With the turkey season approaching, I thought it would be wise to post some important information on Lyme Disease. The majority of this information was taken from The Mayo Clinic and it’s broken down into these subjects (Definition, Symptoms, Causes, Risk Factors, When to Seek Medical Advice, Test and Diagnosis, Complications, Treatments and Drugs, and Prevention).
Here’s the link:
i had lymes disease 2.5 years ago. Not fun!! I had esophogitis as a result which made eating a drinking a chore 
This is where you have small erosions in your esophagus for those that dont know. Spray yourself with a tick repellent or something, check each time you come in from hunting. The way i found it was i thought it was a big, painful zit on the middle of my back. My mom noticed the “bullseye” and we went to the doc
I’ve had it myself about the same time as you ptour. The scary part is that I’m fairly aware of this problem, and I think I do a fairly good job of reducing my exposure.
Didn’t notice symptoms for quite a few weeks after a turkey hunt in the St. Croix River Valley that was FULL of ticks. Actually found several deer ticks on me that weekend, one bit me, but not bad. Got so weak, that I couldn’t climb stairs very well, and I couldn’t open a ziploc plastic bag. Lymes test came up negative, though they admitted the test can be as poor as 50% accurate. They treated me with a heavy dose of antibiotics (for Lymes) and I was better in a week. I’m convinced it was Lymes, and the doctors didn’t have any better explanation, except Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (which they didn’t even test for).
The scary part is that I was vaccinated for Lymes almost 10 years ago. Perhaps I had another sort of similar tick-borne illness, but either way, I was bit by a deer tick and got very sick. Be careful out there.
100% deet or permethrin around the pant leg bottoms is about all I’ve found that will work. Stuff your pants into your socks (if you can), wear a belt and tuck in your shirt. Make the ticks have to climb all the way up your body and get to your head, neck, or hands, greatly increasing the chance that it’ll get brushed off, will climb off, or fall off through other means.
Btw, there seems to be a large correlation with soil/cover-types and deer/wood-tick abundance. Sandy/gravelly soil types and their associated cover seems to hold many more ticks. That area just north of the twin cities, extending diagonally Northeast in a 100 mile swath all the way to the Bayfield Penninsula is some of the most tick-infested ground I’ve ever hunted or fished in. Besides Massachusetts, MN/WI have the highest incidence of tick-borne illnesses in the nation:
http://www.dogsandticks.com/US-map-lyme-disease-dogs/
Joel
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