last Saturday i was out in the garden, making fences to keep digger dora out of the beds and generally tidying up... went to throw in some laundry and something in my chest was poking me... i actually thought i'd managed to get a blackberry thorn stuck under my bra strap.....
wrong!!
a tick...a nasty little black legged tick burrowed into my flesh...YUCK... now i can put up with a lot of insects but ticks are not one of them... they are a bit like playing Russian Roulette... round and round we go, which one is a carrier.....of ... Babesiosis, Colorado Tick Fever, Ehrlichiois, Lyme Disease, Relapsing Fever, Rocky Mountain Fever, Tick Paralysis and Tularemia... depending upon where you live of course......
grossed out yet??? i am!!
this year has been an incredible year for ticks here... i've found at least a dozen of the little devils on the dogs...usually i get them right away, put a drop or 2 of tea tree oil on a Qtip and dab on the tick.. within an hour the tick is dead and removal easier...
anyways...
it was Easter Weekend so doctor's office was closed until today... i went in complete with a photo of the area where it's all red and swollen and the tick in a bag, (mine i killed with teatree oil but today was told they lab requests live specimens).... already i know that i'm going to have to make a few waves in order to get treated..... why you might ask.... because Lyme disease is not well known, not well addressed and finally the government is realizing, poorly diagnosed.... how do i know this??? because last year i went to a seminar on Lyme Disease on Vancouver Island it seems there are some very serious issues.. one being that a great number of people were told there is 'no' Lyme Disease on the island... hmmm i say, considering of the at least 100 people at the seminar, everyone of the audience either had Lyme Disease or knew of someone with it.... so many of the folks said the same story.. that's not possible, not here, couldn't be a tick bite, must be a spider and the list of excuses goes on... fortunately someone is finally waking up...
here is an article from The Vancouver Sun regarding the B.C. government commissioning a report on Lyme Disease in B.C. ... the findings are: "testing is poor," there is "no treatment for chronic Lyme disease patients," "the true incidence of Lyme disease in B.C. is unknown," "the majority of GPs lack knowledge about Lyme disease" and "the current state of diagnostic methods for chronic Lyme and other related infections is poor." i'd have to concur..... the doctor i had today was good.. i'm glad... she finally agreed that prevention was worth it and gave me a prescription for the antibiotics but not before i repeated several times that i have friends who have Lyme Disease and i wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy... they were ignored, told they had any number of other things including 'all in their heads' here's the name of a counsellor you should see...they are both in serious condition from 'side affects' of the Lyme Disease.. all because they weren't treated immediately.....
the moral of my post today is if you've been bitten, try and get the offending tick ALIVE in a jar, get treatment as soon as possible.... and if you have to nudge the Doctor into prescribing antibiotics so be it... an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure... or in the case of Lyme maybe not even a cure....
here is a list of Foundations:
CanLyme (Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation)
The Lyme Disease Foundation
American Lyme Disease Foundation
Lyme Disease Network
just to name a few
and a very good film about it
Under Our Skin
you can find excerpts and trailers on youtube by typing in Under Our Skin....
a good online news article:
CBC news
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4 comments:
I have had one atached, it is a bad year for them. I have a clothing spray I use on my shoes, and another for skin if I am going into deep woods.All biters like me, I am a buffet to many.
Out on the praire, it really is a bad year for them... Sampson has another on this morning... i think we're just a buffet because we're so sweet :D
Looks nasty, I sure hope it is nothing but a mild infection. Those creepy little crawlies are very attracted to both my wife and the grandson and they have to be checked after being in the tall grass during the late spring. Fortunately they don't seem to like me too much...must be all that garlic. So I'm curious, what has your weather been like...warm and rainy? Just wondering why the ticks are so early/abundant in your area. Hope you check out OK.
Mr. H, for the amount of garlic i eat i should be toxic too! the weather has been cooler than normal, but wet wet.. i think here the real problem is Scotch Broom... it's multiplying like the bad weed it is..even way up in the mountains where ever it's been logged, the broom has taken over..in addition the predators have been reduced, which lets the deer population increase and travel more, spreading the tick population.. thats my guess anyways ...
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