Ticked Off!

I was talking with PAL and he mentioned that he knew a kayak angler suffering from Lyme encephalitis. Since we may be a bit more safety conscious presently, I thought I'd bring up an issue that some may not be aware of:  Lyme Disease and Ticks. 

Two weekends ago, I was up near Monastery beach and found a tick on me later.  The next day I joined Ark and Alien on a drive from Bean Hollow to Santa Cruz to scope out launch sites.  Because of the tick from the day before we were carefully avoiding any brush when we walked to various beaches.  But from around Ano Nuevo south I began to find ticks crawling on me.  Eventually I counted 7.  Alien and Ark didn't get any.

I don't really have personal experience with Lyme disease except to say that it is a very serious disease, can be very hard to detect and very hard to treat in advanced cases.  It attacks your joints, heart and nervous system. It is hard to detect because the nymph-stage tick can be undetected and the bite is anethesized.  You may see a circular rash around the bite, but it often is dismissed as just another insect bite.  Later, as the bacteria invades the nervous system, the symptoms are often vague, nonspecific or easily mistaken for other medical conditions (see brochure for symptoms). Many symptoms fall under psychiatric symptoms and doctors may dismiss the patient as "a nut case".  I have had two patients recently with Lyme disease.  Both were repeatedly misdiagnosed by multiple doctors.

One man, from Santa Cruz even had gastric surgery for GI symptoms related to LD and only came to me because he was now severely depressed and having Panic Attacks.  Soon after another doctor finally picked up the correct diagnosis.

A lady from Gilroy got it, probably while walking her dog. Retrospectively she recalled seeing a bite she attributed to a spider bite.  After many evaluations she was finally diagnosed with Lyme Disease and Babesiosis, a tick-bourn protozoa that lives in the red blood cells, and makes LD much harder to treat.  Nearly two years into treatment she still carries the bacteria that is hidding somewhere in her tissue, protected from antibiotics.

So beware, tick bites can be very serious.  Look carefully for any ticks or bites when returning from brushy areas and note any unusual bites or rashes.

http://www.lymediseaseassociation.org/LymeRPrimer.pdf

http://www.lymediseaseassociation.org/downloads.html

Thanks for the heads up on this!  I have a friend who received a tick bite from Water Dog lake in Belmont while Mountain Bike Riding.  He did not know he was bit, but after 6 months of finally trying to figure out what was wrong with him, they diagnosed it as Lyme disease.

Not anything to mess around with.

John

We have them here in El Sobrante pretty bad, we have advantage on the dog, ( tempted to put it on myself and kids, joking,,,)

  Thought a had a muscle strain for a couple days once, on closer inspection, I had a pretty good size tick lodged in my chest, sure didn't feel like a bite,  gross...

 anyway, we have a $5 tick puller we use on the dog ( looks like a tiny crowbar ) works great...

 slip it on, counter clockwise turn, the ugly little beast comes out, Head and all

 Not sure if the East Bay Hills version is as bad as San Mateo/Santa Cruz County.....Danglin