aaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuggggggh!!! bug bites!!!!

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

OK, so somehow I've gotten bitten by bugs. I know I got some bites when I was outside at a friend's BBQ last Saturday, but I've gotten new ones since then and they are ALL driving me batsh!t crazy here. As in wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-to-scrape-the-hell-out-of-my-legs crazy. They started off like regular mosquito bites, but they have evolved into large (quarter-sized to half dollar-sized) red patches that ITCH LIKE MAD. I have tried Gold Bond anti-itch cream, hydrocortisone cream, hydrocortisone ointment, and a Benadryl (which only made me SLEEPY and itchy). What else can I do to make it stop?

[emeleel]

Oatmeal bath?

Googling:

TREATING BUG BITES & STINGS
Make a paste or poultice to “draw” bug venom out of the skin. This can be done in many ways:
Mix facial clay with herb tea or witch hazel.
Apply the healing/drawing power of Dead Sea mud.
Mix baking soda with salt water (preferably sea salt).
Rub fresh leaves to release volatile oils and hold on skin. Helpful leaves include: plantain, tobacco, or basil. (This is especially good for bee stings)
Other treatments:
Apply St. John’s Wort extract and or aloe to numb the pain of a bite or sting.
Exterminate chiggers by rubbing on an ointment containing mint and camphor.
For itchy bites, use a salve or lotion containing jewelweed. Jewelweed acts like a topical anti-histamine.

[magenta321]

If you were closer, I'd hook you up. I have some expired Benadryl spray from before they took it off the market. It's good stuff, man.

They had to take it off the market because people didn't understand that they were putting medication into their body by spraying this on. So people ignored the dosage directions.

Taking the pills just isn't the same. Calamine, etc. not as good either.

That was the only thing I ever found that worked well. And I'm never going to throw away those expired bottles!

[thinkerlady[$]]

Vinegar??? It's good for sunburn.

[Leslie2k]

I end up with coffee saucer sized welts from mosquito bites. This is going to sound really odd, but the one thing that usually helps me is toothpaste. You have to use actual paste, not gel. Just smear some on the welt and it cuts the itching fast!

Good luck!!

[mtbat]

caladryl has a medicated clear form that you can dab on bites. it helps a little.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Leslie2k said

I end up with coffee saucer sized welts from mosquito bites. This is going to sound really odd, but the one thing that usually helps me is toothpaste. You have to use actual paste, not gel. Just smear some on the welt and it cuts the itching fast!

Good luck!!

hmmm... I have mentadent, the thing dispenses gel on one side and paste on the other... I'll experiment with just paste on one and a mix of paste and gel on another 'cause I don't know which side has the ingredient that does the magic on the itch!

[theworm[$]]

do you have cornstarch? You can make a paste of cornstarch and water and apply that to take out the sting.

And the bath that Melanee said - but not at the same time

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

It's not a sting, it's an incredibly intense ITCH. Like the kind that makes you want to carve out chuncks of flesh with an X-acto knife.

[theworm[$]]

I meant apply it to the welt.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

I know, but you said it will take out the sting, made it sound like you thought it was like a bee sting. It's not a sting-like feeling at all, it's a maddening itch that travels up the nerves to different spots on my leg and in my feet. It is driving me absolutely crazy.

Tried so far: itch cream; hydrocortisone ointment; toothpaste; wine (internally); benadryl (internally; hours earlier than the wine); now we're on Ora-jel. (Well, it IS a topical antesthetic, after all...)

[lynnzop[$]]

Poor sweetie. I have the same problem as my sister (go figure ) that even a tiny bite will turn into a huge welt that lasts for days. That first couple of days when they are unbearable, generic Benedryl, in double doses at night, will work. You may end up with a Benedryl hangover in the a.m., but you will at least sleep (and it will be better in the morning.)

If that's not working, see if you can get a script for an antihistamine phoned in. The one time I had chiggers so bad I wanted to jump off a bridge, that was the only thing that gave me any relief.

[frazzledspice]

Oh, I hate mosquitoes! (Unfortunately, the feeling isn't mutual.)

Aveeno baths, lotions, etc. are also good for itching (since you've tried everything else.)

Feel better.

[thinkerlady[$]]

I have used straight rubbing alcohol. It burns like hell, and works sometimes.

[mtomm[$]]

Soda bath but I think you need an RX.

[MiracleMax]

How about the Benadryl "pens" that you rub on the bites?

Or else put clear nailpolish over the bites. You can use colored too, depending on where the bites are, but at least the clear doesn't show as much. If you've scratched them too much, it'll burn a little, but it takes the itch away almost right away. We've had problems with chiggers because of Raven picking them up in the grass, and this is the only thing that worked for me.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

That's better than what my co-worker suggested. She said I should scrape the bites open and apply nail polish remover.

[mtomm[$]]

mjfrombuffalo said

That's better than what my co-worker suggested. She said I should scrape the bites open and apply nail polish remover.

Holy! . . . Schmoley! I don't think we have an appropriate smiley.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Makes the X-acto knife solution look almost sane.

[thinkerlady[$]]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Can you hear me screaming???

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

The dermatologist did not feel either nail polish remover or the X-acto knife were viable solutions. She took cultures (meaning TICKLED **ALL** THE ITCHY SPOTS WITH A Q-TIP ) and gave me some samples and a fistful of prescription forms: Aveeno Anti-Itch Cream (use as much and as often as wanted), temovate cream (2x/day), Allegra or Claritin (a.m.), Atarax (p.m.). And reportedly the office was crammed all day with people with itchy bug bites. Must be some strain of NYC ninja mosquito on steroids.

[thinkerlady[$]]

Keep it in NYC. Don't send south. Please.