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.
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.