Tick bites!

[Rich_]

Anyone have any experience of ticks.

Went walking yesterday and found one embedded in my flesh today, don't know if it had attached its self then or been in my jacket and attached today. It didn't look particularly engorged as it's body was still quite flat.

My main concern was lyme disease which these beasts can carry. I had it removed by a nurse at the local surgery (who splattered it with the tweezers, I could have done that myself). She thinks she got the head out after a bit of digging. I did ask her about the risk of lyme disease but she said it was minimal. Do any of you think differently?

[paulthomas]

I read up as much as I could about ticks earlier in the year as one place I go is frequented by deer, mainly Red Deer, and so it's quite possible that there are deer ticks around there. From what I read, the tick usually has to be attached for something like 36 hours before it starts to feed and there's a risk of Lymes Disease being passed on. I think you'd be better off seeking qualified help though.

[eeyore]

if you start coming down with flu like symptoms in the next 48 hours or so see the doctor and demand some antibiotics...

[Rich_]

I'was hoping it hadn't been on too long. I took one off a dog once which was quite black and bulbous and looked full of blood (not the dog) mine was quite small and flat. Apparently it can take several weeks for symptoms to develop.

[nightshade]

As you are genuinely worried I think you should voice your concerns to your GP in person
I cannot stand the things I would be happier with leeches!

[DL]

As has already said if you develop flu like symptoms in the near future then make a point of seeking medical help. Apart from that I would not worry about, it I know a number of people who have been getting ticked on a regular basis for many years only one of whom has ever developed mild symptoms of Lymes disease.

I had seven ticks attached to me last week and five the week before.

It is best to try and avoid getting them in the first place, ie tuck trousers legs into socks etc and carry tick tweezers if you are going anywhere that they are common.

The length of time they have been attached should not matter to much what you need to try to avoid is them re-gurgitating any infected blood from another animal. This is why you should never try to burn them off, smother them with a cream or any of the other supposed great ways of removing them.

Use the tweezers and grab them as close to your skin as possible, gentle but firm and twist slowly. This is the best way to make shure you dont leave the infected mouthparts in your skin and that they spit out.

[lynne108]

Ticks - yuck! There's a particular place I go to on the Somerset Levels where I always end up with them crawling over my clothes trying to get access! They are odd though because they are really tiny (about 2mm at most), and never seem to swell even when I have missed one and it's been sucking my blood for a day or so
The first time it happened I rushed to the doctor's & she recommended heating up the end of a needle in a flame & placing it against the tick, then grasping it as near to the skin as poss with tweezers & pulling, & this technique has never failed me. With the Lyme's disease she just told me to watch out for flu like symtoms, and, touch wood, I have remained hale & hearty!

[nightshade]

I make a point of wearing gaiters if I walk through pasture and bracken I have had ticks on me after camping in a field where there had been sheep,a jack russel was covered with them so he was taken out to sea and made to swim back to the beach which got rid of the majority.You must be very careful about removing ticks the mouth parts must come away or they will cause a nasty infection of the wound
There must be a safe approved method of removal (I put Vick on mine which worked but I was told I was lucky!)

[Oy]

I got one in my inner thigh on a trip to Wales recently.

I just grabbed in with tweezers, as close to my leg as I could (a little too close as I got some leg too) and yanked the evil bloodsucking beast out!

Read my account - with photos - here.

[Rich_]

I have been bitten and stung by many things over the years, and never bothered too much but it's the first time I have been knowingly hit by a tick, it was other peoples reactions to this and the mention of lyme disease that made me want to find out a bit more.
I called at a doctors to ask him what the chances of picking this illness up were as I believed it was probably quite miniscule. He has actually given me a weeks worth of penicillin as a precaution! Told him I wasn't too keen on pills if the chances of picking it up were so low, but he seemed to think it was a good idea.