BY ALEXIS CHESNEY, ND

Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne illness in the United States.

There are more than 476,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Cases have risen sharply from what they were in 1982, when surveillance began. More than half of the cases occur in children.

In 2015, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed a 320 percent rise in the incidence of Lyme disease in the northeastern United States and a 250 percent rise in the north-central states.

Lyme disease is a preventable infectious disease that is transmitted through a tick bite, although fewer than half of people with Lyme disease actually recall a tick bite.

Though Lyme disease was first identified in Lyme, Connecticut, in 1975 by Alan Steere, MD, after a high number of children were diagnosed with what was thought to be juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, the bacterium itself wasn’t discovered until 1982 by entomologist Willy Burgdorfer.

More than four decades later, we have better tools to stop Lyme before it starts. Prevention is one of the foundational principles of naturopathic medicine. To end Lyme and tick-borne diseases, prevention will be key.

Fortunately, there are clear and effective ways to reduce your risk.

Three Lines of Defense Against Lyme

#1: Your Land

Tick habitat includes grass, low-lying shrubs, and leaf litter. Ticks thrive in high-humidity environments such as grassy-forested transition areas, wood piles, stone walls, and around the perimeter of buildings surrounded by grass.

Take the following steps to make your land less tick-friendly:

You might consider adding a three-foot-wide strip of stone or wood chips in places where your lawn meets high plant growth or any kind of structure (prime mouse habitat):

Also, remove any trash, litter, or discarded household items from the yard, and contain garbage in sealed bins.

Managing the environment around your home is important, but personal protection outdoors is equally essential.

#2: Your Body

Here are effective strategies for those times when you’re in tick territory:

Tick Check: Use sight and touch to check your entire body for ticks crawling on or attached to your skin. Ticks are attracted to warmth and moisture, so make sure to search under your arms, behind your knees, between your legs, inside your belly button, between your buttocks, in your genitals, under your bra, around your waist, around and in your ears, on your head, and between your toes. Use a mirror or another set of eyes to check hard-to-see places.

Deer Tick Season: Deer ticks are generally considered a summertime pest, but these ticks (the primary vector for Lyme disease) are active whenever temperatures are above 28°F (-2°C). Take steps to protect yourself whenever temperatures are above this baseline.

Personal Tick Repellent: The product I recommend and use myself is Cedarcide Tickshield, which is 20 percent cedarwood oil and 80 percent hydrated silica.

Cedarwood oil disrupts the tick’s pheromones, interfering with bodily functions like breathing and disorienting the tick. It is safe to spray generously on your skin, clothing, and head to repel ticks. Reapply every one to two hours. It is nontoxic to bees, butterflies, and fish.

I recommend Insect Shield, which uses a factory-based technique for long-lasting permethrin treatment, allowing clothing to retain its pesticidal activity against Ixodes scapularis (deer ticks) for 70 washes.

A study of North Carolina Division of Water Quality workers wearing Insect Shield-treated clothing found a 99 percent decrease in tick bites during work hours and a 93 percent decrease in total tick bite incidence.

Even with good prevention habits, tick bites can still happen, so it helps to be prepared.

#3: After a Bite

No prevention plan is perfect. When a tick does find you, your response in the first hours matters most. Keep the following kit on hand during tick season so you’re ready to act on the three steps that follow: remove and identify the tick, apply first aid, and have the tick tested for pathogens.

A Tick Preparedness Kit:

Step #1: Immediately Remove and Identify the Tick

Remove the tick quickly, without agitating it. Do not use a match, alcohol, petroleum jelly, or soap to encourage the tick to “back out” of the skin, as it may regurgitate pathogens in the process. The best approach is to use a tick-twisting system. If you only have tweezers within reach, grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible and pull upward.

Once the tick is removed, place it in a plastic ziplock bag. Identify it so that you can determine which pathogens may have been transmitted. Mark the date of the tick bite on your calendar.

Step #2: Apply First Aid

If you were bitten by a deer tick, apply Andrographis paniculata tincture over the bite wound. Andrographis will kill Borrelia in the feces released by the tick onto the skin, which can be dragged into the wound when touched. If you don’t have Andrographis paniculata on hand, cat’s claw or Japanese knotweed will work. Better yet, the deer tick bite formula addresses all pathogens the deer tick carries.

For bites from American dog ticks or lone star ticks, apply the corresponding formula. For bites from any other species, clean the bite with rubbing alcohol or an antibacterial cream such as Neosporin, and consult a Lyme-literate practitioner.

Ledum palustre 30C is a homeopathic remedy that may be taken after a tick bite to encourage healing. Take three pellets under the tongue three times daily for three days.

Apis mellifica 30C is a homeopathic remedy that may be taken if the tick bite causes a rash, feels hot to the touch, or looks red. Take three pellets under the tongue three times daily for three days.

Step #3: Have the Tick Tested for Pathogens

If you get a tick bite, send it to a laboratory to determine which pathogens it may carry. Among available labs, I recommend TickReport.

Once the tick has been addressed, continue to watch the bite area and your overall health for any changes.

Watch for Rashes

Local irritation is normal, most often in a circular area up to one centimeter in diameter. It can be helpful to measure the diameter of the rash and even draw a line around its perimeter. Then you can watch it to see if it expands.

A Lyme rash (erythema migrans) is diagnosed when a rash surrounding the bite reaches a diameter of more than five centimeters. It can be pink to red in color, may or may not feel warm to the touch, may or may not be circular with a central clearing (bull’s-eye), and may be flat or raised. It usually spreads centrifugally from the bite outward.

Normal Rash:

• Local irritation at the site of the tick bite
• Circular in shape
• Up to one centimeter in diameter

Abnormal Rash (Possibly a Sign of Disease):

• More than five centimeters in diameter at the site of the bite
• Follows a fever
• Appears on other parts of the body (e.g., hands, feet, arms, ankles), away from the site of the bite
• Petechiae
• Eschar or ulcer at the site of the tick bite

Report Symptoms: If you experience any symptoms of tick-borne disease after a tick bite, report them to your medical practitioner.

If symptoms develop or recovery does not progress as expected, additional support may be needed.

Finding a Lyme-Literate Practitioner

Guidelines are available from the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), which is focused on advancing the standard of care for Lyme and other tick-borne diseases through research, education, and policy.

There are other Lyme-literate health care professionals, such as Lyme-literate medical doctors (LLMDs), nurse practitioners, physician assistants, acupuncturists, Chinese medicine doctors, and psychologists.

Lyme-literate medical professionals will take a complete history of your illness, review lab results that you have had, and might recommend more accurate testing for Lyme and other tick-borne diseases. They might recommend a longer-term treatment protocol.

A Lyme-literate naturopathic doctor (LLND) draws on scientific evidence beyond conventional medical guidelines while employing naturopathic philosophy, diagnostic testing, and treatments. Naturopathic physicians emphasize finding the cause and treating the whole person.

This treatment philosophy is inherently well-suited for patients with chronic disease, and for Lyme and tick-borne disease (TBD) in particular. Lyme literacy calls for integrative, complementary, or holistic medicine to fully address the needs and concerns of this special patient population. It requires a special lens to truly see what is going on for these patients and address the causes of their disease.

You can find a Lyme-literate practitioner through any of the following organizations:

• International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society Visit: https://www.ilads.org/ patient-care/provider-search/
• Global Lyme Alliance Visit: https://www. globallymealliance.org/lymedoc
• LymeDisease.org Visit: https://www.lymedisease.org/ find-lyme-literate-doctors/

Fortunately, there are many practical steps you can take to prevent Lyme and tick-borne disease—from reducing tick habitat in your yard to protecting yourself outdoors and responding promptly to bites if they occur.

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Alexis Chesney, ND, is a naturopathic physician specializing in the treatment of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases. In addition to operating her clinical practice, she serves on the board of directors of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS).

She is frequently featured as an expert on tick-borne illnesses at professional and patient-focused conferences and in popular media. Find her online at DrAlexisChesney.com

Well Being Journal adapted the above excerpt from Preventing Lyme & Other Tick-Borne Diseases by Alexis Chesney, ND. Copyright © 2020 by Alexis Chesney. Printed with permission from Storey Publishing.