Insect bite reaction advice requested

Something bit me early Friday afternoon while I was moving my tomato plants. It bit quickly and left a tiny red mark with nearly no pain or itching.

The utter lack of initial redness, pain, and itching is inversely proportional to what I am now experiencing from the little bastard. I have a dark red mark the size of a half-dollar surrounding the bite. The redness is surrounded by a pale ring. Outside of the pale ring is more redness, looking like a good fresh sunburn. Total diameter: 6 to 7 inches. The bite is on the front right corner of my left ankle, at about the level of my anklebone but an inch to the left of it. You can almost see my anklebone through the swelling, which makes me look like I have a healthy sprain. There’s a little blister in the middle, but nothing’s rotting off, thank heavens. The itch isn’t as bad as, say, fire ant bites, but it’s definitely always there.

Remedies: Baking soda paste. Tried it. Benadryl cream. Tried it. It’s too late to use meat tenderizer on it, and we don’t have any anyways (but I’d be happy to take a hammer to it … ).

Parents, docs, nurses, I beg you for advice. I’m going to go crazy if I can’t get the swelling and redness and itch down in the next day or so. I’d call a doctor, but I’m in grad school and our blessed student health service is closed until Tuesday.

Charleston, SC is great … except for the bugs. Any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated.

Souns like a spider bite.

You might want to try immersing the foor in really hot water. As hot as you can stand. This usually works best immediately after a bite, but it should stil help. The heat will denature lot of venoms, and will also help alleviate the itching.

If you’re at all worried about the foor being even slightly numb, test the heat of the water using the other foot first.

Rub a paste of Baking Soda over the effected area. Most bug bites are acidic (bees, ants, bugs, etc.) and the mildly basic soda neutralizes that. Works every time for me.

Cortaid or other anti-itch cream from the pharmacy, ice if you can stand it.

And do see your doctor Tuesday. Sounds suspiciously like a tick bite.

Just asked an RN friend of mine. She said to pop an oral antihistamine like Benadryl. She also said the cream hardly ever helps much from what she’s seen. She seconds a cold compress, to reduce the pain and swelling. Hope you feel better soon.

Thanks, guys! It’s a little better this morning, the “sunburned” area is a little less red and the swelling seems to have decreased a bit. I’ll keep an eye on it.

Thanks again. You lurker-type people are great. :slight_smile: