Ticks take your life or quality of life
Community
If you let them.
Tick diseases can kill you - or more likely make you wonder if you wouldn't be better off dead.
I just got clothes back from this place. The turnaround was quite quick.
They treat your clothing and it protects you from ticks for up to 70 washings.
I have no business relationship with the company except that I sent clothes in to be treated.
I have been treating my own clothing with permethrin for the last two years and the only time I got a tick on me was when I walked a short distance through grass while wearing untreated clothing.
Multiple times I have been with people who sprayed with Deet and had ticks when we got back to our vehicles.
Here in VA, I've pulled at least four to a dozen ticks off of me each year for years. I guess I must have it, but thus far, I don't know it.
I hate ticks. Haven't had one latch on since I started using permathrin 8-10 years ago.
"Here in VA, I've pulled at least four to a dozen ticks off of me each year for years. I guess I must have it, but thus far, I don't know it."
Most of the time infected ticks must first feed for a day or two before infection occurs.
"the probability of a host becoming infected with the Lyme-causing bacteria (Borrelia burgdorferi) appears to increase to approximately 10% after a tick has been attached for 48 hours. The risk jumps to 50% after 63-67 hours, 70% by 72 hours and 90% for a complete feed.
Have had a lot of ticks pulled off of me in years pasted, since I was a young lad. I'm 65 now. None have affected me now, as far as I know. The ones on my balls set me on fire though...:}
I believe Lyme is more about inflammation and pre-existing compromised autoimmunity than getting bitten by the wrong tick. I've pulled 100s of ticks off of me growing up. Never had a problem. It wasn't until I was in my 40s that I contracted Lyme. And, with the exception of college, I've lived in the same locale my whole life.
Robin and I both had Lyme disease. 30 days of antibiotics cleared mine up, Robin still has complications. Be careful!
I had lyme disease and took the cheap medication for 21 days and have tested negative since. However they say it is in you system until you die. I buy some stuff at the bowshop and spray my hunting clothes with it. Let it dry for 24 hours and you absolutely will not get ticks on your body. I have sat on the ground and watched ticks start crawling up my pants and watched them fall off, dead. I was playing bass in a band and my left wrist swelled up and hurt real bad. I went to a nurse practitioner and she put me on the medication right away even before the blood test results came back. One of the guys From the Bowsite, from up North, had it exactly the same time as I did. We were at a 3D shoot up in PA and both of us cleared up very quickly.
I take a deodorized Garlic pill every day. Haven't had a tick attach to me in over five years. They don't like it, it also works on mosquitos. They land but don't bit. they land on my clothing but not my bare skin. I Hunt Marsh in Eastern Shore of Maryland where both are very plentiful. Hopes this will help someone. not a sure thing but it helps.
One tip I learned was to duct tape my pant cuffs shut around my leg to act as a physical barrier for the little bastids if I'm going to be working in a likely tick area when they're plentiful. Yes, they can hitch a ride on you from anywhere, but a lot of the ones I've gotten came up my legs.
Kinda like an insect version of "BUILD THE WALL"!!!!
Never had any luck with DEET on ticks - not even sure if it is advertised to help with them.
I have gotten better at using permethrin and that helps. The problem is there is no good way to test if the permethrin is wearing off your clothes (short of wearing it and seeing if any ticks get on you). I coat everything I wear in the spring once - if it wears off, it probably coincides with the tick population naturally dying off (they don't last terribly long here in MN).
Ticks literally suck. Pisses me off that as a kid I could roam the woods and waters and the only fear of my parents was poison ivy or yellow jackets. Now I have legit fear with my kids due to the variety of tick born illnesses - not just Lyme.
That said, Permithrin is a game changer. It works. That was enforced for me one turkey opener when I'd not gotten round to spraying down. Driving home I was picking the little jerks off me constantly. Sprayed down immediately, the rest of the season, hunting the same areas, NEVER another tick. Not, one.
I cant "push" that stuff enough. I even spray my mountain biking and trail running shoes and have seen a difference as a result.
I'm looking forward to checking out your link HA. For clothes I only use in settings where ticks are (fishing, hiking, hunting, scouting) I'd consider that. Thanks for putting it out.
Have to look into that. I use permethrin, with pretty good results. Can't find it locally anymore, have had to resort to Amazon to find it.
I was very ill last November. Had a fever for 9 straight days. Tick borne illnesses is one of the things they tested for. . . . thankfully that all came back negative.
My local bowsite, I.5 miles from my house, carries permethrin. They have the spray and the liquid. I always keep a can of the spray. I spray socks and pants that my wife wears outside when she is working in the flowers or garden. She changes to the permethrin clothing every time she goes out, keeps it on the porch. When hunting season starts I spray my hunting clothing and it lasts all season. It also works great for chiggers. I would rather be stung by yellow jackets than be bit by chiggers.
I have been hesitant to use permethrin. I have watched it kill ticks and wonder what, if any, side effects there might be. On the BGF the thread about Round-Up and possible links to cancer, it just makes me a little cautious. I know some of this is about deep pocket lawsuits, but a chemical that strong just makes me hesitant.
Since I already had it, I have read contradictory opinions that I now have immunity to it, or not.
It has been 3 yrs, Jan. 20 that my son pass-away from the after effects of Lyme disease, he was given an IV antibiotic treatment which he develop A-Fib, got up that morning and log on to his job and fell out of his chair from cardiac event and expired. The ME report that it was a cardiac event that may have been related to the Rx treatment along with a stomach Rx med.
Myself have used permethrin for many years, just be hyper visual when out in the field and check your dog also, they will transfer off on to you or others, which I think what happen to my son. Be aware and safe.
Wallmart carries permathrin. Repel blue top can
I bought on Amazon Lyme gators that are like the top of boot socks. wont go to camp to work without them After washing them re sprayed with Permethrin. I was bitten by one in july had the circular rash.Tested negative but was given an antibiotic. Was really sick for almost a month, fever chills and real bad sweats, as in wringing wet. All that and a 1500.00 bill left over from the insurance company. Be safe
I have had some tick bites that sure looked bad.....but so far I've been lucky. I have started tucking my pants in my boots and wearing them bloused like a paratrooper. That helps more than anything I have tried. I try and stay out of the woods in the summer as I hate being on the lunch menu.
Don't mess around with ticks. I developed ehrlichia in 2009 and probably came closer to a disastrous outcome than anyone knows. I had the symptoms several weeks in the summer but tried to ignore them and keep working. Then I went to Alaska on a diy hunt and basically became too ill to exert at anything...let alone hunt, backpack, etc. I was in camp and unable to eat or help with chores. Luckily I had an antibiotic in my fak and I started on it. The change was rapid and my symptoms went away within 48 hours. I recovered and finished the hunt, but there was a day and night where I considered getting an evac to Fairbanks for emergency treatment. Don't mess with ticks. I'll say it again. Don't.
So sorry for your loss jjs.
My history: Lyme. Then Lyme Meningitis and then Lyme with a side of Anaplasmosis. 8 years of feeling like crap. (Chronic Lyme)
The First time I had It , I had gotten Poison Ivy and it bit in the middle of the patch Bullseye! , I didn't notice the little bugger. I don't think I had enough Antibiotics to knock it out. A few years later I must have gotten bit again but never noticed or it was chronic Lyme that entered my spinal cord. Brain swelling is not unlike an elephant walking on your head. After seizing up I was in Critical condition for 5 days in Hospital with Meningitis. Lots of interesting side effects from heart and lungs to joint trouble, vision problems, and brain fog. Recovery made the next year very unpleasant.
This year after feeling fair for a few years I got it again. The Dogs brought it into the house. Just when you think you're safe... Rapid heart rate, a spike in BP. crushing Headache, hot and cold sweating, shakes... Sick feeling ='s 3 weeks of Doxy.
Most of the time we can get the sucker off in the first day or so and avoid the bacteria (36 -48 hrs) Most of the time it is not even hunting that does it. A walk in the yard or dogs on the couch or bed.
Consider treated clothing for the dogs and spray legs and neck before they go out. Or some program to keep the ticks from getting into your home. Change outside and check every day, especially all those hard to notice spots. Yup, I got one right there down below.
I had a tick this winter on my shoulder blade and I'm hoping the cold I just had was just a cold ... Some things I'm sure of. You can get it over and over. Base layers and tight tucking IE into boots or socks over pants legs and shirt into pants. Get your clothes off outside and into a bag. Spray. Check every day. Treat your dogs and keep them out of your bed. If you have symptoms that are odd and no one else is sick with the flue... Get checked.
It has changed my life but I am grateful that it didn't take it away.
I've been to that dark place as well. Massive headaches all day long, full system inflammation and terrible joint pain, could barely walk, was going up steps on my hands and knees, fatigue to the point I was all but bedridden, affected sight, breathing, heart arrhythmia, and lots more. Honestly thought many nights I wouldn't make it until morning... and by that point I'd suffered so long, it wouldn't have bothered me one bit. I just wanted it to be over. I eventually gave up on our incompetent conventional doctors, specialists, and surgeons (yes they wanted to operate on my joints. Idiots), self-diagnosed, found a Lyme Specialist, and all told it was two years before I was back to my old self. Yep, ticks suck.
My foray into Lyme disease came with a heaping dose of zombieism. I could not sleep. I could not stay awake. Could not concentrate or retain anything I read. Permanent twilight, rather, a perpetual state of nodding off. Finally, made the decision to visit the doctor when I was too exhausted to use the TV remote that was right beside my hand.
I had a negative reaction to permetherin but use Cabela's Bug Skinz religiously. Noting bites through those. Not ticks, not chiggers. I love them.
Owl - I know what up mean... Back in 2017 I showed symptoms of Lyme disease, but insurance wouldn't cover the $700+ blood test, so my Dr. just went ahead and prescribed the 6 week antibiotics... The prescriptions were much cheaper out of pocket than the blood test... Felt MUCH better after the antibiotics, so am sure I had it... No fun... Hopefully was caught early enough won't have ill effects later in life...
