Many ticks are so small you will not even notice them as they
bite you. In fact, you may not even feel the bite from the tick
until symptoms begin to occur. The unfortunate part of this is that
some ticks transmit serious diseases, which can often go undetected
for weeks after you are bitten by the tick. These diseases can
severely impact the quality of your life and your health. When you
suspect you have been bitten by a tick and recognize the symptoms,
such as flu-like symptoms, fever, palpitations, shortness of
breath, nausea, confusion, swollen and painful joints, numbness and
even a rash, contact a doctor immediately to begin treatment.
If the tick is still feeding off of your skin, there are a few
things you need to know before you attempt to remove the tick. This
treatment will not prevent you from contracting diseases that the
tick may have, but it will decrease the chances. Common treatments
include burning the end of the tick with a match or painting it
with paint, nail polish or remover of some sort; however, these
treatments for removal could cause the tick to secrete his saliva
into your skin and transmit his disease to you. The proper at home
removal treatment is to wear a pair of gloves and grab the tick
with a pair of tweezers. Flip the tick over onto its back and hold
onto the tick with the tweezers as close to your skin as possible.
Pull the tick gently until it comes off of your skin; because its
mouth and arms are barbed, twisting and turning the tick will only
break these parts off into your skin, which causes disease
transmission.
Now that the tick is removed it is time to seek treatment.
Depending on the length of time the tick was attached and the
diseases that are common from ticks in the physical location where
you picked up the tick, your doctor will provide you with a cream
to stop itching, oral antibiotics for potential diseases and blood
tests to determine whether or not you were infected with any type
of deadly or dangerous disease from the tick.
