Ticks

[docsquid]

You've all pretty much covered it, but this is the official NHS advice: http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Lyme-disease/Pages/Prevention.aspx

[Darren]

My had 9 ticks last weekend all taken out with O'toms tick remover.. My wife had lyme diesease last year and had 5 months off work.. NEVER cover them with vasline or alchol.

[RichardKing]

Looking at the comments posted under "Diagnosis" on the NHS website sums up their sloppy inacurate methods.

I found the Lyme Disease Action website & the information received from them by email turned out be more accurate that the NHS doctor & NHS laboratory.

http://www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk/

[tracy]

I am feeling totally grossed out right now!

[solar bud]

How do you think I felt when I found these things sticking in me!!

I actually threw my duvet in the skip and boil washed my bedclothes before I figured out they weren't bed bugs.

[tracy]

I suspect I would react in a similar manner!

[Exeldama]

never heard of that one.the backflow caused by alcohol stress. thingy... that siad i have only seen it used a few times on people more often on animals. That said i have seen soooo many people screw up using tweezers and the like which presumably stresses out the tick to....so best not to be had in the first place. I did remove one from mw wifes stomach but now she is an ex-wife i wish i had left it there and annoyed it.

[northmetking]

Last weekend my wife and I had our first experience of ticks. We had no idea how to handle them and we did what we obviously shouldn't have done and got them out the best we could with our fingers, her nails an some tweezers. I had loads on me as I had been walking through long grass in North Devon in shorts. My wife was quite creeped by the whole thing and couldn't sleep properly for fear of them crawling all over us in bed at night.

I ended up cutting some of them out with a knife to make sure they were gone. My wife wants to get checked out by the doctor since reading your posts but I think we will be OK as there doesn't appear to be any redness or itching.

We did learn that having a bath and trying to get rid of them that way doesn't work. What I want to know is why on earth they exist if they cause so much hassle. apart from science using them to find out how they thin blood out I can't see what value they have on this wonderful planet.

She used Tea tree oil and Sudocream to cover the wounds/bites afterwards.

[happybonzo]

There has been a very good post on UK Campsites recently about ticks; on the "what and what not not to do" things

It seems that covering them in Vaseline, lighter fuel and other things is very bad practise. This is accroding to DEFRA and also the NHS and Netdoctor websites

The best way is to remove the brutes using one of tick twister things

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnD6x0svOJE&feature=share - it's a really good video and shows how to use the device properly

[tracy]

One of our local doctors used vaseline on a tick on a kid recently. Confusing!