Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBS Boston's Radio.
Speaker 2: All right, well, you can't win them all.
Speaker 3: Okay, the Red Sox got a little bit of a
Speaker 3: winning streak going, but obviously you know you're not gonna
Speaker 3: win every game. But we we're not worried about the
Speaker 3: Red Sox. Too early in the season to worry and
Speaker 3: fret about the Red Sox. I mean, you want them
Speaker 3: to win, but you know no, you know, no, no
Speaker 3: doing anything drastic. This team will be okay at the
Speaker 3: end of the day. I have something that you can
Speaker 3: worry about, but I also have something that can solve
Speaker 3: you worries. This is sort of our annual visit with
Speaker 3: tick Man Dan. Tick season is upon us. I know
Speaker 3: that it's been a nasty cold winter and it really
Speaker 3: hasn't warmed up a lot, but it doesn't need The
Speaker 3: ticks don't need much to get active. And we're delighted
Speaker 3: to be joined by tick Dan tonight once again to
Speaker 3: answer any and all of your questions about ticks.
Speaker 2: There are more ticks around every.
Speaker 3: Year, and if you haven't been bitten by a tick,
Speaker 3: you're very lucky. We tick Man Dan's going to tell
Speaker 3: us how to prevent or decrease the likelihood of you
Speaker 3: being bitter one of your family members being bit and
Speaker 3: also he's going to talk about what can be done
Speaker 3: if the unfortunate happens. Tick Man, Dan, welcome back. You
Speaker 3: had a sweat in there for a moment.
Speaker 2: I don't know what was going on. How are you tonight?
Speaker 4: Yeah, some technical issues, but it's always great to hear
Speaker 4: your voice, Dan, and it's wonderful to be back. And
Speaker 4: every time that I'm here, it means that it is spring,
Speaker 4: So that's that's something enlightening and uplifting.
Speaker 3: Well, you know the funny thing about it is we're
Speaker 3: about a third of the way through spring. Actually, I
Speaker 3: believe we're a couple of days beyond a third of
Speaker 3: the way through spring. And spring has, like all the seasons,
Speaker 3: about ninety one days burned about thirty one of those days.
Speaker 3: We haven't had much spring. But the ticks know what
Speaker 3: time if here it is, and they are out and
Speaker 3: about already.
Speaker 2: What's going on with the ticks?
Speaker 4: Yeah, Well, it's typical ticks season is upon us, and
Speaker 4: we're entering into the most active time of the year
Speaker 4: for them and also the most likely time where people
Speaker 4: are going to pick these suckers up and their pets
Speaker 4: and where they're going to start biting us, And it
Speaker 4: is really important to do whatever we can to reduce
Speaker 4: our risk of being bitten. And the prevention part of
Speaker 4: it is so important, and I'm here to help you
Speaker 4: with some of the basics. Unfortunately, there's no guarantees when
Speaker 4: it comes to ticks because they are insidious little suckers
Speaker 4: and they will find their way to a meal at
Speaker 4: some point. So if you're up here in the Northeast
Speaker 4: or other areas where they're abundant, you got to really
Speaker 4: be careful.
Speaker 3: Let's just talk about for this winter, the ticks go away,
Speaker 3: and you know this, I remember some of it. When
Speaker 3: the first freeze hits in the fall, Is that the
Speaker 3: end of the tick season sometime in late October early
Speaker 3: November for the most.
Speaker 4: Part, No, not at all. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 4: people often think, you know, they always said to me, oh,
Speaker 4: after the first prost of freeze, then the ticks go away.
Speaker 4: But no, that's what happens with mosquitoes and some other
Speaker 4: pesky biting insects. Ticks are not insects, and they possess,
Speaker 4: you know, just naturally some really cool things I mean,
Speaker 4: if they weren't so yucky, they wouldn't. I mean, regardless
Speaker 4: of their you don't have to use.
Speaker 2: By the way, tick mak dan.
Speaker 3: You do not have to use the technical medical terms
Speaker 3: like yucky by audience, No, only DZ. They are pretty disgusting.
Speaker 3: They are pretty disgusting. So they live through the winter.
Speaker 3: They lived through in New England winter.
Speaker 4: Oh. Absolutely. Ticks have been around for centuries, you know,
Speaker 4: since pretty much the beginning of of Earth, and they
Speaker 4: have some great adaptations that will make them successful and
Speaker 4: staying around to bite you. And one of those is
Speaker 4: it's a substance in their cells. It's called glycerol, and
Speaker 4: it's an anti freeze. So basically they they've become inactive.
Speaker 4: It's not like they're hibernating. They go into a state
Speaker 4: called diapause, which is just sort of like suspended animation
Speaker 4: where where they'll hide underneath the leaf later underneath the
Speaker 4: slope snowpack, and their their bodies shut down. But as
Speaker 4: soon as the temperature starts to warm up a little
Speaker 4: bit for for a day, two three days, it wakes
Speaker 4: them right up and they're like, let's go find a meal.
Speaker 4: And the unique crazy thing about glycerol, which is which
Speaker 4: helps the tick survive, is that it's actually a food
Speaker 4: source for the line bacteria if it's present within that tick.
Speaker 4: So that's crazy stuff.
Speaker 2: Oh man, I'll tell you how many years have you
Speaker 2: studied this? Now? I know it's been a while.
Speaker 4: Yes, I've been studying ticks for going on twenty five
Speaker 4: ish years. And that's been using myself as a guinea
Speaker 4: pig when it comes to that, because I've personally been
Speaker 4: bitten and not intentionally, So don't get that idea in
Speaker 4: your head. Everybody more than two hundred and fifty times,
Speaker 4: and those numbers are so highs not because I'm dumb.
Speaker 4: It's because I'm old and I spend a lot of
Speaker 4: time out in the woods.
Speaker 2: And you do it intentionally, I assume to do research.
Speaker 3: I mean, you're not out there looking to set some
Speaker 3: sort of Guinness Book of records for the man who
Speaker 3: has been bit by the most ticks, right.
Speaker 4: Right, And I don't think I would have that record.
Speaker 4: But no, I don't do it intentionally. And I would say,
Speaker 4: as my mother used to tell me when I was
Speaker 4: a kid, do as I say, not as I do.
Speaker 4: And that has stuck with me like a tick.
Speaker 2: So okay, so is this what prompted your interest?
Speaker 3: I mean when you say you spent a lot of
Speaker 3: time out in the woods, I mean maybe you're an
Speaker 3: outdoors person, maybe you're a hunter, it doesn't matter. By
Speaker 3: being bitten by ticks. Has this led you to your
Speaker 3: vocation or did your vocation lead you to the ticks?
Speaker 3: I'm trying to get this sort of like the classic
Speaker 3: chicken and egg question.
Speaker 4: Yeah. No, Actually, you are correct in that the amount
Speaker 4: of ticks that I was getting on me did lead
Speaker 4: me to it sparked my curiosity what are these things?
Speaker 4: And of course when I first started getting bitten all
Speaker 4: those years ago, you know, it wasn't so bad even
Speaker 4: though we hadline disease, of course, but it was just
Speaker 4: starting to really become prevalent. Cases were increasing, but not
Speaker 4: a lot of people really knew much about it, the doctors,
Speaker 4: and there wasn't nearly as much awareness and prevention information
Speaker 4: out there. But I tell you, the real thing that
Speaker 4: led me to my to further my curiosity and turn
Speaker 4: this fascination and fear into a business was when I
Speaker 4: brought ticks home unintentionally and I noticed on My son
Speaker 4: was ten years old at the time, and he came
Speaker 4: downstairs and there was a tick stuck in his back. Now,
Speaker 4: of course I didn't you know. With me, I'm like, okay,
Speaker 4: I'll take care of it. But when it's your son
Speaker 4: or your family member and they're vulnerable, that really got
Speaker 4: me scared. So at that point I really turned the
Speaker 4: jets on and started to explore and research and teach
Speaker 4: myself all about it.
Speaker 3: So a couple of more quick questions about you and
Speaker 3: where you got to this, and then we'll take a
Speaker 3: break and we'll start talking about preventions and.
Speaker 2: What can be done.
Speaker 3: Have you developed an immunity having bitten this many times?
Speaker 3: Do you have an immunity at this point or or
Speaker 3: does such an immunity even exist in your world?
Speaker 4: Well, Jerry's out on that one. I have been approached
Speaker 4: to participating in the study that looks at people that
Speaker 4: have been bitten a large number of times and to
Speaker 4: have my blood looked at. But that actually involved the
Speaker 4: intentional implantation of ten ticks on my body and having
Speaker 4: them feed to completion. And the compensation wasn't The compensation
Speaker 4: wasn't quite enough to justify that.
Speaker 3: However, just just for curiosity, what will you offered, I
Speaker 3: mean like five bucks a tick or something.
Speaker 4: I think it was one thousand dollars total.
Speaker 2: No, not even no.
Speaker 4: But they were CDC guaranteed clean ticks. That's what they
Speaker 4: told me.
Speaker 3: Sorry, oh yeah, that's that's oh sure, right, yeah, okay right.
Speaker 4: Another point that my mother brought home, and I referred
Speaker 4: to her quite a bit in my life now, was
Speaker 4: are you crazy? Don't be stupid, and if you do that,
Speaker 4: I'm going to be mad.
Speaker 2: So I didn't do that.
Speaker 3: That's all good advice for mom. And so then my
Speaker 3: last question is, with all of the tick bites over
Speaker 3: the years, approximately two hundred and fifty, have you ever
Speaker 3: come down with a bad case or even a case.
Speaker 2: Of lime disease?
Speaker 4: I don't know, because I was vaccinated. There was a
Speaker 4: vaccine available on the market in the late nineties. It
Speaker 4: was available for only a couple of years. It was
Speaker 4: pulled because there was controversy and it was not making
Speaker 4: enough money for the pharmaceutical company that brought it to market.
Speaker 4: So I I did, and now I believe that my
Speaker 4: system is carrying antibodies for that particular strain of lime,
Speaker 4: and I haven't been feeling myself lately. You know, over
Speaker 4: the past couple of years, I'm trying to figure some
Speaker 4: stuff out. And I did test positive for lime within
Speaker 4: the past months, and that's the only time that it's
Speaker 4: ever really concerned me. However, given that the standard line
Speaker 4: test now initially tests for the antibodies or the body's
Speaker 4: reaction to a bite and not the bacteria itself, and
Speaker 4: there it has been proven to be highly inaccurate.
Speaker 2: So I was that the Western block test that you took, Well.
Speaker 4: There's two. There's a I think it was something called
Speaker 4: Elissa E L I S A and then they do
Speaker 4: a Western blot on one or the other. But I
Speaker 4: only had the first one done. But I'm out there the.
Speaker 3: Western But the Western blood test of according to you know,
Speaker 3: this expert that I deal with, he says that it's
Speaker 3: highly unreliable. Guest, Yeah, yes, doctor Miller, who's just brilliant, brilliant.
Speaker 2: On this issue. My guest is tick Man Dan. He
Speaker 2: can answer literally.
Speaker 3: Any question about different ticks, variety of ticks. All of
Speaker 3: us are going to spend more time outdoors in the
Speaker 3: next four or five months. Then we're virtually all of us. Uh,
Speaker 3: then we've spent outdoors in the last few months. Simply,
Speaker 3: this is the time of year when New Englanders want
Speaker 3: to get out, get out and spend time at the beach,
Speaker 3: maybe up in a New Hampshire or a main of
Speaker 3: Vermont or wherever this and and even when you're out
Speaker 3: in the winter time, if you're up skiing, there's no
Speaker 3: way that tick's going to get you anywhere. You're skiing
Speaker 3: too fast. So any questions you have about what works
Speaker 3: what doesn't work, Dan will give us some general suggestions
Speaker 3: on the other side of the break, and then we'll
Speaker 3: leave it open to you and you can deal with myths.
Speaker 3: You can deal with any question you want. There's nobody
Speaker 3: who I know who is more qualified to talk about
Speaker 3: how to avoid how to decrease the chances that you
Speaker 3: might actually deal with a tick bite which could lead
Speaker 3: to lime disease? Does it always lead to but could
Speaker 3: leave We'll take a quick break. The lines are just
Speaker 3: blowing up right now. Tick Man, Dan, you're one of
Speaker 3: my most popular guests. The only line that is available
Speaker 3: if you want to call in right now is there's
Speaker 3: one line at six, one, seven, nine, three, one, ten thirty.
Speaker 3: I don't want people to break their knuckles or their
Speaker 3: their nails trying.
Speaker 2: To dial in.
Speaker 3: We want to get as many people in as possible.
Speaker 3: Tick Man Dan is with us. We'll be right back
Speaker 3: here on Nightside after this very brief commercial break.
Speaker 1: It's nice with Dan Ray Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Pick Man Dad, I got full line.
Speaker 3: So let's do this real quickly, because one get at
Speaker 3: least one or two callers in before before nine thirty,
Speaker 3: we only got.
Speaker 2: A few minutes.
Speaker 3: What is the quickest and easiest advice you could give
Speaker 3: to someone who you know, lands here on a spaceship
Speaker 3: from Mars or something and says, we've heard about ticks.
Speaker 2: How can I protect myself? What do you tell people?
Speaker 3: What's the what's the let's go for the cliff notes
Speaker 3: version right away.
Speaker 4: Well, initially I tell them stay in their spaceship and
Speaker 4: and don't come out.
Speaker 3: But for a lot of reasons, by the way, for
Speaker 3: a lot of reasons not necessarily all related.
Speaker 4: To takes go ahead exactly. Well, I mean, there are
Speaker 4: the standard answers, and there's basic prevention, and they're very
Speaker 4: simple and common sense. You know, if you're hiking in
Speaker 4: the woods, stay in the center of the trails. Ticks
Speaker 4: tend to hang out on the tips of grasses and
Speaker 4: brush and leaves, and the deer tics which are the
Speaker 4: most dangerous around here in the Northeast. They're called ambush
Speaker 4: predators or ambush hunters. They'll just wait and they'll extend
Speaker 4: their front legs, which are a little longer than the
Speaker 4: rest of their legs, and they have like velcro type
Speaker 4: hooks on the very ends of their feet. They'll start
Speaker 4: waving them around and anything that brushes by will they'll
Speaker 4: be able to stick to it, like again like velcrow. Yeah,
Speaker 4: they hit, they're hitchhikers. However, there are studies and I've
Speaker 4: seen the videos and it's amazing that static electricity can
Speaker 4: also propel tics from their perch onto a passer by
Speaker 4: that has a static charge. Now, don't panic, they don't
Speaker 4: go flying through the air, you know, from across the trail.
Speaker 4: This would be like millimeters. However, you don't actually have
Speaker 4: to brush up physically against them in certain circumstances to
Speaker 4: have them, you know, catched to you. By the way,
Speaker 4: ticks do not jump, they do not fly. They don't
Speaker 4: get on you and the drop on your head and
Speaker 4: all that stuff. They are just physically incapable of that.
Speaker 4: So you can also do the basics. Again, light colored clothing,
Speaker 4: and that's not a deterrent, it's just allows you to
Speaker 4: visually see those ticks easier because the ticks are like
Speaker 4: little dark specs, and light clothing will help you with that.
Speaker 4: Tuck your pants into your socks. Use repellent a car asides,
Speaker 4: which is my favorite. It's it's called permethrone, which you
Speaker 4: can treat your clothing with, not your skin. You can
Speaker 4: use deep on your skin. And then of course I
Speaker 4: always say do your tick checks, do them often, and
Speaker 4: do not neglect your crevices.
Speaker 3: Yeah, where could people get promethrone?
Speaker 4: Permethrone is widely available at most garden centers or outdoor stores.
Speaker 4: In a self applying spread. However, I prefer the clothing
Speaker 4: when it's pre treated in a process from a factory
Speaker 4: from a company called insect Shield, and that binds directly
Speaker 4: to the fibers, so it reduces human error in the application,
Speaker 4: and it's so bound to those fibers that it last
Speaker 4: a really long time, much much longer than when you
Speaker 4: self apply. However, the self applying spray I recommend highly
Speaker 4: for your boots and shoes and other footwear. If you
Speaker 4: know if you're wearing promethine treated apparel. So that's really important.
Speaker 3: And realistically you always have to wear long pants and tuck,
Speaker 3: you know, tuck them inside your socks.
Speaker 4: That's a good idea and it just what that does
Speaker 4: is that it doesn't prevent them totally from getting onto
Speaker 4: your skin, but it makes it harder for them because
Speaker 4: they can get through little tiny holes in your sock.
Speaker 4: I mean, larvae and nympho stage ticks are very very small.
Speaker 2: Okay, let us do this.
Speaker 3: Let us try to get one quick call in before
Speaker 3: before the break. So let me start off with Ken
Speaker 3: in Topsfield. Ken, I'm going to get you in before
Speaker 3: the break. You go right ahead.
Speaker 2: You're wrong with tick man, Dan, what's your question of comment, sir?
Speaker 5: My wife got picked yesterday by a tech.
Speaker 4: We found it.
Speaker 5: We assume it was yesterday. I removed it and I
Speaker 5: got ninety nine percent. There was a little bit that
Speaker 5: I could not get with the tweets. As I dug
Speaker 5: at it, no success. Called the doctor's office, told them.
Speaker 5: They said that wasn't a big deal, don't worry about it.
Speaker 5: They issued a prescription for whatever. The standard thing is
Speaker 5: two hundred milligrams of high I forget the name doxycycling, Yeah, sir,
Speaker 5: And I want to know is there is their concern
Speaker 5: should if is to weep it something like you said,
Speaker 5: the end of it. I can't tell.
Speaker 4: They say, yeah, that's get Ken. That's a great question.
Speaker 4: And it's just something that a lot of people experience.
Speaker 4: And again, your chances of getting sick are not, you know,
Speaker 4: eminent here, And it depends on the type of tick,
Speaker 4: the stage of the tick's life, and how long it
Speaker 4: was feeding. Now, there's a few things that I will
Speaker 4: tell you guys, everybody should never ever do when they
Speaker 4: remove a tick, and that is to flush it, burn it,
Speaker 4: or dispose of that. Ken. Did you save the tick? Yeah, okay, perfect.
Speaker 4: What I recommend doing is putting it in a ziplock bag.
Speaker 4: You don't have to freeze it, you don't have to
Speaker 4: put in an alcohol. Just keep it in a sealed bag.
Speaker 4: Write your name or whoever the victim the tick bite
Speaker 4: victim was right, that person's name on the bag? Is
Speaker 4: the date? And how long you think you might have
Speaker 4: had it attached and what where you think you might
Speaker 4: have gotten it. Now, there's a few schools of thought
Speaker 4: regarding what to do as far as a prophylactic dose
Speaker 4: of doxy cycling, which is what you were prescribed or
Speaker 4: your uh you said your wife right, Yeah, as far
Speaker 4: as what she was prescribed, there's there's a lot of
Speaker 4: controversy around that, and a lot of people in the
Speaker 4: lime world and the tick world will say, don't do
Speaker 4: that because there's something called a tick rash or a
Speaker 4: bullseye rash, which is really a very very indicative sign
Speaker 4: that you are infected with lime and a prophylactic dose
Speaker 4: of doxy cycling I believe suppresses that rash. Now, not
Speaker 4: everybody gets it, but if you do get it, it's
Speaker 4: you're pretty much guaranteed that you should see your doctor
Speaker 4: and get treatment for that. The other thing that I
Speaker 4: recommend that people do is.
Speaker 3: In one question, because I got a question to the caller, ken,
Speaker 3: did your wife obviously you know where your wife was bitten?
Speaker 3: Can you look at that later today and when she
Speaker 3: got bit yesterday? Is that is that the time frame here?
Speaker 3: Did you see any sort of like what they call
Speaker 3: a bullseye rash, which is like a red a circle
Speaker 3: or you know, not a huge circle, but a red
Speaker 3: circle around the place where she was bitten.
Speaker 5: Yep, there was there wasn't She feels that she hadn't
Speaker 5: had it long. You know, we can't prove that, but
Speaker 5: we felt that I was wondering how soon a bulls
Speaker 5: eye might show up when a person.
Speaker 3: Well, let's let's ask the expert, Dan, she's bit yesterday,
Speaker 3: how long should he try to monitor the presence of
Speaker 3: the appearance of a bullseye? Right?
Speaker 4: Well, the problem is that not everybody is typical, and
Speaker 4: bullseye rashes, if they appear, can appear within days or
Speaker 4: a week or so of the bite. Now, the big
Speaker 4: problem here, and I know we're pressed here for time, Dan,
Speaker 4: is that you have to know the difference between a
Speaker 4: bite site reaction and a target lesion or bullseye rash.
Speaker 4: And that's important and I you know, I'm happy to
Speaker 4: explain that. But Dan, you're running the show here, so
Speaker 4: are we? Are we good for time?
Speaker 3: Yeah, let's do this. Let's hold Ken over after the newscast.
Speaker 3: Ken you're too important to call. Stay there, we'll pick
Speaker 3: you up on the other side of the newscast. Okay,
Speaker 3: we have a newscast. We're with tick Man Dan. As
Speaker 3: you can see, this guy knows his stuff. He's an
Speaker 3: amazing guest to me one of my favorite guests.
Speaker 2: Every year.
Speaker 3: Sometimes we have him a couple of times in the springtime,
Speaker 3: but certainly every once every spring. We'll take a break,
Speaker 3: here's a newscast. We'll be back. We'll be start off
Speaker 3: with Ken in Topsfield and we'll get his questions answered
Speaker 3: in yours as well. Back on Nightside after this.
Speaker 1: Night Side with Dan Ray, I'MBZ Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 3: We're going to bring Ken from Topsfield back up here
Speaker 3: and we're going to try to move a little bit
Speaker 3: more quickly.
Speaker 2: But I didn't want to short change him. Ken.
Speaker 3: We're back in the ear. You're on with tick Man,
Speaker 3: Dan tick Man, you can pick it up. You're leading
Speaker 3: the stance, go right ahead.
Speaker 4: Yeah. So we were talking about the prophylactic dose of
Speaker 4: doxycycling after a tick bite. But I think what's also
Speaker 4: really important to look at is what do you actually
Speaker 4: need to do? What are the steps that you need
Speaker 4: to follow once you find an attached tick And I
Speaker 4: think if everybody had sort of a card or a
Speaker 4: protocol to follow, there would be a lot less anxiety
Speaker 4: and stress about it. Although you have to look at
Speaker 4: the situation, there's a potential for somebody to get very sick. Now,
Speaker 4: to put it in perspective, we have a majority of
Speaker 4: the people that get bitten by ticks that are positive
Speaker 4: for carrying lime that don't get lime at all. We
Speaker 4: have a lot of people that actually do get lime,
Speaker 4: and most people can get treated and recover just fine.
Speaker 4: But there's a small percentage of people that it just
Speaker 4: screws up their whole life and they can have terrible,
Speaker 4: terrible problems. And we're seeing a lot more of that
Speaker 4: just because the numbers in general of tick bites is increasing.
Speaker 4: So but Ken, what we want to do is help
Speaker 4: you out now, because time is of the essence. The
Speaker 4: quicker you treat a tickboarn illness, the better off you're
Speaker 4: going to be. So there's a few steps that I
Speaker 4: think are important. First of all, you got to start
Speaker 4: with proper tick removal. And I might claim to fame
Speaker 4: was that I invented a product under the name Tickies,
Speaker 4: which is a two sided with steel tick removal tool. Now,
Speaker 4: forget about these bottle cap looking things, forget about twisty
Speaker 4: things for ticks and all this other stuff, the gimmicky
Speaker 4: stuff that I call it, and just basically use a
Speaker 4: fine tip tweezer. Now, mine was good that it had
Speaker 4: a little angle on it and also had a little
Speaker 4: scoop side for removing larger and gorge ticks from animals.
Speaker 4: But proper tick removal is important. It is, and it's
Speaker 4: very simple. Simple is better. What you're gonna do is
Speaker 4: you're going to try to get down as close to
Speaker 4: the skin surface as possible with the very very tips
Speaker 4: of the fine tweezer, squeeze the tick down low, firmly, lifts,
Speaker 4: slowly and steadily straight up until it pops out. Now,
Speaker 4: there's a whole bunch of reasons why that tick is
Speaker 4: stuck in there like that, including barbs and glue like
Speaker 4: substance that they secrete into the bite site which holds
Speaker 4: it firmly, so that makes it difficult. And also, the
Speaker 4: different types of ticks have different lengths of mouthparts, so
Speaker 4: the longer the mouth part is obviously the more secure
Speaker 4: it's going to be in your skin. And deer ticks
Speaker 4: have pretty long mouth parts compared to other ticks, So
Speaker 4: a little bit left in there, right, But never fear,
Speaker 4: here's another myth. If you leave the mouth parts in
Speaker 4: your body, you're going to increase your chances of getting sick.
Speaker 4: The tick's going to grow back. I heard that one
Speaker 4: the tick will grow back and continue to feed on you,
Speaker 4: or you're just gonna get really sick. Now that's not true.
Speaker 4: Although you don't want any foreign body in your skin,
Speaker 4: if the ticks mouthpart breaks off, you're gonna be okay
Speaker 4: because once the body of that tick is removed, you're
Speaker 4: at no further risk of exposure if that tick is
Speaker 4: carrying a pathogen that causes disease. And I also want
Speaker 4: to point out I know I'm talking a lot, but
Speaker 4: I want to point this out that ticks can carry bacterials, bacteria,
Speaker 4: they can carry viruses, and they can carry parasites, and
Speaker 4: you can conceivably at all three from one bite. And
Speaker 4: they're all treated differently with different medications. So it's scary
Speaker 4: when you when you do when you point out all
Speaker 4: these things. But keep in mind, just because the tick
Speaker 4: has it doesn't mean you're going to get it. And
Speaker 4: if you get it, you don't know if you're going
Speaker 4: to have a mild case that's easily treated, or it
Speaker 4: might really cause problems in the future.
Speaker 2: So let me jump in here.
Speaker 3: If I can, let me jump in here, if I can,
Speaker 3: Dick ben Dan, you done a great job explaining what
Speaker 3: should be done.
Speaker 2: My suggestion to you, Ken, for your.
Speaker 3: Peace of mind and out of an abundance of caution,
Speaker 3: have you have your your wife take her to your
Speaker 3: doctor's office when as soon as you can, and have them,
Speaker 3: you know, do what they have to do to remove
Speaker 3: whatever's left of the tick. I think Dick Man Dan
Speaker 3: has tried to basically assuage your concerns. But I, having
Speaker 3: listened to you before the news, I think you need
Speaker 3: to do this for peace of mind. And then follow
Speaker 3: how how many days is your prescription for uh doxy cycling?
Speaker 3: For how many days?
Speaker 5: It was one shot? Two hundreds two hundred milligrams?
Speaker 2: Just just when you say one shot.
Speaker 5: Dose one dose, two pills one hundred milligrams each, So
Speaker 5: it was two hundred milligrams taking once and that's it.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 3: I'm not sure that that necessarily would that our expertsy degree.
Speaker 3: Get your white to the doctor. That's that's the best
Speaker 3: that can be done. I can't spend any more time
Speaker 3: because I got.
Speaker 5: Packed, but thank you both.
Speaker 3: Yeah, just get it to the doctor and UH and
Speaker 3: get it. Get whatever is there removed properly and uh
Speaker 3: and listen to what me and Dan has said, has
Speaker 3: says says for the rest of the hour.
Speaker 4: Okay, yes, and Ken Ken listen ten please, I'm gonna
Speaker 4: later in the show, I'll be giving you a uh,
Speaker 4: the listeners, a contact number where I can actually provide
Speaker 4: you with some more one on one attention to this
Speaker 4: right now. It's a complimentary service, but you know, during
Speaker 4: regular hours, So if you'd like, just keep on listening
Speaker 4: and I'll provide you that information and I'm happy to
Speaker 4: talk with you. Thank you very much, both of you.
Speaker 4: Good night.
Speaker 3: We'll give you this and we'll give that information right
Speaker 3: towards the end of the hour. Okay, thanks can appreciate it,
Speaker 3: all right, tick Man, Dan, we've just begun here. We're
Speaker 3: gonna take a quick break and then we got a
Speaker 3: whole bunch of calls to get through, and I want
Speaker 3: everybody to again come up with your own questions as
Speaker 3: quick as possible, and we'll get going right after this
Speaker 3: break here on night Side.
Speaker 1: You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: All right, everybody going to ask to quicken it up here.
Speaker 3: I'd like to get everybody who's been on the line, Linda, Elaine, Larry,
Speaker 3: and Bruce in.
Speaker 2: You're going to start with Linda. She's been on the longest,
Speaker 2: Linda and Weymouth. You're on with tick man Dan. What's
Speaker 2: your question, Linda.
Speaker 6: We asked one of them was did that two hundred
Speaker 6: and fifty bytes give him immunity? And you gave a
Speaker 6: decent answer there. I'm thinking of lawn care. If I
Speaker 6: cut my lawns close, will it prevent the ticks from
Speaker 6: coming in? And what about these sprays that they put
Speaker 6: on lawns.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a great question, Linda, and certainly very relevant
Speaker 4: around here. Ticks don't typically hang out in the middle
Speaker 4: of manicured lawns. So if you do keep your grass
Speaker 4: mode regularly and it's in a sunny area, ticks don't. Actually,
Speaker 4: that's not a natural habitat for them. What they like
Speaker 4: is the edges, so around the edge of your the
Speaker 4: property or the perimeter, that's where they're going to be
Speaker 4: hanging out because they can't live without moisture. Humidity is
Speaker 4: their friend, and so when there's periods of drought, that's
Speaker 4: actually good because it kills the ticks. Although we need water,
Speaker 4: but you know that is the good the good side
Speaker 4: of a drought. There are companies out there that will
Speaker 4: do perimeter spraying and they can offer you options. Whether
Speaker 4: it's a natural product or organic versus a synthesized or
Speaker 4: chemical product. You can have that choice. However, my preference
Speaker 4: is for products that contain pyreethroids, which is like that
Speaker 4: permethron that I mentioned earlier. The components from the pyrie
Speaker 4: froid family I feel are the best and most effective.
Speaker 4: Now you're never gonna keep them at bay under a
Speaker 4: single or a few applications. This is something that has
Speaker 4: to be done on a regular basis because rain and
Speaker 4: other weather conditions can weaken the barriers as well as
Speaker 4: animals who are tracing through your yard. You may have
Speaker 4: deer in the yard, You're gonna have raccoons and rodents
Speaker 4: and all all sorts of things, and they can be
Speaker 4: bringing ticks back into your perimeter after an application. But yes,
Speaker 4: you have to do whatever you can. Just keep in
Speaker 4: mind you have to stay on top of it, and
Speaker 4: constant vigilance is important.
Speaker 3: Questions, Linda, I gotta I got it. I have three
Speaker 3: other callers, Linda, I got to give everybody a fear shot.
Speaker 2: Here Okay, thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 3: Linda, apologize. Let me go next to Larry and Dennis Fort.
Speaker 3: Larry's same with you. I got two behind you. Go ahead, Larry.
Speaker 4: Okay, quick questions. That previous talk to Textia's disease would
Speaker 4: have been good because there's some correlation between lime and
Speaker 4: long COVID. But I have two quick questions. What do
Speaker 4: you think about I'm in the woods all the time
Speaker 4: an avid mountain biker. What do you think about deep
Speaker 4: versus essential oils? And the second question is if I
Speaker 4: go swimming in the ocean after I'm in the woods,
Speaker 4: do ticks come off of you from so water? Okay?
Speaker 4: So the first yeah, So the first question deep versus
Speaker 4: the natural stuff? Is that what you're asking? Yeah, essentral oils? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 4: for ticks. I'm not a huge fan of deep or
Speaker 4: any type of skin applied of repellent because ticks their anatomy,
Speaker 4: they don't breathe regularly. They may breathe only a few
Speaker 4: times in an hour, so it allows them to, you know,
Speaker 4: come across. Let's say you put deet on your legs.
Speaker 4: They won't like it, but they may just meander and
Speaker 4: wander around to get away. From it, but not necessarily
Speaker 4: fall off, like if they're on promethrone treated clothing. So
Speaker 4: what they'll do is they'll always trying to climb up,
Speaker 4: and they'll keep climbing up away from that deep. And
Speaker 4: I'm not sure about you, but I would never put
Speaker 4: the deep on my private areas. So they do like
Speaker 4: those warm, moist cretesy areas, And so I'm not a
Speaker 4: huge fan of the deats. I think you'd be much
Speaker 4: better off looking into the primetherin treated clothing. I tend everything,
Speaker 4: I tend to everything to insect shield. Oh perfect. Yeah,
Speaker 4: they have a great process. Now is it going to hurt?
Speaker 4: You know? And it is very effective the deats in
Speaker 4: the other organic products, and some people have luck. I
Speaker 4: think it's a personal preference of trying to find the
Speaker 4: right group that makes the skin applied products. But you know,
Speaker 4: mosquitoes and black flies. It works awesome, and so keep
Speaker 4: using it. But again, the most important thing that anyone
Speaker 4: can do is when you get home. I forgot to
Speaker 4: mention this earlier. Put take off all your clothes plumb
Speaker 4: in a hot dryer, and while you're in the buff,
Speaker 4: go ahead and really meticulously looked your body over and
Speaker 4: keep doing it, you know, whenever you get a chance.
Speaker 3: And I think that real quickly, really important, dick man
Speaker 3: Dan real quickly. Larry asked the other question, if he
Speaker 3: dives into the ocean because he's down on the cape,
Speaker 3: will that get rid of any ticks that might be
Speaker 3: on him?
Speaker 2: Or is that a false? Is that a well?
Speaker 4: You know, I've showered and not had ticks fall off
Speaker 4: me using soap and water. If they're biting you, I
Speaker 4: would say definitely not, because they're they're attached, They're anchored
Speaker 4: to you, And ticks also have those hooks on their feet,
Speaker 4: so it makes them really sticky, and so unless you're
Speaker 4: using like a washcloth or some other means to rub
Speaker 4: them off, they they probably will stick with you even
Speaker 4: through a shower. Now the salt water, that may be
Speaker 4: something different. But honestly, I just don't know if the
Speaker 4: salt water would would cause them to release.
Speaker 2: But okay, Larry, appreciate that. I got two more. I
Speaker 2: got to get to Thank you, Larry, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3: Let me go next to Elaine in mailrows Elaine, you
Speaker 3: gotta be quick for me so I can get Bruce
Speaker 3: from Nat again as well.
Speaker 7: Go ahead, Elaine, HII mean that treatment that you recommended
Speaker 7: for the parameter of your lawn can regular homeowners purchased
Speaker 7: at or is this just through lawn services if you know.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I believe there are some products that you can
Speaker 4: apply yourself. But again you've got to keep at it.
Speaker 4: It's going to I mean, depending on the size of
Speaker 4: your yard, you may have to buy a lot of it,
Speaker 4: which can be not so cost effective. I think if
Speaker 4: you have an experienced group that provides you with the
Speaker 4: piriethroid products, or even there are some organic products products
Speaker 4: that will naturally repel them, you would be better off. Now,
Speaker 4: the most important thing about having an experienced tick spraying
Speaker 4: company is the application process. Now, ticks are hybrid, are
Speaker 4: not hibernating, but they're hiding under the leaf litter. So
Speaker 4: you either need enough of that liquid on the perimeter
Speaker 4: to soak down through the leaf littered levels into the soil,
Speaker 4: or you need a high pressure applicator that will turn
Speaker 4: the leaves so you get underneath it where they are,
Speaker 4: and that's going to be the most effective.
Speaker 7: And the other quick question is so once you wash
Speaker 7: your clothes when you come home and the wash it
Speaker 7: does that kill them while they is it the dryer
Speaker 7: that kills them.
Speaker 4: It's the dryer because the dryer sucks the humidity right
Speaker 4: out of those clothes, and ticks do not survive well
Speaker 4: in low humidity situations. So ten minutes on a high
Speaker 4: heat and their toast good.
Speaker 1: Way.
Speaker 7: They'll call mentioned Insects Shield. Is that a company that
Speaker 7: you send your clothes to.
Speaker 4: Yes, Insects Shield dot com. They work, They do a
Speaker 4: really good job.
Speaker 2: All right, thank you very much. Thank you. Let's go
Speaker 2: to Bruce. Bruce, somehow we get to you here, Go ahead,
Speaker 2: Bruce got about a minute and a half.
Speaker 4: Go ahead, Bruce, great, Thank you, a long time listener,
Speaker 4: first time caller.
Speaker 2: All right, give you a quick round of a plus from.
Speaker 4: Okay, I want to share my experience. I had lime disease.
Speaker 4: My legs in my arms started getting very weak and
Speaker 4: eventually on the couch, my legs came numb, paralysis, totally numb.
Speaker 4: I couldn't even stand up. Paramedics came in, had to
Speaker 4: lift me up off the couch, put me on a journey,
Speaker 4: bring me to the hospital. Now my question is, well, actually,
Speaker 4: what I think happened was I chicked bit and ran
Speaker 4: chewing screw as you call it so it could it
Speaker 4: have gotten any worse? Maybe death? I heard someone died
Speaker 4: once with lime disease. Oh was that absolutely possible. I
Speaker 4: mean fatalities have been reported and a lot of people,
Speaker 4: actually some with very bad line have committed suicide as well. Wow.
Speaker 2: Well, how are you doing now, Bruce? How you doing now?
Speaker 4: Fantastic, Dan, fantastic, No after effects or anything. Shade in
Speaker 4: the hospital. I think three or four days. I don't
Speaker 4: know what they gave me, but no, no round circles
Speaker 4: or anything like I said, I don't know.
Speaker 2: But anyways, Bruce, Bruce, I gotta let you go. I'm
Speaker 2: flat out of time.
Speaker 4: You got it.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much and call back. We'll give you
Speaker 2: more time next time. Thank you, Rob.
Speaker 3: Let's keep this going tick men, Dan, I want to
Speaker 3: give you some time to give your phone number at
Speaker 3: least on the other side, and if you want to
Speaker 3: take a couple of more phone calls, I think they'll
Speaker 3: come in.
Speaker 2: Are you up for a few more minutes?
Speaker 4: Absolutely? Dan, I'm yours all right, and we'll get.
Speaker 3: Give me how can people reach you? Give it to
Speaker 3: us quickly and we'll repeat it on the other side
Speaker 3: of the ten what's the best way to reach you.
Speaker 4: Well, I've got a website out there. It's not really
Speaker 4: doing much the moment, but I'm planning, uh to make
Speaker 4: it more useful. But it's Tickmandan dot com. And there
Speaker 4: is a tick hotline that I'm setting up right now.
Speaker 4: It's a complimentary service during regular business hours. The telephone
Speaker 4: number is eight five five bad tick.
Speaker 2: Okay, you hold on and we will give that again
Speaker 2: on the other side.
Speaker 3: And folks would like to continue calling bring it six
Speaker 3: one seven, two five four ten thirty six one seven
Speaker 3: uh six month seven nine.
Speaker 2: Three one ten thirty. We'll we'll g.
Speaker 3: Into the next hour in this because this is important
Speaker 3: and he's one of my best guests and he's never
Speaker 3: said no to me before. Tick Man Dan, stay right there.
Speaker 3: We'll be back with tick Man Dan right after the
Speaker 3: ten o'clock news