Mosquito bites. Please help.

[fetus]

I'm constantly getting bug bites. (It's like my blood is as delicious as my personality. ) But yeah, so here's the thing. Tuesday night, I was relaxing in the car with my feet up. The doors were open and the lights were on. Bad decision on my part. Mosquitoes love light, evenings, and...well...me.

My skin is now a war zone. I am not exaggerating in the slightest to say that my feet look like they have chicken pox. There are bites on my toes, ankles, legs, even the bottoms of my feet. I'm in a fiery, itching hell. I've tried two different allergy creams, oral Benadryl, soaking in Epsom salts, and ice.

Help?

 

[21%]

Are you allergic to mosquito bites? I know a friend who is and when she gets bitten it requires professional attention.

Personally, for bug bites I've developed a mild allergic reaction to I take anti-histamine (since I'm allergic to dust mites I always have a supply in the house)

When I was a kid my mom always told me to put on calamine lotion -- but in my experience it never did much.

 

[BadOctopus]

I used to get an unholy amount of mosquito bites as a kid. They'd swell to gargantuan proportions, too; I remember one in particular that wrapped around my entire thigh. My mom always put tea tree oil on them. It smelled terrible, but it cleared them up pretty quickly.

 

[Lexicon]

Most lotions marketed toward eczema sufferers contain colloidal oatmeal, which soothes inflamed skin & acts as an antihistamine, to stop the itching. Look for a lotion that contains at least 1% colloidal oatmeal listed under active ingredients (Eucerin has a good one). Personal favorite is Gold Bond's lotion (has 2%). Use as often as needed.

That^ combined with any 1% hydrocortisone cream from any drugstore, should calm your skin down a bunch. Don't use this for more than a week. Take some benadryl at bedtime. Can't make it any worse. Usually combinations work best for me.

Above all, avoid scratching as much as possible. Scratching/rubbing will ultimately make the itching worse. Creates further damage to skin, increases histamine response, & can trigger a vicious itch-scratch cycle due to the release of serotonin when an individual scratches.

 

[Riva]

My country was invaded by mosquitos a long time ago.

Many lives have been lost since.

 

[ceecee]

I'm constantly getting bug bites. (It's like my blood is as delicious as my personality. ) But yeah, so here's the thing. Tuesday night, I was relaxing in the car with my feet up. The doors were open and the lights were on. Bad decision on my part. Mosquitoes love light, evenings, and...well...me.

My skin is now a war zone. I am not exaggerating in the slightest to say that my feet look like they have chicken pox. There are bites on my toes, ankles, legs, even the bottoms of my feet. I'm in a fiery, itching hell. I've tried two different allergy creams, oral Benadryl, soaking in Epsom salts, and ice.

Help?

Go to the doctor. They can give you steroids for a short time and it will reduce swelling and stop the itching.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

kill them all

 

[prplchknz]

maybe make your blood less tasty. I'm not saying you should smoke, that's a horrible habit, but i am saying that when i started i became less tasty.so find something that does that but isn't going to kill you.

 

[SearchingforPeace]

When I was younger, I was a mosquito magnet.

Today, not at all. I am not sure what dietary changes I made (less sweets perhaps), but I feel there is a dietary component to all this.....

 

[windoverlake]

I second BadOct's suggestion about tea tree oil, because it helps with the itch and it's a repellent. If I know I'm going to be where there are lots of mosquitoes or bugs, I take a warm tea tree oil bath (after a shower), then without washing the oil off I pat myself dry. You'll smell like tea tree oil, but it's not a particularly unpleasant smell. Or you can make a homemade spray (tea tree oil with witch hazel, or mixed with jojoba oil if you have dry skin) and carry it around with you and spray yourself as you see fit.

Hope the itching goes away soon.

 

[INTP]

Dont let it bother you, dont scratch it and itll go away

 

[Tellenbach]

I also had success with tea tree oil and insect bites.

 

[kyuuei]

The nephew is allergic to mosquitoes. I'm not, but I always took a multi focal approach to tackle it.

1st: Preventative oral anti-histamine.. A claritin, zyrtec, or benadryl BEFORE you're going outside into night-time, forest-time, or wet-time festivities. This should be working through your system already before going out and about.

2nd: Protective layers of clothing or protective wind. Clothes help some if they're thick enough. Thick socks and shoes with jeans over them (I quickly found out girly stretchy-style-jeans do nothing to protect you) that sort of thing. Also, a FAN helps wonders. A decently strong one.. but both of these might not be conducive to the situations in the future. As a side note, protective things for the environment around like tiki torches or bonfires that produce smoke also help create a non-welcoming atmosphere for mosquitoes. Those portable bug-be-gone sort of things do the trick for mobile events.. but they don't work by themselves. you need bug spray. Even on top of your clothes.

3rd: Bug spray. The natural stuff doesn't do jack shit. I've tried it. If it's bad outside, you'll be bit. It has to smell like something awful for it to work. Ben's repellent is a great brand and even when other people are getting eaten alive I'll find myself not touched. When it's not so bad outside I used to use the speed stick regular gel deodorant on my skin.. I swear that stuff worked. I haven't used it as an adult lately at all, so I dunno if the formula has changed, but I used it on a daily basis as a kid.

4th - Tea tree oil and sulfur. For when you do get bit, pure tea tree oil will give some menthol-like goodness to it. And anti-histamine lotion I found takes too long to kick in for me.. the itching won't go away because it hasn't dried out yet. So I use an anti-blemish spot corrector thing that has a lot of sulfur in it.

I use this stuff and dab it on there and let it dry out the bite.

Things I haven't tried but heard of from others: That skin-numbing cream they use for waxing, and toothpaste for the menthol in it.

 

[Tellenbach]

There is a long history of using garlic to get rid of many insects, from slug to mosquito. In particular garlic has a reputation for protecting people from mosquito bites - some think that this could be the origin of the belief that vampires are scared of garlic. There are a number of commercial garlic sprays on the market, these effectively coat an area and produce a natural mosquito barier.

Garlic is more effective at repelling some species of mosquito than others. For this reasons many of the commercial preparations available include a number of different repellent ingredients such as catnip and soy as well as garlic.

Garlic As A Natural Mosquito Repellent

 

[Z Buck McFate]

Tea tree oil is good stuff. Aveeno makes a colloidal oatmeal bath which is relatively inexpensive and available almost anywhere.

I'll +1 for steroids from a doctor if your health insurance is reasonable. (The steroids aren't expensive, but doctor visits can be.)

 

[Hitoshi-San]

Apparently slapping the area that itches or pressing a hot spoon against the bites helps. Ass-slapping and heat are two things mosquitoes don't find tasty at all

 

[kyuuei]

Tea tree oil is good stuff. Aveeno makes a colloidal oatmeal bath which is relatively inexpensive and available almost anywhere.

I'll +1 for steroids from a doctor if your health insurance is reasonable. (The steroids aren't expensive, but doctor visits can be.)

I'd agree on steroids being on hand for a severe outbreak when you're caught unexpectedly.

Just as side note though... Steroids are known for having some really nasty side effects :/ they're really great medications, but usually for intermittent problems like this prevention is the best thing.. Like any other allergy, avoiding it or minimizing exposure is the better route.. steroids over time cause a lot of issues, and you sort of have to wait for something to be bad enough to need those things for. Used occasionally for an oops day though shouldn't be a worry.

 

[Tellenbach]

Sorry for bumping the thread, but I have to issue a warning about tea tree oil. Please be very very careful and don't use it at full strength. I burned off about a 3 square inch of skin using this stuff and I didn't realize what it was doing until I realized it was happening at both places where I used it. It doesn't do it with one application, but I was applying it at full strength about 4 times daily to treat some itchy insect bites.