I hope you are better soon and with no lasting effects from the tick bites. I live in the country, on a bayou, woods and fields all around, and have never had a tick on me, or any of my numerous horses and dogs. I have seen one raccoon with a tick in her ear, but puzzled why there are no ticks here. Grateful, mind you, but puzzled. I grew up about 30 miles from here, in a small town, and had my horses get ticks in their ears, and ticks on my dogs.

Hope your feeling better and continue to do so. Happy reading. I'll bet your garden is gorgeous!

I'm very sorry about your illness and hope you feel better very soon.

From prior comments, I think I understand that you believe you have made a principled decision to not use any pest control service or system in your yard that could reduce the tick population. And you don't want to move to another location with a lower tick infestation level.

I respect that but I've experienced myself that not infrequently well reasoned decisions can lead to undesired consequences. The outcome is usually the priority objective (rather than the decision) and adverse outcomes will often change or redirect what's done. I hope you can give you own health a higher priority and in whatever way can find a way to have a healthier place to live.

Best wishes.

They talked a lot about Lyme disease, and one expert said that, if you remove the tick within 24-36 hours, your chances of being infected are nearly zero.

I'm a fan of NPR, but I have to laugh at "expert" opinions in general when it comes to tick-borne illness. There's no consensus. Nobody knows anything definitively. It's a mess. This particular statement makes no sense whatsoever to me. IF the tick is infected (not all are), I can't see it holding off transmitting that infection for 24-36 hours. I used to submit ticks to a Vector Control agency for examination. In the beginning they said larvae couldn't infect people; later, they changed their minds about that. From the CDC on down, the recommendations on ticks and treatment is in a state of flux that seems never-ending.

I have been in past years diagnosed with Lyme, Babesiosis, and Bartonella, but didn't bother this time. I just called the doctor and asked for a prescription.

Marilyn, a lot must depend on our body chemistry. I have high levels of ammonia, the thing ticks like best. Maybe you have high levels of rose geranium oil, the thing they like least. LOL

Nicole, my garden is practically nonexistent, unfortunately, except for lots of iris that were magnificent this spring but bloom so briefly. I did no gardening at all this year, not even hanging baskets on the porch. Even my bean arch was bare! My beloved cousin Barbara, my long-distance gardening buddy, died in early July after battling cancer for 11 months, and I just didn't have the heart to visit a nursery or put a seed in the ground. I hope to be back in the groove next year.

I hope you feel better soon.

We had ticks growing up. We found keeping the place mowed cut down on them. My dad told me my great grandparents used to burn the land every fall to keep the numbers in check. They used to dip their cattle in something too. I can happily say I haven't seen a tick for many years. I don't miss them.

I'm so sorry about your gardening buddy. Your garden used to bring you so much joy...and others you shared it with. Your bean arch was truly a home made wonder!

I'm starting from scratch at this new house. German bearded iris, because they are so hardy is one thing I did put in(I found 247 free on CL, she said they were ALL colors). I'm also trying a black lace Elderberry...clematis, gold honeysuckle vine, spirea & ornamental grasses.

Hope you'll post photos next Summer.....looking forward to seeing everyones garden bounty!

How do you examine the back of your knee? You must use a mirror? I have barely worn shorts all summer due to the amount of mosquitoes around my area.

I have heard that the tiny ticks are more likely to carry Lymes than larger ones. Ick!

Nicole, you're off to a great start! Looking forward to your pics next year.

Graywings, it wasn't easy. Yes, a mirror and a flashlight and my strong desk lamp and a pair of sharp-nosed tweezers--not necessarily all at once. :-)

(((((HUGS)))

I encourage the possums to visit as often as they like. I hope your blood has been tested and the doctor did not simply decide that a broad spectrum antibiotic was all that was needed as not all tick borne things can be managed without a specific treatment. I too am a person that when I itch in a certain way I know I have a tick somewhere in that area. Makes it handy to know where to look.

Years ago in a bad tick year I was lying in bed looking out the window trying to nap and I saw what looked like two spiders crawling on the windowsill. They were small ticks and as I watched a third tick crawled though a small opening caused by a bent screen.

Alisande, my sympathies go out to you in your seemingly constant battle with ticks. The neighbor that lives behind me also is in constant battle...and fear of what she loves most, working in her yard and tending the flowers. I see her out there daily, hands in her pockets in an effort to not touch. I certainly do wish you well in this latest battle.

It sucks that PA is the number one state for ticks. It's another reason I hate summer so much. I really fear to be in my jungle backyard anymore and after I planted all my containers of flowers in the spring, I have been out very little. I cannot stand the heat and humidity which get worse every year but worse than that I got a horrible case of poison ivy (which I never was allergic to at all before), had three ticks which I fortunately caught crawling up my arm and have a gazillion mosquitoes buzzing around me all the time. I have birdbaths and ponds and it's a real challenge even to walk thru my yard. That scares me about the teeny ones. I'd never be able to see them. I hope the Sentinel and Nexgard I use on the dogs works. The cats don't leave the house.

Susan, I'm so sorry you continue to do battle with these diseases. I would say that you are a near-expert on the subject and wish the medical community would pay more attention to what you have to say. Will you continue to have bouts of illness or did you 'catch it' in time with the meds to recover fully? I don't blame you nor Lily for not going outside unless you have to!

I'm so very sorry about your cousin's passing--you were like sisters, as I understand. I must have missed this sad news in July. I hope your grandchild(children?) make you smile.

The "expert" interviewed for the NPR story was Dr. Thomas Mather.

He is Director of University of RI’s Center for Vector-Borne Disease, and seems pretty expert to me. I'll take his word for it.

I doubt that, Alisande. Sure my horses and dogs don't smell like rose geranium oil either. ;)

At my old house, which backed up on a large wooded area with tons of deer, we always had ticks. At this house in town, I haven't seen any deer or any ticks. Our dogs still get monthly anti-flea-and-tick meds, because I don't want to take any chances.

Adellabedella, I wonder if the ticks you grew up with were the same as the ones causing problems now. When we first came to PA 40+ years ago we had the occasional dog tick to deal with, but that was it. I remember being grossed out by my first look at an engorged tick. Little did I know . . .

Maifleur, I had no idea ticks would be inclined to enter a house like that. I assumed they stayed outside sniffing around for urine. I know two of my cats have brought them indoors. Even though I've treated with Frontline Plus (or this year, Revolution), the ticks don't die immediately.

Sjerin, thank you so much for remembering Barbara. I haven't announced it at the KT. I put it off, and then time passed. But maybe I will anyway. Some other members probably remember her as well. I know I've posted pictures of her artwork over the years. Yes, we called each other Sis. There were three daughters from my mother and her two sisters, all around the same age. The third, Terry, died 10 years ago. Everyone at the KT was rooting for her when she had a liver transplant, and wonderful to me when she died a few days later.

I don't know how to predict the long-term effects of my current round of tick-borne illness. I had identical symptoms about 10 years ago without treatment. By the time I discovered the tick bite, my fever had gone down, and I was pretty clueless. So was my doctor. I remember the weakness lasted many weeks, and the night sweats lasted a few years, off and on (mostly on). They finally stopped when I started juicing vegetables. This is why I'm so faithful about juicing.

I eventually found out my symptoms were caused by babesiosis, so common in its very mild form and so hard to test for that it's present in our public blood supply. It's treated with anti-malarials, and I refused treatment because I have good reason to fear liver damage. When it appeared I might have been reinfected last week, I was so sick and felt so discouraged, and started to think I might be getting too old for this. But as I said, I feel a little better (and therefore a little more optimistic) every day. Babesiosis is said to always be a co-infection with Lyme, so the doxycycline I'm taking is helping that part of it anyway.

If I had not actually seen the ticks coming into the house that way I would have just thought someone was playing tricks.

If treated with antimalaria drugs I wonder what a weeks worth of tonic water would do.

That's an interesting thought, Maifleur. I like tonic water--although I don't know if the supermarket stuff actually has quinine in it. But I'm curious to see if the online Lyme community has discussed it. Thanks for mentioning it.

Some 26 years ago my 8 year old was clearly not feeling well, tired and listless. I had found the stereotypical Lyme "bullseye" rash on her arm (never saw a tick, but she had been playing around the woodpile so I assume that is where she was bitten) If the tick had been on her for 24 hours I am pretty sure that I would have seen it since I helped her bathe every night.

It took visits to 3 different MDs to convince them that this was not a spider bite - the last was the Children's hospital, who also thought it might be Lyme. They put her on antibiotic for a month, drew serologies and instructed us to come back in month. She was feeling much better in a week.

Unfortunately when we returned for follow-up, it was a new group of residents and attendings, and no one saw the necessity for a convalescent serology since, as the attending said, "whatever it was she is clearly over it now". So no confirmation that it was Lyme, and no reporting to public health either.

I firmly believe that the reason there is still so much conflicting information, and also why infectious disease specialists didn't think there was Lyme in this area for so many years, is that personal MDs don't/didn't suspect it, or if they did and treated for it, they didn't confirm with test and didn't report it.

Alisande, I hope you feel on top of your game soon.

I'm sure you have tried this, but worth mentioning. Spray permethrin on your clothes to keep ticks away. Stays on for about 6 washings, I believe. You don't put it on your skin, just your clothes. Hope you feel better!

Thanks, Sleeperblues. Yes, I have the Sawyer clothing spray. I haven't used it in a long time though, because it's highly toxic to cats and with both indoor and outdoor cats I had a hard time drying the sprayed clothes. But thanks to the Salvation Army I have a nice assortment of white cotton pants and long-sleeved white cotton men's dress shirts. I tuck the pants into white cotton socks and cover with rubber boots, and the dress shirts go over my t-shirts. This, plus gloves and rose geranium oil, is my gardening outfit. My son calls me The Ghost. :-)