To ask you to look at this picture and tell me whether I'm going to be OK

[username123456]

I've been biten before but theyre usually small and itchy dots. This large and itchy lump and all the dangerous spider talk is freaking me out.

What do you think? Should I be worried?

No. Probably just a mosquito/midge thing.

It's hard to see much from the picture.

It looks like a bite, maybe a tiny bit oozey, and around the area the skin is a bit raised and inflamed?

Just on that I wouldn't be worried, the inflammation can be from scratching. Keep an eye out for dark lines/veins around, LOTS of swelling and thick discharge/weeping.

Try a cold compress and see if it gets the swelling down.

Should be fine. Some bites just react more than others. Have you got any good bite cream like Afterbite? Antihistemine?

See how it is in the morning and if it is no better, or worse, is there an out of hours doctor service you can get an appointment with?

The reason I ask is that last year I got bitten on the ankle by an ant while gardening and by the next day my ankle and foot have swollen painfully. I thought this was a really bad reaction to the bite.

Turns out I had cellulitis - bacteria, presumably from the soil, had got into the bite. It got worse before it got better and I had a five day course of antibiotics - the first ones I was prescribed weren't strong enough. It was quite scary and took about 10 days for everything to get back to normal.

Where did you get the bite?

Anywhere there might be deer ticks?

I react like that to most things that bite, I know not everyone does.

When I get one I know the cat is dues to be deflead. Go to a pharmacy, they can give you advice and cream to stop the itching.

I react like that to bites, have never required medical attention. Maybe ask a pharmacist.

It looks ok at the moment OP, get some antihistamines and some afterbite on it and don't scratch it. If it swells up a lot more or the red starts travelling more and getting hotter them ring out of hours for advice. It looks exactly like the mossie bites that I get, they tend to come up worse then any other bites.