How to avoid Lyme Disease and other tick related diseases

Correctly removing the attached tick is the best way to avoid Lyme disease. Removing the tick incorrectly could result in transmission of the disease into your blood stream immediately (that is how I got it). If the tick is aggitated by your slow and incompetent way of removing him, he will vomit the Lyme bacteria into your blood stream and instantly give you the awful disease. Alot of tick removers don't grab the tick first time, therefore annoying it, where-upon they vomit into you! With Lyme disease on the rise and other tick-borne diseases, we should all be knowledgable of this and we should all be carrying around one of these easy to use tick remover tools in our pockets/handbags/school bags!

How do you know if you've been infected by a tick bite? What are the signs?

If you have been bitten by a tick and have been infected, a circular red skin rash may appear, often known as a bulls-eye rash due to the nature of it's appearance (although not everyone gets one, I didn't). Some will also get flu-like symptoms, including high temparature, stiff neck, headaches, muscle and joint pain and an over whelming feeling of tiredness. These symptoms may appear quickly or can take up to around 3 months. Everyone is different! If you think you've been bitten and start with any symptoms shortly after, you must head straight to the doctors and ask to be put on a 3 week course of doxycycline antibiotics.  Our GP's are supposed to adhere to something called "The NICE Guidelines" and even these guidelines state that if Lyme is suspected then the patient must be put on a 3 weeks course of doxycline in the first instance and if symptoms persist after this time then they are to have another 3 weeks course of a different antibiotic depending on their symptoms. DO NOT accept less than a 3 week course. NB: A bulls-eye rash is indicative of Lyme Disease - if you have the rash then you have the disease!!! But not everybody gets the rash!!!

So how do you remove a tick?

If you find a tick on you (sometimes no bigger than a poppy seed), please take it off correctly. These tick removal tools are the best, they work in a similar way to a pen; you press the top button to release the grippers (which will fit over any sized tick), you then grab the base of the tick at the skin line with the gripper, give a slight twist and pull. The tick will then come away easily from you, and more importantly, using this tool, means it will hopefully not have had chance to vomit the Lyme bacteria known as "borrelia burgdorferi" into your blood stream, therefore NOT giving you Lyme disease or any other nasty bacterial disease. I cannot begin to stress just how important it is to remove the tick properly!

Step-by-step guide on how to remove a tick

1.  Grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible with your ticktools.net tool and pull upwards and slightly twist with steady, even pressure.

2.  Do not jerk the tick as this may leave its mouth parts embedded.

3.  Do not squeeze or crush the body of the tick as it will probably vomit it's bacteria ridden gut contents into your blood stream!!! THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU NEED TO AVOID! This is what happened to me!

4. After removing the tick, disinfect the bite site with preferrably an antiseptic wipe or clean with water, then wash your hands with soap and water.