#Tick Bite

[bookpirate32]

MY DAY:

Dentist (wanted to die, don’t like hands in my mouth)

Starbucks (yay!! Snackie treat for being good at the dentist 😋 yummy plain bagel with cream cheese and an iced coffee)

Nap (🥱😴)

Nap some more (😴😴😴)

Wake up and think about Clancy

Interact with Tumblr users about Clancy

Put on my favorite pj pants (Bluey themed, bought them at Target in the men’s section)

Start writing RITN flower analysis

My friend calls me with great news (her doctor is being Not Useless For Once! Yay!)

REALIZE I HAVE TICK!!!!!!

Go into panic mode because if there was one thing my parents told me once I started dating my outdoorsy boyfriend (now husband) it was to Fear Lyme Disease because I am already disabled and chronically ill which means Lyme Disease would = my untimely departure from this world

Go over to my friends house

She removes the tick which had hunkered down in my brand new Bluey men’s PJ pants from Target while I was at one of my other friends houses yesterday (she lives in a woodsy area)

The tick was fresh and probably had been attached to me for less than 10 minutes because of the way he was moving and also his blood content

Come home in different pj pants that my friend lent me

Take a very hot bubble bath Just In Case

I am now sitting in my Very Hot Bubble Bath writing this sweating because of the hot water and also nauseous because getting bit by a tick is my worst nightmare

[societysonlooker]

Further additions:

No, ticks do not jump from trees. But they can absolutely fall on you if they drop out or get blown out of a tree! I had this happen to me literally yesterday. And before you ask: we were walking two wide on a wide path, and not only did the tick land on the arm towards the inside of the path, I watched it fall. I watched it fall and Because it fell I assumed it was a spider. It was not a spider! It was a lone star tick!

Second. They *do* move fast, insofar as crawling insects are concerned. As fast as an ant of comparable size. And yes, this Does mean that nymphs move much slower than adults, and therefore are relatively slow. But the adults can move. Don't forget that, and if you see one, do Not lose sight of it, do not let it crawl into your clothes. That last thing you want is to not know if a tick is clinging to you somewhere you can't see, or if it's on the ground.

Third, try not to use blunt tweezers but they are better than No tweezers. If you Do use them, then double down on your sterilization process.

Finally, many tick borne illnesses can be treated best if you start treatment BEFORE symptoms appear. So check your local universities, hospitals, or research cooperatives to see if any of them do free tick testing. Cornell and all of their extensions (with the proper lab settups) especifically offer free testing of captured ticks to try and get an idea of what percentage of ticks in an area are contaminated with tick borne diseases. Most of these places will also send you a full report of what the tick you sent in was carrying, and if it Was a carrier of something that needs treatment, like rocky mountain fever or lymes, then you can bring that report to your local clinic or pcp to begin treatment right away, before symptoms start.

And to add to that, if you're outside anywhere other than your backyard, bring one of those disposable scotch tape dispensers with you so you can safely store it and bring it home with you so that you can later send it out for testing.

...ok *actually* lastly, if you've been somewhere ticks thrive or are in those areas often, get in the habit of checking yourself over for new injuries or rashes. Sometimes ticks get their fill and detach, and if you don't check for rashes for a few days after you went out, you'll never know. I contracted lymes last year and the only reason I knew and was able to get antibiotics before symptoms appeared was that I found a bullseye, barely there and hard to see, on my foot.

Stay safe yall!

I'm trying to write a post about tick safety and avoiding tick bites, but a lot of the info on websites is like "Avoid going in the woods, in plants, and where there are wild animals" and "Activities like hiking and gardening can put you at risk" and I'm like thanks! This is worthless!

As ticks and tick borne illnesses are expanding their range, I think it's important for people to be educated about these things, and I think it's especially important to give people actual advice on how to protect themselves instead of telling them to just...avoid the natural world

Rough draft version of Tick Advice:

Ticks don't jump down on you from trees, they get on you when you brush against grass, brush, bushes etc.

Ticks get brought to an area when they get done feeding from an animal and fall off them. In the USA, the main tick-bringing animal is deer, but I've seen plenty ticks on feral cats and songbirds.

Ticks get killed when they dry out so drier areas with more sunlight are less favorable to ticks.

The above is useful for figuring out whether an area is likely to have lots of ticks, and how vigilant you have to be in that area.

Wear light-colored, long pants outside. Tuck your pants into your socks, and tuck your shirt into the waist of your pants. Invest in light, breathable fabrics idc

IMMEDIATELY change out of your outside clothes when you come back from a tick-prone area, wash them, and dry them on high heat to kill any ticks that might be stuck on.

Shower and check yourself for ticks after coming inside. Hair, armpits, and nether regions in particular. You can use a handheld mirror or rely on touch; an attached tick will feel like a bump kinda like a scab

While you're outside, you can just periodically check for ticks by running your hands down your legs and checking visually to see if anything is crawling on your clothes. Light colors make them easy to spot, and they don't move fast.

Combing through each others' hair to check for creepy crawly critters is a time-honored primate ritual and is not weird. When hiking, bring a friend who will have your back when you feel something on your neck and need to know if it's sweat or a tick

If you're careful, you can usually catch ticks before they bite you, but if one does bite you, it's not the end of the world. Since tickborne diseases are different regionally i suspect this advice will differ based on where you are, but the important thing is remove the tick with tweezers (DON'T use butter, a lit match, or anything that kills the tick while it's still attached, please) and contact a doctor to see what to watch for. Most illnesses you can catch from ticks are easily treatable if you recognize them when symptoms first appear

[plebeiangoth]

Just pulled a tick out of a nast bite, which I must have picked up from the garden earlier

Please be extremely careful after being outside to check for ticks, remove ticks immediately and entirely, clean any bites, and go straight to the doctor if you get a bullseye, worsening rash, flu-like symptoms or joint pain. Lyme disease fucking sucks, I stupidly ignored it for a month as a kid once and I didn't recover well once I completed antibiotics and had post-treatment lyme disease syndrome for a long while.

The bite I have mostly looks like I did a rough job removing the tick and pinched my skin too hard trying to grab the tick. But I scrubbed it with iodine and put some PRID on it (I don't know if that helps, it's just a thing my mom told me to do with tick bites and it seems to make the bite heal quickly). It was surely attached for less than 24 hours (5 max, I imagine) and there's no rings. I think it'll be fine but I'll monitor it

[tpup]

I latch onto tgirl tits like I am a tick. you have to remove me with tweezers in a steady upward motion or else my teeth will break off inside of you and until you've done that i will be sucking with all the might in my desperate little body

[rjshope]

revenge is sweet😏

[goryhorroor]

horror sub-genres: insect

[rapidhighway]

No seriously check yourself for ticks. I feel like a make this psa every year but everyone always ignores the fact that they've been hanging around tall grass or bushes. Check your body, check your siblings and kids who won't do it as carefully as they should, and stay safe!!

[catwouthats]

“How can this many people simply vote for Trump in the first place?”

✨Gaslighting✨

And

✨Teaching themselves apathy because they have been pushed to the brink and are only focused on their own survival and think that this guy will give it because he

gaslight themmmm✨

[d3vilishd00dles]

has anyone ever thought about the fact that a running gag with Captain Hook is literally just triggering his PTSD over and over?

[stardustizuku]

Rozemyne: I’ll fight even the gods if it means protecting Ferdinand!

Mestionora: Your little shumil almost killed a god, you know?

Rozemyne: Oh fuck, I’m so sorry, we are never coming back here again, I am so incredibly sorry, oh my god.

[tickfleato]

see normally when cats bite you when you're petting them it's because they're overstimulated and want you to stop. But vinny will bite you while actively enthusiastically trying to get you to continue petting him. like tail lashing clearly overexcited but he wants you to pet him so fucking bad. very strange animal

[oysters-aint-for-me]

i came home from my three day work trip and my parents were like ianto has a weird growth below his ear he’s had it since you left and it’s tan and sort of long and black at the base and it keeps getting bigger and bigger can you take a look?

i’ll give you three guesses as to what it was and the first two don’t count

[bisexualdawnsummers]

Fraser/Ray V for ship bingo

Bingo! We have a winner. This ship literally ticks almost all my boxes. They're so multi-faceted. I love them so much <3

Thanks for playing!

[yellow-artz]

Ugliness of curiosity