How do I not get Lyme disease while hiking in NJ?

[RustyPine17]

I love hiking but I'm super paranoid about ticks and Lyme disease. What precautions do you all take before hitting the trails?

 

[rfd]

I have Lyme disease, going on about 17 years. It's systemic so it will flare back up now and then. What saved me was my naturopath doc who had the nasty symptoms under full control within 8 days (at that time it was almost 6 months after the Lyme symptoms flared). I rarely have Lyme symptoms, but when I'm not sure I just send out a saliva sample for a Vega machine check. Going the Western med route with antibiotics is to be avoided at all costs - natural herbal remedies are the way to go. Worked just as well for my wife who also has Lyme disease (contracted years after mine).

What to do in the woods 'n' bush? Cover up as much as possible and do a routine tick check. During hot weather that means NO shorts, long pants. Nowadays I use a liberal spray of natural ingredients Nantucket Spider Tick Repellent on shoes, socks, pants up to the knees, sometimes arms, neck and face, and found it to be quite effective. Stay away from contact with bushes, leaves - anything and everything can be tick bound!

YMMV.

Good luck.

 

[rfd]

I will add ... to remove a tick, do NOT - squeeze its body, coat it with any substance, subject it to heat - all of that will only have it regurgitate it's stomach contents into your blood stream. Best to use tweezers (or long fingernails) to grab it right at the skin line, past its body, and yank it out. More than likely its head may remain under the skin, not to worry, it will come out on its own.

Any and all ticks can carry many nasty diseases, all can be suspect for human infection.

The classic "bullseye" skin sign that you've been tick bitten may not be present after a tick has infected you.

A live tick that was crawling on your body may have fed off you as they anesthetize the skin so that you won't feel their proboscis as it enters your body. If you can capture the bug it can be sent to a lab for testing. https://www.ticklab.org/

 

[Squeeze]

As an added bonus, I have those red hard lumps from tick bites 30-40 years ago. The gift that just keeps on giving

 

[K9TXS]

I've been going hunting in WY for 6 years now and haven't seen one tick after using Sawyers spray. This spray is for your clothes and not your skin. I spray all my clothes that I'll be hunting with a week before I leave. Let them air dry and your good to go. I haven't had any skin irritation with the spray.

According to the instructions, the spray will also last through several washings.

As mentioned above, where long pants and a long sleeve shirt!

 

[rfd]

I've used Sawyers for clothing but have switched to Nantucket Spider for ticks.