Outdoor Summer Bummers to Avoid
Are you spending the summer in your backyard, barbecuing, playing cards, and sipping iced-tea until the stars come out? There are a few outdoor summer bummers you need to avoid. Like ticks, bee stings, and splinters. So, I’ve got tips to help you out, courtesy of Money magazine:
Bee stings. As soon as you feel the ouch, use your thumb and forefinger – or the edge of a credit card - to pull out the stinger. The longer it stays in your skin, the more toxin it’ll release, and the more pain and swelling you’ll have. Then take an over-the counter antihistamine – like Benadryl – and apply an ice pack to reduce the swelling.
The next summer bummer: Ticks. If you get bitten, don’t scrape the bug out with your fingers. That can leave body parts behind, and if the tick is infected, it raises your risk of Lyme disease. Also, don’t use a hot match or slather it with Vaseline. That just prolongs your exposure, and may traumatize the tick – making it regurgitate the contents of its stomach into the wound. Instead, sterilize tweezers in rubbing alcohol, firmly grab the head of the tick and pull it out.
Another backyard summer bummer: Splinters, from trimming trees or walking barefoot on a wooden deck. If the end of a splinter is sticking out of your skin, slap on a strip of duct tape or masking tape, and yank. If not, “milk” it by squeezing the spot around the splinter with your fingertips – then grab the tip of the splinter with sterilized tweezers, and pull it out.
Finally, there’s poison ivy. Within 10 minutes of contact, rinse any exposed skin thoroughly with water, but don’t use soap – because that can spread the rash-causing plant oils to other parts of your body. Then, immediately wash the clothes you were wearing so you won’t re-infect yourself. If you didn’t catch it quickly enough, ease the itching and blisters with cold compresses, oral antihistamines, like Benadryl. or a hydrocortisone cream, like Neosporin.
14754 Category:(Discussion) Created:(7/22/2008 11:32:00 AM)