Ticks help!

[Stef F]

Glad it's out but watch for rings(Like a target)around the bite if so get your self to the Docs asap

Ps how can you tell it was a highland Tick rather than a Peak tick???

mini Kilt

You mean a tick can survive the acid bath of the Peak? I wouldn't want to encounter one of those!

But seriously....it was playing the bagpipes

[Stef F]

And Whiskey, rather than Rescue Ale breath

Seriously though, get well soon Stef

Thanks I have to get better fast; I'm meant to be meeting my potential new boss on Friday

I'm assuming the man flu isn't related since it started with a sore throat...I'm not sure at what point in the event I swallowed the hedgehog!

[Stef F]

Thanks TM. I'll keep an eye on it and get help straight away if it looks dodgy.

Even if the tick's gone Stef, please, please keep an eye out for a circular rash developing around the area where it was. The usual description is a 'bulls eye rash' and that's just what it looks like, a red ring around the tick bite but separated from it by a gap of normal skin. That's a sign of Lyme Disease and a sure sign you need to get to the doctor.

My wife picked up a tick bite in Croatia last summer, got rid of the tick and forgot about it due to our need to get back to the UK because of a family bereavement. She did have Lyme Disease that went untreated for two weeks and needed ridiculously heavy doses of antibiotics to get rid of it. The doc says we just have to wait and watch now as it's in her system and could potentially have really nasty long term consequences. She reacts to every ache in her joints, or any flu-like symptoms, with a cold fear that this could be something very bad indeed.

Don't take any chances with ticks, they're little black time-bombs that ruin healthy lives.

[stevefoster]

Thanks I have to get better fast; I'm meant to be meeting my potential new boss on Friday

I'm assuming the man flu isn't related since it started with a sore throat...I'm not sure at what point in the event I swallowed the hedgehog!

You'll be reet, can't be man flu, i love hedgehogs but could never swallow a full one. Good luck with the potential new boss, hope he ain't the prickly type

[mr brightside]

I'd have sprayed the little tw@t with carburettor cleaner or Trichlorethane motor cleaner, but then not everyone has a bottom drawer full of solvents like me.

[PaulE]

I'm sure I remember getting one on me as a kid, and my neighbour put a hot lighter on it, so it fell off.

This was 25 years ago though, so might be worth a 2nd opinion

[mr brightside]

Found this on the Beeb website...full of spelling mistakes!

Tick Removal

Some people don't like the idea of an eight-legged blood-sucking creature being attached to them or their pet for too long. Pulling them off os the best way of getting ride of them. It used to be thought that burning ticks off or smothering them in alcohol, vinegar, Vaseline, butter etc would make them fall off or suffocate and die respectively. However, it is well establsihed that this manner of tick removal causes regurgitation of gut and salivary gland content into the patient during the tick removal process and, thereby, increases transmission of Borrelia spirochaetes that cause Lyme disease (see below). The ticks should simply be removed by pulling off:

Plucking or pulling off. Look closely, and you'll see that the fangs go in, then the bulge of the head starts. You're aiming for the join between the two. Get a pair of tweezers, and in one movement deftly grab and twist, in an anti-clockwise direction - according to conventional wisdom, this way you can hopefully avoid snapping the bug1. Special tweezers can even be bought for the purpose!

Nurse. The preferred method - find someone who is paid to do the job well.

Make sure you know what you are doing - any of the self-help methods carry a risk as described below, and if you're not sure, follow the final suggestion. Leaving part of the tick in the flesh can leave you open to all sorts of infections, not just the ones listed below. As we will see, the risks of infection are not worth it.

[ratfink]

this is a good article

http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=398

latest wisdom is not to use oil/vaseline/other smothering techniques as this can make them "puke" mankiness back into your blood - so stick to tweezers or specialist remover.

[IanDarkpeak]

All the running I do in the peak, Scotland Lakes etc I reckon I've only ever had one which I spotted on my socks after a run. I know they are out there(not that I want them of course) but I am surprised given my above statement that so many people find them.

2 of the Glossop MR Team got Lymes a few years ago from Tick bites in Longdondale

[Fellmincer]

Even flat tweezers crushes the body of the tick causing it to push it's gubbins into your body. Emmilou's suggestion of pet tick removal tools are the best thing. And don't twist them out. Pull gently and keep a steady pull and they release.