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

seen em?? They are common in my neck of the woods - raleigh over by umstead

tomatolord


"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

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

I'm sorry to hear about your Lyme disease, Penny. I have so many
ticks where I live, that they are not combatable. They never
disappeared completlely during the winter, and they are here full
force now. I pick about 10 a day off my dog, and maybe 5 off me. My
dog and I walk in the woods every day (which is where we live... no
escape, but it is worth it to live here).
Every year we get the tick identity thread here. I was under the
impression that the three we see most prevalently were all the same
tick, just at different stages. It is the Lone Star tick that is
attaching to both my dog and me (as is easily seen by that white
spot). Then there are the smaller ones which some define as deer
ticks or seed ticks, but I understand are the adolescents. They are
about the size of the head of a straight pin.
And then, the true scourge, the hordes of the infants that swarm up
your leg by the hundreds in late summer. You almost need a magnifying
glass to see them. You need to get your masking tape out fast, and
blot them all up.
I react to tick bites, so they ALL look like Lyme disease on me. When
I get 30 or so bites, I just sit there in misery from the itching.
Benedryl helps. I keep attention to any additional rash or signs of
fever. Hope my luck holds.
My dog seems to have mini-seizures when I put Frontline on him, so I
put it off as long as possible and just check him out thoroughly
daily.
Kira