Dang it! It's always SOMETHING!

gkainz

gkainz

Final Approach
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Feb 23, 2005
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Arvada, CO
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Display name:
Greg Kainz
Got home on Sunday from an excellent turkey hunt in South Dakota on my uncle's ranch - more fun than I've had in a long time. Somehow I crawled thru an infestation of ticks and found more than 20 on me over the next 8 hours or so. All were just crawling around but one, and I was yanking, picking, flicking, squirming, dancing and cussing before I realized that one little bugger had bitten. I checked the bite for remaining parts as good as I could in the field, but this morning I woke to a little swelling and discoloration at the bite mark.

Off to the doc to have it checked (yeah, I know - turn in my man card - I went in even before my wife told me to) ... so, they drew blood to test for Lyme's disease, prescribed 20 days of antibiotics and gave me a tetanus shot for good measure.

So now I wait for the lab results ...
 
Good luck Greg. I had one embed in my navel about 6 weeks ago (pain can't describe digging the s.o.b. out). It was a full 4 weeks until the wound healed.
 
Wishing you the best!! You did the right thing


gkainz said:
Off to the doc to have it checked (yeah, I know - turn in my man card - I went in even before my wife told me to) ...
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I hope that they are also able to find you "Y" Chromosome that you seem to have lost ;) ;) :D
 
Screw the man card, its worth it not to get Lyme disease. Good call.

The guy who used to be across the hall from me was an acarologist. His office was a shrine to ticks, including a large poster of The Tick. The bumper sticker on his car said "Ticks Suck".
 

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kevin47881 said:
Good luck Greg. I had one embed in my navel about 6 weeks ago (pain can't describe digging the s.o.b. out). It was a full 4 weeks until the wound healed.
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Ok, everyone who spent time in the yard recently, and just now checked your navel after reading that, raise your hand ...

:eek: :yes:
 
The good news is they normally take hours to bite, and then hours more to transmit disease, so the odds of you getting lyme from a bite that just happened are slim. ;)
 
That's good to hear - I read similar data on line today. wiki ticky The down side is an article that said the chances of getting Lyme is greater from the tick in nymph stage, as they're much harder to see, and therefore stay attached longer. Oh boy ...
 
I remember a number of years ago (17) another adult leader and I were to take a group of Scouts to Philmont Scout Ranch for a 50 mile outing. A couple days before we were to leave I came down with a high fever. Doctor found out about the plans and loaded me up with antibiotics. Said I'd be good to go (he knew about Philmont) and I would be bulletproof - specifically said I wouldn't have to worry about Lyme. Some ridiculous dosage of erethromycin (sp?). Don't know if Lyme was an issue, but the fever went away, I made the trip and we had a great time.

Good luck. I hate ticks.
 
Ghery said:
I remember a number of years ago (17) another adult leader and I were to take a group of Scouts to Philmont Scout Ranch for a 50 mile outing. A couple days before we were to leave I came down with a high fever. Doctor found out about the plans and loaded me up with antibiotics. Said I'd be good to go (he knew about Philmont) and I would be bulletproof - specifically said I wouldn't have to worry about Lyme. Some ridiculous dosage of erethromycin (sp?). Don't know if Lyme was an issue, but the fever went away, I made the trip and we had a great time.

Good luck. I hate ticks.
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Any level of antibiotics has strange effects with me. The first being sun exposure. Nothing like a sunburn induced by drugs.
 
Good call Greg. Don't fool around with Lyme disease. One symptom is a bullseye rash around the bite area. The tests are notorious for false positives and false negatives, so its better to treat it with antibiotics no matter what the results.
 
A number of years ago I oulled a tick off my daughter, then we phoned the pediatrician. We asked if it was worthwhile having the tick carcass analyzed to see if it was infected and he answered, "Nope, not worth it. They all have it. We have never had a negative result from an tick put through the test."

-Skip
 
Tick bites are a way of life here at the farm. We get them ALL the time no matter how careful we are.
 
Henning said:
Real men get their antibiotics at the feed store....
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BTDT - but no thanks on those needles!!! :p

silver-eagle said:
Any level of antibiotics has strange effects with me. The first being sun exposure. Nothing like a sunburn induced by drugs.
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for further ironic timing, my wife is taking us to Mexico in 2 weeks. So, the doc says "giving you antibiotics. Stay out of the sun." - groan ...

Diana said:
Tick bites are a way of life here at the farm. We get them ALL the time no matter how careful we are.
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I grew up in a rural setting and I can remember maybe half a dozen ticks my whole life. 20 in a weekend just kind of creeped me out. We also had someone here on POA (or maybe the red board) who ended up with Lymes a few years ago, IIRC... or maybe their wife?
 
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I JUST NOW pulled a deer tick off my leg, daggone it. They're everywhere around here. :(

But he had only just attached - so I don't think I'll be doing antibiotics for it. :no:
 
Diana said:
Tick bites are a way of life here at the farm. We get them ALL the time no matter how careful we are.
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ain't that the truth. and since we had such a mild winter, their really bad this year. between me and the dog, you'd think the farm would run out of ticks. :dunno:
 
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