posted
It is proven that some people DO attract insects more than others.
AZ might be good... faithful moved to CO to get away from ticks and mosquitoes. So far, so good on that one.
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
Dr. J (pediatric lyme specialist) says that some people make pheromones that attract ticks. These children get lyme over and over again because the ticks go after them and because you can't stop kids from leaning against trees, playing in leaves, going in the woods, going in tall grass, laying on the grass, etc..
I am a tick and mosquito magnet. I get bitten by mosquitoes when nobody else is getting bitten. This has been true as long as I can remember. So, I must make these pheromones that smell so wonderful and enticing to ticks.
If you are one of these people, you can't live like other people. If you do, you risk getting lyme disease over and over again.
So, no walking in the woods unless your life depends on it. No sitting on logs or wood piles or stone walls. No walking in leaves or tall grass along side the road. No leaning agaist trees.
Eliminate bird feeders from your yard. (They attract deer, other animals that carry ticks including birds.) Don't have pets that go outside.
Spray yourself with DEET if you have to do yardwork or gardening. (I got rid of all of my flower beds over the years because I always found a tick on me if I gardened.)
I can stand on my asphalt driveway for 20 minutes and go in the house and find 2 ticks on my thigh!
We back to a woods. My lyme doctor told us to sell the house and move to a place with fewer ticks. We haven't done that yet, but I have made many lifestyle changes to avoid getting bitten again. Still, I have been bitten twice since I got rid of lyme 9 years ago. Once, I got a bulls eye and had to be treated for lyme again. But just for 30 days.
If you attract ticks, you better modify your life to avoid them. I would rather do that than have this horrendous disease over again.
Posts: 9931 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2007
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Razzle
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 30398
posted
Eating raw garlic routinely seems to help repel mosquitos...don't know if this works for ticks as well...
-------------------- -Razzle Lyme IgM IGeneX Pos. 18+++, 23-25+, 30++, 31+, 34++, 39 IND, 83-93 IND; IgG IGeneX Neg. 30+, 39 IND; Mayo/CDC Pos. IgM 23+, 39+; IgG Mayo/CDC Neg. band 41+; Bart. (clinical dx; Fry Labs neg. for all coinfections), sx >30 yrs. Posts: 4166 | From WA | Registered: Feb 2011
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Lymedin2010
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 34322
posted
Me too, I am another mosquito magnet. I've only taken one tick off of me years ago, but I am sure I was oblivious to more bites.
I too have made drastic lifestyle changes.
"I can stand on my asphalt driveway for 20 minutes and go in the house and find 2 ticks on my thigh!"
Ughh, but good to know. I find myself taking longer steps & jumping and avoiding leaves in the fall on the asphalt.
Posts: 2087 | From NY | Registered: Oct 2011
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desertwind
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 25256
posted
The love of my life, my "zen" space has always been nature. I cannot imagine a life w/o that feeling I have when on the trails. I took my dog swimming last night and it required a hike in the trails to get there.
I know I do this to myself and end up w/ more tick bites. Hubby had none on him. I think I have that scent or vibration or whatever it is. I will try the garlic and dreaded deet.
I really want to find a place that I can enjoy the outdoors w/o the constant worry of Lyme.
Posts: 1671 | From Tick Infested New Jersey | Registered: Apr 2010
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If you attract ticks, you better modify your life to avoid them. I would rather do that than have this horrendous disease over again.
- Amen to that. I don't want to do this all over again. I did get a tick bite about 6-8 months after I finished Lyme treatment. I had walked across a gravel driveway that had a few weeds on it.
I couldn't believe I got a tick there, but that was the only place I could think of that a tick would have been.
I treated for about 4 wks as TF did... no problems later.
That was 9 yrs ago and I haven't seen another tick. (knock on wood) I pray it stays that way.
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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kam
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 3410
posted
I moved to a mtn town in AZ in 2005. I have yet to see a tick.
Althugh I have heard of a few cases with dogs whoe were dx with some form of lyme diseae.
But, the owners felt they go it at the local dog park...out of towner dog perhaps.
The ungters in the area say they have yet to see a tick on their dogs or animals they are hunting ofr themsselves.
But, yes there are ticks in AZ...I guess it dependson where you live.
When I lived in CA, I juse to see ticks crawling across my computer table.
When I moved to AZ, I was told by two long term vets I did not need to put the flea and tick stuff on my service dog..which was a very good thing as that stuff made her sick.
But, the new vets in town are pushing the flea and tick stuff.
Posts: 15927 | From Became too sick to work or do household chores in 2001. | Registered: Dec 2002
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kam
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 3410
posted
I still don't understand this tick stuff...why some of us come down sick and others do not in a tick infested area.
Posts: 15927 | From Became too sick to work or do household chores in 2001. | Registered: Dec 2002
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surprise
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 34987
posted
I also get major zen from nature, always have. My father took me hiking all over as a kid, I continued on my own in my 20's, I seriously love trees and flowers, it's a spiritual base for me.
I still get it- I live in a beautiful neighborhood and walk on the street- and if I pay attention, in every yard I pass I see flowers, and see the trees.
All from the street. I just pay attention, and it's all in front of me. Safely. And I don't garden. Nor own a pet. And I can still get filled with nature.
-------------------- Lyme positive PCR blood, and positive Bartonella henselae Igenex, 2011. low positive Fry biofilm test, 2012. Update 7/16- After extensive treatments, doing okay! Posts: 2518 | From USA | Registered: Nov 2011
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posted
I have a forest in my back yard. I can sit on my deck to enjoy nature.
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
Everybody needs to understand that if your body makes the pheromones that attract ticks, any time you are outside, the ticks are smelling you and running to you.
So, that is why you can still get a tick on you even if you don't step into grass. When I am on my driveway, they are running onto the driveway to get to me.
When I sit on my deck, they are running onto the deck to get to me. I was on the deck last year in the spring for 10 minutes and felt a tick crawling on me.
So, a person who attracts ticks is not safe staying on concrete and asphalt and decks and such. The ticks are coming from far and wide to get to you. Anytime you are outside, you have to check yourself for ticks. The longer you are outside, the greater the chance that a tick has gotten on you.
Look up "pheromones" on the Internet and you will then understand how they work.
My husband spreads granules that kill ticks all over our yard at least 3 times per year. We put it in the shrubs, on the flowerbeds, all over the grass, everywhere. This keeps down the tick population.
Just buy anything that says it will kill deer ticks. Usually it is trazicide and it will be called insect killer for lawns.
Posts: 9931 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2007
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randibear
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11290
posted
I wonder what state does not have ticks and lyme.
-------------------- do not look back when the only course is forward Posts: 12262 | From texas | Registered: Mar 2007
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posted
My mother was one of those who attracted insects. She was hardly ever out of the country (Montreal and Tijuana exceptions) but she even bitten by common house flies! She also was dx'd with "sleeping sickness" which typically only came from people exposed to the tsetse flies - in Africa!
So, yes I believe that there are people who insects love to bite.
-------------------- I have a good time wherever I go! Posts: 665 | From Lost Wages, NV | Registered: May 2006
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desertwind
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 25256
posted
Thanks for so many great responses. I really am thinking of what it would be like to live in a place that is not on the east coast epidemic region. Like, how much more relaxed would I be?
It feels like I will never be abx free as long as I live in NJ and am tick attractor....
Worked so hard to get to a pretty healthy place of remission only to be bitten numerous times and back on meds. Not an easy thing to do - moving across the country...
Posts: 1671 | From Tick Infested New Jersey | Registered: Apr 2010
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posted
Last year, we just packed it all up and moved to Colorado. Ticks are in every state but in states like CO or AZ where it is so dry, you won't see ticks everywhere.
I have only seen them in wooded areas here. I had PTSD so bad in Virginia. I couldn't walk outside without a tick landing on me. I wouldn't go outside anymore. In my head, I was thinking that Lyme won anyway because I was hiding in the house.
No regrets for making the move. Yes, I am more relaxed.
-------------------- Faithful
Just sharing my experience, I am not a doctor. Posts: 2682 | From Colorado | Registered: Oct 2009
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desertwind
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 25256
posted
faithful777; I feel the same way whenever I go outside. I definitely got re-infected from the bite I got a few weeks ago. I am on abx.s but feel so defeated in that it is just a short term solution because I will certainly get exposed again - even if just walking in my yard.
I do not/cannot hide in my house, like lyme is a terrorist controlling my life.
Hubby and I had a nice meeting of the minds and since he can work remotely and could commute back to NJ a few times a year we have options. I too have a career that can be mobile and we have no kids so nothing really holding us back.
I just know I cannot put all this hard work into getting better only to get sick over and over again.
I love CO but never been to AZ. Thinking TX as well. Gonna look at the lyme map and see options. I assume eventually it will be everywhere.
Thanks for you guys not thinking I am a nut case for wanting to move because of this. No one else would really understand - that is unless their lives were forever changed because of this disease.
I feel like I was just getting my life back again after 10 years and now am back in it - at least with early lyme from this bite. I do think this bite woke up the ketes that were in hiding and the are all having a party in my body. Bombing them best I can.
Posts: 1671 | From Tick Infested New Jersey | Registered: Apr 2010
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springshowers
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 19863
posted
Oh my gosh I looked at these maps and clicked through the years.
I assumed northern AZ would have more incidences but this shows otherwise.
Then again maybe its where the people live as opposed to where they got bitten. Many travel up to the norther half of the state for recreation and to get away from heat in the summers and camping and fishing and some lakes and grand canyon etc.
Take a look at this maps and as you click through you can see each year where the amounts are in each state.
If you live on east coast or I would not click on 2001 and toggle to 2012 because you can see the growth and its quite scary in that area! Numbers and data are one thing but when you see a visual in this manner it hits hard.
Posts: 2747 | From Unites States Of America | Registered: Apr 2009
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