Bug season and bites.

[Dftodd]

Hey guys. Just figured I would post a recent experience. Woke up one morning a few weeks ago with my knee hurting. Didn't think to much of it though. Being that I'm a mechanic by trade and getting older, I'm jused to being stiff and sore. Also if I feel little pinches and such, they tend to be ignored and chocked up to clothing grabbing hairs, or body position against what I'm working on.

So anyway, knee was hurting. Actually throbbing. Then noticed it wasn't easing up through the day, so I decided to check it closer. Just noticed a little red mark on my knee cap, and some swelling compared to my other knee. When I got home, I had my wife (nurse) check it. That's when she noticed it was hot to the touch. And told me I needed to get into the doctors the next morning.

Long story short, doctor figured it was a spider bite. Thankfully not one of the notoriously bad ones. But either way, 10 days on a pill that would choke a large horse, and a knee that throbbed for about 3 weeks due to fluid build up. And inventing new cuss words if you bumped it on something

So, if your out there working and feel a slight pinch. Make sure and double check the area, in case it wasn't a wild hair being pulled out

 

[PILOON]

Interesting.
Ions ago as a teen I developed a large inflammation on my right knee.
Was a water spider bite!
Darn close to a 1/2 cup of puss came from that bite, heck I still have a small scar from that.
My guess is those spiders dine on all sorts of dead and decayed life and then transfer the microbes when they bite you.
\Fact was I actually saw him nip me so I was sure as to wat caused my problem.

I refer to the spiders that we every so often 'walking on water'.

 

[Jstpssng]

The deer ticks are coming out here. Nasty little buggers, but the Lymes disease they carry is even worse. I've pulled two of them off a very personal area in the last two weeks, the last one is sending me out to my Dr for antibiotics.

 

[/pine]

Tick, mosquito-borne infections surge in United States:
Tick, mosquito-borne infections surge in United States: CDC | Reuters

Diseases Spread By Insects Have More Than Tripled:
CDC: Diseases From Mosquitoes, Fleas and Ticks Have Tripled | Time

 

[jbrumberg]

^^^ I pulled the first tick off my dog yesterday. Flea and tick season has just begun here. I used to worry about our dogs only... Now I check myself daily.

 

[Dftodd]

Little old lady that lives at the beginning of our street, has had some issues with balance and health for a couple years. Finally about a month ago, her daughter asked for them to check her mom for tick born illnesses. Come to find out she had rocky mountain spotted fever, for a couple years

Doctors just attributed everything to her age and never thought to check her.

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^ I pulled the first tick off my dog yesterday. Flea and tick season has just begun here. I used to worry about our dogs only... Now I check myself daily.

I used to pick up to 30 off me a day, and as many off my dog when I was working downstate.

My dog gets a pill that kills them for 3 months. I try not to think how it works or what it does to him, as it can't be any worse than Lyme's which he already has been treated for. I keep asking my vet but they won't prescribe the same pill for me.

 

[kthompson]

I used to pick up to 30 off me a day, and as many off my dog when I was working downstate.

My dog gets a pill that kills them for 3 months. I try not to think how it works or what it does to him, as it can't be any worse than Lyme's which he already has been treated for. I keep asking my vet but they won't prescribe the same pill for me.

Do they write prescriptions for animal medication? I thought most of them were sold by animal supply stores. Well ours here does. Maybe not all medicine for animals. My wife had a friend at work who bought some of her own medication there and she worked in the medical field. Not saying that is safe.

 

[Jstpssng]

Do they write prescriptions for animal medication? I thought most of them were sold by animal supply stores. Well ours here does. Maybe not all medicine for animals. My wife had a friend at work who bought some of her own medication there and she worked in the medical field. Not saying that is safe.

It depends on the meds. I find many things odd about the veterinary health industry vs ours; i.e. I was two miles from my vet's office when they called and said to turn around and get some antibiotics because he tested positive for Lymes. For a human it would take weeks just to convince a doctor to test for it.
My dog is now vaccinated for the disease every year; another option which isn't available for us.

Anything that I take him in for, I know up front what it will cost; I had minor surgery last month and still have no clue what the bill is going to be. It would have been nice to get a number, even if it's only within $10,000. I have no way of knowing how much I will owe.

 

[Thomas]

In our area ticks are BIG concern this year..already remove 4 from me...than the EEE from misquotes,nature just trying to balance out the odds w/humans. :confused3:

 

[mcfarmall]

Yeah, I took my dog to the vet yesterday for his annual vaccinations and to pick up his flea/tick/heartworm/intestinal worm meds and left $533.00 lighter. My arse is still bleeding from that trip.

 

[Jstpssng]

Yeah, I took my dog to the vet yesterday for his annual vaccinations and to pick up his flea/tick/heartworm/intestinal worm meds and left $533.00 lighter. My arse is still bleeding from that trip.

Imagine what a comparable bill would be if you had been the patient. YIKES!

 

[drizler]

TickEncounter Resource Center


Here is the comprehensive say showing you how to treat your clothes in yourself and manage dealing with ticks in the outdoors. Permethrin is cheap at tractor supply, something like a lifetime supply is $16 for a quart. Take note how well it holds up in soaked clothing which is been washed.

 

[Jstpssng]

Black flies bother me more than the ticks do; it seems that I have a worse reaction to them every year. Right now my arms look like I've got poison ivy. The bites turn into craters that won't heal for a month.

 

[big bubba]

Black flies bother me more than the ticks do; it seems that I have a worse reaction to them every year. Right now my arms look like I've got poison ivy. The bites turn into craters that won't heal for a month.

do feel for ya, they can be voracious esp up north. horseflies the same down here when they come into season. i try to wear long sleeves & pants in the worst of it. maybe some spray around the cuffs & pant legs. keep things mowed down around the traffic areas.
i don't have a chemical cure all as i don't go ballistic on chemical warfare. so far, no problem w/ bites after all these years.
now if i were raising kids again, different story i guess in areas of biting insects.

i'm not a purist by any means. i just like to keep it simple in the chemical remedies, have lots of natural watershed around..so far, no complaints. if i were raising cattle again....well don't ask me. i just have the wildlife around water that i know spread ticks, etc
hope those black flies ease down. are they for full season or just a life cycle? best regards

 

[oosik]

Pretty fortunate - a few mosquitos but it is too hot for them in the afternoon. A lot of really small wood ticks this year. Later in the year I'll see some deer and horse flies

 

[rd_macgregor]

Black flies are just showing up here now as the days get (too slowly!) warmer. I expect mosquitoes will be along soon enough, too. Horse flies aren't usually around until late June or early July, when it is much warmer. I really don't like things that bite (or sting) me...

 

[/pine]

West Nile Virus found in mosquitoes in Ohio, Washington

Be careful out there...especially this holiday weekend...!

 

[MossRoad]

They've found it in Indiana again this year in Elkhart County just east of us, and the county just NE of Purdue U in west-central Indiana.

 

[ruffdog]

My wife and I just came in from picking black cap berries..........MOSQUITOS!!!!!!!! And the heat index is at 100deg and the air is thick. I put on my mosquito net hat and work coveralls that have been sprayed.