Ticks!!

[Savvy_Darling]

Ugh I'm bugging out! I got back from dirt bike riding today and I was thinking about ticks because we were around a lot of tress and bushes and Forrest. I checked myself in the mirror and had my bf check the back of my neck and head for any. I was wearing a helmet so I didn't think I'd get any on my head though.

Wellll fast forward like 20 mins and I felt something on my hand and screamed and smacked this bug I thought was a spider! I hate spiders :mad: ! So I freaked out about it and shook my body off and moved to another spot on the bed because I felt gross and I didn't think I killed it.

Fast forward close to an hour and I felt that tickle on my hand and I seen the spider again !.. I smacked it and it fell on the bed only this time.. I realized.. It was a tick!! And I know what ticks look like because I had a couple as a kid when I lived down south. So I know a tick when I see it.
Anyways, I freaked out and screamed, scared the cats in the process, I just hate bugs.. And this was a damn tick! Exactly what I was worried about when I got back. I scooped it in a cap and flushed it down the toilet.. Ticks are hard to kill / smash so I wasn't taking any chances.. That sucker was flushed and made sure it went down.
Well now, I feel anxious and crawly like there could be more somewhere! Hiding in the bed or on the floor crawling. I took my riding suit and my boyfriends and threw them on the porch.. Along with the helmets too. I feel like I'm gonna start cleaning the room and shaking out blankets. I'm just worried because ticks are hard to get out of things that there could be more somewhere hiding on the bed or other places waiting to attach to me! Plus I'm worried my cats might get one on them. I don't know how many else there could be and its totally driving me mad.. I don't wanna get one burrowed into me (they are hard to remove) and I'm afraid of Lyme disease! Which you can get from a tick.
There's no one here one to check me on my head so I went to mirror and tried my best to see as much as my scalp as I can but its hard! I rubbed my nails though out my hair and scalp and I didn't find any bumps on my head or see any thing on my neck or head.. So I hope that would be enough to tell? I feel like you would be able to feel one on your head while rubbing.
But so here I am on edge at any tickle I feel on me thinking it could be a tick. I keep rubbing my head with my nails and checking in the mirror. I haven't cleaned the room but I'm going too! I just feel so paranoid about ticks now! Especially since one was on me.. (It was just crawling though.. I didn't bite me or start burrowing so I think I'm safe from the Lyme UNLESS there is one on my scalp where I'm having a hard time to see clearly.

I'm also hating the idea of any other ticks on my bed!! I don't know if I'll sleep good tonight.. I'll have to check my boyfriend when he gets home from work... (Although I doubt he'll care as much as I do)

I just don't know what to do with myself I feel so grossed out about this tick thing and also like I've said.. Paranoid as all hell. I definitely don't wan any ticks latching onto me and sucking my blood.. Or the Lyme!!
The last time I had a tick was as a kid and my dad burned it off my stomach! (Didn't burn my skin only th tick to get it to un burrow itself... But recently on a news article I read that's a bad way of removing them and if its carrying th Lyme disease it could cause it to release it into you or something like that. So all I can think about is what I'm gonna do if one does attach itself.. I'll have to go to the doctor or something.
Also can't stop thinking of if there are any more anywhere!!:scared15::shrug:

I just don't know if I can calm down from this I feel sooo on high alert. I wish I knew what I could clean with or put on me that will scare away or repel any other ones!

And it's worth being said that I do live in a part of America that has deer ticks which can carry Lyme..my house where it is I'm not worried because there's like no tress around I live close to the city and highway.. But where went riding it was like the Forrest and woods..... So again freaking out!

---------- Post added at 20:50 ---------- Previous post was at 18:52 ----------

Update: had my bfs mom check out m scalp.. She said nothing so guess I'm good these.. Which makes me feel better BUT being in my room still suck! I cant stop wondering if there are more ticks lurking! Guess the only thing to do is burn it down.. (Totally kidding!!) but I will be going on a cleaning spree :doh:

[Lexilou]

I've had three ticks so far this year but on three different occasions so I've only found one on each adventure. If you find them attached, grab them with tweezers as close to the skin as possible. I have my husband do this as it hurts a bit to pull them off. Not taking lot, just a little pinch but who wants to pinch themselves :shrug:. I also drown the little pests in rubbing alcohol because I don't trust them to drown. Anything with eight legs is untrustworthy in my book!

[MyNameIsTerry]

Anything with eight legs is untrustworthy in my book!

Like the group One Direction! :yesyes:

---------- Post added at 07:39 ---------- Previous post was at 05:35 ----------

Well you've had one before as a child so you know that just having one doesn't mean you get Lyme Disease because you didn't have it back then. That's something to use to rationalise with.

Currently you feel contaminated. This will pass as the anxiety fades though, as you said it's the high alert thing that comes with anxiety.

So, how can you distract yourself from this? You don't want to spend hours thinking about this when you could distract yourself a little and reduce it's fever pitch. You then may find it easier to deal with when you are back in the bedroom.

You've dealt with a tick. It could have easily been alone but you won't know, and this is where your anxiety is going to struggle because it won't want to think there is a possibility, it's wants a yes or no (black & white or all-or-nothing thinking as it is known).

But think of all the times you have been in situations where you could have also picked up a tick. Did you? No. So, why would you again? And because you don't always pick them up, why would there be more than one now when it's uncommon to have one at all?

[Savvy_Darling]

Lexi- I agree!!! I don't trust any bug though! Except maybe butterflies lol..
Yikes 3?! I'm having a hard time with imagining one in me! They just creep me out!! Yuck.

Terry- guess what I found today ?! Well my cats were staring at something on the floor and I went to see what it was and behold a TICK. I taped him in scotch tape as I read that's the best way to kill them. I googled and found its a male dog tick. I'm totally worried about my cats now :( I don't know how to check them for ticks .. Especially since one of my cats is black and I feel like that would be like finding a needle in a hay stack! Not only this but all yesterday I was worried about being more ticks and I just when I was feeling better this happens ! Just my luck right? /: I don't know what I can do now and I feel really gross being in my room. I decided the tick in the bathroom came from my riding pants or shirt that I took off in the bathroom and had on the floor awhile before I threw them outside yesterday after I found the first tick! Now I'm worried there are more in the bathroom. I'm so cautious in there now... I feel like such a wimp too! Scared of ticks...wow.

Not to mention the friend me and my boyfriend when riding with had discovered one on his leg today! He was wearing shorts and a white beater (which I mean he was almost begging for a tick with that on while riding in the woods.)

I'm sure I don't have any on me now but the thought of them hiding in the bathroom waiting for me or my cats is crazy! I can't deal with this.. Ready to burn my room down right about now ahh :scared15: Like how many more of these things could be in here!!!

[Lexilou]

Like the group One Direction! :yesyes:

LOL!

If you give your cats a nice massage, you should be able to feel any ticks. As scared as I am of spiders, ticks don't seem to bother me too much, still not a fan with their eight legs and all. I just don't know what purpose they serve other than to be evil pests. Anyway, I think you've probably found them all by now.