Lyme disease

[da Crippler]

I was just diagnosed with Lyme disease yesterday and I wanted to let people know how easily you can contract this disease. I protect myself as best as I can from ticks by wearing knee socks sprayed liberally with bug dope, and I try to cover any exposed skin with DEET, as the skeeters and ticks have been very bad this year. I had ONE tick bite this year right behind my knee, and a few weeks later I was down for the count, bed ridden for a couple of days with chills and fever, swollen painful joints and sick as a dog. Fortunately it was caught early and antibiotics should clear it up, but if not treated, Lyme bacteria can linger for years undetected and cause all sorts of ongoing health problems. If you have ever been bitten by a tick, you should at least know what the symptoms of Lyme disease are, and you should get tested if think you may have been exposed to it.

 

[kenjiac]

How long after you were outside did you notice the tick bite? I'm not a huge fan of all the chemicals on my body but I thoroughly check myself for ticks every time I come home. I've had 10 attached so far this year 8 little ones at one brand new course that is just getting started. Make sure to get those little F'ers off within the first day.

 

[Tripper]

Best thing for ticks is pemethrin. If you treat your clothes, it last through several washings. If they climb on you, they die.
Deet is great but as soon as you start to sweat, the deet is going away. multiple applications required per round to stay effective.

https://www.google.com/search?q=per...1.69i57j0l5.6487j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

[eric40817]

This thread is a good PSA as the ticks are still plentiful, but would be more useful with some Lyme information.

Symptoms of Lyme Disease

 

[DG_player]

How long after you were outside did you notice the tick bite? I'm not a huge fan of all the chemicals on my body but I thoroughly check myself for ticks every time I come home. I've had 10 attached so far this year 8 little ones at one brand new course that is just getting started. Make sure to get those little F'ers off within the first day.

It takes 36 to 72 hours to contract lymes from a tick. So you don't have to cover yourself in chemicals to prevent, you can just do a solid tick check.

There are a couple important things to keep in mind though:

If you have a dog, and your dog is a house dog, a tick can easily jump from the dog to you, long after you tick checked or washed off your bug spray. The best thing to do is make sure your dog is properly treated against insects.

Secondly, most lymes cases are from immature nymph ticks, not full grown adults. Mainly because nymphs are so small they're hard to see, especially if they attach in a hard to see location. Often they're not noticed until they're engorged. If you spot and remove an engorged tick, it's likely been there for awhile, so it's best to go to a doctor immediately. If you did contract lymes, early treatment is extremely important to prevent the more severe symptoms.

 

[ThomasOrion]

Its hard to do a solid tick check when they can be behind a knee on your back, on your neck, head, places YOU cannot see and places hard for even others to find....yeah, I've had one on my marbles, NOT A FUN EXPERIENCE.

 

[Dr.Smooth]

Thanks for the update from the UP. We need to keep informing and educating on lyme d., which now is considered an epidemic.

A friend had informed me that his wife had the disease. Apparently for some time because it was diagnosed because of other health related problems.

As outdoor people we are at high risk but the education part might help some of us from getting it or stopping it in its tracks if their is early diagnosis.

 

[Shamis]

As far as scientists and doctors can tell, the bacteria does not linger. Antibiotics kill it. Reinfection is very possible though.

http://www.acsh.org/news/2017/06/16/treatment-chronic-lyme-plenty-risk-no-benefit-11435

 

[jeremyhilss]

Not good news. Hope you recover well and quick. Thise bastards are everywhere up here, wish I could burn em' all along with mosquitoes and hornets...

 

[da Crippler]

How long after you were outside did you notice the tick bite? I'm not a huge fan of all the chemicals on my body but I thoroughly check myself for ticks every time I come home. I've had 10 attached so far this year 8 little ones at one brand new course that is just getting started. Make sure to get those little F'ers off within the first day.

I think it had been there behind my knee for around 24 hrs. Looked like he bit me three times, so I probably got a good dose of bacteria.

 

[armiller]

I think it had been there behind my knee for around 24 hrs. Looked like he bit me three times, so I probably got a good dose of bacteria.

Thorough tick checks post-DG are the way to go. The time they're attached is the main factor deciding whether you get whatever they're carrying. Lyme isn't endemic in my area, but I got ehrlichiosis after a tick was on for 3-4 hours. Since then, I've been a lot more careful after leaving the course. I've had multiple bites since but haven't contracted anything else (that I know of).

A good pair of tweezers and one of those "tick spoons" are my personal favorites. I did all kinds of stuff (camphophenique, match butts) on the one gave me a disease, and that might have helped it barf it's stuff into me while biting the dust...

 

[ohtobediscing]

I contracted Lyme disease the first time from holding a tick between my fingertips for a few minutes after removing it from a friend's scalp (we were going to have the tick tested, but a local assured us that there was no Lyme disease in the area). My fingertips were raw from digging and improving a backcountry hot springs near Crouch, ID.
The second time I was on a wildfire near Coulee Dam, but never saw a tick on me.
Diagnosing quickly is paramount---undiagnosed, the long term effects of Lyme make giardia seem ok.

 

[DG_player]

I contracted Lyme disease the first time from holding a tick between my fingertips for a few minutes after removing it from a friend's scalp (we were going to have the tick tested, but a local assured us that there was no Lyme disease in the area). My fingertips were raw from digging and improving a backcountry hot springs near Crouch, ID.
The second time I was on a wildfire near Coulee Dam, but never saw a tick on me.
Diagnosing quickly is paramount---undiagnosed, the long term effects of Lyme make giardia seem ok.

You can't contract lymes from handling a tick. It has to be actively feeding off of you and even then for a significant period of time.

I would be willing to bet that given you and your friend were in the same area, there was a tick on you as well that went unnoticed.

 

[wproct]

You really have to be diligent. I check myself after every outing of playing disc golf. A week ago, I had played and came home and removed my jeans and t-shirt and checked myself thoroughly and took a shower. Next morning I get up and put the same jeans on and sit down to watch news on TV and have some coffee. Pretty soon I feel something crawling on me, and it's a darn tick that had evidently remained on my clothing overnight. They are persistent little suckers.

 

[d11rok]

From someone "in the know":
1) as aforementioned, one does not need chemicals if you do a thorough tick check.
2) Finding a new tick after coming home and subsequently removing it mitigates any risk of transmission. You have about 24-48 hours to accomplish a state of freedom from ticks to knock out the Lyme possibility
3) if you discover an embedded tick and you do not know when it attached and you are in an endemic area, go to your primary care physician and request "post exposure prophylaxis". This entails one capsule of doxycycline. Please take it at least 2 hours away from a meal
4) the typical rash is a "bullseye", although you can also get a complete circle. This is localized Lyme and a couple weeks of doxycycline should do the trick
5) if you didn't notice the rash, you are at risk for systemic Lyme, which occurs weeks later. Arthritis is common. However it can also affect your heart's conduction system and give a slow heart rate. It can also invade your facial nerve and cause bell's palsy, which is reversible
6) there is no such thing as chronic Lyme. Please disregard the garbage health forums out there on the topic.

 

[da Crippler]

I did not have a rash until after I was already pretty sick. It took about 6-7 weeks to incubate, and I did get pretty severe arthritis from it. No heart problems so far, no facial paralysis, I'm taking prednisone for inflammation and doxycycline for the infection. I seem to be doing much better and should recover completely.

 

[funguy]

Great PSA. I always tell everyone I play with at the end of the round to check for ticks. It sounds dorky but so many people I know have had Lyme or other horrible tick born illnesses. I would recommend permethrin to treat your pants, shoes, socks, and even your bag. You can't put it right on your skin and you have to treat these items and let it dry, so a bit of planning. It lasts through 6 wash cycles of the stuff is very good. I am out all the time and have not had a tick on me at all this year. Last year with only DEET I picked off at least a dozen just in one week. I would also recommend a tick twister. http://www.ticktwister.com. They sell them on Amazon. They take the tick off with the pulling of tweezers that can leave parts of the mouth in, especially if it has attached. And really the best thing is having someone tick check your body. That is by far the most effective. Yes, we are going back to our ape ancestors but Lyme disease sucks.

 

[Danderlion]

Just saw this article - http://www.fox5ny.com/news/local-news/275547414-story

Never heard of Babesiosis, but apparently it can kill you and it's transmitted through ticks. I looked up the man's name on the PDGA member search and there is a match. PDGA has him located in Pittsburg (as of 2013) and the story says Connecticut so there may be no connection.

 

[Shamis]

From someone "in the know":
1) as aforementioned, one does not need chemicals if you do a thorough tick check.

Unless you're a hairless man-child with a room full of mirrors, I think this advice is faulty. You can barely see a small deer tick even when it's in plain sight on your arm, let alone your bunghole.

That being said, I wouldn't recommend deet to anybody. It's very effective at keeping ticks away, it's also nasty. Permethrin treated clothes and picaridin on exposed skin seems like the safest and most effective alternative to deet (unless you have cats).

5) if you didn't notice the rash, you are at risk for systemic Lyme, which occurs weeks later. Arthritis is common. However it can also affect your heart's conduction system and give a slow heart rate. It can also invade your facial nerve and cause bell's palsy, which is reversible

lots of people don't get the rash.

6) there is no such thing as chronic Lyme. Please disregard the garbage health forums out there on the topic.

Agreed, spread the word. So many quack docs are profiting off of this. I have several friends receiving "chronic" lyme treatment, and they are spending tons of money for no results. It's terrible to watch.

 

[Mocheez]

Agreed, spread the word. So many quack docs are profiting off of this. I have several friends receiving "chronic" lyme treatment, and they are spending tons of money for no results. It's terrible to watch.

So what is going on with John E McCray? It has been reported that he is dealing with a "flare up" of lyme disease but I thought he was treated and recovered several years ago.