ARGH!!!! Cycling is bad for your health!

[domtyler]

My mother got a tick bite n France last year and actually developed Lymes disease!

It was a pretty scary time as half her face became paralysed and certain other nasty little symptoms. She has now made a full recovery though thank goodness.

 

[Riding in Circles]

My mother got a tick bite n France last year and actually developed Lymes disease!

It was a pretty scary time as half her face became paralysed and certain other nasty little symptoms. She has now made a full recovery though thank goodness.

The bite was on my bad leg, I have virtually no nerve feeling there and reduced blood flow so I doubt I would notice if it got paralysed, plus I am pretty resiliant, I was bitten by a rattle snake in Nevada last year.

 

[wafflycat]

Our cats get ticks in France and we have to remove them as follows:

Be very careful when removing a tick. Do not crush the body as this can inject the tick's stomach contents into the bloodstream complete with any infections. Use a removal tool or fine tweezers and do not touch the removed tick.

Needless to say, easier said than done when the patient is a cat..

Meanwhile, I hope your treatment is completely successful.

Frontline does the trick. My felines get regular sprays of Frontline to keep fleas & ticks at bay and on the rare occasion one has picked up a tick, a quick top-up spray of Frontline kills the tick instantly & it drops off.

 

[summerdays]

Most of the above removal tips were on the NHS's list of what not to do... not that their method with a credit card and tweezers seems to be any better. Then we were meant to wash the area with the hottest soapy water that he would stand... dry it ... then put him in the bath and wash him (after drying ... whats the point).

 

[Lardyboy]

Oh dear, you have my sympathy - I got a couple of ticks last year (first time I've ever had them) and they were right painful. But the worst was a horsefly bite on my cheek - it swelled so much I could barely open my eye - yuck!

I can sympathize with you UM. I got bitten by a horsefly a good few years ago now and I still shudder at the thought.

 

[Lardyboy]

I was bitten by a rattle snake in Nevada last year.

This does make my horsefly bite anecdote rather inconsequential.

 

[yello]

Chemists and vets here in France sell little tick removal gadgets... they're a bit like crochet hooks. We used to use the tweezer method until a neighbour told us about the gadget. Damned fun to use actually... and it doesn't harm the tic!

 

[Intelligenthamster]

Where I live now we have a lovely heathland common with bridleways for riding- and bogs and horseflies. I react badly to the little beggars- swellings the size of tennis balls and they get so inflamed you can see the blood vessels pulsating. My doctor prescribed me a steroid-based cream to deal with that.

One evening in Sainsbury's a few years ago I felt an itch on my head, scratched and felt something give... I'd had a tick in my scalp, eww! I'd been in North Wales shortly before and had walked up a public footpath that was so overgrown you had to push through the undergrowth including low-hanging trees and I guess that was where I picked it up. Had no idea it was there! Luckily I escaped the tick-borne lurgies, but am now pretty scrupulous about checking.

 

[ufkacbln]

Ticks will become an increasing problem in the UK due to global warming. Personally I blame George Bush!
We don't seem to have a problem around Oswestry, (unless someone knows different) due to it being so bloody cold most of the year.

Does bing bitten by George Bush carry any particular hazard?

 

[longers]

Chemists and vets here in France sell little tick removal gadgets... they're a bit like crochet hooks. We used to use the tweezer method until a neighbour told us about the gadget. Damned fun to use actually... and it doesn't harm the tic!

You can get them over here too. Little green ones. Very useful.

 

[Baggy]

Our local pet shop has started selling them:Tick lassos

Hope the antibiotics work for you Punkyp.

I got bitten by a horsefly a good few years ago now and I still shudder at the thought.

When I was a teenager I had septicemia from an infected horsefly bite, the bite was bad enough but the aftermath was far worse.

 

[peanut]

I was sat at my kitchen table the other day and my cat jumped up. I was stroking him and noticed what I thought was a spider walking up his head. When I put my glasses on it was a great big black tick! calmly walking up the cat's head and the cat didn't even feel it ! yuk
Found a huge tick on a tiny mouse's ear once which one of the cats had brought in alive .
I think they are being spread by the sheep in the adjacent fields

 

[longers]

As Baggy said - hope the 'biotics work and you don't get sick.

Right, back to ticks :?:

Hedgehogs get some pretty horrible ticks Big Blue ones

A swallow came down on the playing fields and I picked it up and carried it home for it to be mended. When I put it on the table it became obvious it had been consorting with hedgehogs. The reason it was in a field not in the air is because humungous great blue ticks had sucked so much of it's blood that it could no longer fly.

I feckin hate ticks !

 

[yello]

Our local pet shop has started selling them:Tick lassos

That's cool! I want one!!

 

[asterix]

Frontline does the trick. My felines get regular sprays of Frontline to keep fleas & ticks at bay and on the rare occasion one has picked up a tick, a quick top-up spray of Frontline kills the tick instantly & it drops off.

Started using Frontline 'spot-on' this year, and so far no ticks..

(In my experience it's much cheaper from on line suppliers than at the vet's)