My little detecting outting Saturday ended up with me in the ER!

kiyote · February 3, 2008 12:50PM

Ok, I went metal detecting and ended up in the ER. I FAIL. Epically. I know that.

Still, maybe a little hard-cord X-Games edge is just what this hobby needs!

I went out Saturday after some rains to a very wooded area that led to a TB sanitarium. I dug around like crazy, didn't find anything, then gave up after three hours. Later that night, as I was brushing my teeth and about to go to bed I stood in front of the mirror and saw that I had a damn tick on my neck! Being from Ohio, I didn't panic, I just grabbed some tweezers and yanked it out. I did it the wrong way, because the head was stuck inside my neck! I started whimpering at that point and woke up my room-mate, demanding he do something. He tried, but wasn't able to get it out.

Since I have pretty killer insurance, I drove myself to the ER and had them take a look at it. After about six hours of waiting (I got there at midnight) I ended up getting it removed by a doctor. I made it home at 6:30 am and crashed, as tired as can be.

I still want to go back there, but I'm going to do a full body naked search as SOON as I get home next time!

That's the bite on my neck. If you think it looks bad now, well, hopefully that's as bad as it'll look.

lordmarcovan · February 3, 2008 6:18PM

Eew.

They don't like my neck much. They seem to prefer the buttocks in my case.

Fortunately, I mostly find them wandering around on me, unattached.

One time I found one... THERE. Yeah. There. Thank goodness it wasn't attached, or I'd have passed out.

lordmarcovan · February 3, 2008 6:28PM

PS-

You've been payin' your dues, bigtime.

I'd say there should be some good karma in it for you, eventually.

Keep at it, mon.

(Listening to some reggae-ish sounding music right now so that "mon" just kinda slipped out.)

DUBBA · February 3, 2008 9:19PM

what out for them ticks....lordm!...i advise you not to go detecting in the nude ....hh

ricko · February 3, 2008 10:00PM

Ouch!! Ticks can be nasty.. and you need to have yourself checked for Lyme Disease... in a few weeks... If you do contract it, get help right away.. I personally know two people that almost died from it. Nothing to mess with - and ticks transmit it. Cheers, RickO

millennium · February 4, 2008 3:27AM

I guess ticks and redbugs don't like me......I've never rally had a problem with them, the same for gnats and mosquitoes....I guess I'm poison...

STONE · February 4, 2008 3:27AM

Yeh, ticks SUCK!!!

I had a couple get on me, but I managed to find them as I was showering, which was only an hour or two after I was out in the woods.

kiyote · February 4, 2008 3:57AM

<< <i>Ouch!! Ticks can be nasty.. and you need to have yourself checked for Lyme Disease... in a few weeks... If you do contract it, get help right away.. I personally know two people that almost died from it. Nothing to mess with - and ticks transmit it. Cheers, RickO >>

The antibiotics are supposed to take care of it. I wonder more about Morgellon's disease!

BobGreene · February 4, 2008 3:57AM

All you have to do if you have a tick is to put the lit end of a cigarette up against the critter and he will back out of you. Otherwise, twist him counter-clockwise to remove him without leaving the head inside.

grip · February 4, 2008 5:05AM

All you have to do if you have a tick is to put the lit end of a cigarette up against the critter and he will back out of you

................50 years ago I learned that trick,and it still works.

Al

marym · February 4, 2008 6:02AM

I don't like the sounds of the cigarette trick, it carries too much possibility of getting burnt. Ouch!! I grew up on the vaseline trick. Smoother the little devil and he'll pop out on his own.

lathmach · February 4, 2008 6:33AM

<< <i>Ouch!! Ticks can be nasty.. and you need to have yourself checked for Lyme Disease... in a few weeks... If you do contract it, get help right away.. I personally know two people that almost died from it. Nothing to mess with - and ticks transmit it. Cheers, RickO >>

Ya, you probably got Lyme disease. You might die from it, but if you don't at least you'll get to suffer a lot.
And you didn't even find any coins.

Ray

DesertRat · February 4, 2008 7:03AM

Years ago I took my black lab, "Trina" (RIP) for a walk in the local mountains. After returning I did a thorough tick check of her and found none and did a what I thought was thorough search of myself. Finding no ticks I showered and went about the rest of my day. Early the next morning around 3:30 I awoke from sleep in agony, felling like I had been stabbed in the stomach. Turning on the light I found no blood but my abdomen was bright red making a perfect bullseye around my belly button and hurt like heck!!

I got dressed and headed to the ER where they found a tick firmly embedded in the bottom of my bellybutton! They tried every trick in the book to get the little sucker (pun intended) to come out on his own but he was buried deep. Ultimately they had to surgically remove the tick. Yes, surgically, complete with local anesthesia, scalpel, clamps and other implements of destruction. NEVER do I want to go through that again!

kiyote · February 4, 2008 10:39AM

DesertRat, I just about jump up, screamed, and ran to the bathroom to check my bellybutton. Yikes!

GoldenEyeNumismatics · February 5, 2008 8:07AM

When I was younger, I used to go to a nearby nature camp for a few weeks each summer. We would often play a game called "camoflauge," essentially hide and go seek, but the searcher wasn't allowed to move. Everyone hid, and if the searcher saw you and pointed to where you were, you were out. There's more to the game than that, but that's not what I'm getting at.

One day, I had the idea to bury myself in a pile of leaves. I cleared away some brush and built up a hasty pile. I climbed into it and covered myself up for a good 15 minutes.

Unfortunately, the ground I was lying on was that of a tick colony (I didn't even know ticks lived in colonies). I removed 144 ticks from my body that night...

But no lyme disease!

kiyote · February 5, 2008 8:30AM

<< <i>

<< <i>Ouch!! Ticks can be nasty.. and you need to have yourself checked for Lyme Disease... in a few weeks... If you do contract it, get help right away.. I personally know two people that almost died from it. Nothing to mess with - and ticks transmit it. Cheers, RickO >>

Ya, you probably got Lyme disease. You might die from it, but if you don't at least you'll get to suffer a lot.
And you didn't even find any coins.

Ray >>

I *did* save a lot on auto insurance, though!

lordmarcovan · February 5, 2008 9:12PM

I've never been bold enough to do the cigarette trick on an attached tick. What I have tried is holding the mouth of an open bottle of rubbing alcohol against my skin, trying to drown 'im into letting loose.

Been so long since I had one attached, though, I can't remember if that ever worked or not.

shudson · February 7, 2008 1:27AM

Man, sounds like you Americans need body armor to go in the woods!

Up my way we don't have any ticks that burrow (at least I never heard of any), no snakes, no fire ants, no nothing... except maybe leeches if you spend some time in a swamp. Nothing too scary in the woods up here either, like grizzlys or pumas, well, unless you count sasquatch...

My little detecting outting Saturday ended up with me in the ER!

Comments