This year, the CDC is telling us that because of the snowless winter and the warming weather trend, tick populations will be at their highest in years – you need to be proactive and have anti-tick and tick-borne disease kits ready, for tick removal and disease prevention.
I tend toward a more natural approach for fighting ticks. There is a lot of information out there, so I have streamlined what I feel is a good protocol for everyone’s backpacks and home first aid kits.
First, it’s important to protect yourself before you go out to work or play. Medicine World stocks a great all-natural tick balm and tick spray – apply the balm on skin where it is likely to become exposed. Once you are dressed, spray your clothing, paying particular attention to those areas where clothing meets skin: your ankles, wrists and neck.
If you do find a tick on your skin, use the protocol below. You can start the homeopathic and herbals while you’re waiting for the tick to be tested for disease – this will give you a head start on a treatment and provide full spectrum care no matter what the test outcome provides.
Natural Tick Bite Protocol
1. Take 2 (two) pellets of Silicea 30c under the tongue. This may help with removal of a tick, as Silicea is indicated for the removal of foreign objects from soft tissue.
2. Remove the tick using a tick removal device like a tick key or pointed-tip tweezer. Grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible, and carefully pull the tick out without twisting or jerking. This will prevent separation of the head from the body.
3. Do not smother or heat a tick. Though this can facilitate an easy removal, the tick is likely to become stressed, increasing the likelihood of transmitting contaminated saliva.
Your goal during removal is to minimize the risk of contaminated saliva entering the wound.
4. Administer 2 pellets of Ledum paulstre 30c. This remedy is commonly used for treating puncture wounds – it may help prevent transmission of tick-borne disease.
5. Identify the tick, and if you think it may be a female deer tick, place it into a plastic bag for further testing.
6. Apply one drop of tea tree oil to the bite site – tea tree has powerful anti-microbial and anti-bacterial properties.
7. Administer 10 drops of Lyme Nosode, and continue to do this three times per day for 5 days. Lyme Nosode is a homeopathic liquid that reminds your immune system what to watch out for. It may stop the spirochete from hiding. It may also stop the co-infectious bacteria from setting in.
8. Administer 40 drops of Astragulus tincture, and continue to do this three times per day for 5 days. This helps by balancing your immune response.
There are several species of tick, but the one we in New England know best is the blacklegged tick (lxodes scapularis) – the one we call the deer tick – which can infect you with Lyme disease and other maladies. The University of Rhode Island maintains a fantastic tick site that has my favorite before and after tick chart, and very thorough info about various ticks, their habitats and the diseases they carry. CIick for Ticks!
It’s important to be able to identify any tick, so you take the right action. Your best defense is protect yourself before you go outside, inspect yourself and others carefully when you come back in, and follow-up thoroughly if you do find a tick on skin.