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Anyone ever get ticks when they're cycling?

(19 posts)
  • Started 9 years ago by I were right about that saddle
  • Latest reply from I were right about that saddle
  • This topic is not resolved

  1. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    I think it must have been when I was crashing through the foliage of Greenroofer's railway snicket from Myreside Road to Colinton Road down the side of Watsonian's cricket ground that I picked up a tick on the back of my thigh.

    Now my doctor gave me a formal instruction to take ticks seriously after learning that I got them regularly whilst running. Shorts and short sleeved tops are verboten to avoid tick-borne encephalitis or even Lyme disease. Any ticks got are to be removed by no means other than a tick-pick;

    http://www.otom.com/how-to-remove-a-tick

    Now I don't keep a tick pick in the office, and in fact I left mine at my mate's in Northumberland at the weekend. So I'm oddly proud of the improvised pick I just made from a sheet of Diet Coke can. Quick trip to the disabled toilets and the unwelcome arachnid has been consigned to the sink intact and alive.

    I think I'll add the improvised instrument to my toolkit.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  2. gembo
    Member

    looks like you are prone to ticks

    always keen to remove them since story of person in bath and all the babies burst out

    wish i had known bout tick picks when I had one (inner thigh, Fort William 1985)

    I have some right itchy bites because I went down the garden last night after cyling home and had on little cycling socks which did not extend up my leg enough for the prevention of the little ground dwelling midges biting me.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  3. wingpig
    Member

    I had something fairly sizeable hanging onto my calf after visiting Dunvegan years ago but round here it's only Diptera and Hymenoptera which harass me.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  4. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Ground dwelling midges? I've recently twigged that all the bites I get in the garden are down to minute pirates;

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthocoridae

    Not sure if I'm prone to ticks, but I am prone to wading through vegetation. Inner thigh tick desperately unwelcome, even in 1980s Fort Bill.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  5. Min
    Member

    I am prone to ticks. I carry a tick remover in my first aid kit. I favour incinerating them with a lighter after removal, just to make sure.

    That tick video is oddly compelling.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  6. Uberuce
    Member

    I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit, Min?

    I swept a round black insect from my thigh a couple of weeks ago, which I assume was a tick. It left a little mark on said limb, anyway.

    My ex got Lyme's from a tick, her main symptom being a tick bite that didn't heal so I watched the <1mm wound closely, but since it healed in a handful of days, I assume I've gotten away with it.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  7. Min
    Member

    I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit, Min?

    I like that plan. Failing that, telling President Obama the tick has access to Russian made surface to air missiles would have a similar effect.

    My ex got Lyme's from a tick

    This is what bothers me. I read that it takes a few days for the disease to get passed to you so the sooner you find and remove the tick the better.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  8. Cyclingmollie
    Member

    Never while cycling but a few times while walking. The dog gets one now and then. I've not seen Anthocoridae but Trombiculidae were a problem when I was a child. My parents called them heat spots. A friend from Perthshire explained they were "berry bugs", tiny red spider mites. We never knew to avoid long grass (we lived in the country) nor found an antidote (Anthisan ftw). I hated them.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  9. gembo
    Member

    My youngest was bitten by a cleg this summer as we were in Devon I suppose it was a horsefly. Nasty. I was bitten by. Cleg t the third hole of lochwinnoch golf course so often as. Child that it became a feature of the hole, bit like the bunker. Nasty.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  10. JohnS
    Member

    I have just finished a course of antibiotics as a precaution against Lymme's Disease. I caught two ticks cycling with silly loose shorts in Tentsmuir, Fife. It can take up to 15 days for symptoms to appear - usually an odd/ red large rash around the bite at least the size of a 50p piece. I developed these within that period. My GP advised to go straight onto antibiotics as the symptoms can be slow to appear. Blood tests show all clear thank goodness. Long term side affects can be nasty. I've picked up ticks hillwalking in the past, but nothing like this. GP said there has been a twofold increase in Lymme's largely due to mild winters. From now on it's lightweight walking trousrs on the hill and lycra on the bike.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  11. paolobr
    Member

    I did find one on my leg while touring up to visit my family in Lossiemouth a few years ago. I'd been camping on the way, suspect it attached while I was rough camping at Loch an Eilein near Aviemore on the last day. Discovered it while in the bath later that day...

    Posted 9 years ago #
  12. minus six
    Member

    @JohnS

    The NHS typically don't allow a sufficient antibiotic treatment length for Lyme. A fortnight isn't enough.

    My partner has had Lyme for seven years on and off, and has developed serious secondary conditions which are now permanent.

    If you developed symptoms you should be pushing for a full month of antibiotics.

    Read this stuff * (everyone should, really):

    http://lymeywifey.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/lyme-overview-presentation.html

    (read both the presentation and the notes)

    (* not written by my partner, someone else)

    Posted 9 years ago #
  13. Dangerous
    Member

    Yes.

    Got a Couple whilst mountain biking in Scolty Forest near Elgin.

    Didn't know much about Ticks and Lymes disease until about 3 years ago.

    It can be fatal as a former colleague died from it.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  14. Min
    Member

    From now on it's lightweight walking trousrs on the hill and lycra on the bike.

    I am not sure that works. I think all of my ticks have been caught while I was wearing trousers. My latest tick was on my stomach which makes me think it must have got up my t-shirt. Up until that point I had been wondering if gaiters might help.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  15. minus six
    Member

    I think all of my ticks have been caught while I was wearing trousers

    neck buff is useful.

    otherwise they nestle in the nape of your neck, under the hairline, until they get a better chance later

    Posted 9 years ago #
  16. Min
    Member

    !

    Staying indoors for the rest of my life it is then..

    Posted 9 years ago #
  17. minus six
    Member

    The ticks they fall like rain, and Lyme Disease is endemic in Scotland.

    Often misdiagnosed as MS, so i chuckle when they ponder why MS has such a high rate in Scotland.

    There is a recognised political issue, both here and in the USA, surrounding antibiotic treatment for Lyme.

    Your GP, or consultants at Infectious Diseases unit, will tell you that after the brief initial dose of antibiotics, you can't possibly still have Lyme, your symptoms are definitely not related.

    However:

    Bush and Lyme disease: what's the secret?

    The White House won't reveal the length of the president's antibiotics course. Are they protecting the insurance industry?

    http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/aug/13/bushandlymediseasewhatsth

    worth a read.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  18. wingpig
    Member

    "otherwise they nestle in the nape of your neck, under the hairline, until they get a better chance later"

    I saw someone cycling with a neck buff today. Tick-defence could explain that, but not the people wearing zipped-up anoraks despite the heat.

    Maybe that's the purpose of my hypersweatiness - it's a defensive adaptation to try and drown stowaway arthropods.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  19. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Could be the start of taking this issue a bit more seriously...

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-28755248

    Posted 9 years ago #

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