READERS COMMENTS

For an insect sting where the stinger is intact dont try to pull it out with your fingers or tweezers instead scrape it off with a credit card or something similar. This keeps you from squeezing the rest of the venom in you. In any of these cases its not going to hurt to go ahead and crack out the benadryl right when it happens to try and stem off part of a reaction ahead of time before its too late. Im an EMT so I have played this game before.
Posted: Jan 07, 2011 Matt

wow

Posted: Dec 16, 2010 j

Saw a reptile specialist talking about snake bites and he suggested, if you have a pen, circle the bite area and write the time down. Then, when you get to the hospital they can get an idea of how severe your reaction is based on the amount of swelling and the elapsed time. I don't know how that would affect treatment, but it seemed like a good idea.
Posted: Nov 18, 2010 mike

It's not covered above, but fits in this topic --
Best thing I've ever found for mosquito and ant bites is plain baking soda disolved with water into a paste. Put it on the bite and let it dry. I tend to get a heavy alergic reaction to ants and mosquitoes if untreated, but with the baking soda, in 5 minutes, I'd never even know I'd been bit. I don't know why it works - either neutralizes the poision or absorbs it out, or maybe some of both, but it does work. Learned this trick from my grandma (an outdoors pioneer woman if there ever was one).
Posted: Aug 17, 2010 Florida Native

Don't use alcohol or hand sanitizer to cover the tick. You may cause the tick to regurgitate what is inside its stomach before backing out. Use a sharp pointed tweezers (not chisel pointed) to pull tick. You can also find special tick pullers that slide between skin and tick body. They are easy to use and work well.
Posted: Jun 28, 2010 Robert

I too am a Chick Magnet. Last year I had over 2 dozen ticks removed from my hair, clothes and skin during a single hike. I intentionally let one start to burrow into my arm to test a new idea. My scoutmaster used to use cooking oil to cover the tick so it would back out of the skin in search of oxygen before it died. That was over 30 years ago and was a disputed technique. Since the invent of gel hand sanitizer I have been carrying a small travel size in my pack. This provided a perfect chance to test my theory of the alcohol increasing the ticks desire to back out. Within seconds of covering it, it started squirming to get out of the goo. I think the combination of the stinging from the alcohol and the lack of oxygen is perfect. More benefits - no tick parts left in the skin and your disenfecting the site as well!
Posted: Jun 25, 2010 Keith

I have more experience with ticks than I'd like - my wife calls me a "tick magnet"! I have not found tweezers that easy to use correctly and one often leaves the head in. What does work, I've found, is the "TickedOff" device (http://www.tickedoff.com/) which is pretty much foolproof. BUT I also think that a very good pair of fine tweezers is a great thing to have with you for splinters, thorns etc. Those "tweezers" on multitools and Swiss Army knives are useless and being out in the wilderness for days or even hours with a splinter you can't get out is nasty!
Posted: Jun 25, 2010 Michael Silverberg

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