8 Ways to Prevent Lyme's Disease

How to Prevent Lyme’s Disease

It’s finally summer in New England and it’s time to enjoy the beautiful weather in our lovely climate. Getting out to go hiking, barbecuing at the lake or going tubing on the river are just a few of my favorite ways to spend these long sunny summer days. Going outside has me thinking about Lyme prevention. Here in Vermont we have a lot of issues surrounding this disease and it’s becoming more of a threat with climate change. I’ve come across several great ways to heal prevent tick bites and infection and wanted to share this knowledge with folks.

Take Astragalus (Astragalus membranaceus)

This lovely medicinal plant can be taken to help prevent Lyme. I spoke with a clinical herbalist about plants that would be helpful in preventing Lyme and his number one go to is astragalus. If you are bit by a tick and have been taking an astragalus supplement it can help your body fight off the bacteria. Astragalus is very safe to take long term but according to Web MD it is not recommended for women who are pregnant and anyone with MS, rheumatoid arthritis, system lupus or other autoimmune dieseases. Make sure to buy supplements from a reputable source, such as MediHerb or Standard Process.

Get A Tick Kit

A tick kit is like a first aid kit but for tick bites! Keep this at home or in a back pack if you are going for extended out door adventures. They include a tick removing tool (I like the tick twister myself), andographis tincture and green clay. When you find a tick, make sure you carefully remove it as close to the head as possible. Put a drop of andographis tincture on it and cover the bite with clay and then a bandaid. The andographis helps kill the bacteria while the clay can help draw infection. Do this for several days until the bite heals.

Cover Up

This is not my favorite way to prevent since it’s usually hot in the summer but it works. Wearing light colored clothes, a hat and pants tucked in to socks can really help keep the ticks from getting to skin. Plus the lighter the clothing color, the easier it will be to spot them when they do make their way on to you.

Roll and Dry

When coming inside from the woods, you can use a lint roller on clothes to catch any ticks that may be crawling on you. One of the best things you can do is to remove all clothes and put them in your dryer for 20 minutes on high heat. This will kill the ticks whereas just washing clothes will not.

Tick Check

No method is a 100% effective so making sure to do tick checks every night is really important if you live in a place with lots of ticks. When living in New England its not a bad idea to check evenings and mornings, just in case.

Picaridin repellent

In 2005 this repellent was put on the U.S. market at an alternative to DEET. It is a chemical that was modeled after the molecule in pepper plants. Using picaridin at a percentage of 20% or higher was shown to work as well or better than DEET according to Consumer Reports.

Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus (OLE)

Another option for repellent that is DEET free. It’s considered safe and very effective in concentrations of 30%, except for children younger than three years. It is considered a biopesticide so it is tested for safety and efficacy but not as much as synthetic products such as DEET and picaridin are.

Permethrin and Deet

These are my least favorite ways to prevent tick bites but they have shown to be effective. From my research, only one study has linked DEET to cancer and it was specifically men and testicular cancer. The CDC does not consider this study to be conclusive. Permethrin is a pesticide that you use on clothes, not on skin. You can purchase clothes already treated with it or buy it and treat your clothing yourself. If treating clothes yourself, make sure your cats stay away as it is toxic to them for up to 72 hours. It is safe once it has dried on clothing. It is very effective for up to 26 washes and/or wears.