Ticked Off!

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Yes, it’s that season again. It’s tick time, and this year, the news seems filled with even more dire warnings. Of course, that’s the nature of the news, nowadays, but in the case of ticks, it pays to be vigilant.

And I listen to my clients every day, expressing the fear they have of ticks and the disease that they carry. We all seem to be at a point at which we have pulled ticks off ourselves or pets, or, worse, have experience of Lyme disease. I know first-hand just how devastating it is to watch someone in the active throes of Lyme, and feel powerless. 

So this post is meant to empower the gardener, hiker, biker, walker, gatherer, and any other “outside” person.

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. Click for Ticks!

Unfortunately, there are just aren’t vaccines available for everything, including tick-borne diseases, and in many cases homeopathy is all we have. So I want to share with you ways to use homeopathy for the prevention of tick-borne diseases. Remember, though, there is a lot of controversy about if and how homeopathic remedies work, so you must make up your own mind.

Let’s start big, and narrow things down, with a general look at Nosodes…

Homeopathic Nosodes are thought to stimulate the body to recognize disease-causing entities, provide a level of protection, and assist in the elimination of the pathogens naturally. Nosodes may provide a template to the immune system and the cell walls, thus making an indirect attack on diseases by stimulating the immune system and white blood cell production.

Nosodes are thought to work at several stages in a disease process, and we can use Lyme disease as our very relevant example, with Nosodes as one element in your prevention routine.

An Ounce of Prevention, Plus…

  • Use 15 drops of each Lyme Nosode and Tick Pathogen Nosode in one ounce of water weekly.  Choose a day and mark it on your calendar.  I choose Sunday mornings, first thing before my coffee, for my family’s weekly dosage.
  • Stay away from tick-infested areas, if you can, but do take care if you are compelled to venture out.
  • Use a repellant with deet, wear long clothing, tuck your pants into your socks, cover you hair.
  • Wear lighter clothing, to make ticks easier to spot.
  • Check yourself and pets when you come back inside.

When You Find a Tick on Your Skin

  • 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.

CAUTION: You may have seen a video on YouTube that shows ticks being easily removed by applying a circular counter-clockwise motion with a cotton swab. Yup, the tick comes out. But it is also stressed, and a stressed tick releases saliva into your bloodstream.  Your goal during tick removal is to minimize the risk of contaminated saliva entering the wound.

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Identify the tick, and if you think it may be a female deer tick, place it into a plastic bag for further testing.
  • Apply one drop of tea tree oil to the bite site – tea tree has powerful anti-microbial and anti-bacterial properties.
  • 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 co-infectious bacteria from setting in.
  • 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. 

If You Have Localized Early-Stage Symptoms

Erythema migrans, known as a “bull’s-eye” rash, develops in 50-75% of tick bite victims, but not everyone. You may also experience swelling of the lymph glands, general muscle or joint aches, and headaches. If you think you may have been bitten by a tick or find one on your skin days after being outside:

  • Immediately go into action as noted in the section above.
  • Use 15 drops of each Lyme Nosode and Tick Pathogen Nosode in one ounce of water three time daily.  Add PhytoLymex and Immune System Stimulator Drops to each dose.
  • See a doctor right away, and take your antibiotics as directed.

You can get all the homeopathic medicines mentioned here, and more at Medicine World.  I also have some thoughts on long-term conditions from ticks, and would be happy to share them with you if you would like to come in and chat.