Ticks are not something most people are used to talking about but with Eastern Ontario a hotbed for tick activity and cases of Lyme Disease it’s so important to fully understand the reality we are living with. Let’s face it, if you like the outdoors even just a little bit or have a pet that leaves the confines of your home this article is for you! And by all means, don’t stop here, get as much information as you can and share with friends, family and me.

As I said, ticks are gross and I know having met them up close and personal. I was out walking a trail in late November five years ago and was bundled up, tucked in, I had a baseball hat on with a hoodie over that, my shirts (3) and coat done up right to neck, pants were tucked, shirt sleeves and coat covered the light gloves I was wearing (I was bundled up and warm) . I was walking with our dog and recall only once crouching down to untangle his leash. At home just a couple hours later I peeled off my warm clothes and changed my shirt. On my belly was a deer tick and it had already attached firmly to me (ya, first impression “this if fucking gross”) As I went to remove the tick I realized he/she was not going to come off easily, so I looked up the removal procedure and quite easily had the tick off. I put it in a plastic bag and put it in the freezer. The following day I stopped by my family doctors office and was examined, then they arranged to send the tick to Winnipeg for testing. It was determined that I would await test results and treatment if required would begin. By the end of that week, I was called and the tick that rode home with me during my walk had tested negative for Lyme (good news).

  

Here are couple images of a deer tick (one shown feeding). Remember there are other kinds of ticks and all should be addressed in the same way (with caution).

My encounter with a tick defied logic. It had been below zero at night for weeks and yet a tick lived, got through all my clothing and made its way onto my tummy. Even the people I spoke to who track tick behavior were surprised, thinking they would have died off for the season long before my encounter, but they hadn’t. So if ticks are living in colder months like November and it’s now Aprill, these tiny pests will be with us for at least the next 7 months so we need to be prepared!

Getting out into nature is critical for all of us in the summer months and we can do this carefully. The best defense is knowledge and awareness, but keep in mind that I found a tick on my tummy but they will attach just about anywhere so you really need to look yourself over carefully! Yes, check between your toes!

If you are hiking with your partner you can help each out by looking the other one over, it might end up being your post-hike excitement! We’ve got to find a way to make coexisting with these gross little bugs fun!

Tick Tips!

Grass

The easiest thing you can do is to keep your yard and outdoor living space trimmed. Cut grass low (ticks love long grass) and remove piles of leaves and other debris. This will automatically reduce your chances of having ticks in your yard.

Add a fence

It’s important to ensure pets don’t bring ticks into your yard and home, one of the most common ways that humans get tick bites. The best thing to do is ensure pets that live in the home with you do not roam in wooded areas. Installing a fence or keeping pets confined only to yard areas that are mowed short is one of the single most important things you can do to decrease human exposure to Lyme.

Groom pets

Daily brushing and inspecting your pet for ticks is important. After they’ve been through an area where ticks might inhabit check your pet before bringing them into your home. This will help prevent ticks from catching a ride into your living space. Keeping pets out of bedrooms and off of furniture during tick season (late spring, all summer & early fall) will decrease the chance that you or your family members will get a tick bite after a tick has dropped off a pet. Talk to your veterinarian for more strategies on keeping ticks off of your family pet.

Use Cedar Oil as a natural tick deterrent

It’s easy to holistically and naturally repel ticks.

Simply spray exposed skin with cedar oil. Cedar oil is safe, all natural and removes the need for DEET or other toxic chemicals that cause neuronal cell death. Cedar oil also repels flying insects! Spray directly on skin, pets, around doorways and porches and windows, it’s safe to use directly on the skin.

Tick check

Even after doing the first 5 tips, you still need to physically double check your body for ticks every time you are outside. Throughout the day and prior to bathing, double check your body, groin, armpits, scalp, hair, and clothing for ticks. Going directly into a shower after spending time outside is the best way to make sure ticks don’t drop off into your home or stay attached to you long enough to transmit Lyme.

If you can detect a tick before it anchors on, you’ve just prevented transmission entirely. You can strip off clothing and place directly into the wash after working outside, then hop in a shower to wash up.

Tuck in hair “Pony up”

Wear long sleeves and pants whenever possible to help keep ticks from reaching your skin… tucking in your shirt at the waist and if possible tucking pants legs into your socks.

Put long hair into a ponytail, bun, or even better — tucking it all up under a hat is a very easy way to cut your risk of tick bites dramatically because ticks love to grab onto long hair when walking through long grasses and wooded areas.

Use Your Dryer

Simply running your clothes, bedding, towels, garden gloves, hiking boots, etc… through your dryer will kill any ticks you don’t see.  All it takes is one hour tumbling on high heat (or 90 min on low heat) and even fabrics or shoes that you can’t wash or get wet can still have all the ticks removed and killed just by a spin through your dryer. And if you are on a vacation, especially vacations with hiking or lots of time spent outdoors or to wooded areas, try to stay in hotels or cabins with dryers. Let your clothes take a tumble while you do a tick check and grab a shower and you have gone a long way to preventing Lyme disease entirely!

If prevention fails and you do have a tick bite from an infected tick, getting treated for Lyme disease immediately is the best thing you can do to prevent long-term “sequelae” from becoming an issue.

So what do you do if you are bitten by a tick?

Remove the tick

Gently and firmly remove the tick with tweezers as close to the skin as possible (not squeezing the body of the tick, which may help enable the bacteria to squirt into your bloodstream) and most importantly: save the tick. You can also use thread (in a loop) to slip over the tick and bring down to the level of your skin, tightening the loop and carefully pulling in a direction that allows the head to slid out easily.

Test the tick so you know if it carried Lyme or not — this can give you instant peace of mind!

It is infinitely easier to get a tick tested than wait and see if you become infected with Lyme. First of all, human Lyme tests can be inaccurate and delay prompt treatment. Second, the myriad of symptoms for Lyme disease (as we will discuss next) is a great mimicker for hundreds of other illnesses and there is no one reliable way to diagnose Lyme through symptoms. And lastly, Lyme treatments become much less effective as time goes on. So submitting a tick for testing (place the tick in a plastic bag with a moist paper towel) and give it to your local physician is the best way to know if you need Lyme prevention treatment or not.

Or you can simply head over to tick report.com to have a tick directly tested.

This is a service that allows you to send a tick directly to a lab and have results emailed back to you within three days. It may be preferable to go directly to your family physician, who can give you an antibiotic to have on hand to take immediately if the results do come back positive for Lyme.

It’s important to note that less than half of people who contract Lyme disease actually have the classic bull’s eye rash reaction at the bite site. So don’t get caught waiting to this marker to show up!

Of course, if you see a bullseye rash, report this immediately to your physician.

Symptoms of Lyme are more insidious and actually more common. Symptoms like: fever, joint pain or swelling, muscle pain and weakness, irritability, headache, mood changes, increased susceptibility to other infections (as your immune system compromises over time) and most common: fatigue.

So testing a tick and getting immediate antibiotic treatment for Lyme is the best thing you can do to prevent chasing vague symptoms like fatigue and headache for years to come.

Boost Your Immune System

What can you do while you wait for tick test results?

Starting some immune boosting supplements is always a good idea after a tick bite while you are waiting for tick test results.

My favorite is Vit D, Vit C, Probiotics, and an Immune Boosting Supplement called Quick Defense by Innate Resources. Boost your immunity with supplements right after any suspected exposure will give you a head start in treating Lyme before it’s even had time to express symptoms.

Now that you are armed with a ton of very effective holistic tips on avoiding tick bites and decreasing your chance of developing Lyme disease (plus a few tips to help speed recovery)

It’s time to wish you a very happy upcoming summer!

By Tom Kelly (with a little help from my friend, Laura Koniver MD)