Help. Give me your best mosquito bites tips

[Thousandthingstosay]

Going abroad next week. Italy. Friend has warned me the mozzies are bad. I'm like nectar to the wee fuckers and have very very bad reactions.

Any suggestions or tips?

I'm going to take an antihistamine daily, got a sting clicker thing, and also got hydrocortisone cream for any bites. Maybe a repellent spray?

Hot spoon on the bite to neutralise it

I used the bracelets you can get (in boots I think) I had one on my wrist and one on each ankle in Florida 😂 nothing touched me - and I normally get eaten alive, the time before one bit the inside of my elbow and it went golf ball sized, I couldn't bend my arm!

Hot spoon - seconded.

Eat a lot of garlic every day

Start taking your antihistamine now.
Wear Deet, long sleeves and long trousers at dawn and dusk.
Take anti-histamine cream with you for back up.

What do you mean "maybe" a repellant spray?!

Pyramid trek have a deet free spray that works very well. Otherwise you need deet.

I would try a repellent spray - I also attract bites and react badly. Used some one holiday for the first few days and got nothing. Then I lost the spray and promptly ended up with around 20 bites over my legs

Think ones with Deet are meant to be good?

Zam Buk (you can get it on Amazon). I used to live in South East Asia and this was recommended by pharmacists there - it's a balm you rub on bites and it really did help with the itching. I always used to have it in my bag 😀

After the fact...hot spoon. I bought one of those electrical zapper things last year and its not a patch on the spoon method

I do hot mug, which sounds like an alternative version of hot spoon. Probably holds heat better for applying to multiple bites though!

Discovering this has made holidays a lot less stressful as mosquito bites could absolutely ruin a holiday for me in the past.

Try using lemon soap or body wash and shampoo. Also diffuse basil oil in your accommodation. Wash the bites with soapy water as soon as you detect them. People are often allergic to the mosquito saliva so washing it off helps. I’ve heard taking vitamin b tablets can help but not sure it’s medically proven. Don’t drink alcohol as they are attracted to it. Also they’re attracted to sweat and Co2.

Spray yourself and your sleeping area with deet. Also try using citronella candles.

obviously repellent. Take a selection with and without DEET. They won’t bite through DEET

I'm clearly a delicious magnet for insects, and always react really badly.
The most effective thing I've found was an amazing gel thing in the States which had some kind of topical analgesic and something else - it appears to be banned all over the rest of the world but omg it worked well. Useless to you, I realise, sorry. But if you ever go to the US then I highly recommend this gel thing that is meant for poison ivy, but works brilliantly on insect bites too.

If you are going anywhere where mosquitoes carry disease or you are going walking or otherwise will be at increased risk, I highly recommend Craghoppers Nosilife clothing. I spent 10 days in a high risk area of Africa recently and wore it all the time. I also use this combined sunscreen and natural insect repellent on exposed skin. It’s much kinder to the face than most. I’ve used it on two trips to Africa and it’s always been effective. You can buy it from the company’s own website, Holland and Barret and Amazon. My skin is apparently caviar to mosquitoes. I get badly bitten and often have a huge reaction to bites. Adding the Nosilife gear to this sunscreen/repellant meant that for the first time ever (and I’m 63), I didn’t get bitten at all!

www.amazon.co.uk/IMPROVED-WINNING-Incognito-Suncream-Repellent/dp/B08FRQTCH7/ref=sr_1_4_sspa?adgrpid=53064197437&gclid=Cj0KCQjwzLCVBhD3ARIsAPKYTcRoaLF7nclm_e7VaViDUPnyNmI5lAf6uqzMYh9T9az_66_JlyZ9aVwaAqnmEALw_wcB&hvadid=259103495912&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=1007133&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=15913903061986258900&hvtargid=kwd-362230466367&hydadcr=28182_1821136&keywords=incognito+insect+repellent&qid=1655489843&sr=8-4-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyWEpTRzlHRzRJSDYzJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNDEyNzEwS1hFMThYT1FOOUdTJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA2MTI0NDhHSlYxN0UwTEswVEwmd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

www.craghoppers.com/nosilife/shop-by/page/2/

For a long time , Avon's Skin So Soft has been used to deter midges.

I recall a couple of Scottish Highland holidays where local shops, post offices etc.. would have a few bottles of it on their counters.

I don't know if the formula has changed but it might be worth a try.

Someone on here recommended the wilcos deet spray - £2.50 a can.

It's bloody brilliant stuff

Daily odourless garlic and vitamin b tablets, cheapest from Lidl. Start them asap. I used to get eaten alive and now I rarely get bitten.

I’m in Tuscany now. I’m up to 47 bites and counting. I’m spraying a repellent on daily, and nightly, and taking a daily antihistamine. They are fucking relentless. We’re in the hills though, so probably worse up here.

I've just bought that electric zapper as I'm on antibiotics for the reaction I had to gnat bites and it's rubbish. Made it really sting.

Second the odourless garlic and vitamin b. Was advised to try these before Mexico. Can’t 100% confirm that they worked but neither me or hubby were bitten once while people around us were being eaten alive.

Oooh that's good to know. Will get some.

Never heard of this but noted

Have found that 'pierre d'alun' thé rock salt deoderant is brillant on bites, especially the ones that become hard white lumps.

I second Avon skin so soft, just the original, apparently used by the army, I used it in the Amazon, took DEET too but was OK with Avon!

Oh fuck!!!

47 bites