caddisguy's ultimate tick experiment

[lostmind]

Just a little tid bit for you...I have been using vitamin B3 in pill form to keep mosquitoes and ticks from biting. It's the same stuff as in the patches, but only a couple of bucks a bottle at any health/pharmacy. It lasts about 3 hours for a couple pills and water soluble so it won't build up in your system. I can watch the bugs land on me and take right off. It sure beats the stink/film of Deet.

What dosage are you taking? I take vitamin b pills lately but never while out hunting/camping. Maybe I should start bringing them!

[lostmind]

Sorry guys. This has all been put on hold until the testing situation has been figured out.

Some news about the Care Plus Test Kit should be coming out within the next week or so and I will put it here.

I appreciate all the enthusiasm and curiosity... can't wait to share a nifty little science experiment once we get everything in place.

I am greatly interested. My spring bear hunt had me covered in ticks. Hell, I had a tick land on me while in the truck! I went to bed one night and found two had wriggled their way inside the tent trailer... these things give me the shivers. Imagine getting lyme and becoming allergic to meat?!

[finngun]

Damn caddisguy, you are one chick...I mean tick magnet!!!

that is jell bells style...like it ...

[Wagonmaster]

Sensitivity of a point of care tick-test for the development of Lyme ...

Might want to read this before you spend your money. In short, the results showed 0% sensitivity in that confirmed cases still tested negative. The closing statement is "this self-test is not suitable for reducing the NNT in post-exposure prophylaxis as it missed all the obvious early Lyme borreliosis cases." In short, they tested the ticks from over a hundred individuals. All tested negative, even though 14 of the ticks were in fact positive. So, it would appear the test does not work.

[caddisguy]

Sensitivity of a point of care tick-test for the development of Lyme ...

Might want to read this before you spend your money. In short, the results showed 0% sensitivity in that confirmed cases still tested negative. The closing statement is "this self-test is not suitable for reducing the NNT in post-exposure prophylaxis as it missed all the obvious early Lyme borreliosis cases." In short, they tested the ticks from over a hundred individuals. All tested negative, even though 14 of the ticks were in fact positive. So, it would appear the test does not work.

Yep! This was posted yesterday and there was further discussion. To summarize, our experiment is on hold pending reliable testing. We are exploring a few different avenues.

There should also be some news coming out about the Care Plus test kits in the near future.

[Stillhunt]

What dosage are you taking? I take vitamin b pills lately but never while out hunting/camping. Maybe I should start bringing them!

I will dig the bottle out and let you know. There are many variations on B vitamins and B3 is the type I see used in mosquito patches. Call me cheap but I didn't want to spend $15 on patches when a $6 bottle of the same thing has lasted myself many outings. I have found ticks on my clothes many times but never been bit. (Knock on head (wood)).

[Stillhunt]

Sorry, my bad! I checked the bottle and it is B1 (thiamine) that you want to take. I am 6'1 cut to 195lbs during hunting season, and take 2 100mg pills every 3 hours or so. Off season I weigh 215lbs and will take 2 or 3 pills depending on the area.

[Asco]

Update from me:

never seen a tick before other than in the crotch of a dead animal.
Until today. Spent the day in reg 3 quadding and walking. Got in the truck around 6 pm
Noticed a little critter on my leg after I'd been on the highway half an hour.
Stopped the truck and got out. 18 TICKS on me. Nasty. I will be doing the thiamine as well as horse tick spray.
My research says the good human spray is not allowed in Canada but the horse stuff is. Stays effective on clothing for 6 washes or so. So spray then wash then hunt. I'd rather have to be more aware of my wind than get covered in ticks again.

No ticks bit me, but the one I found in my chest hair freaked me out a bit

[caddisguy]

Update from me:

never seen a tick before other than in the crotch of a dead animal.
Until today. Spent the day in reg 3 quadding and walking. Got in the truck around 6 pm
Noticed a little critter on my leg after I'd been on the highway half an hour.
Stopped the truck and got out. 18 TICKS on me. Nasty. I will be doing the thiamine as well as horse tick spray.
My research says the good human spray is not allowed in Canada but the horse stuff is. Stays effective on clothing for 6 washes or so. So spray then wash then hunt. I'd rather have to be more aware of my wind than get covered in ticks again.

No ticks bit me, but the one I found in my chest hair freaked me out a bit

Surprise ticks on the highway suck... pun not intended (afterthought)

We did our best to avoid them this weekend and didn't hunt overly hard. caddisgirl noticed a tick on her glove shortly after hugging me lol

We put it in a little tube. It's an adult female deer tick. Interesting to watch. Things I have learned:

- they seem to play dead if you stress them out by shaking to tube
- after being left out in -5C temps, it also looks dead (shriveled up like a spider) but as soon as you touch the tube, it sticks its legs out trying to latch onto whatever is warm
- it can walk across the tube (5 inches) in about 10-15 seconds. Given these beasts can sense heat, co2, ammonia, etc from a good distance, I can see how sitting in the same spot for an hour or even still hunting results in ticks
- I also learned the house rules regarding pet ticks... they must be kept inside of a container, inside of another container. This is the letter of the caddisgirl law. It is not negotiable. Long distance tick races are prohibited in the house. Experiments to see which beer it is more attracted to must be done outdoors.

FIY, on a more serious note: Regarding Care Plus, I have emailed CBC (they ran the article pumping Care Plus last year) as well as London Drugs (one of the biggest retailers carrying the product) and neither have responded, so definitely story-worthy for another news outlet.

I did receive a reply from Care Plus in broken English assuring me they are confident the product works based on "studies from their supplier" (not provided of course)

[Dannybuoy]

Are those deer keds or ticks ? keds have six legs ... tics have 8 . I think only the tics carry the disease