Saturday, March 24, 2018

The Tick Update



I thought it might be a good idea to give you an update to my tick incident from a few weeks ago. The doxycycline is kicking my ass! I feel nauseous or sick every morning and  have way less energy than normal. I actually wondered if I got Lyme disease. Nope, it turns out it’s all a side effect of the medication. 
Although the bruises healed, the scab from where I gouged out the tick looked a bit infected and it made me wonder if I had got all of the tick out. I ended up pulling the scab off (delaying the healing) and making sure there were no tick bits left. The good news was there was no infection hiding underneath but the new scab rubs against my clothes irritating the area and will take even longer to heal. I’m not worried about getting Lyme though so I guess that’s good and am looking forward to the end of the pills. 
This whole scenario is a good reminder to always check for ticks, to always treat the clothes you wear out in tick country with permethrin and to visit your doctor before you leave for a long hike and get and fill prescriptions for things like staph infections, Lyme and other tick borne illnesses and also medication for giardia. In my case I’m also adding an epipen and inhaler to my pack because of a few unknown allergies. I found this video the other day and thought you might like it.




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