Insect bites

[Toddy]

Yup, I'll definitely let you know! Wish I had one right now - I've got an enormous bite on my ankle, and piriton and anthisan are doing nothing for the itching and swelling! /QUOTE]

Miserable isn't it?Ankles I find I can deal with relatively easily; wrap a bag of frozen peas in a tea towel and hold it against the swelling.(inside your sock works ) Keep your ankle raised above your heart and sit at peace for an hour or so. This & the antihistamines really helps reduce the inflammation.
Literally, "chill out"

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[Wenie]

Miserable isn't it?Ankles I find I can deal with realtively easily; wrap a bag of frozen peas in a tea towel and hold it against the swelling.(inside your sock works ) Keep your ankle raised above your heart and sit at peace for an hour or so. This & the antihistamines really helps reduce the inflammation.
Literally, "chill out"

Cheers,
Toddy

It really is miserable! I've been keeping my leg elevated most of the day, but the swelling seems to be spreading, if anything. Got a nice blister-type-thing on it now too... I'll put some ice on it tomorrow if it hasn't gone down, and go in search of one of those clicker thingies if I can walk!

 

[match]

Antihistamines are often best taken BEFORE you encounter the thing you're allergic too - as they work by suppressing the action of histamines and/or preventing their release.

However, if you've encountered the thing you're going to react too, your body starts being flooded with histamines. If you take antihistamines at that point, then it'll take a while for them to get rid of the histamines, and you'll still get the itching. Taken before hand, they'll suppress your bodies' reaction to the bite and prevent itching in the first place.

(This is why I always take antihistamines before I set off when I go camping in midge-infested parts of Scotland, even though I don't get too nasty a reaction to the bites....)

 

[Doc]

I see a lot of folk with harvest mite bites this time of year. They usually go for skin folds or where clothing is tight. There are still midgies around too.

Steroid creams can cause atrophy (thinning) of the skin with stretch marks, etc. In practice, 1% hydrocortisone is not very potent and I would not be worried about using it on adult non-facial skin for several weeks.

Toddy's GP is well-informed: you can go for 'total histamine blockade' by adding a H2 blocker (eg ranitidine - normally used to reduce stomach acid) to a conventional antihistamine (H1 blocker). The additional benefit is probably quite small. The two market leading antihistamines are loratadine (clarityn) and cetirizine (zirtek) both being once daily and non-sedative in most people. They are no more effective than old fashioned chlorpheniramine (Piriton) but Piriton is pretty sedative and has to be taken three or four times a day.

Don't know about the clickers.

 

[Wenie]

Toddy's GP is well-informed: you can go for 'total histamine blockade' by adding a H2 blocker (eg ranitidine - normally used to reduce stomach acid) to a conventional antihistamine (H1 blocker). The additional benefit is probably quite small. The two market leading antihistamines are loratadine (clarityn) and cetirizine (zirtek) both being once daily and non-sedative in most people. They are no more effective than old fashioned chlorpheniramine (Piriton) but Piriton is pretty sedative and has to be taken three or four times a day.

I went to see the doctor hoping for some über antihisthamines, but he gave me flucloxacillin antibiotics instead. These combined with lots of Piriton seem to be doing the trick - my ankle is almost back to its normal size! So thanks for all the tips and info everyone - I'll definitely be investing in one of those clicker thingies for future bite reactions!

 

[Ravenwitch68]

I'll tell you what REALLY works to stop the itching........flouride toothpaste!
True!
I saw it in a "Top Tips" page in my ex-mother-in-law's Woman's Own. Now I never go anywhere without a tube in my pocket/bum bag.
Co-op own brand usually. Really kills the itching.

try it and see!

 

[lardbloke]

I got bitten to death again yesterday whilst hanging some washing out, very large bites on the lower torso. The old anthisan has done nothing, but tried the old toothpaste trick and seems to have eased the itching fever, thanks for that one.

 

[Mikey P]

I've used a piezo-electric clicker for three years now and, while they're not the panacea of insect bites, they do seem to reduce the urge to itch. Whether it's physical or psychological, I don't care. However, as someone else pointed out, they don't seem to reduce the swelling much.

As an aside, if they dull the nerve endings, preventing the 'itch urge', would it also work on a larger scale for larger wounds?

 

[JM]

Hello, a quick comment, heat destroys the venom of wasps and bees and (but I am not sure about this last one) mosquitoes..
50-60 C is enough, and one must take care not to burn himself, but it works and it is cheap,and it avoids the resulting inflamation, but it must be done straight away before the venom spreads.

Best is to heat with lighter, or to use it to heat a pocket blade or piece of steel blade (to 60C max!, not to 100C). 60 C is the temprature where something starts feelling too hot to handle.

For those that carry lemon eucalyptus oil as an alternative to DEET, direct application of it to the bite has an immediate soothing effect.

 

[led]

I find the Weleda insect bite spray works if you use it soon after being bitten. http://www.weleda.co.uk/index.htm?http&&&www.weleda.co.uk/anthropmeds/combspray.htm

 

[Stevie]

It really is miserable! I've been keeping my leg elevated most of the day, but the swelling seems to be spreading, if anything. Got a nice blister-type-thing on it now too... I'll put some ice on it tomorrow if it hasn't gone down, and go in search of one of those clicker thingies if I can walk!

Not wanting to scare you but I'd get round your Doctors fairly quick. I got bit last September whilst in the garden and ended up with a large red area on my leg with a blister about 1/2" square. My leg started swelling up so I went round my Doctors who sent me straight to the hospital where I was kept in for a week on intravenous antibiotics. I was then release and had to take 12 tablets a day and had the Regional Nurse come round everyday to change the dressing as I had a hole about an 1" wide and over 1/2" deep.

A year I'm still having to go to the hospital and it looks like this:-

The strange thing is that I can go in the woods, fields, by rivers etc and never suffer but in my garden I have to wrap my legs up completely

 

[Rod]

Beg steal or borrow an aloe vera plant, remove and slice open one of the fleshy leaves, then rub the juice from inside the leaf over the inflamed area. Job's a good un

Also there is something called a House Leek heres an image link http://pics.davesgarden.com/pics/pdb_arsenic_2003-04-29_1051644119206.jpg
- looks a bit like a jerusalem artichoke. This will do similar to aloe vera. Remove a leaf. lay it on a flat surface. Cut it as you would if you are going to cut a fillet, then rub the open face/juice on your wound/bite/sting/scratch/graze.

P.S. Thanks for the tip on the Greater Plantain, Fenlander

 

[Wenie]

Not wanting to scare you but I'd get round your Doctors fairly quick. I got bit last September whilst in the garden and ended up with a large red area on my leg with a blister about 1/2" square. My leg started swelling up so I went round my Doctors who sent me straight to the hospital where I was kept in for a week on intravenous antibiotics. I was then release and had to take 12 tablets a day and had the Regional Nurse come round everyday to change the dressing as I had a hole about an 1" wide and over 1/2" deep.

Yikes! Any idea what bit you? The blister on my bite didn't grow anywhere near that size thankfully, and some antibiotics and antihisthamines from the doctor seemed to sort it all out. Hope you don't get such a nasty bite again!

 

[maddave]

Have you tried one of the piezo electric click things? They seem pretty effective at getting rid of the urge to itch a bit.

The link's just the first one I came across: Other online shops are available.

They're good fun in the pub too !! (how many dare click it on their tongue? )