# Mosquitos

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitos/551993>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [August 30, 2010, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitos/551993 "2010-08-30T13:11:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![nicole1912](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9de0a6/32.png) [@nicole1912](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nicole1912)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitos/551993/21 "2010-08-31T14:55:36Z")

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> [@pbbth](#):
>
> There are some of us who are highly, highly allergic. I think the longest I’ve ever had a bite stay around is 5 weeks but 10-14 days is the standard amount of time a bite sticks around for me and it usually itches badly for the first 7-8 days of that. If I get bitten several times in the course of half an hour or so (which is not unusual if there are a lot of mosquitoes around) the welts get progressively bigger until they start looking like I’ve got a golf ball under my skin. ☹

Ah, good, I’m not the only one! Yes, mosquito bites do stay swollen and ugly and bleh on me for a very long time, even if I don’t scratch them. (Which, well, I’m trying. But it’s really difficult.) And yes, golf ball size is about right for at least 3 of the monsters that I can see at the moment, and hard and nasty. Lucky me.

The pharmacist has given me some hydrocortisone cream to take the swelling down, so for whole minutes a day I have some blissful relief - they’re still red and ugly and swollen, but not actually itchy. Until it wears off. And for some reason I can only apply this cream twice a day, so that leaves several itchy hours in the meantime.

I hate mosquitos.

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**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitos/551993/22 "2010-08-31T15:05:01Z")

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Remember the Windex-spraying uncle (grandfather?) in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding?” Supposedly, there’s a grain of truth to it.

Ammonia - when applied \*\*\*immediately \*\*after being bitten \*- does help to relieve the itching. I read somewhere that it neutralizes proteins in the mosquito anticoagulants that causes the allergic reaction. No cite, dunno if it’s true or not. But it’s also the active ingredient in products like [AfterBite](http://www.tendercorp.com/product.php?category=Insect%20Bite%20Treatments&product=AfterBite%3Csup%3E%C2%AE%3C/sup%3E&id=178).

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