Tick-borne diseases and sleeping in a tent

[MilenaS]

Hi,

In a week i'm planning to go to a place where it's wild, moisture-rich. It's a place with a lot of wildlife and there's forest all around. I'll be there for 2 weeks. I'll sleep in a tent for a week and in a cabin for a week. It will be during a hippie spiritual festival.

I have big concerns about ticks - it is a place where there is a relatively high number of infected ticks and on top of that they are most active in July, including tick nymphs (juveniles).  The campsite is in a meadow with tall unmown grass.

I have prepared a tick repellent - DEET 30%. I will also impregnate my clothes and the top of the tent with permethrin, and i have bought an extra tarpaulin for the tent to isolate myself from the ground. I also plan to check my body every day and have a tick removal tool. I will also leave my clothes from the day outside the tent and always close the tent immediately. I take B complex vitamins supplement because apparently ticks do not like the smell of people using them.

Despite these precautions, I wonder whether they protect me sufficiently to make me really safe. I feel intense fear, at times even panicky, that I will check lyme disease. It is emotionally difficult for me to give up the trip because I have already set my mind for it.

What would you do if you were me? What is your risk assessment?

[Schizophonia]

It's very rare to get lyme after being hit by a tick, and it's well treated.

I like to walk in the forest often in shorts, I have had lots of tics but never been infected.

[Ima Freeman]

I was bitten by around nine ticks in 2022 and had a health breakdown afterwards including a slight fever and shivering which was so intense that I went to the hospital. I became slightly sick a couple of times afterwards and my general problems with emotional instability, ADHD and digestive health became worse.

At the same time, I did heavy metal detoxing too, which went fine until then. First I attributed the decline in health to that.
Only some time later I became conscious about the possible connection between the ticks and my decline in health.

Couple months later I did a blood test for the most common chronic conditions including lyme, but it came back negative.

 

A similar thing happened this year. Got bitten by couple of ticks. My health declined afterwards again. Went to a doctor for a lyme test. Came back negative.

My rant maybe of no value. But here some recommendations:

• Don't go though high grass or woods, especially if you see wildlife around.
• Check your whole body at least every night before bed, this includes getting two mirror to look at every bit of your body
• Use some repellent, but please no toxic chemicals that damage your body
• Get one of those: https://www.amazon.co.uk/geo-versand-Tick-Tweezers-Removal-Geocaching/dp/B07F3DQQMC