LymeNet Flash: Please help me now......I just found a deer tick on me.......losing it.

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Posted by tothepoorhouse (Member # 8595) on :

I've been sick with lyme disease for almost 14 years........misdiagnosed but finally found a doctor who determined it was lyme disease 4 months ago.

It's been warm in PA for the past 2 days and while sitting with my cat..I found a deer tick on my hand, very tiny.

I completely lost it....just got off IV 3 weeks ago and finding it made me go ballistic. :cry:

I told my husband, I WANT TO MOVE NOW.......he's upset but let me kill the tick with his pocket knife, but I am still losing it.

Lyme took 15 years of my life away........ I can't go through another PA spring/summer when I know they are in my backyard. I wasn't even in my backyard today. My cat sat on our enclosed back porch. [cussing]

Posted by cantgiveupyet (Member # 8165) on :

Hugs tothepoorhouse.

I too am in PA and i know what you mean. Today i sat on my porch and wondered where they might be lurking waiting for someone to walk by.

I watched my neighbors go about there lives untouched my this maddness.....even my parents working in the yard.

Just be glad that you spotted it and you have every right to freak.

Its ashame my favorite vacation spot is the Pocono mountains.....i love hiking.

[group hug]

Posted by luvs2ride (Member # 8090) on :

In the "Healing Lyme" book, Stephen Buhner talks about an herb to take year round as a prevention to lyme disease. It also works if you are in the acute (early) stage of Lyme.

Quote from "Healing Lyme"

"It is called Astragalus and for Lyme it works as an immune potentiator and modulator. Increases interferon-gamma and interleukin-2 levels. Enhances CD4+ counts and balances the CD4/CD8 ratio. Astragalus is specific for immune atrophy and enhances function in spleen and thymus.

Studies with tick-borne Lyme infection in mice found that if interferon-gamma and interleukin-2 levels were stimulated in the animals prior to tick bite, the rate of infection by borrelia spirochetes was much lower than otherwise. The reduction of these immune complexes, especially interleukin-2 is stimulated through components in the tick saliva. Keeping levels high will significantly reduce the likelihood of infection."

Warning!

"With late-stage Lyme infection, astragalus is contraindicated as it will stimulate already overstimulated Th1 responses. This may have the impact of worsening disease symptoms".

Well, the warning probably undoes the good of the herb, but I did want to pass it along in case you are cured from your 14 years of illness.

So far, this is the only good preventive I have heard of.

Posted by Bon (Member # 5999) on :

Deep breathe ! Your not alone by far.

I'm just hoping that when the knife was used it was off your hand! [Wink]

Have you been in contact with your Dr. about this yet? That would be my next move.

Chin up !
Bon

Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :

UGH! and EEK!! [Eek!]

I know the feeling, as I got bit again last year after nearly 5 yrs of treatment and a life basically destroyed prior to that.

If you can't move, how about giving the cat up?? I know, I know...I LOVE pets, but I no longer have one and wonder if I'll ever get the courage to have one again.

I feel for ya.

Posted by shazdancer (Member # 1436) on :

...or at least make Fluffy an indoor-only cat, perhaps?

Oh, ((((tothepoorhouse,)))) you must feel so frightened! It happened to my teenage son in a way that was kinda funny and scary at the same time. One day last year, he came home from school, having walked through a field to get home [Eek!]

, and found a dog tick crawling on him [Eek!]

. He picked it up with tweezers and dropped it in the toilet, WITH the tweezers, and was afraid to reach in and get the tweezers back out! When I got home, that's what I found in my toilet -- tweezers and a tick swimming around, and no son in sight!

We later agreed that he find a different route home -- hopefully, a route made out of asphalt!

Take care,
Shaz

Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :

quote:
Originally posted by shazdancer:
...or at least make Fluffy an indoor-only cat, perhaps?

[/QB]

Hey, that's WAY better than my idea!!! I forget about cats being able to stay indoors all the time! I used to have a wonderful border collie.

Posted by tothepoorhouse (Member # 8595) on :

I couldn't get rid of my cat, he's 12 years old and I love him. I also have 2 dogs and another cat. Probably the tick came from one of the dogs.....

I can't live without my pets. I'm still in tears here, even though I've taken my clothes off, took a shower and put new clothes on.

I'm totally feeling things crawling on me and know it's just my paranoia.

Do I give up my life in the woods due to ticks? And why hasn't some medical group come up with a cure or antidote for this horrid disease?

I mean, am I even safer living in a city????

I just don't know.....what to do....what to say....where to live.....this disease has stolen my health from me. How do I fight back or do I have to learn to live with it?

Ok...another question? I still have lyme disease...should I even factor that in to not worry about being bitten again? WTH right????!!

Verklempt I am. [Frown]

Posted by HEATHERKISS (Member # 6789) on :

I know! I know! My husband touched leaves with his bare hands today. It was almost 70 today here in NJ.

We both have lyme.

Him touching the leaves replayed over and over in my mind while we were out and about.

Losing it to say the least.

H

Posted by map1131 (Member # 2022) on :

I can so relate. I found a deer tick burrowing in last summer. Thank goodness this guy was biting and I felt something. Did a through tick search and I found 2 already engorged. I freaked out.

For the record, I didn't have a dog or cat. Don't need a pet for a insect to find me. In fact a flee would jump off a dog to get on me.

Spiders, ticks, ants, bees they all attack me. I would love to have a dog. But I just can't handle the added stress.

You can't move and get away from it. It is the world now. You could move to a penthouse and be bitten by a mosquito on your 24th floor outdoor patio and end up with a vector borne illness.

Use your energy to figure out how to protect your home, your cat and you from the ticks. Start yard treatment and be vigilant about KILLING ticks.

This mild winter is going to bring more tick awareness. Hopefully more press with warnings.

Pam

Posted by bettyg (Member # 6147) on :

I'm so sorry to read about this and all the anxiety you have about another bite.

Do you still have the tick where it could be tested for lyme/co-infections.

Ticks are everywhere; ENJOY whereever you are, and dress appropriately, use all the special precautions, and DEET spray. I wish you the best, and a return to "normal" as we used to know it!

Posted by luvs2ride (Member # 8090) on :

I'm with Bettyg,

You guys are stressing out way too hard. Lyme is carried by more than ticks and mice are carriers as well as deer so city living is no protection.

Give up her cat/dog/etc? Just shoot me.

I love animals. I love the country. I want my life.

The bite of the tick is not what made you sick. Our immune systems handle bad bacteria and other toxic things in our environment every day. Something in our life made our immune systems too sick to handle its job and then the bacteria took over.

I'm leaving no stone unturned in my battle to get back to health. Including figuring out how to remain healthy once I get there.

Sometimes I do get frightened by the strength of this disease, and I definitely never want it again. This is my second go round and it has been worse than the first go round. I don't want a third round.

Preventive care will be huge in my stay well arsenal. Tick, animal, nature avoidance will not.

Posted by humanbeing (Member # 8572) on :

I am sad to say I won't be in my garden this year. I am too freaked out and paranoid. I am scheduled to have my yard sprayed by professional lyme tick man.

http://www.nixticks.com/

He is a real tick nazi. (I still won't garden though.) I prob will check self into a psych ward due to paranoia issues about ticks...is this a lyme symptom? [shake]

Posted by DeLo5 (Member # 8905) on :

We live in a rural area. We have 2 acres of grass, vegetable gardens and some field. My husband keeps the lawn cut and we don't walk through the hay field. My husband, in particular is outside all of the time. He gardens year round because we also have a 60' x 30' greenhouse. He also tends fruit trees in our yard.

My teen age son with lyme loves to walk in the woods with his friends. In our area there are thousands of acres of walking trails through a preserve.

My other son rows on the crew team. He is outside daily and has to help carry boats from the boathouse through a lightly wooded area to the lake and then back. His best friends lives in Madison, CT, which is close to Lyme, CT. He spends a lot of time in the summer visiting this friend.

As much as I agree that I don't want to give into paranoa, I'm also concerned about all this exposure time.

I just ordered a ton of BugRepel products from http://kingcart.com/Behappy/product=%20 Thanks Mo for this idea.

I hope the products work. They are made with essential oils which are actually good for you instead of deet which is, in my opinion, bad. I even bought the shampoo and sunscreen. I figure if these products work, we'll just make them part of our everyday routine.

In addition, wouldn't it be great if there were light colored one piece jumpsuits (including feet) to wear when out in nature? And even better, wouldn't it be wonderful if teens and everyone thought wearing these jumpsuit kind of fashions were cool and actually wore them faithfully?

One can dream.

I firmly believe that spraying pesticides to control the buggers is a very bad idea. From what I know, this will just make the ticks stronger and more resilient.

Posted by luvs2ride (Member # 8090) on :

DeLo5

I think you have a great idea with the jumpsuit. Can you produce it? You could make a fortune.

Please don't forget to add Astragalus to the prevention arsenal. This herb is recommended by "Healing Lyme" to take year round when living in endemic areas. What isn't endemic area.

Read the book for a very comprehensive outline of why it is so good for preventing lyme and resolving acute lyme. Note the warning though that it is not good for late stage lyme.

Posted by DeLo5 (Member # 8905) on :

Luvs

Hummmm . . . ya think the jumpsuit idea would catch on? lol

If I thought it would actually be a hit, I'd do it. I already own two businesses and love to create new things . . . and love a challenge.

Posted by MizMo (Member # 8389) on :

After what we've been through, it's not surprising to be a bit paranoid about encountering more ticks!

The jumpsuit thing is a good idea! I'm going to look over those natural repellants too.

Posted by luvs2ride (Member # 8090) on :

Miz,

There is so much more to fear than the tick. Everyone is focused on the tick, but you are forgetting the research that has found Bb in mosquitos and flies as well. Now where are you going to go that you can get away from flies?

Living in fear will do nothing but stop you from living.

Taking precautions like the repellents and the herbs gives you control. I know from experience that taking B vitamins makes you very untasty to bugs. Just by taking B vitamins, I prevent bugbites.

The bugcheck that I feed my animals is made up of natural ingredients such as grapeseed extract and garlic among other stuff. It doesn't harm my pet or the bug, but the bug can't stand the taste or smell of it and they just move on to the animals not on it.

Ever noticed how some people are eaten alive by bugs while others aren't bothered at all? There is something in the chemistry of the unbothered people that just works as a natural repellent.

I'm not the expert on how that works but if you start reading holistic care of pets you will see that holistic veterinarians have studied it quite a bit and they believe that healthy animals naturally repel most insects and successfully fight off any illness they might be infected with when they are bit.

I am just as focused on getting and remaining well as anyone else, but I choose to take pro-active measures, not to sit back and quit living because of fear of the tick.

Posted by Marnie (Member # 773) on :

I understand, but preventative measures can help.

Spray your yard with anti-tick solutions and wear DEET (adults only) when outside or wear protective clothing (protective clothing is avail. from specialty "outdoors" catalogues such as LL Bean).

The clothing contains a Permethrin solution...safe???

"One hour exposure to permethrin (Biokill) and cypermethrin (Ripcord) insecticide products affected ATPase activities.

The activity of Na(+), K(+) ATPase decreased dose-dependently in 10-50 microM concentrations of permethrin, and Mg(2+) activated ATPase increased over twofold in the same concentrations of the active components.

The effect of the cypermethrin compound Ripcord was not clearly dose-dependent. The activity of total ATPase was almost entirely lost in the concentrations of 100 microM of permethrin and cypermethrin.

The results support the idea that membrane ATPases are one target of the neurotoxic effect of pyrethroid compounds."

PMID: 12615099

However, newer solutions now in...uniforms...guess which ones. Not kidding!

Here is documentation:

"Thus, scientists at ARS, SRRC in New Orleans developed new, environmentally benign antibacterial agents by the reaction of two readily available inorganic compounds: hydrogen peroxide and magnesium acetate tetrahydrate.

This activity is retained for 30 launderings on the blend fabrics and up to 50 launderings on cotton fabrics. US Patent 5,656,037."

(Permethrin is dangerous.)

On the spot where the bug was attached, make an moist activated charcoal pack and leave it in place for several hours. The sooner, the better.

To do this...get activated charcoal capsules at GNC. Open a capsule (very carefully!) and sprinkle some on a WET 4X4 gauze. Then place the gauze over the area where the tick was attached and cover it with plastic-type wrap (like we use to wrap left-over food). This will keep the 4X4 moist, so the activated charcoal can be absorbed by the skin.

When you remove it, the skin will be "grey", but will lighten over time. If you are concerned about appearances, do what I did (when I had a fast, painful bite from an insect) and use H2O2 on the area (and ultimately I used a liquid "oxyclean" solution) to remove the grey "stain".

Activated charcoal is a powerful "detox". VERY powerful. It can be used as above on even (toxic) snake bites.

In Canada...it has been "suggested" an injection of lidocaine under the tick to get it to release is helpful in more ways than one.

I'd have to dig for that old info.

To begin to understand the power of activated charcoal, go to the following websites. (I have more info. if desired.)

Keep in mind, that up until a few years ago, the "Universal Remedy" was in the Merck Manual.

It was: (1) Mg oxide, (2)tannic acid (a powerful acid that we mess up when we try to duplicate it) and (3)activated charcoal.

The idea...destroy the pathogens...raise the pH by using the mineral, Mg, along with a lot of acids...and soak up the resultant toxins via activated charcoal.

Here are some of many websites on activated charcoal:

http://healingtools.tripod.com/char3.html

http://www.quantumbalancing.com/news/charcoal_poultice.htm

http://www.pediatricskerala.com/html/poisoning.htm

http://wildchildmagazine.com/display.php?id=31&lang=en

Posted by mountainmoma (Member # 6503) on :

I dont use pesticides herbicides DEET etc, BUT I have had to make an exception to using the once a month tick killing stuff (that you need a prescrition for) to put on the dog. I only use it on him during the prime warm tick months. If he was able to do his own tick checks or let me know when he felt something crawling on him, like the children can, I wouldnt need to. But, he cant.

Otherwise, we cut the grass once or twice a year, Im removing a large area of brush, and I try not to worry about it too much. I have pulled deer ticks off of my youngest child and myself, but I get them quickly, and Im not going to give up the outdoors nor poison it or myself.

Like someone else said earlier on this list, it is ultimatelly a problem with our immune systems that we get sick from it. And, I think this is the important area to fix. Using DEET and other poisons harm our immune systems, which realy will make these types of problems worse.

Posted by BOEJR (Member # 1734) on :

Hi Poor,

I was just wondering if you tested the tick or not? we have alot of bartonella here..

Julia