Quick and simple ways to soothe any critter attack (10 Photos)
Brenda Kearns on Jul 15, 2011 at 11:57AM
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Of course, step one is to get the creepy little pest off of you -- no small feat if its head is already embedded in your skin. Avoid yanking or twisting (you’ll make the tick panic and throw up its bacteria-laden contents into your skin). Instead, calmly grip it near the neck with tweezers and pull gently until it slips out. Then, to quash pain, immediately crush an aspirin, add just enough water to make a slush and dab it onto the inflamed area. Leave it there until you feel relief -- approximately 10 minutes.
Why it Works: Aspirin’s salicylic acid is a powerful anti-inflammatory that helps reduce redness, inflammation and itchiness in as little as 20 minutes, say doctors at Pennsylvania’s Thomas Jefferson University. One caveat: Watch for signs of infection (like headaches, fever, chills, a rash or muscle weakness) within four weeks of the bite, and report them to your doctor if they do crop up. These symptoms can signal Lyme disease -- a tick-transmitted bacterial infection that, according to researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, NY, can drag on for years if left untreated.
