I went to a Perseids party last Friday night and ended up with about 50 mosquito bites on my feet and calves. I’ve been soaking my legs in very hot water every 4-5 hours to suck out the antihistamines temporarily, which works pretty well (but is annoying). But I can’t do that at work. I’m probably going to pick up some itch cream today, but are there any other “home remedies” that work well? I’m trying not to scratch, which only works when I’m conscious. Although I soaked my legs before I went to bed, I woke up twice in the middle of the night and had been unconsciously sleep-rubbing the bites with my toenails because they itched so badly. So I broke the skin on a couple of them. What should I do about the ones I’ve broken open?
I was also wondering if a bunch of mosquito bites can cause other reactions in the body? This morning I had a heinous headache, and I didn’t know if it might be related. I’m not generally an allergic person, I get mosquito bites and beestings here and there (never this many at once, of course) and it’s never affected me beyond topical itching/pain.
Have you tried an oral antihistamine, like Benadryl, Claritin or Zyrtec?
Lavender and/or chamomile essential oils work well to take out the itch and redness, if that’s the sort of thing you have hanging around your house.
Not so much a home remedy as a yard one: go out into your yard and pick a few plantain leaves. Not the plant that grows ginormous bananas, but the little plant that infests practically every lawn in the US and Europe: broadleaf plantain or lanceleaf plantain. Smash the leaves up (a blender works, or you can chew them) and smoosh them on the bites. Leave the mush on as long as it will stay, or cover it lightly in plastic wrap and leave in place for an hour or so. Also works on sunburns!
If you’re still a smoker, soak a little tobbacco in some water then put the goopy water on your bites.
Definitely take a Benadryl before bed.
Get some topical Cortisone or Benadryl.
Get some dry milk and put a cup or two in a luke-warm (not hot) bath and soak for like a half hour before bed and in the morning. When you shower try to make it luke-warm.
Just put band-aids over the broken bits, Neosporin if you’re feeling frisky.
Man, mosquitoes in Illinois do not fuck around. I’ve spent whole summers in Costa Rica and haven’t been this thoroughly feasted upon until now. At one point I had 11 different bites on me, and I wasn’t doing any naturey stuff mind you, two of which were on my face. This is just insanity.
wash off with cool water (I believe warm water opens your pores up and cause more irritation… but that’s just me)
apply Benadryl cream
If this doesn’t do it I go down the list
hydrocortisone cream
Gold Bond Anti itch cream: this stuff works quite well in stopping your itch if benadryl or hydrocortison fails. It’s a different kinda anti-itch cream than others in that it gives you cool sensation and it’s more of a topical anti-itch mixture than a medication, I think…
If all else fails I put on calamine lotion war paint on.
Yeah, those fuckers are out to get us. I was on my mom’s rural property at the time, which is insanely over-mosquitoed because it’s been so hot and humid lately, and tall grass. gah
Thanks so much for the tips! I will pick up some benadryl. I wasn’t sure if the oral form worked on itchy skin, I’ve only ever used it for nasal congestion. I’ll still get some cortisone cream to tamp it down in the short term (or for breakthrough itching), and use the pills to keep it under control overall. Especially at night… because I can’t stop myself from scratching if I’m not conscious at the time!
I definitely appreciate the home remedies, too. Cigarettes are too expensive to try, but I’ll keep it in mind if I ever move to rolling my own from bulk tobacco in the future. Grass poultices sound cool!
brittekland, I read that calamine is not FDA-approved for squat because it doesn’t really do anything. I figured I’d go with something more conventional. Also, hot water releases histamine.
Oral antihistamines are the way to go. I’m pretty highly allergic to mosquitoes and within moments of being bitten I usually need to take a benadryl. If I don’t they quickly go from a tiny, itchy bump to, “Are you sure you don’t need to go to the hospital for that?” sized welts. I once had one swell up so badly it was the same diameter as a baseball.
I’ve had swimmers itch a few times (like chiggers, it’s really vile and uncomfortable) and skeeter bites and hands-down, the best thing I’ve found to numb the intense itching was Benadryl cream. The name-brand stuff.
None of the home remedies ever worked for me, YMMV. Nor did other OTC products.
Last July 4 I had a terrible case of swimmers itch after a camping trip. I loaded up on everything I could think of including oral Benadryl, but still had big nasty welts and was scratching myself bloody at night. When I got back home, a friend gave me a tube of the Benadryl cream, it was like magic.
Hope you find something that works, itchy crap sucks!
Actually Calamine lotion (regular type and not fancy versions) has always been the single surefire one for bug bites and reaction to plants all my life. It’s just that you need to apply often and it’s messy to put on plus you look really dorky walking around with pink blobs.
Come Spring season every year, I start it with myself almost completely covered with calamine lotion because I get covered with small itch bumps all over my body from all the plant matter flying around in the air. A week or so of it my body develops immunity or tolerance and I fair much better afterwards.
I’ve always react badly to bug bites and I generally get more than anyone ever since my childhood. So it’s been a life time of trying to figure out a way to deal with it better. Calamine lotion works in cutting itchiness down and drying out the bite mark to heal faster. That’s my testimony and I’m sticking to it.
FWIW you don’t even need a whole cig’s worth of tobacco. Maybe just half. Just put it in a Dixie cup with some water and let the water turn dark and then put it on your bites.
Do you know why this works? I guess I could google it. I’ve just never heard that before, and I’d think in a family of almost-all smokers, that it would have come up at some point. Tobacco poultices! Seems quaint, and cool if it works
brittekland, I’m glad you’ve found something that works for you. But I’ve been warned against calamine lotion on a few occasions by medical professionals in the family. Not that it would hurt me, but it’d just be a waste of money.
Cortisone may work in a while, Lanacane relief is INSTANT.
I introduced my husband to Lanacane when we were first married, and being Active Duty Army, he made sure his “goodie bag” for field exercises always included a tube of this miracle stuff.
Years later, he became an instructor at the NCO Academy. He taught all his students, “On EVERY field exercise, take a can of OFF and a tube of LANACANE.” Out in the field, he would go from student to student to dab the Lanacane on their bites. Many wept in relief.
Every trip to Wally World, I head to the pharmacy section where the OTC stuff is, and I buy up every tube of Lanacane on the shelf.
There is also a Benydril spray that works wonders. I originally bought it to spray on my dog with flea allergies (worked for her too!) and when I got a couple skeeter bites I tried it. It’s the best stuff I’ve found.
I like to go nuclear on itchy welts - Benadryl at night, and then alternating Cortizone and Lanacane during the day. I was eaten alive at a friend’s 4th of July cookout, and actually woke up the night of the 5th because the itching was so bad. Benadryl stopped it cold the next night.
Let’s analyze:
Benedryl: diphenhydramine, an antihistamine. Orally or topically, it can provide relief for inflamed tissue.
Cortisone: a hormone, works with the body to neutralize inflammation.
Lanacane: containes benzocaine, a topical anasthetic. It NUMBS the skin.
My money’s on Lanacane FIRST. I want relief IMMEDIATELY. Then I’ll use Benedryl internally or topically, and also cortisone to get rid of what is causing the itch. BUT, I want the itch GONE FIRST.
Antiperspirant probably works like Campho-Phenique, which is a camphor/menthol topical that is essentially a counter-irritant. Some people get instant relief from Campho-Phenique. I don’t.
There are many career NCOs who will be more comfortable in battle situations because they have a tube of LANACANE tucked in one of the many pockets of their BDUs.
~VOW
I am a mosquito biologist. In the course of my work, i sometimes feed mosquitoes on my arm, so I have lots of experience with this. Hot water is the only remedy I use (benadryl makes me ill). At work, I usually get a hot mug of coffee and press the hot ceramic against the bites.
The trick for heat is to use the hottest you can stand. It should hurt (obviously, don’t scald yourself). Lukewarm won’t cut it. kills the itch for at least 4 hours, better than antihistamines in my opinion. Works against any itch.
It would be quite entertaining to press hot mug all over my body as I get bug bites all over. I suppose hot bath would work better…
Once I triedputting a piece of adhesive tape on the bite. It kinda worked for a day or so but when I took the tape off it was worse: the irritation from the tape added to the bite welt that now morphed into something weirder.
