10 Tips to Avoid Tick Bites
Sunday June 28, 2009
Who knew gardening could be so treacherous? While we’re out there basking in nature, nature is biting back. Ticks are never a pleasant surprise and if you live where lyme disease is a growing problem, you really need to protect yourself. Debbie Hadley is a gardener who’s generally fascinated by insects, but even she steers clear of ticks. Here are her tips for avoiding tick bites.
Photo Courtesy of Getty Images. Used with Permission.
Comments
Lyme Disease is terrible stuff. I was infected 32 years ago, misdiagnosed with MS 22 years ago and just discovered in 2005 that I had Lyme. I also passed it to my 4 daughters while pregnant. Our symptoms vary from blindness, heart valve defects, memory loss, a crippling gait, inability to write,
etc etc. The US is currently at epidemic levels with an estimated 30-35 million citizens infected with the bacteria and don’t know.
It’s a big secret.
If you have Lupus, MS, SMA, ALS, Chronic Fatique, Fibromyalgia, ADD, etc etc, suspect Lyme Disease.
I did not know it could be passed along to unborn children. That’s frightening.
You’re so right about tick related diseases being diagnosed as something else. Half the time you never even see the tick and even if you do, by the time symptoms turn up, the tick is long gone. A gardening friend of mine was told she had cancer, until someone noticed her blood work looked more like erlychiosis.
In the background of your picture of the false sunflower, what is the tall plant that is in the left upper corner? I have this in my garden and it is not yet in bloom and I have not idea what it is? Help!
Lyme is awful. My mom was misdiagnosed and mistreated for it for almost 6 months last year, which made her worse. She’s been under better care since about the beginning of the year and still has many months of intensive antibiotic therapy ahead of her. The epidemic of lyme is frightening. Start asking and odds are someone you know has it. And, yes, it can be passed through any human fluid exchange based on reading I’ve done as I’ve learned more about this awful disease.
If you ever have mystery aches and pains, get tested even if you don’t think you were bit by a tick. And, if you are bit by a tick, get tested and save the tick itself for testing. And even if your test comes up negative, you might have the disease. It is truly frightening.
Oh as of now i totally unaware of this thanks for sharing.
Nitin,
Mumbai property.
If you take a handful of Vitamin B1 it repels ticks (and mosquitoes) They don’t like the way it smells when it comes out of your pores…and the excess is urinated out with no side effects.
I asked my doctor before trying it after a friend told me about it…I went camping and was tick free and very few mosquito bites while others were not.
Laurah, I had heard B6 and it did nothing to keep the mosquitoes away from me. I’ll try the B1. It can’t hurt, and I’m very, very popular with mosquitoes.
I am a mosquitoes magnet everytime I step outside. I tried one of the new “OFF’ things that you attach to you waist or pocket. It is run by a battery and has refills. I am now on my second refill and no mosquitoes after using for two weeks. I leave it near the door so I can put it on when I go out the back door. It has be a blessing for me!!
You know, I’ve resisted getting one of those new Off gadgets because I didn’t want to work in a cloud of pesticide, but I’m mosquito candy too and nothing else seems to work. It’s been so rainy here, the mosquitoes are thriving.
I believe chemistry has a lot to do with who gets a tick bite and who doesnt. They eat me alive but dont touch my son. I have lyme disease. But i still get bit. Am going to try the B-1 It has a rather strong smell and it cant hurt
Jerriann, I’m not certain which photo you’re referring to, but if it’s the one I think, it’s a Heliopsis.