To ask what you use to stop yourself being bitten to death?

[HappySonHappyMum]

Every year I get bitten or stung by horrible little flying insects. I'm determined this year to find something that stops my wrists and ankles being bitten to death. They swell, they get infected - bugs just love me. Does anyone have something or do something that really works they could tell me about?

Spray diluted citronella

Thanks for your suggestions - will definitely have a try of some of them. Does anyone have any suggestions for machines or traps that attract the biting things before they get to me!

Inside a plug in repellent is effective. We all used them while working overseas. I have four bites so far this week. I’m tempted to buy one. Deet is obviously very effective and apparently not as bad for people as I’d previously thought.

Subscribed to the smidge website, we'll see what they say

I am planning on starting to take antihistamines

My bites are terrible, I've never found a solution.

If you have been bitten, a really hot blast from the hairdryer on the bite takes the itch away temporarily

I just usually scratch the fuck out of it with a Denman

I could give you some of my blood, I obviously taste awful as never ever get bitten. DH is much more tasty obviously as they chomp down on him a lot!

We bought a set of deterrent plugs , which are meant to send out a frequency that they hate but they were rubbish.
Then tried something that was meant to lure them in and then dehydrate them , that caught a couple but to be effective you’d have to have it next to your head and as it sounds like a small fan and emits a blue light I think anyone would struggle to sleep

I’ve got olive skin. I don’t get bitten as much as my paler friends.
So it’s melatonin or flying things are just attracted to white because it’s brighter.
I wish that were true as I have the most tanned complexion in my family other than dd and my husband is the palest .
Dd and I are the only ones that are bitten , they don’t touch dh or ds

T tree oil

Avon skin so soft original oil spray

Avoid having windows open or being outside at dusk.

Have a fan on you while you sleep. They can't land in moving air.

Same here. Nothing works but always have antihistamine creme in my bag to kill the itch.
I keep trying to attract bats because I read they eat their body weight in mosquitos every few hours. But they don't come into the houses I put up -or sit on my broomstick at halloween-

I would love to know the science of this . My mum gets eaten alive , I rarely if ever get bitten , no matter which country I visit including Africa, India etc
My ex dp never got bitten and consequently my ds never does either . It must be something inherited? Fascinating.

Possibly .
It seems to be the scent that certain people emit rather than the type of blood.
That’s why sprays etc only really work because they disguise the users natural scent , I don’t think there is much science behind it other than that (from what I’ve read)

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crowdscience/id1172855980?i=1000466320322

In case anyone is interested in the science behind this, this is a very good podcast.

It’s the podcast - crowd science and the episode is ‘why do insects prefer to bite certain people?’.

@postmanbear thank you for the link. I am interested in the science as to why I am a feast for insects, will listen later.

My son gets bitten. Someone recommended Skin Soft spray by Avon and it really works.

I don’t really get bitten in the UK much, but prior to going on holiday abroad I usually buy garlic tablets and start taking them a fortnight before and take them throughout the holiday. I avoid the ones which say ‘no odour’ as I want the biting little fuckers to smell it and go elsewhere! It generally works as I don’t usually get bitten when I do this, whereas I used to get bitten all over before. You might end up smelling a bit garlicky as a trade off though!

Stayed in a dreadful hotel in France one night many years ago and Dp had hundreds of bites on him in the morning
Me I don’t get bitten

I always thought it is because I eat a lot of garlic whilst Dp only has it occasionally

I use a multi pronged attack. Belt and braces as I'm delicious apparently and I have ended up on antibiotics for infected bites several times.

I use anti histamines and give them a chance to build up in my system before I go on holiday so if I do get bitten, they don't swell as badly.

I use original source lemon and tea tree shower gel - supposed to have real lemon in it and it does seem to help.
I use the boots soltan sun cream with insect repellant in it.
I spray jungle spray over my ankles and feet ( I don't like using this because of the deet, and try to limit it).
I use a anti mosquito bracelet.
I use a plug in, in the bedroom at night.

I rarely get bitten now. On a recent holiday in a well known mozzie region, we paid for the garden to be sprayed in advance. Despite this, everyone else got huge numbers of bites and were driven mad. Even people who didn't normally suffer badly. I think I ended up with two bites over the fortnight, and they didn't react hugely because of the anti histamine tablets I'd been taking double the recommended one a day dose

Oh and foreign itch relief is so much more effective than stuff you can buy in the uk.

I'm very tasty to mosquitoes, even DEET isn't that effective for me but I use it or icaridin depending on which repellent I have to hand (I have a variety of different repellents, and just use whichever I find first) but mostly just accept that I'm going to be bitten to fuck every summer.

I was very tasty, dp takes me on holiday as bait but since menopause even mossies don’t want me anymore...

I used to make sure I was covered head to foot after dusk if out as well as using the Avon stuff