To be honest, some of the ticks we've been finding are very tiny or fat and
I've disposed of them quickly. I just got the results back on Tuesday -
positive on Lyme's Disease. I have the telltale oval, raised rash just
below my knee with a darker outer edge (bullseye look). My knee also felt
hot to the touch, as well as the rash. Now, I own and operate a flower
planting business, so I always have aches and pains from lugging bags of
soil and mulch around and digging. I told the doctor to just go ahead and
screen my blood for the spirochete. Long story short, I'm on a very strong
antibiotic for 14 days and the rash is already fading away.

My 11 yr. old son came to me last night and had a tick stuck to his skin
near his ribs. This was after he had showered. I'm going to monitor the
area to make sure the rash doesn't occur. We've found about 15-20 ticks
crawling on us, the bed or just on the floor in the bathroom. Right after I
developed the rash, I knew it was Lyme's. My husband had it about 12 years
ago when we lived in the mountains outside of Albany, NY and my dog also got
it. The vets put him on Tetracycline.

I have a neighbor who insists that Lyme's is not something prevalent in this
area- only up north. I think that's a crock. My 13 yr. old daughter got
Lyme's last September when we moved into this house. Her pediatrician told
us that he did not want to put the diagnosis in her chart because insurance
companies will use that against her as she gets older. They may deny a
claim for an illness that they deem was brought on by her past Lyme's
condition. So we put it down as an infected insect bite and he treated her
with antibiotics. I think people are either not reporting the statistics or
are not aware that they have Lyme's disease. The rash will go away on its
own and symptoms may go away and reappear several years down the road. Over
time, without treatment, you can develop severe arthritis, neurological and
heart problems. Bell's Palsy may also occur- one side of your face will
droop (it looks like your frowning on one side).

I've always prided myself as being an organic person, but this time, I made
an exception. I just had my husband spread granular Diazinon all over the
yard to see if we can kill some of them off. I'm really hoping to see some
results. I'm in northern Raleigh, about a mile from Falls Lake area.

Penny
"Joy in Durham" wrote in message
om...
Now for a scary sighting...

I thought I was seeing things this morning, but no, there it was, a
lone star tick crawling up a pants leg. I wasn't wearing it at the
time as the pants were thrown over a rack in my room. It must have
latched on somewhere from a recent hike on the Eno River, or out in
the garden? Has anyone else seen these recently?

I had never seen this type of tick before. Very distinctive. The long
probiscious (sp?) sticks out from the body and it has that dot of
silver on the back. I found a link that shows the difference between
the lone star and more common dog tick. A good photograph for anyone
interested.

http://www.ent.iastate.edu/imagegal/...fanddvarf.html

Sorry, I did NOT save the tick.

Joy in Durham