We had ticks at the old place, but we called them “dog” ticks, much larger. We also didn’t get them very often. These little ‘seed ticks’ are a different story & it seems to be easy to get into a group of them.
At the Urgent Care, the nurse was telling us about a guy who came in last week, 5 weeks after a tick bite. Every time he ate, he got diarrhea. I immediately said ‘Alpha-gal?’ She seemed surprised I knew about it & confirmed he tested positive for it. Ticks carry a lot of bad stuff. Dogs can get Lymes & my brother’s Brittany had Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever - very sick dog, but recovered.
Rain coming Wednesday so I’ll have to get on the mowing tomorrow. I let the grass go an extra week because I was under the weather enough last week that I just couldn’t make myself get on the mower. Despite all the stuff going on today, it was a pretty good day as far as how I was feeling, so hopefully, it’s the beginning of a more positive trend.
We’ve had two dogs with Lymes disease, but we caught it quick and got them on antibiotics and they did fine.
The problem we have, aside from Lymes, is something call ‘Blasto.’ Don’t know the full name. It a spore in the soil up north where Beau hunts and where our cabin is located.
It ends up in their lungs and we lost one really good dog to that disease, and have friends that have also lost good dogs as well.
How DO you keep a hound from running full bore with his nose to the ground? Ain’t gonna happen.
And with the ‘Blasto’ by the time you see the symptoms (problems breathing; lethargy) it’s too late. There doesn’t seem to be a pro-disease medicine or shot invented for this yet. :(
We have three types here. Them dog ticks are fast and yes, seed ticks are often in a group. They’re baby ticks and hang around where they hatch for a little while. And we have the Lone Star tick which is the Alpha-Gal tick. I got the allergy 20 years ago in Fl while cleaning up the mo-in-laws wooded property up by the GA line.
Been dealing with it ever since because I decided to buy a hunk of forest. I get the hives from mammalian meat for an hour at 1-2 am sometimes when I have it for dinner 5-6 hours earlier. Only delayed food allergy there is. All others are minutes.
Comes and goes because I will not stop eating beef. I’m not eating chicken and fish the rest of my life. I do stay away from ribeye though. Baby Back Ribs too. NY Strip is my limit as far as fattiness goes.
Took a bite of the son’s steak last night. Gawd it was good. Picanha - good alternative to NY Strip and nearly half the price. I’ll try 3-4 bites tonight. I just keep eating a little more all the time until I’m over it — until the next Lone Star bite sets me back again.
Been doing that for years and last year found a study or experiment a couple of Turkish doctors did on some alpha-gal afflicted patients. Started with tiny amount of beef extract(water that beef was boiled in), then went to small chunks and doubled the amount every couple of days. A Desensitization Protocol.
It’s been much better out here since I spread Sevin Granules. Need to get a couple more bags and expand the safe zone. Might be able to smoke some regular pork ribs soon. Eat one the first day, two the next and so on and do it on my days off because a reaction with hives wipes me out for the next day.