It's Tick Season

It's tick season.
Tick.
Those four letters cost our family $50,000 and some significant heartache over a two year span.
I find myself cringing when I read articles talking about how Lyme Disease is on the rise in Oregon, with the county I live in (Jackson) being ranked as one of the highest hot spots for contacting Lyme in the entire state (along with Josephine, Douglas, and Klamath County).  For those that want to read the article, click here).  I also find myself cringing when, in the same article, ticks are downplayed as being less significant than poison oak by our national forest's spokeswomen...

 "Chamise Kramer, a spokeswoman for the (Siskiyou) national forest, said there are definitely plenty of ticks in the area, often visible hanging on long blades of grass, but they haven't posed a bigger threat to hikers than, say, poison oak."

There is a chance that one of you reading this blog post will be bit by a tick before summer's end.  If not you, it may be a loved one, someone you work with, or just a random person you know.  When this happens, regardless of what people like Chamise from above say, it needs to be taken more serious than a case of poison oak....trust me on this one :)

Here are some easy steps to follow when it comes to tick bites.  There is no need to (completely) panic but there is a need to be mindful and purposeful in your approach to addressing the tick and the tick bite.  It is so much easier and cheaper to test a tick for Lyme Disease and co-infections than it is to test a person.

• Begin with removing the tick, including the head of the tick.
• Immediately put the tick in a zip lock plastic bag and place in the freezer.  Mark on the zip lock bag the date you were bitten by the tick. 
• Mark on your calendar the date you were bit and start watching for symptoms of Lyme Disease.  The symptoms will usually not begin showing for 2 weeks but can begin sooner or later.  It is not uncommon for a person to not show symptoms of Lyme Disease for years after a bite.
• Do your best to identify what type of tick you were bitten by (see the chart below).
• Begin watching the bite site.  If you notice the spot developes a rash or raised area around it, take your tick out of the freezer and get it sent off IMMEDIATELY to a tick testing facility (we have used IGeneX Labs and University of Rhode Island Tick Encounter).  The tick can be tested for Lyme and other co infections.
• For extra precaution, your Lyme Literate doctor may also recommend that you get tested, using IGeneX labs, DNA Connexions, or another similar lab.
• No matter what, even if you do nothing else, keep any tick you are bit by (stored in a zip lock in your freezer) in case you begin having symptoms several months or years after the bite.  You will be able to take it out of the freezer and send it in for testing.

If it were me, I would send the tick off immediately and not wait for signs or symptoms to appear/not appear.  Spending the $50.-$75 for the test is much better than the heartache, anguish, and cost that comes along with a diagnosis of Lyme Disease.  

I asked the University of Rhode Island's tick testing center how long a tick could be frozen for prior to having it tested.  Here is their response:

Several years ago, our Ellie was bit by a tick.  We sent it in for testing and they sent us back the results (it was negative for Lyme Disease) along with pictures of the tick we sent in.  The pictures are below