[Closed] How many people have been bitten by infected ticks?

Had one a year or two ago. Calf swelled up to the size of my quad and turned all sorts of nasty colours. As with you trip to the quacks and some pills. Went away after a week or so and no further ill effects.

If you extract them properly you won't get infected .........it's only when they get distressed they regurgitate the infected blood into you .

Edit. Double post.

Apparently you don't need two weeks of ABs (a tetracycline type? Doxycycline?) just a stat dose of 200mg within a certain time of removing the tick (?48 hrs, or maybe 72?)
Sorry for the half remembered info but definitely not 2 weeks worth.

Alternatively note that you've had a bite, monitor it and see how you are. If you're symptomatic in the next 2 weeks then get some treatment which will still be effective.

I've just finished 2 weeks of doxycycline for possible Lyme disease, didn't see a tick but had a strange bite and rash around it appear midweek, a few days after being at Glentress, Innerleiten, and a week after biking in the alps. A mate has also had it from a tick he got at Glentress.

If you extract them properly you won't get infected .........it's only when they get distressed they regurgitate the infected blood into you .

I wouldn't say that, obviously best to take them out with care but ignoring any symptoms because you used a tick remover would be rash.

Lyme does seem to be on the increase anyway, better safe than sorry!

[quote=singlecrack ]If you extract them properly you won't get infected .........it's only when they get distressed they regurgitate the infected blood into you .
Not necessarily true.

Apparently you don't need two weeks of ABs (a tetracycline type? Doxycycline?) just a stat dose of 200mg within a certain time of removing the tick (?48 hrs, or maybe 72?)
Sorry for the half remembered info but definitely not 2 weeks worth.

Alternatively note that you've had a bite, monitor it and see how you are. If you're symptomatic in the next 2 weeks then get some treatment which will still be effective.

Well I had 2 weeks dose as per current NHS practice, so I'm not sure about what you are saying there. Also symptoms can occur up to a month after the bite, not just 2 weeks.

If you extract them properly you won't get infected ...

I'm sure you state this with best intentions.

However it would be wise to support this assertion or remove it.

paul4stones - Member
Apparently you don't need two weeks of ABs (a tetracycline type? Doxycycline?) just a stat dose of 200mg within a certain time of removing the tick (?48 hrs, or maybe 72?)
Sorry for the half remembered info but definitely not 2 weeks worth.

Random internet 'expert' in contradicting doctor's advice shocker.

OP - please finish the course of antibiotics as advised by your GP.

Two staff out of 12 people + freelancers; on average we must have about 6-10 bites each a year.

Ok maybe I should have worded better ...a very very small chance of getting infected

I don't even count the amount of tick bites I get every year, even had a couple on my Nuts mm that was unpleasantly itchy. Thankfully none have been infected.

OP - please finish the course of antibiotics as advised by your GP.

Don't worry will be finishing them, think I'd rather trust what my doctor says than somebody on a bike website 😀

Random internet 'expert' in contradicting doctor's advice shocker.

Fair enough. Just quoting my GP friend who last week was explaining the basis for his self medication. I'm only a dentist.

I'm only a dentist

Flunked out of med school eh? "I know, I'll do final year dentistry and make myself feel better by giving dodgy advice on the internet." Well done.

Flunked out of med school eh? "I know, I'll do final year dentistry and make myself feel better by giving dodgy advice on the internet." Well done.

Eh? How much did you get for your organs then?

Singlecrack- Absolute rubbish
paul4stones- The HPA guidelines are woefully inadequate and as for your GP friend, words fail me

You [b]chose[/b] to be a dentist? Hahaha

Holyzeus - I see from your forum history that you've had or have Lymes Disease and I'm very sorry about that. It also seems you have an axe to grind. It's true the guidelines are poor wich makes the OP's GP's advice every bit as dubious as my friend's interpretation of the evidence. Like [url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22421585 ]this[/url] for example. We're talking prophylaxis here, not treatment.

Organdonor - yes, haha. What a strange thing to say. Are you 12?

No but I am a bit drunk and my dad was a dentist. It made him miserable. Sorry if I upset you but I really don't like people giving medical advice over the internet, especially when they're not professionally qualified...

I didn't feel my GP knew a lot about Lyme disease but she certainly took a precautionary approach which was reassuring, when she saw the rash the first thing she asked was if I had been hillwalking. I think the consequences are too serious to take a bullish approach and not take the full dose of antibiotics.

No axe to grind but Lyme/ Tick borne diseases is one huge sleeping giant

Bitten on the Quantocks...oh no...you are screwed.... 😉

With all this bickering no one has posted a picture of the tick twisters! It would seem as though it's tick season again so be careful. Just had to pick on out from between the dogs pads on her foot tonight as I noticed she had a slight lameness on it and spotted a tiny tick. Then spotted another on her back.

Have just put her tick collar back on as we left it off for a few days after she needed a shower.

Fingers crossed for the OP. Not a nice. I wonder if tick collars work on humans? 💡

Well I hope everyone feels better this morning! 🙂

Apology accepted organdonor. Sorry you're dad was miserable.

I may not be medically qualified but I do have some understanding of medicine and antibiotics. I was reporting a conversation I'd had with two friends last week. Both are medically qualified, one is a GP. Both had been bitten by ticks. The GP had looked into the evidence and guidance and decided to take a single dose of doxycycline. The other had decided not to take any prophylactic treatment but see what happened in the knowledge that there were symptoms that may develop and if they did he could seek treatment ASAP.

Lymes disease/tick bite treatment is clearly poorly understood - partly because it's relatively rare (although it may be more common than realised as holyzeus suggests) - so the research is limited and the advice is vague because everything we do is evidence based and there isn't the evidence.

The point of my original post was just to suggest that the two week antibiotic option wasn't necessarily the current favoured approach but that doesn't seem to be true because there is no favoured approach as far as I can see. At he end of the day a two week course of doxycycline isn't going to do much harm as long as you're not allergic. If I went to the GP for advice and they said "ah yes, I've just had a tick bite so I looked into it and this is what I did to myself" I'd be more inclined to take the advice than if they said "I don't really know but it's probably a good idea to do this". I suppose what I'm saying here is not to be afraid to challenge the advice offered when it appears vague - doctors don't know everything but know where to find stuff out and can interpret evidence.

The good thing here in the OP's case is that you know you've had a tick bite so that will assist with diagnosis. If you just turn up with the symptoms of Lymes and didn't realise you'd had a tick bite then diagnosis might be more difficult and you would probably go round the houses a bit more before getting to the answer.

But this is all about prevention - hopefully you'll be fine.

Pray tell what these ticks are ? I had a couple of mosquito bites (that's what I thought they were) one my right calf and leg below the knee swelled up twice its normal size and on right hand which also was massively swollen

All nowhere near the quantocks though

If you just turn up with the symptoms of Lymes and didn't realise you'd had a tick bite then diagnosis might be more difficult and you would probably go round the houses a bit more before getting to the answer.

That's what I did and had the standard NHS treatment of standard 2 weeks antibiotics, in my case doxycycline.

Lyme Disease info, from people who've learned the hard way...

http://www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk/

Never had any problems.

Individuals' resistances will likely vary. I worked with a chap who'd been bitten many times daily, with no ill effect. That doesn't work for everyone.

Have to say I've had a lot of bites recently, some of which have left a fair sized red mark for a long time but never did anything about it. Do remember I swiped at my leg once feeling a bite and something fell off and there was blood there. Potentially a Tick?

Not had other symptoms since. Would assume no infection. This being "down south". In previous years I've never been bitten at all on rides.

Hmm (always the worst thing to do is go looking these things up on the net 😀 )...

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/health_advice/facts/ticks.htm
[i]"Lyme disease is a condition caused by infection with the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi which may be carried by ticks. The first sign is usually a red circular rash around the area of the bite, which may develop as long as 3 or 4 weeks later, long after the tick may have fallen off or be forgotten about.
Other symptoms may be similar to flu, with a fever, muscle and joint pain, tiredness and headaches. If Lyme disease is not spotted and treated with antibiotics, it may cause long term chronic problems including arthritis, muscle pain and nerve damage. These late symptoms may be very generalised, and a diagnosis of Lyme Disease may not be the first thing that comes to mind especially as the walk in the countryside where it all began may have been months or even year before."
[/i]

Heres my most recent bite from last week, get them fairly often with no problems so far thankfully!
[img] &res=landing[/img]

Individuals' resistances will likely vary. I worked with a chap who'd been bitten many times daily, with no ill effect. That doesn't work for everyone.

I suppose that all depends if you're unlucky enough to encounter an infected one or not which thankfully seems quite rare.

Fingers crossed the antibiotics will do their job and sort it out, the bite mark went down a couple days after i started taking them. On the plus side the fact that i can't touch any beer at the moment means i flew round a 17 mile ride yesterday 😆

Individuals' resistances will likely vary. I worked with a chap who'd been bitten many times daily, with no ill effect. That doesn't work for everyone.

I've had hundreds of tick bites, when I lived near Inverness it it felt like it was more unusual to not have ticks than to have them. I think it is more a case of whether you are bitten by one that carries Lyme disease.

I fell off in some bracken many years ago, found one on my left testicle the next morning, didnt get it off til lunchtime - it was driving me nuts..

Ticks can also make dogs very ill - I try and check our dog after every walk in sheepy / brackeny areas. He came back from a holiday in Sutherland a few years ago with literally hundreds of ticks on his lower legs. I spent a couple of hours just pulling them off him - they were tiny little things - think they're called nymphs at that stage?

Anyway, he was off his food and generally very lethargic a few days later, and whilst stroking his muzzle, I felt a lump, and found this baked bean sized monster just under his eye - after removing it he recovered within a few hours!

[IMG] [/IMG]

Fair enough. Just quoting my GP friend who last week was explaining the basis for his self medication.

Only person I've ever met with full blown lymes disease was a GP. I think generally theres a better attitude amongst doctors now but decade or so ago they could be pretty blase about it to the extent that many were convinced you couldn't get it in the UK, they'd only treat for Lymes if you'd been bitten abroad.

He got fairly thoroughly hoisted by his own petard, partly because he's a terrible patient and the drugs if you let the disease take hold are awful, but also theres a risk with full infection of mental impairment. However nobody has a measure of performance before they get ill so its hard to say what, if any, impairment there has been. But if your're GP and a) you missed your own diagnosis and b) theres the spectre that your mental performance may have suffered as a result...... well that doesn't really work out very well for you professionally.

Thanks guys for increasing the awareness of Lymes as I have heard of it but did not think it was an issue. So i'm getting a bit freaked out about it all, is it something to worry about or is it just to be aware of it? I have quite a few weeks of bike packing planned for next summer using a bivvy and was wondering if there were any tips or tricks that anyone has with using a bivvy to avoid ticks? Also is there any no go places in England, Scotland and wales?

And for those who have gotten it or who know someone who has is it no big deal to treat with antibiotics as mentioned as long as it is caught early? The fact that it seems that GP's dismiss the likelihood that it may be limes is a bit disturbing. Is this something of the past or is it something that is ongoing?

I had Lymes from a New Forest tick. Horrible experience pain in my joints for three weeks couldn't sleep had no energy, not recommended!

I don't even count the amount of tick bites I get every year, even had a couple on my Nuts mm that was unpleasantly itchy. Thankfully none have been infected.

You are Stephen Gough and I claim my five pounds.

I'm sorry for bringing nothing but confusion to this thread in talking about prophylaxis following a bite rather than treatment for the disease which is what was originally being discussed.

+1 for raising awareness though.

I work for a well known chain store (not Evans)

in one of our London stores, their senior mechanic is in hospital because he went to view the Olympics in Surrey and got a nasty tick bite, he contracted Lyme's disease from this bite

he is currently in hospital, seriously ill, had a cardiac arrest last week, but is making good progress to recovery, best wishes and healing vibes!!

I've got Lyme disease and no recollection of being bitten

user-removed ARRRGGGHHHHHHHH.

Both my daughter and my mother in law have had Lymes disease. Both caught the disease from tick bites in the Black Forest, close to where my wife's folks live. It was one of the worst imaginable experiences for my daughter. She missed about half of her first year at secondary school until it was finally, correctly diagnosed as Lymes. Once correctly identified, it is very easily treated. I wouldn't complain about a 2 week course of anti-biotics, since not dealing with Lymes properly is such a horrible experience. We thought my daughter had ME or was just faking it. We were kicking her out of the house each day for weeks to go to school because we thought she was overcooking her symptoms, and just had a cold or something. I can't properly communicate the amount of heart breaking tearful breakdowns and months of wondering what on earth was wrong.

Apparently no one has ever (ever!) caught Lymes disease in Ireland, which is why the docs were not quick to think of that as the reason my daughter was poorly.

I am struggling at the moment with doctors/treatments etc

My GP could not be less interested

Once correctly identified, it is very easily treated. I wouldn't complain about a 2 week course of anti-biotics, since not dealing with Lymes properly is such a horrible experience

I think from what I've heard about lymes lately and in the past I'd happily do 2 months on antibiotics rather than end up with it. I even took a picture of the bite on my phone when I noticed it as I thought it might make things difficult if it disappeared before I got to see my doctor.

I am struggling at the moment with doctors/treatments etc

My GP could not be less interested

See another GP then, after all we are paying for a service!

We thought my daughter had ME or was just faking it

I do wonder if part of the problem with doctors is because the symptoms cover such a wide range of problems, and there seemingly isn't a definite yes/no test for Lyme, it makes it a good 'pretend' disease for people looking to have something wrong with them. I don't mean this in any context of your situation of course.

ARRRGGGHHHHHHHH.

My dad lived in Africa for a few years, he had a blocked nose for a long time with no other symptoms, went to the doctor and turns out an elephant tick had crawled up his nose and engorged so big it couldn't get out, and had completely blocked his nose. Ewww...

Ticks are for mincers. I've had 2 in my life and they both fell off before I could have the pleasure of removing them. My pal gets hundreds a year riding with me. He must taste of sheep or venison or something. Now then, dry adder bites, that's where it's at, that really hurts. dread to think what a venom injected one would feel like.