Mosquito bite and allergic reactions

[Enko]

I have for as long as I can remember always had a reaction to mosquito bites. I swell up badly and ita itchy. I know to not itch and I take antehistimes to make myself cope (and then sleep for hours as they have that reaction me )

Over the years I've tried lots of stuff like
Lavender
Lemon and sea salt
Baking soda
Apple cider vinegar

To ease it but nothing helps all that long . I wondered what others do and how you try to reduce the itchiness without resorting to antihistamines (yes ive tried the non drowsy ones they still make me drowsy) yesterday I was at a course all day so antihistamines was not a possibility and it made me wonder will try to attach picture to give idea of my swelling if it works swollen foot is mosquito bites and other is normal ankle on non bitten ankle.

That does look very swollen. I once got awful, awful bites on my ankles. The only thing that helped was running very hot water on them (as hot as you can stand) and then keeping the area as bare as possible. The idea is that the hot water overstimulates the nerve and switches it off but it will reactivate if you brush against anything eg clothes.

I am the same op so I feel your pain/intense itch. Buy a this an in the chemist and keep it in the fridge. Put a cover over the whole area don’t rub it in. If it gets really swollen then also use some germoline and keep it in the fridge so it’s lovely and cool. Doing this means I don’t have to take portion. If you have one bite it makes you more tasty for mossies so wear some insect repellent. The little bastards are active at night so don’t leave lights on and windows open and check the walls before you go to bed with a copy of war and peace to splat them with should you find one.

• anthisan

Portion = piriton ffs……

anthisan
or you can get same sort of thing with hydrocortisone as well which helps with worse ones.

Both DS and I react like that. It's horrible. I always use insect repellant if I am going anywhere where I am likely to be bitten, or gardening, or sitting out in the evenings etc.

Tablets are the only thing that really help though.

I react like this. Prevention is better than cure, I have mosquito repellent and a mozzie net at the ready all summer. If I’m bitten then Anthisan and anti-histamines are the only things that work, everything else is a waste of time. Once I reacted so badly the doctor gave me liquid cortisone, but that was really a one off.

I react like you do and find a mild steroid cream helps calm the reaction. Something like hydrocortisone cream

Thank you everyone. I do use a repellent but obviously not I've applied it well enough all the time.

Net is not possible sadly and this one i have no idea where I got day 4 today and swelling is finally going down and less itchiness. Its annoying and yes prevention rather than cure

Only antihistamine will help. Try and use a repellent everyday. I like incognito lemongrass spray and they do body wash etc too to layer it

I really sympathise as I've ended up in hospital when bitten near my eye once. I spend my summer so swollen that my limbs and face look distorted.
My arms in particular are horrendously scarred from scratching and picking too
I heard there was some sort of an injection that you can have at the beginning of the year in certain circumstances but don't know if this is true
Does anyone know

Waspeze spray was amazing!!

Not sure if you can get it anymore as I go a copy version. No idea what is in it but seems to stop it dead if you spray on before ever touching/rubbing the bite.

I'm exactly the same. Boots do an insect and bite antihistamine cream, it is amazing!!

I am like you OP and none of the products mentioned above make the slightest bit of difference.

I am not in the UK and last year was particularly bad. I find a product that works, but after a week or so I seem to become resisitant to it. In the end, the only thing that really worked for me was putting nurofen/voltarol gel (the stuff you use for muscle aches and pains) on them, but I imagine that it isn't something to continue long term.

Eurax cream works reasonably well too.

I have discovered a new product this year called SOS Insect Gel (which, weirdly, claims to also be effective against jellyfish stings) and so far it has worked. It is made in the Netherlands so I don't know if you can find it in the UK.

@missmopple that's interesting as I have family in Netherlands so may ask

I agree that prevention is better than cure. I use Tabard (buy it on Amazon) it's very strong but works.

Other than that, AfterBite immediately you feel you've been bitten, it's ammonia and usually stops the reaction completely for me (if I can apply it in time).

Failing all that, Piriton and Anthisan, and trying not to scratch.

I am in France. I got it in Action - they seem to have quite a lot of Dutch products, so maybe Action exists in the Netherlands?

I have found covering the whole area in sudocream helps take the itching away.

I sympathise OP as I have exactly the same problem and it’s put me off going abroad again as last time I went to Greece I was in agony and had about a dozen bites.