Anyone been bitten whilst on assignment?

CarlukeDave

CarlukeDave

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I was up north the other weekend with the camera, and four days after I returned, I pulled a tick from behind my kneecap! Partly my fault for walking about in the heather with only shorts on!!

It's not sore or even itchy, was a bit freaky pulling it out though. I've been reading up on tick bites and Lyme disease in particular! The slightest headache or ache and I'm off to the docs!!:help:

Dave
 
A lass at my work got the disease. Knocked her for six. She was off work for months.:thumbsdown::thumbsdown:
 
I didn't realise it was a tick until i pulled it out, thought it was a scab on a midge bite, so didn't follow any of the instructions for removal!!

:gag:
 
you really need to get them out within 48 hours, preferably 24 hours, to avoid the spread of lymes disease. the sad fact is that if you've got it, your in a whole world of poop already.......

however, if there's no bulls-eye rash then thats a good sign and would suggest you're ok. it doesn't always show though and symtoms can vary considerably from one person to the next. the test for lymes is not always conclusive either and most gp's are not very switched onto it.

if the bulls-eye does appear, or you feel like death with sore joints etc, then get to the docs as a matter of urgency and get the biggest shed-load of anti-biotics you can get!

i have several friends who've had it and it's a very serious condition!

the prevalence of the disease varies a lot from area to area. fingers crossed your gonna be fine, but always check yourself completely when you've been out on the hills etc. etc. i check that night when i come in and again the next day just to be sure. it's amazing where the little creatures appear from and attatch themselves too.
 
CarlukeDave said:
I was up north the other weekend with the camera, and four days after I returned, I pulled a tick from behind my kneecap! Partly my fault for walking about in the heather with only shorts on!!

It's not sore or even itchy, was a bit freaky pulling it out though. I've been reading up on tick bites and Lyme disease in particular! The slightest headache or ache and I'm off to the docs!!:help:

Dave
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My daughter was bitten in California 6 years ago and the doctor didn't recognise it. It can be very serious, giving recurrent episodes of meningitis, and heart problems, just to name a few. After spending quite a lot of time in and out of intensive care, she is now being treated to try to get it into remission, as unfortunately there is no cure.

Be very careful if you get any strange symptoms, as the longer you leave it, the more serious it can get.
 
i've heard that lyme disease is more prevalent in areas that you find deer... I've pulled a few off in the past, and one time had to pull about 40 baby ticks off - note to self, don't roll about on the cornish moorland trying to take pictures of pretty flowers...

btw i've never had any problems, but I would defintely get off to the doctors if you start feeling iffy.
 
As already said, don't ever just pull them off as they can break in half and leave the 'head' embedded in the flesh.

Either go and buy a tick remover from your local pet store for £1, or learn to grab them, wait until they relax (they tense up when you grab them and hold on even more) then twist them off.
 
Not had ticks, but did get bitten twice last week taking pics down by the river and had some sort of alergic reaction. 24 hours later, my ankle, and behind my knee had these rock hard lumps about the size of a golf-ball, were oozing liquid non stop, and swelled up so it looked like I had the ankles of an 80 year old. Kinda yukky, but only lasted maybe 36 hours.
 
68lbs said:
Not had ticks, but did get bitten twice last week taking pics down by the river and had some sort of alergic reaction. 24 hours later, my ankle, and behind my knee had these rock hard lumps about the size of a golf-ball, were oozing liquid non stop, and swelled up so it looked like I had the ankles of an 80 year old. Kinda yukky, but only lasted maybe 36 hours.
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sounds like cleg (horsefly) ......the b****d's chase ya....
 
animal168 said:
sounds like cleg (horsefly) ......the b****d's chase ya....
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Interesting, will look that up :)

I didn't even notice I'd been bitten at the time though, and don't really remember too many insects. Maybe that's why I don't do macro! :lol:
 
animal168 said:
sounds like cleg (horsefly) ......the b****d's chase ya....
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Agree, it sounds like a Horsefly.
Had one bite me on the hand on Monday at Martin Mere. Whacked him as soon as I spotted him. He had just started his bite, but it's still itching now! You don't feel them 'inject' you, they're cunning buggers.
Had the full works a few years ago in Wales, bitten on the knee by one. So painfull.

keith.
 
My wife and I were walking the North Devon section of the coastal path, Around Clovelly, one day last summer. After a hard days walk we returned to the hotel, had dinner, showered and retired to bed. Next morning I got up and my wife said "whats that ?", pointing to what looked like a small scab, just to the side of my left nipple. I touched the "scab", and was horrified to see it move . . . .
After a moments panic I calmed down and removed the little b****r with a pair of my wifes tweezers - I dug in and grabbed him by the head, and managed to get him out in one piece. I dropped him onto a piece of loo roll and was happy to see he was still very much alive, which meant I'd more than likely got him out in one piece.
I'd been wearing long trousers all day, as bare legs in long grass is always risky when in tick country. On a few occasions we'd walked through chest high ferns, and I'd lifted my arms up horizontally to avoid getting them covered in dew. The nasty thing must have crawled up the sleeve of my tee shirt and attached itself. What I found disconcerting was that I never felt a thing . . . .
I've been walking in the countryside for years, and this was the first one I've gotten - I'm now totally paranoid, and check myself thoroughly after a day out . . .
 
Us "smokers" can just burn them off...............:D
 
fracster said:
Us "smokers" can just burn them off...............:D
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Yea, and as they die they disgorge the contents of their stomachs, including any nasty diseases they may be carrying, into your bloodstream . . . .
Same thing happens if you cover them with vaseline to suffocate them - not recommended . . ..
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, any biologists out there, but I think there's the juvenile stage of ticks too. They look a bit like black crabs to the untrained eye, though I haven't examined one carefully. They're tiny and bite like their adult stages but I'm not sure if they balloon up like mummy must have done. I've had one in a completely unmentionable place.

On my first visit to Skye many years ago one morning the outside of the tent was absolutely swarming with them. I had no idea what they were at the time. It was the same holiday when I discovered midges.:thumbsdown:

Hillwalkinggirl's sad story makes me realise how damn lucky I've been with tick bites ....
 
Stevieboy378 said:
Yea, and as they die they disgorge the contents of their stomachs, including any nasty diseases they may be carrying, into your bloodstream . . . .
Same thing happens if you cover them with vaseline to suffocate them - not recommended . . ..
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Rubbish.

Put the end of your lit ciggie briefly near them, the heat makes them let go with thier legs and teeth, remove at the same time. Certainly works with sheep/deer tics, and yes, I do have a little experience of them.
 
fracster said:
Us "smokers" can just burn them off...............:D
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No you can't. This is most dangerous. Anything which causes a shock to the tic, such as burning off, or applying alcohol to it causes it to regurgitate it's stomach contents, thereby transferring its borreliosis bacteria to you. A very useful article on Lyme disease can be found here. http://www.drmyhill.co.uk/article.cfm?id=361
 
hillwalkinggirl said:
No you can't. This is most dangerous. Anything which causes a shock to the tic, such as burning off, or applying alcohol to it causes it to regurgitate it's stomach contents, thereby transferring its borreliosis bacteria to you. A very useful article on Lyme disease can be found here. http://www.drmyhill.co.uk/article.cfm?id=361
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See above.

Perhaps my initial "Burn off" was OTT....
 
jerry12953 said:
It was the same holiday when I discovered midges.:thumbsdown:
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Oh - don't get me started on those little bas***ds . . .
As a last resort in Scotland I daubed myself in 100% DEET - it killed them on contact, but I was soon covered in midge corpses . . .
I ate marmite and garlic, which is supposed to keep them away, plastered myself in that Avon skin cream (that the SAS supposedly use), and went through endless bottles of 25% and 50% DEET, all to no avail . . .
The 100% stuff was the only thing that worked, and I was paranoid about using the stuff after I dropped a little on my map case, which it dissolved a hole in . . . .
 
Midges - EXPED 100 works all over the world for any biting insects. BUT, as it is "agent orange" it is highly carsinogenic and it makes gortex garments useless for keeping the water out!

But I will worry about having cancer later and enjoy today free of bites! EXPED 100 it is for me, but use it sparingly - spray it on cotton or wool garments with no ill effects and it will keep the blighters away. Just put it on exposed areas of skin. My lad has just come back from a month in Costa Rica on expedition through the rain forest - he was the only one in the group that didn't get bitten. Nothing else is as effective.

Tics - as already said, deer areas have lymes disease - flue like symptoms at first. DOMN'T let the Dr. say it is summer flue! Tics are active NOW through to about October. August and September are the most active months for them. Shoot deer at this time of year and they are often covered in them, in their crutch area mostly - inside of the haunches. Vinegar works toget them off -and that will also help keep midges away, but you smell like a chip shop!
 
Midges are a lot worse here in Wales than they used to be. Don't remember them at all 20 years ago. Now it seems as bad here as I remember western scotland was, but that could be a trick of the memory.

A few weeks ago I got out of my fully sealed campervan in ther early hours to have a pee ... big mistake ....:nono:
 
jerry12953 said:
Midges are a lot worse here in Wales than they used to be. Don't remember them at all 20 years ago. Now it seems as bad here as I remember western scotland was, but that could be a trick of the memory.
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My brother in law lives close to Sutton Park (Just north of Birmingham), and I killed a couple of the blighters last week as I sat in his garden enjoying a barbeque - thats the farthest south I've ever encountered them . . .
Managed to get bitten in Padley Gorge in the Peak District recently too . . .
 
Lensflare said:
Midges - EXPED 100 works all over the world for any biting insects. BUT, as it is "agent orange" it is highly carsinogenic and it makes gortex garments useless for keeping the water out!
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That'd be the same stuff I was using - the first clue I got as to its potency was when I accidentally touched my lip with a finger covered in DEET, and it immediately went numb :eek:

This was the stuff I used : http://www.roamingfox.co.uk/Lifesystems-100-percent-Deet-Insect-Repellent-pr-16621.html
 
As some of you have noticed there are rather a lot of sheep ticks on Skye. One of our cats gets them every day, sometimes I have to remove up to 4 at one time. He's used to it now and purrs through the whole process. I use the little green plastic thingies to twiddle them off, it's a doddle.

I wondered what it was like to have them removed this way and then one day got to find out. I got a particularly large tick, of all places on my scrotum. The cat must have left one of them on the bed. It didn't hurt at all to remove but left a considerable lump for about a week. I often find the juveniles running around the carpet, they're amazingly difficult to crush. Like fleas you have to get them between two fingernails.

In don't think there is too much Lyme disease on this side of Scotland, at least I hope not!
 
Eugh... you all have me really paranoid now! I was camping out in Cornwall last week and got a call of nature during the night. (If you'd have seen the portaloo's at this place you'll understand why I chose the wilderness!) I felt something bite me, so not I'm sat at work all paranoid and waiting til I get to go home and get the mirror out! haha.
 
Aimee K said:
Eugh... you all have me really paranoid now! I was camping out in Cornwall last week and got a call of nature during the night. (If you'd have seen the portaloo's at this place you'll understand why I chose the wilderness!) I felt something bite me, so not I'm sat at work all paranoid and waiting til I get to go home and get the mirror out! haha.
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hmmmm that conjures up an image :D :coat:
 
I got stung by a bee yesterday.





£20 for a jar of honey.........


Sorry:coat:
 
Yip,

had more tics than you can shake a stick at, although thankfully only the small 'nymph' models and hedgehog ones (on uists) The only full size one I've seen was a deer tic that was on the outside of Lauras jeans.

Bloody thing was as big as my thumbnail!

Midges,

Don't get me started.......

I've been up at early doors at several lochs and had to wear gloves, midge hat and tuck all my joins in. The little blighters were so thick in the air you could hear their whining around your ears.


How Scotsmen ever went into battle on a still morning wearing just a kilt the good lord only knows:notworthy:
 
I went to school near Blandford in Dorset and took photos of canoeists, often up to my chest in the water. Believe me, you don't want to be bitten by one of these b**t**ds!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A6756519
 
I'm still here, although the articles say it can take up to 30 days for symptoms to appear, or you may be asymptomatic and it can flare up later in life! :eek:

It's certainly something I will be very aware of in future! No more shorts in the heather, that's for sure!!

Dave
 
animal168 said:
sounds like cleg (horsefly) ......the b****d's chase ya....
Click to expand...

We have lots of them here and yes they do chase you but it is best to let it land on you and then you can quickly wack it one, they are very slow at spotting danger unlike the common house fly. If they do manage to bite you will know about it straight away. They have no problem biting through clothing neither and can bite in some very personal regions of the body:eek:. Their bites only come up in lumps once you start scratching them.
Moist air seems to attract them as they are always out to get me when I am washing the car.
 
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