AIBU to feign illness to avoid a foreign holiday gift??

[BiteyLittleFuckers]

I'm quite possibly the most ungrateful old baggage ever and I'll happily admit to being so.

I turned 50 this summer and my family have taken me for a week to a lovely warm, sunny, all expenses paid luxury trip to a fabulous European country. I'm completely skint so the gift was huge for me.

I'm hating it. As well as being too hot, I've also been bitten every night I've been here (5th night coming up). I have in excess of 35 mosquito bites that hurt and itch and I'm a nervous wreck at night. I can barely sleep and I just itch all over.

My loveliest, nearest and dearest of friends have both paid for us all to go to a lovely part of Mallorca for a week, starting September. It's not a cheap holiday. I'm absolutely dreading it and truly feel I'll at the thought of going.

I've bought and tried Avon Skin so Soft, Citronella, lavender oil, Deet (that's melted my nail varnish off my toes), I swallow antihistamines and paracetamol like there's no tomorrow, burn coils and surround myself with 5 basil plants and STILL, I'm savaged every night. It's affecting my head and I'm a psychological cat on hot coals. I can't even sleep at night.

I'm tempted to feign covid/shingles/something contagious to get out of the holiday. I'm feeling like a right cow-bag because they aren't wealthy people and saving for this holiday has been a big deal. AIBU to try and avoid going?

This. I always use Jungle Formula (it works really well) and, in the Caribbean, the locals eat a lot of citrus fruits (my “perfume” out there is a strongly scented lemon spray).

Yabu.
Take better steps to protect yourself.
I really hope they don't read and recognise your post.

Seconding bed bugs - I went to Ibiza once and got bitten to death by what I thought were mosquitoes (I had ~70 bites on my legs alone) but it turned out to be bed bugs. Awful awful experience - you have my full sympathy

Haven’t RTFT so sorry if anyone already said this but I live in Spain and there’s a repellent sold in every pharmacy called Relec and it’s the best - spray your ankles and lower legs before going out in the evening and I guarantee you won’t get bitten. I have friends who work for the Spanish Red Cross and they stock up here to take to malaria regions in Africa because it works better than anything else. Dread to think what’s in it but just don’t read the label…

I get chomped a lot too. The tiger mossies are the worst as they are all the time rather than the old mossies who were night time only. I use the hot spoon method although I have just upgraded to a Beurer insect bite healer. https://www.beurer.com/web/gb/products/medical/insect-bite-healer/br-60.php

Heat denatures the protein in the bite which is the thing that your body's immune system reacts to. This reaction causes the itch. It sounds weird, but it works. Teaspoon in a mug of very hot water, then tap the spoon onto the bite for approx 30 seconds and job done. You can also use a hairdryer on high. Just be careful at first so as not to burn yourself, but you quickly find the right balance.

My experience is that it can also be used on duck lice and hornet stings. I can also advise on jelly fish stings. 😳

Another voice saying to do the hot spoon thing. I thought it was an old wives tale, but it really works.
Insects love to bite me and I'm allergic so can end up with bites that are 10cm circles of boiling hot, red, itchy skin. The hot spoon doesn't remove the itch completely, but does refuse it to a point where I don't want to pull my own limbs off. Just make sure it's hot and not boiling as a burn will not help.
The cunty response up thread is clearly from someone who has no idea how bad bites can get.

Take a garlic capsule a day for 2 weeks before your holiday and the duration of your holiday, it makes you an unattractive biting prospect for the mozzies (unless you happen to have your period, then they’ll be back munching)

Interesting article … so coconut shampoo/conditioner/body wash plus mint tea, lemon eucalyptus insect spray, rosemary and sage in food.

Go to a pharmacy and get some local bite cream. They are all so much stronger than anything you can buy in the uk. Makes so much difference to the bites.

I'm also very prone, got bitten to bits in Italy and France in particular. I've never used Deet but I'm off to Turkey soon so I'll have to, I think.

Those who are suggesting nets - how do you rig it up in one's accommodation/ hotel room? I'd consider getting one but not sure how they work.

I know everyone is coming on with their tips for bite remedies. Trust me, the one you absolutely need is this:

www.bite-away.com/uk/

Honestly, I get very very bitten, those bitey feckers love me, and they used to go really swollen and sore. Not since getting this. It's absolutely the business. It hurts whilst you use it (3-6 seconds) but the relief from the itching is amazing - I would say the relief each time lasts about half a day before you have to re - do it, so does require a regular going over of all your bites but over a few days they just lessen and lessen, and I find it means that 1) they never get to that hot swollen sore and madly itchy stage, 2) you never end up taking the top off them with all the scratching and 3) it means you don't have a disturbed sleep from waking up itching.

Wow - loads of responses. Thank you everyone for your advice and input. I've skim read everyone of them but will read them more thoroughly and make notes.

My self-confessed moodiness is definitely exacerbated by lack of sleep. It's so hot here and my bites are super sore at night. 2 of them have blistered now and one of the blisters are about the size of a ping pong ball. It's miserable and painful and sore.

I've seen a pharmacist who've given me better antihistamines and a cream with hydrocortisone.

We're in a lovely, lovely villa and I must seem to ungrateful. Everyone is able to relax and I'm trying to look and play the part, but inside I want to go home. I can't even get relief in the pool because I'm worried that the biggest of blisters will get infected.

I will go with my friends - they're amazing women who have been long term allies so I wont let them down. I will be stocking up and covering up on this next holiday though.

Thanks everyone, particularly those who have shown empathy.

I’m also a magnet for mosquitos and the bites come up huge and drive me crazy. Haven’t been bitten for years now though since I take precautions (and just got back from a week in Mallorca yesterday). I swear by the jungle formula max strength (green aerosol) and also wear a wristband (from Amazon). Spray all uncovered skin from dusk onwards.

It was mentioned a few pages ago, but it’s worth saying it again!

blast the hairdryer on bites until it’s unbearable. It stops the itching completely

By that i mean until you feel your leg/arm burning, and find yourself thinking ‘WTF, why am I following some random women on mumsnets advice, I’ll fucking end up with a burn too’.

20 mins later you’ll think ‘Hey it’s not itchy’ and thank us!

Life’s too short not to have a holiday.

to stop the itching you need heat to break up the protein in the bite. I boil a kettle and let it cool for 10, then pour a cup and put a teaspoon in til it warms up, then hold it against the bite for 10 seconds. Obviously don’t actually burn yourself, it just needs to be hot enough so it denatures the proteins. Literally a life saver.

I just discovered today that you can buy pop up mosquito nets to sleep in!

You have my sympathy. I got badly bitten in Spain last year and had the horrible enormous blisters. I also react badly to one of the cortisone based creams, Fun times. It won't stop me going abroad again and we are off in a couple of weeks time, but I plan to go armed with DEET and spray frequently even though I hate the smell.
I've also just bought the Beurer zapper, hope it works.