Tick season is already in full swing and it’s going to be one of the worst years for ticks and lyme disease. Make sure your pets are on flea/tick/heartworm prevention and get your dogs vaccinated against lyme!
The sun is shining and the grass is green in minnesota today, what a lovely beginning to the impending TICKPOCALYPSE
Remember to cover yourselves appropriately if you’re going places with lots of wildlife! Ticks are dangerous for people as well as pets!
I’ve always heard to avoid long pants because ticks are easier to notice and remove when they try to climb a bare leg, but I think it’s a matter of preference tbh.
What you really need is to use a good repellant made for use in tick heavy areas. I’m not talking citronella essential oils, I mean a real repellant like Deep woods OFF that uses DDT. Spray it on your shoes and inside your shoes. You would be surprised how many ticks start in your socks and work their way up. I have had waaaaaay fewer guests on me after spraying my shoes as well as my legs.
If you want to get REALLY serious you can treat your hiking gear in permethrin, or get permethrin treated exercise gear. It’s a very potent, effective substance that kills ticks and other parasites on contact. It’s present in some flea and tick treatments for dogs. But the kicker is, permethrin is also VERY toxic to cats, so if you have a cat and you feel like you need permethrin treated gear, you MUST keep the gear where kitty can’t get it.
Friendly reminder to stock up on tick meds for your pets, and repellent for yourself! This year is going to be a BAD one.
ALWAYS check yourself after a hike, or any trip outside. Wear bright clothes so it’s easier to see ticks on you, and make sure to do a full-body check when you’re done. This includes checking your hair line and under waistbands or underwear (last tick I found on me was on my butt, and I had been hiking with pants and a long shirt on…trust me, check under your underwear).
Remove ticks as soon as you find them, and keep them in a small container or bag (heads completely squished) for identification purposes just in case your bite looks iffy later on. Clean the bite site thoroughly. Be on the look out for any flu-like symptoms, rashes, or red rings around the bite site like a bulls-eye (note: a slight red ring right afterward is normal, see below for what “bad” looks like). Usually if you get a tick off in the first 24 hours you’ll be ok, so long as you didn’t agitate the tick, but if you notice anything abnormal go to the doctor ASAP. If your tick was engorged when removed, be especially on the lookout. It’s always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to the nasty diseases ticks can carry.
Remember: if you’re buying tick preventatives for your pets, make sure you get one that’s meant for them. Don’t use dog-specific medicine on cats, or vice-versa, and make sure you get the correct weight range for your pet. Failure to do so can lead to serious complications for your pets. If you’re not sure what you should use or what’s safe for pets, contact your local veterinarian and ask. If your pet is bitten by a tick and displays any abnormal behaviors or symptoms of sickness get them to your vet as soon as you can and bring the tick with you.
This has been your tick safety reminder post for the season.
Scoliosis is the abnormal curvature of the spine to the sides.
80% of cases are idiopathic, meaning that they have no known cause. The remainder are due to neuromuscular disorders, including Marfan’s syndrome (disorder of connective tissues), muscular dystrophy (a condition causing muscle weakness) and cerebral palsy (a neurological condition caused by brain damage).
Treatment includes back braces, pain management and in extreme cases, surgical correction.
That’s some insane misalignment! Most secondary schools nowadays screen for this, but not sure if that’s nationwide. Did your school include this in health checks/physicals?
In a state of constant alert, the child’s “fight or flight” stress response goes into overdrive, causing physiological changes to the architecture of the brain.
The results can be catastrophic. As cell growth is impaired and the formation of healthy neural circuits is disrupted, the child struggles to regulate emotions.
Changes in the hippocampus - the part of the brain responsible for memory and emotional control - cause shrinkage, which in turn can trigger learning and behavioural problems, difficulty with impulse control and a heightened sense of rage and self-loathing.
Evidence is also emerging that the effects of toxic stress can last a lifetime, putting the child at increased risk of mental and physical health problems and cognitive impairment in adulthood. The concern is that the trans-generational consequences of family violence, abuse, neglect, economic hardship and parental mental illness and drug and alcohol problems will compound over time.
Capgras delusion theory - “Somebody who looks exactly like my wife is claiming that she is my wife. But I know that she is lying.”
CD is a strange disorder in which a person holds a delusion that a friend, spouse or close family member has been replaced by an identical-looking impostor. The Capgras delusion is named after a Joseph Capgras, a French psychiatrist, who first described the disorder in 1929 in his paper co-authored by Reboul Lachaux on the case of a French woman who complained that corresponding “doubles” had taken the places of her husband and other people she knew.
At the age of 12, Howard Dully was subjected to the unnecessary procedure of a lobotomy, thanks in part to his stepmother, who couldn’t handle a normal pre-teen boy. Dr. Walter Freeman, the man behind the disturbing practice of lobotomies, claimed that Howard had childhood schizophrenia and claimed a lobotomy would cure him of such. However, when other doctors that have seen him never came to that diagnosis. It has taken Howard decades to recover from the surgery. He lived his life in institutions, he was incarcerated, homeless and became an alcoholic. He eventually sobered up and went on to get a college degree. He has since researched what happened to him and has even written his memoirs, with the help of Charles Flemming, and turned it into a book titled “My Lobotomy.” He is now a talk show host on National Public Radio, where he speaks to other lobotomy victims.
A visual representation of the pathway of light. The brain processes visual information from the left visual fields in the right occipital lobe and vice versa, as well as processes superior visual field information inferior to the calcarine fissure and vice versa.
Cardiac tamponade —> “blood or fluid collects in the pericardium, the sac surrounding the heart. Pericardial fluid may accumulate slowly without causing any noticeable symptoms until a large amount accumulates. However, a rapidly developing effusion can stretch the pericardium to its maximum size and, because of increased pericardial pressure, reduce venous return to the heart and decrease CO. It often has three characteristic signs that the physician will recognize during a physical exam. These signs are commonly referred to as “Beck’s Triad” or The 3 D’s.”
