some unusual foreign insect due to our warmer summer was just basically an allergy thing. I believe I made a joke about “these foreign bugs…coming over here…..” and left it at that. Bite and rash lasted about 3 weeks, no other ill effects

Could be anything. If there was a lot of blood immediately then it was possibly a clegg (horsefly). Ticks generally take longer to feed.

A test ffor Lymes is a possibility but the bullseye rash doesn’t always appear either.

Cheers all (loddrik maybe not so much 😉 )

I’m being over-cautious I’m sure, but it was just a bit odd and not like anything I’d ever seen before. I’ll see if my leg drops off over the next few days

Mate of mine has been diagnosed having been bitten by on in Mabie

google tick bite – looks like a red ring / bullseye.

Most tick bites don’t look like this. The bulls-eye mark is a potential (but not certain) indicator of Lymes.

sounds like Herring Ebola, can I have your bicycles?

If there was a lot of blood immediately then it was possibly a clegg (horsefly).

Not sure i’d describe the sensation of being bitten by clegg as itchy!

I had one on my left testicle. It drove me nuts…

A clear bullseye but no tick was enough for my GP to give a precautionary Lyme antibiotic course, a friend had had a tick and confirmed Lymes a few weeks before from the same place.

I’ve always found the tick still stuck in me they are hard to just scratch off. Could have been any number of other biting insects.

Still if you are genuinely concerned see a professional before the Tories sell off the NHS as I believe they are doing it tomorrow.

I had a tick latched onto my left nipple after a visit to Islay a couple of years ago, to say it got on my tits is an understatement! Itched like **** & hurt like hell when my Mrs unhitched it with a tick twister.

you may have a tick bite

you may not; other insects are available

Regardless, Lyme tends to be transmitted after relatively prolonged attachment (24+ hrs) and, if they occur at all, bullseye rashes tend to appear in 3-4 days or longer

I’d guess that the chances of you contracting Lyme as a result of this are tiny, regardless of where you were. Not non-existent, but very low. I suppose your GP might offer you an antibiotic – especially if it looks infected as they could cover both possibilities in one (I’d certainly keep an eye on that if the red area expands)

ScaredyPharmacist. Registration details available on request

just reminded me i got this in my facebook feed earlier which may help. cant vouch for how effective it is but maybe worth a try?

A nurse discovered a safe and easy way to remove ticks, making it less traumatic for the patient and easier for you.
Here’s a way to eliminate them on you, your children and your pets.

Apply a small amount of liquid soap on a cotton ball
Cover the tick with the soap soaked cotton ball
Blot it for a few seconds ( 15-20 )
The tick will spontaneously detach and stick to the cotton as you remove it.

Notify everyone! This may help so many, especially with those hard to reach areas.

Tip: Keep liquid soap & cotton balls in your summer first aid kit.

sadex – advice used to be cover it in vaseline/oil so it lets go

used to work but then they found the tick effectively vomits into the skin before it lets go and the infection risk is believed to be higher

I’m thinking this would be much the same

use a tick hook

Been to the Docs today as wife was getting worried as I have been feeling unwell , had 3 ticks attached to me in Torridon bikepackin 3 weeks ago, was unable to get them off until I reached civilisation 48hrs later, an then no one had a tick remover so advice was to put butter on them. Sure enough they fell off after they had gorged themselves on my blood and were quite a size. Blood test takes 2 weeks apparently no ring of death rash but no energy had a cold and aching limbs for the last week but that could just be from the Dyfi!!!
Anyone want dibbs on my bikes

Rich

Scaredypants is right. Definitely don’t suffocate, burn, scratch, mutilate or otherwise traumatise any affixed tick. Old wives tales and most of them cause the tick, as said, to either regurgitate or squeeze its body fluids into your bloodstream via the bite, or break off the body leaving the mouthpiece embedded, all of which greatly increase the chance of the tick transmitting disease. Use a tick hook, most vets carry them. In fact one of those green hooks is the only thing that lives in my rucksack 100% of the time so I never have to remember to pack it.

Got specs on the bikes?

Ti Indy Fab full Chris King
Ti Airbourne full Chris King
Ti Sabbath September
Whyte 130s stock
Steel Singular Puffin dripping in Hope 🙂

Dibs on the Whyte.

sabbath pls. Maaaan you Ti-blingey aintcha!

🙂 still got 6 months payments on the Whyte to pay!