Oregon Hikers

That's terrible klossner, so sorry

I've heard of other cases like that, somewhat rare. The officials say the Lyme is treated. Some people say to take more antibiotics. Maybe the symptoms aren't really because of Lyme. Maybe the symptoms will gradually go away. There are probably some scamsters that say they can treat it but they can't and it's expensive...

I'm going to treat my boots, gaiters, and pants with permethrin

I've now had three tick bites in 6 months. Rash never spread. No other symptoms, except now whenever I get an itch I wonder if it's a tick

So sorry it happened this way

Dean - I don't want to give wrong info for your friend, but got a similar bite couple years ago and I had to go to the doctor. Bite got swollen to 2+ inches next day, with rash and a semblance of bull's eye. If I recall right, doctor said they needed to wait a month before being able to diagnose the Lyme, but there could be other things as ticks carry lots of nasty stuff. He got me some expensive meds, it's worth to play it safe...

The friend got a prescription of antibiotics. He kept the tick and DR said they could test him or the tick, but that with the bullseye rash they would recommend a course of antibiotics no matter what the test said because false negatives are possible. As Klossner described, it is nothing to take lightly. I knew a guy who lived in Portland and got it back east and was not diagnosed in time for proper treatment. Young healthy hiking guy. Completely ruined his life. I've lost touch with him now (he was told to move to a drier climate) but he was close to being an invalid last I knew. A friend from New England said that suicide is a common cause of death for those who get to that condition.

Yep. Lyme has been here for a number of years. At least 10 years ago, a non-hiking friend of ours got Lyme and suffered debilitating consequences until they finally got it diagnosed and treated it correctly. How did it happen? Best they can figure, the next-door neighbor came back to their Lake Oswego neighborhood with his elk hanging out the back of his pickup. Her pug (not kidding) was very interested in the blood-dripping carcass and may have spent some time around it, enough to get a tick, which then transferred itself to her. It sounds ludicrously implausible, but that's what they think . . .

The pug, soon after, encountered a coyote, with savage consequences. They spent a couple of thousand $$ getting it stitched back up. But, being in Lake Oswego, they had pet insurance. How the world turns . . .

Oh, and the pug, apparently, never contracted Lyme disease, so it was a quick transfer.

bobcat wrote:
The pug, soon after, encountered a coyote, with savage consequences. They spent a couple of thousand $$ getting it stitched back up. But, being in Lake Oswego, they had pet insurance. How the world turns . . .

revenge of the Elk?

retired jerry wrote:revenge of the Elk?

Lots of poetic justice lately.

romann wrote:...If I recall right, doctor said they needed to wait a month before being able to diagnose the Lyme, but there could be other things as ticks carry lots of nasty stuff. He got me some expensive meds, it's worth to play it safe...

Definitely be safe. Hit it EARLY and hit it HARD with a full course of Doxycycline. Doxy is cheap and the possible consequences are, as others have said, really terrible.

Folks go on and on about snakes, bears, cougars, coyotes, wolves etc etc and it's those itty bitty ticks that are the most deadly threat.

200,000' wrote:Folks go on and on about snakes, bears, cougars, coyotes, wolves etc etc and it's those itty bitty ticks that are the most deadly threat.

^Yep, and you should add Permethrin to that list of irrational fears.

Edit: Fixed quoting.