[shurt]

As far as I know yes. They aren't 100% effective and they don't claim to be but I've been using them (well the kids have) for about a month and so far so good.

Just looked it up, here's the adult one...
shorturl.at/uABM7
Reviews are a bit mixed to be fair

P.s. I've nothing to do with the company etc...

[SA Chris]

DEET spray (use at own risk) and apparently Citronella is a known deterrent. If you find any on you it's apparently a good idea to kill them and keep them once removed so they can be tested if you start to show any symptoms. As a precautionary measure you can apparently post them to a lab to be tested too (at a cost).

[BrutusTheBear]

So I came down with a pretty heavy fever, chills, joint pain, headaches, fatigue about 3/4 weeks ago.  Have recently developed a rash which is consistent with pictures of 'multiple erythema migrans' I found through doing some 'research'.  Saw Dr last week who diagnosed that I have had a virus which they can't identify and the rash is a post viral rash that should go away with time.
Pretty clear now it's Lyme and I am back to Dr's tomorrow.

Most likely Exmoor which I realise is not the Peaks (I did that to annoy pedants here ).  Wonder whether anyone has had Lyme and can talk about recovery after treatment? Not feeling 100% at present although the fever has gone.

[Johnny Brown]

When I went to see a doctor in Sheffield he had never heard of Lyme and after a brief check online assured me it was vanishingly rare, nothing to worry about and waved me away.

So I would suggest downloading/ printing some official literature from NHS Scotland or similar - there are signs up to check for bullring rash everywhere in the Highlands. I suspect they are faced with self-diagnosed viruses every day. Sounds like you should be early enough for the antibiotics to have a chance though. Has the illness passed?

[BrutusTheBear]

Thanks for response JB.  Fever has passed, still have rash but not the classic bullseye, I have multiple patches.  Still feel under the weather, low energy/tired.

Have checked NICE guidelines and they should prescribe antibiotics on sight of the rash I have or the classic bullseye. Will go armed with this to Dr's tomorrow morning. 

Will update here on how it goes.

[mrjonathanr]

I listened to a podcast by a lady from Lyme Action. You could ask them for advice. She said classic bullring formation was <50% and maybe no clear rash in some cases Draw a line in biro round the edge if the rash and take a pic. One sign of lymes is an expanding rash so you should see it expand- keep drawing perimeter and taking pics to show the doc.
Hope you get antibiotics and start feeling better soon Brutus.

[chrisbrooke]

I've removed a couple from my legs after sessions at Baslow in the last couple of weeks. Nothing's come of them thank goodness. Never had them before despite frequently bashing through the bracken in Summer over the years.

[BrutusTheBear]

I listened to a podcast by a lady from Lyme Action. You could ask them for advice. She said classic bullring formation was <50% and maybe no clear rash in some cases Draw a line in biro round the edge if the rash and take a pic. One sign of lymes is an expanding rash so you should see it expand- keep drawing perimeter and taking pics to show the doc.
Hope you get antibiotics and start feeling better soon Brutus.

  My advantage is that the Dr has seen the rash(es) and they have increased in size since last week.  Having read up on this in the last few days the rash I have is unique to Lyme and not something I found when generally researching rashes to try and find out what the hell is going on. 
Yeah.  I just want to get those antibiotics and get on with blitzing those bacteria!
Found this article really helpful and it has a flowchart for Dr's to follow if they need it.  I have the 3rd rash that is depicted on the page.  https://www.guidelinesinpractice.co.uk/infection/lyme-disease-when-to-suspect-and-how-to-manage/454252.article
Really interested to hear how anyone who's had it have gone with recovery and treatment..

[BrutusTheBear]

I'll be quoting this..
Erythema migrans is pathognomonic of Lyme disease and requires no other additional testing

[Johnny Brown]

Good luck. Did you see the tick? I will be trying to keep any in future just to prove to any over confident medics that I know both what one is and that I have definitely been bitten by them. It was only at the end of our conversation that it became clear the doctor had assumed that I'd found the whole thing on google.

[BrutusTheBear]

Good luck. Did you see the tick? I will be trying to keep any in future just to prove to any over confident medics that I know both what one is and that I have definitely been bitten by them. It was only at the end of our conversation that it became clear the doctor had assumed that I'd found the whole thing on google.

In this case I'll be encouraging my Dr to use Google!  Didn't see the tick and can only assume it had it's fill and left me.  Or I have lost the memory of having the tick, memory loss is a symptom right!?

[BrutusTheBear]

Ended up seeing a different Doctor this morning, she had NICE guidelines on Lyme disease up on her screen pretty quick,  upon seeing my rash (and photos of earlier stages of the rash) then comparing that to photos on NICE page quickly prescribed a course of antibiotics. No testing required

My advice if you get bitten by a tick is to either keep it once you've removed it (as JB suggests) or get a photo of it in-situ so you can evidence the bite. 
If you can't evidence the tick bite make sure doctors know you spend lots of time in the outdoors in 'ticky' areas or have been exposed to tick bites previously. 
If you get the classic 'bullseye' rash at the site of the bite get a photo of it and more photos as it changes/grows.
If you get the 'secondary' multiple rashes (like me) do the same (mine have grown and are fading so there may have been no evidence in a few days time.)
Don't assume the doctors know much about Lyme disease, ask them to use the NICE guidelines.
You don't need a test to get treatment and the NICE guidelines point this out.
A chill/fever/joint pain/headache/neck aches can be the only initial symptoms don't assume you will get a rash some people don't.

21 day course of doxycycline 2 x 100mg a day.

[Johnny Brown]

I'm glad to hear that Brutus. Hope it does the trick. All sounds like good advice, I was pretty shocked at the ignorance I encountered given the level of awareness among climbers.

[BrutusTheBear]

Cheers JB.  The antibiotics are kicking in  and already feeling much more with it today.  Bit annoying that they cause photosensitivity, I'm already 'ginger skinned', but small price to pay.

[Durbs]

I'm glad to hear that Brutus. Hope it does the trick. All sounds like good advice, I was pretty shocked at the ignorance I encountered given the level of awareness among climbers.

Not just Lyme's but all illness really. TBF, most GPs can't have encyclopaedic knowledge of all illnesses in their head, but when I saw a GP many years back with all the symptoms of Shingles, they literally googled it in front of me, compared pics and symptoms and agreed that's what it was; whereas I would assume that it's a pretty common illness, albeit in older people.

Bit annoying that they cause photosensitivity, I'm already 'ginger skinned', but small price to pay.

Yeah - me and Mrs took some as anti-malarials many years ago - she's fairly fair-skinned and her skin took a pounding, especially given we were in Cambodia, took months to recover.

[T_B]

More ominous tick news. Japanese Encephalitis case in Yorkshire

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/apr/05/hikers-urged-to-check-themselves-for-ticks-after-deadly-virus-found-in-uk

[Bradders]

Not really the Peak but....I found a tick on my dog after a visit to Anston Stones yesterday. Never seen them there before. In fairness I did visit one of the more esoteric areas, which was quite overgrown, so most likely he picked it up there, but still. Thankfully it hadn't bitten him despite finding it about 2 hours after we'd left the crag, so his tick collar seems to work, but I'd rather not have brought it back home!!

[Wellsy]

I'll keep an eye out as I go regularly, thanks for the tip

[spidermonkey09]

I've always considered ticks as something to be aware of if I see one but the risk of Lymes and encephalitis seems very small still, certainly no larger than numerous other risks. I certainly don't religiously check my dog or myself after every trip outside. Should I?

[Johnny Brown]

Where are you? The risk of Lyme seems pretty significant, lots of stories about. I would say learn to recognise high risk areas (bracken, long grass, woods, combinations of all 3, known bad areas) and avoid/ take precautions, and check after. I find the bites itch so I tend to pick them up pretty quickly but am getting better at avoiding getting bitten. but you can go a long way just avoiding high risk areas, which a lot of people do unwittingly anyway (stick to the main path etc).

[sirlockoff]

knew someone of a ex work friend who got lyme, and she was well fucked for long time, am not sure what happened with her, but know that she tried loads of treatments and nothing really worked,

after that I'd start religiously burn my clothes (wash), and jump to the shower / let my gf check for areas after a nice choss sessh.

[James Malloch]

I've always considered ticks as something to be aware of if I see one but the risk of Lymes and encephalitis seems very small still, certainly no larger than numerous other risks. I certainly don't religiously check my dog or myself after every trip outside. Should I?

I don’t really check the dog anymore unless I notice one crawling on him. His tick treatment seems to kill them within 24 hours or so anyway so they fall off or i happen to find them and pull them out first.

I’m not really worried about them in the house for some reason but will check more in the van as he chills on out bed in the evenings. I’ve found loads in the bed over the last year.

Not sure how true this is but I've always been told that bigger ticks are more likely to carry lymes (having already picked it up from an animal) and more likely to regurgitate (thus giving you the lymes). I’ve always noticed big ticks on myself very quickly. The ones I’ve missed are always tiny but I’m therefore less worried about them (perhaps wrongly so).

[SamT]

Know two good friends who's lives have been pretty fucked by lymes from tick bites.  Exteneded periods in hospital, on going issues with fatigue years/decades later. So I take it pretty seriously.

Sister was out in the upper derwent, howden dam area a couple of weeks ago and was cursing herself for not thinkign and wearing shorts.  Ended up with 3 ticks and nasty lymes-ey looking rashes.  Had checked when she got back but must have missed them somehow. Was only the next morning (I think) when she felt the itching/soreness.

Luckly is pretty on the ball with it and was straight down the docs who were also on it, so pretty much straight on a heavy dose of the apposite anitbiotics.

Seems ok a week or so later, so fingers crossed.

So yeah, maybe I'm overly paranoid, but I check for them when ever I've been out in the peak these days.

[spidermonkey09]

Yes, obviously Lyme is not a good disease and I don't want to get it. I was more going off the NHS advice page which says the chance of getting ill is low after a tick bite. Obviously there will be anecdotes of people getting it but surely the big picture is still that its pretty unlikely. Just seems an interesting disconnect between the (scary!) anecdotes here and the advice.

I'm in Lancashire. I don't make a habit of wading through bracken as its unpleasant. Guess I might check myself if I did. I don't think I've ever checked the dog thinking about it beyond giving him the flea and tick treatments!

[User deactivated.]

I need to be way more cautious. I've spent the last few months running around woods in head height bracken wearing shorts and little else. I even came face to face with a deer a few weeks ago. I haven't been checking myself afterwards but I've never seen a tick either. Perhaps the DEET which I apply to prevent mosquito / midge bites has helped, but this thread is a good reminder to check myself properly!