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Leslie
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| Posted: June 23 2008 at 8:55am | IP Logged
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I've been camping my whole life and never had a tick bite. We went camping last night, got rained out (2 thunderstorms)and came home.It was a great day and evening. I'm glad we came home, though, because we ended up removing around 30 ticks from all of us!
Medical Student hubby saved them all dutifully in plastic bags in the freezer. We tried to call our doctor, but the receptionist is doing a really good job as a gate keeper saying we should just come in.
I guess I just want to know what other people do when they find ticks on their kids (and themselves!). Do you just watch and wait?
We were camping at Quantico in Virginia, if that makes a difference.
Thanks!
Leslie
(still feeling creepy crawlies...they were in the *worst* spot!) 
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Leslie
Mom to Kyler 6, Maddie 4, & Lucas 2
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Vanna
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| Posted: June 23 2008 at 9:43am | IP Logged
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I would just watch and wait. I think you just need to watch for any sign of infection around the bite areas.
This webpage shows you how to identify whether it was a deer tick or not...
http://www.mass.gov/Eeohhs2/images/dph/cdc/tick_id_card.jpg
Here is the info I found on what to look for after a tick bite....
After I remove an attached tick, what symptoms should I look for?
Whenever someone removes an attached tick from their body, they should watch for the appearance of any type of rash, fever or flu-like symptoms. Immediately seek the advice of a health care provider should any symptoms occur, especially if the tick was attached for more than 24 hours.
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Paula in MN
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| Posted: June 23 2008 at 10:08am | IP Logged
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Are you thinking they are deer ticks? Deer ticks are small - they are the ones to worry about. IF that's what you have, you should bring them in. Their lab can determine if they would likely be a carrier for Lymes.
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 Paula
A Catholic Harvest
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Kristie 4
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| Posted: June 23 2008 at 10:26am | IP Logged
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We get heaps of ticks every time we go near the country or long grass. They are not deer ticks so we have nothing to worry about!! (this part of Man. doesn't have deer ticks)
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Kristie in Canada
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Leslie
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| Posted: June 23 2008 at 11:14am | IP Logged
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My dh thinks he's identified them as Lone Star ticks. Some are quite small (smaller than a sesame seed) and some are large.
I think he's going to drop the ticks off at our doctor's office. We aren't going to drag the whole family in though.
Thanks for the info! I just hadn't ever seen anything like this! Welcome to VA, I guess!  (I've lived half my life in the desert).
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Leslie
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folklaur
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| Posted: June 23 2008 at 11:18am | IP Logged
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Growing up in NJ, I lived on the end of a dead end street, surrounded by woods and marshland. I spent all summer in the woods, in the trails, etc. Every single night over the summer, my mom had to go through my hair and pull out ticks (this was after they hosed me down in the front yard as I was covered in mud, too.)  I never had a problem, and neither did any of my friends.
But - they were the bigger ticks...not deer ticks. icky & creepy - I hate ticks!!! A friend of my mom's ended up with Lyme disease from a deer tick, but, if I am remembering correctly, it was after she had taken a trip to upstate NY I think....
I would probably wait...but if it will give you peace of mind, then, maybe a trip to the dr would be called for...
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ALmom
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| Posted: June 25 2008 at 6:04pm | IP Logged
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We get daily ticks around here and while I don't think any are deer ticks - generally too big, other ticks can carry Rocky Mountain spotted fever. A pediatrician my mom worked for used to advise her patients to hold onto the tick for 1 - 2 weeks. It is easier to test the ticks than try to find out why the child is sick. Then if there are any concerning signs, take the tick in and have it tested. We've never taken a tick in to be tested but ....
We have these water bottles sitting above our kitchen sink with ticks. It seems the place is never free of these bottles except in the real heart of winter.
If you want a really funny story - we were at mass one Sunday when I noticed a spot on my 5 yo. Now, it is hard to tell with him whether it is a tick or a scab and I usually have to ask another child with younger eyes. Turns out it was a tick - 13 yo son pulled it off 5 yo for me, but then I was afraid to take
it from him as I cannot see it and didn't want to drop it and end up with a tick wandering around the pews in the church. So I signaled for him to pass it off( thinking dad was at the end of the pew and might have a cleenex). He didn't quite understand so poor guy held onto this tick for the rest of Mass and then until I came back with some toilet paper . I slipped out to get the paper (once I noticed that he did not pass it on to dad) and then back in to retrieve the tick from my long suffering son - and then finally disposed of it and then could finish thanksgiving. So much for not being distracted during Mass - a bit of pass the tick was definitely distracting.
I know my 13 yo wishes I never discovered that he was good at getting ticks off!!! Our 5 yo always ends up with them everywhere - had one in his ear once - also at church but at least we discovered that one in the vestibule after Mass was over!
With the frequency with which we manage to bring them in our house, I simply cannot panic everytime we see one. I do make a habit of saving the ticks, though, so that if they do turn out to get sick, we can expedite the diagnosis and treatment. Most of the time, you will find them quickly before they have time to infect you - and if you pull them off correctly, this also minimizes exposure to anything the tick carries.
Our dog never gets ticks - she has the frontline - so we always get them .
Janet
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Mary G
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| Posted: June 25 2008 at 8:00pm | IP Logged
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YUCK! and Quantico is just down the road ..... why didn't anyone tell us this BEFORE we moved here?????
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JennGM
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| Posted: June 25 2008 at 8:29pm | IP Logged
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Mary G wrote:
| YUCK! and Quantico is just down the road ..... why didn't anyone tell us this BEFORE we moved here????? |
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Sorry, Mary. I just found my first one crawling on me this weekend. I'm pretty sure it was a deer tick. I have a four friends from this area that have suffered from Lyme disease.
My first and worst experiences with ticks was in the state of Arkanasas. My cousins lived near Clarksville, owned a side of a mountain. There were all kinds of ticks -- deer ticks, blood ticks, and seed ticks. Those seed ticks were awful because you would get into a nest of them, and they are tiny, like pinpoints.
Did you ever hear that ticks are attracted to white or light colored clothing. Some people in Arkansas used to tie a sheet behind them to attract a bunch of ticks and then make necklaces. 
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Maryan
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| Posted: June 26 2008 at 6:24am | IP Logged
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We have ticks daily - mostly large ones, more rarely deer ticks. We do the following:
- Check boys head to toe every night.
- Keep hair short (their hair could be shorter actually)
- Remove ticks with tweezers (don't squeeze belly)
- Apply Neosporin to site with bite
- Look for any rash, flu symptoms etc. -- so far we haven't had that
As insanely gross as I think ticks are, I actually think it's lucky that we get them every day because we're on the look out for them... if that makes any sense. We also were told that it takes more than 24 hours to pass on disease...
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Leslie
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| Posted: June 26 2008 at 1:13pm | IP Logged
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ALmom wrote:
So much for not being distracted during Mass - a bit of pass the tick was definitely distracting.
Our dog never gets ticks - she has the frontline - so we always get them .
Janet |
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Janet, I was cracking up at the pass the tick story. This sounds like us (for various reasons) at many Masses.
Dh ended up bringing the ticks (and the kids) into visit one of his professors at school--a parasitologist. They got to look at the ticks under a microscope. Ewwww. It looks like they were all lonestar ticks and we shouldn't be too concerned, but we are holding onto the ticks just in case.
TODAY, we went to see a performance at Wolf Trap and as I was pulling ds (2) out of the car I saw a black lump in the upper creases of his ear. Grrr. It was a very engorged tick. Dh just left to take him to the peds office because we were having trouble getting it out and don't want to leave any part behind.
It has been good to read other tick stories. I've lived all over, but most of my childhood was CA. I don't think I saw a tick until we moved to CO.
Thanks for all the info and stories.
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Leslie
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Tina
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I grew up in a suburb of Pittsburgh and although as children, we were outside all the time playing, we never got ticks on us. Since we've lived in N. VA we really have to watch for them. My 9 yo.dd gets them all the time. Ticks love her. I tell her it's because she's so "sweet" . I wrote about her latest tick
here.
When she got her first tick a couple of years ago, it was on her head. I did not realize that's what it was so I made an appt. with the doctor for that same day. Right before we left, I saw the little legs and realized what it was, but I kept the dr. appt. anyway because I was too creeped out to remove it myself!
Since then, I've removed them every time (though I am still creeped out a bit). I can't keep going to the dr. to have ticks removed, plus I feel so bad for my dd, that I want to get it off of her ASAP.
I save them now, just in case she has a reaction to them. She never has, other than some minor redness at the site.
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: Ticks!
