Tick prevention week is from the 12th - 18th april. Having had to massively reduce the amount of biking i do due to the effects of a tick bite I would urge you to check out the following link which will provide you with simple advice on prevention and awareness of the early symptoms. Please spread the word amongst your friends.
Please do not panic, just be aware!
cheers
andy
After a weekend away camping and biking in long grass, my other half got one of the characteristic bullseye patterns on her arm and a little hole in the middle of it. We had her to a walk-in centre, who turned her away, we took her to a pharmacist who wasn't sure, and eventually she saw a GP when the mark had almost vanished entirely, who told us it wasn't from a tick. By that point it looked nothing like a tick bite etc and we looked a bit daft, but it was very frustrating to be confronted with the exact symptoms and no-one take any notice.
coffeeking - Member
After a weekend away camping and biking in long grass, my other half got one of the characteristic bullseye patterns on her arm and a little hole in the middle of it. We had her to a walk-in centre, who turned her away, we took her to a pharmacist who wasn't sure, and eventually she saw a GP when the mark had almost vanished entirely, who told us it wasn't from a tick. By that point it looked nothing like a tick bite etc and we looked a bit daft, but it was very frustrating to be confronted with the exact symptoms and no-one take any notice.
Take a photo next time, and print it to show the none believers. I'd hazard a guess that unless the medical services were in quite a rural area they'd have no fücking clue what a tick bite looks like, or what the concerns would be - tell them to go away and look it up.
Only one in our family whose been affected by a tick bite was the dog, she acquired the pest in Grizedale Forest in April 2008, IIRC. Reminds me that I need to put some flea & tick treatment on the little bitch.
Indeed, we would in future, we took a tick bite leaflet to the GP and explained it was the same as seen on the leaflet, still no response - steroid cream, pat on the back and off you go.
GP numpties, don't know why they get paid so much. One of mine diagnosed a rash on my son's ear last year as sunburn - problem is it was April at the time!!!!!!!
So did she have a tick coffeeking?
BigJohn, we don't know - she woke with it after a night in the grass/tent but only realised after we had packed away etc - didn't even think it might have been a tick bite etc until she read a leaflet later in the day - the steroid cream didn't help at all, but she developed no further symptoms so one would assume not, but she was never tested for it.
I think the concern comes not from her diagnosis, but their unwillingness to take it seriously because they never saw the bullseye rash, they seemed to assume we were making it up. The fact that they couldn't actually decide what had caused the thing made it even more concerning -"it's probably nothing" and a bit of generic cream is always worrying.
We are very aware of the dangers. Two people we know locally got Lyme Disease from ticks. Affected them for a year and in one case led to depression and marriage break up.
Chance of infection is massively reduced if a tick is discovered and removed within 12 hours, and is still low if removed within 24 hours. Just take 5 mins to check yourself over in the shower
Edit - always worth carrying a tick hook. It costs £5, weighs nothing and lasts forever
Hopefully a good year for them,we have had a hard winter this year.I run 4 DoE expeditions a year,we average 2 bites a walk,but the kids are still treated as described above.Horrible buggers,they can get under anything!
Good advice site - especially with the picture of the border terriers. I've never had a tick myself but the dogs pick up plenty. Tikcs can be dangerous though try taking a tick out between the toes of a highly pissed off border!
Spend any time sitting on the ground at Eastnor and you'll see the blighters crawling up your legs. From that point on I become paranoid about anything on my legs.
coffeeking you need to get your better half back to the doctors as the distintive rash is a sure sign of infection. Has she any other symptoms yet?
It will not go away on its own, antibiotics for atleast a month are needed.
There is a test for lyme, but sadly it shows a lot of false -ives. NHS guidlines say that diagnosis should be by clinical means and that a -ive test should not exclude lyme. If you get nowhere with the NHS then i can pass on details of my private doc who has helped me improve, and it hasn't cost the earth.
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