What You Didn’t Know About Ticks and Mental Health in Lovettsville, VA
There’s a lot more to ticks than meets the eye. These millimeter-sized bugs come with huge problems. Quite certainly, you won’t miss that irritating itch and the resulting rash. However, various species carry different kinds of infections. Some of them are fatal while others are sure to alter your life completely through mental health problems. 
Although ticks are flightless, they gain their mobility by hanging on to the dear host. This could be a wild animal, pet, or human being. The last thing you want is the presence of ticks anywhere near your home. So, from the onset, how can you be on the lookout for an infestation?
Ticks Infestation – A Serious Problem?
Ticks don’t pose a serious threat to well-built and properly maintained structures, provided there is no nest or burrow inside homes. However, in poorly constructed, irregularly maintained structures, old, rural and dilapidated buildings, the pests may tend to feed on humans before getting back to their shelters. As per a recently released CDC statement, the number of people falling ill due to tick bites has tripled from 2004 to 2016…
Signs of Tick Infestation
The sight of ticks is the first sign of infestation. Medical symptoms from ticks-borne diseases or fluids are secondary signs. These symptoms can vary and so should be left to a qualified medical practitioner for detection and attention. Ticks easily get into the gaps and crevices and also take refuges in the grass growing outside your home. Therefore, repairing the cracks and manicuring the grasses in your premise are some effective ways to threaten infestation. Read more at Dark In The Dark…
Although there are about 899 different species of ticks in the world, approximately 95 of them are in the U.S. Generally, all these species can fall in one of two main categories: soft and hard ticks.
Out of these species, the one directly related to mental health issues in Loudoun County is the black-legged tick. Its other name is the deer tick. This is the same one that transmits the deadly Lyme disease.
Lyme disease is an infection caused by bacteria that’s transmitted through the bite of an infected blacklegged tick (also known as a deer tick).
Symptoms: If left untreated, lyme disease can cause a variety of flu-like symptoms, depending on how long you’ve been infected. This includes fever, chills, headache, fatigue, joint aches, and swollen lymph nodes. Perhaps the most recognizable sign of Lyme is a red bullseye-shaped rash. Symptoms become more severe the longer you go without treatment, leading to shooting pains in your hands and feet, nerve pain, irregular heartbeat, facial palsy, or even inflammation of your brain and spinal cord. Read more at Prevention…
It’s worth noting that Covid-19 symptoms are quite similar to those of Lyme disease. So, you would want to be a little more careful about determining the actual cause of any flu-like symptoms you experience.
Several mental health issues arise as a result of infection with Lyme disease. What complicates the matter more is the fact that Lyme disease can go undetected. Here are some reasons for you to be extra vigilant.
May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month and Mental Health Awareness month. These matters are inextricably linked because there is now a mental health crisis among those with tick-borne diseases. As Dr. Robert C. Bransfield writes, “Lyme and other tick-borne diseases contributes to causing a significant number of previously unexplained suicides and is associated with immune-mediated and metabolic changes resulting in psychiatric and other symptoms.”[i]
Statistically, those with any chronic illness are more likely to die by their own hand than those the general population, but for those with Lyme and other tick-borne diseases the risk is even greater. Read more at Globally Lyme Alliance…
Battling the long-term symptoms of Lyme disease in their various forms is quite strenuous. Moreover, proper treatment for the condition is often unavailable and may take long before it yields any tangible results. All these, plus the threat of Lyme disease bacteria on the brain, are the reasons why one’s mental health may be compromised.
This calls for a ruthless approach to tick control in your home. Backyard Bug Patrol is just what you need to get the job done meticulously. Call us today!