Wtf has bitten me?

[jasminestiger]

Just come back from a Spanish holiday. I have at least 15 bites over my body, mainly on arms and legs but also some on my neck, belly, boob and even forehead! They itch like crazy especially at night. No other symptoms other than raised, red itchy blotches. I initially thought bed bugs as I always seemed to have new ones in the morning. Bought some sort of soothing balm out there that helped temporarily but not a lot.
What on earth could it be?

It'll be mosquitoes!

Mosquitoes. Take antihistamines and get some itch soothing lotion from the chemist.

Dh said mosquitoes. Honestly by the end of the holiday I was ready to come home just to escape it. None of the rest of the family have been bitten.

Could it be urticaria (hives)? I know someone who always breaks out on hot holidays.

"Soothing balm" sounds a bit meh. You need some combo of anti-histamines, topical anaesthetic & anti inflammatory.

Use proper repellent and nets too in future if you're susceptible.

When you're particularly attractive to them and then react to the bites, it's really unpleasant.

I expect your family have a different blood type.

Everyone may have got bitten, but you may be the only one who gets bad reactions.

Some people (me) are very attractive to mozzies. Not fun!

The supermarket here was a bit limited as to what they had on offer but now I'm home I will pop to the chemist. Really ruined the holiday in some ways, kept me up at night and my arms in particular look a real mess.

I react horribly to mosquito bites too. I find lavender oil helps.

They bite people with a higher body temperature apparently. Aloe vera can help with bites. X

It's probably only one or two bites and you've had a reaction so come out in hives. I had at least 100 from my recent holiday. I stacked anti-histamines for a few days.

Try the hot spoon/hairdryer treatment OP on them.

10 seconds or so as hot as you can bear without burning. Instant relief from the itching - it sounds crazy but it really works.

Hydrocortisone cream and anti histamines as well, blast them with everything you can as you don't want them to get inflamed and scar

I get terrible reactions to bites.

Seconding the hot spoon treatment! I've just returned from a very mosquito-y holiday and was blown away by well it works!

It’s definitely mosquitoes. I remember when I was a kid that my Mum and I used to get “eaten alive” in Spain, France, Greece, Portugal etc but Dad and brother were fine. My Mum reacted badly to them so we were always on the look out for new repellent sprays and devices like the ones you’d plug in to wall sockets.

Yet I’ve been on 3 European holidays in the last 18 months and my cans of bug spray have come back entirely unused. The fact that you thought bed bugs before mosquitoes OP suggests that they are not the well-known holiday hazard they used to be.

Are there fewer mosquitoes now in Europe than their used to be? Or did my parents just choose accommodation in particularly swampy places? 😂

What's a soothing balm? You need anti histamine and hc.

It was just a cream, think it had aloe Vera in it and was all I could get hold of at the time. Took the itch away for a while.

There are actually more now than there used to be, and worse ones - as temperatures are rising, insect habitats are able to spread further north. There’s actually an outbreak of dengue in Europe at the moment because of new mosquito species moving in. We have mosquitos in the U.K. too.

My advice is take antihistamines, they’ll stop the reaction. I’d avoid hydrocortisone cream personally as it just creates hard blisters on the bite areas for me.

If you're prone to being bitten next time you go abroad buy some deet and use it every evening.

I've just came back from Spain too OP with massive bruises on the backs of my legs , tiredness and itching that's keeping me awake at night 😭