To see a GP for this?

[togoornottogoto]

I’m currently on holiday.

I have been absolutely ravaged by mosquitoes. I don’t know when or where but the little buggers have got me.

One bite went very infected, it’s still red and angry but calming down with an antibiotic lotion. It turned into a huge blister, weeping and redness spreading. I didn’t break the skin, it started weeping without any warning.

I now have at least three bites that have got tiny blisters on them. I’m desperate to treat them with the same antibiotics but this seems a really extreme reaction from my body!

I had one bite do the same last year, in the same area. So I don’t know if it’s an allergy or not. I’m keeping an eye on them for now, if they worsen I’ll obviously go to the pharmacy again but I’m hoping they don’t.

AIBU to see a GP when I’m home though? It’s concerning me that I’m either having some sort of strange allergic reaction, or I am apparently getting infections very easily!

You're either being facetious or haven't read any of the posts repeatedly mentioning seeing a pharmacist

Same. I get much worse

…until it falls off.

Leave it for a few days , if they don't improve go to your GP. The reaction you describe is normal for mosquito bites- if the whole area isn't swelling up it's not an allergic reaction.

Christ some advice on here.

ya this is what the NHS is for. If my stepdad had listened to this advice he’d be dead. Ant bites for him weirdly,

yes see a medical provider. Nurse or GP

@DailyEnergyCrisis and with reference to @togoornottogoto.

DailyEnergyCrisis, I am also finding it difficult to believe you are a pharmacist as you have immediately decided that the static photo the OP took of her wound - whatever was the initial cause of it, but in this case a hungry mosquito bite - shows that her bite is fine, not infected, and that she shouldn't 'bother' anyone else in the medical feed, with her very understandable concern. Forgetting for a moment that the OP said herself that that photo was taken the morning after (?) - presumably she means after the bite first happened/annoyed/worried her? I am not sure of the exact timings of the OP's wound, and when certain things occurred, but to be honest the timeline is not of much use to us anyway. What you, and the other PP's need/ed to concentrate on, and what that photo could not give you, but her excellent description of what her wound looked like at first, and then how it looked subsequently, was much more helpful than the photo was, at giving us up-to-date information. But as you fixated on the photo, and how it looked much milder than you expected by the OP's descriptions of her symptoms, you don't seem to have taken into account
all sorts of things that could have affected the photo that the OP showed to us. These things include, but are not an exhaustive list of explanations for the photo not being of more use to someone who puts a lot of faith into a photographed image of something that was almost constantly changing anyway. Some of the things that could have affected the quality of the photo are:
The lighting conditions where the picture was taken;
The quality of her (phone?) camera's specs;
The fact that the OP is probably not qualified in taking photos for the use of medical personnel, so she would have almost certainly not realised that several shots taken close together, and from different distances and angles, would have probably been more helpful.
Also @togoornottogoto was probably too worried at that time by her changing wound to give much thought to the quality of the photo. I'm not sure that if I had been suffering the same dilema as the OP, that I would have even thought to take a photo of my wound at all!

Whatever that photo appeared to show, I think that in this particular case at least, her description of the wound when it was possibly at it's worst appearance to her - tells me, and if you are really a British medically qualified pharmist, it should tell you the same thing - that she should have got it checked out immediately.

Unfortunately, it is quite possible that because of all the apparently ignorant, but mainly well intentioned Mumsnetters on this particular thread, telling the OP it was nothing serious, including those who told her to just 'treat' it with antihistamines, and that allergies don't react to antibiotics (no they don't usually, unless there is an unknown infection present at the same time, but it really wasn't an important issue to raise at that time, and probably just muddied the waters) that those assurances could have convinced the OP, a lay-woman in terms of medical knowledge - who would probably have no idea about the extent of what could have been happening right then, within her wound, within her bloodstream - to believe that she was100% okay, and that she would be wasting the time and resources of any medic she went to see. Luckily, togoornottogoto was too intelligent to just accept those reassurances, as that could have led to a very different outcome...

[as an aside OP, I would have definitely taken myself to the nearest Italian A&E when the wound started to produce the exudate that it did, as you may have got very close to a Sepsis diagnosis, and to be honest I am not sure that you are completely out of the woods just yet, where that worry is concerned 🫤]

As I said in a previous post on this thread, I hope you are completely well now. I also think that yes, it would be very sensible of you to see your own GP when back home, just to check that there isn't anything else going on, or that you should do, before next going to a place you are aware it may be overrun with the little nuisances! xx

@togoornottogotoI have had badly infected bites and have had to have antibiotics. I felt really ill.

I've had cellulitis half a dozen times, normally starts with a red ring round my right ankle and a sensitivity along the length of my right thigh just towards the inside. This is where you can feel the poison working it's way through your system the most. However, the first time I had it it didn't immediately present as cellulitis. I went to the doctor because I had been feeling really quite under the weather for quite a few days, listless, a bit nauseous, but nothing I could put my finger on. They took bloods and most came back fine but the one for infection coagulated too quickly and couldn't be tested. About 10 days later my leg swelled and I went back to the doctor and they diagnosed cellulitis. Every subsequent bout has come up immediately and the doctor just used to write a prescription for flucloxicillin without even seeing me (frequent flyer).

Just because nothing is immediately showing, don't imagine nothing is there. Keep on with the treatment and definitely keep an eye on how you feel.

I bet your one of thise GP receptionists who think they should gate keep GP appointments.

Well of its not for any health concern whats if for?

Half the issue is people aren't seen until its too late.
It might just be an allergy or it might be ahe has a vitamin deficiency and is run down. It is not your place to gate keep appointments

I had a terrible time this summer. I ended up with open sores all down both calves and on my arm.
It was painful, I felt sick and they were weeping.
I went to a pharmacy who said " they are really bad' I got a steroid cream and some oral tablets, I cant remember what they were. They really helped. This was in Spain. It cost about €11.00

I can understand how unpleasant mosquito bites are.
When I moved to Turkey to live on a boat I was a favourite target for them. Huge red wheals which filled with liquid. I would have at least twenty a time. Although hideous and very itchy, I didn't have long terms issues.
My best option was to go to a local pharmacy for creams / lotions. The pharmacist knew what he was dealing with.
Of course you should visit your GP on return so that he can double-check there is nothing to worry about.
Better safe than sorry, as they say.
But I'm sure you have nothing to worry about.
Do try and enjoy the rest of your holiday my love.
xxx

Yes yes to this.

What answers are you hoping for OP?

Best response I’ve read so far.

I got bitten a few times when in Italy in June and one got very big and red and angry. I have health anxiety so was very worried, constantly checking it, taking photos to see how much it had grown, googling it. So I get the concern, but also, thinking about it rationally now with the benefit of hindsight, these reactions are relatively common and not generally a matter for significant concern.

Clearly you've never had a badly infected insect bite. That would certainly need attendance at the GP for the nurse, paramedic or doctor to decide whether or not oral antibiotics are necessary.

You definitely don’t need a gp. Visit the pharmacy or an appointment with the ANP

Pretty much every insect bite I get ends up like that, its never occurred me to seek any kind of medical advice. I've always assumed I have the kind of blood that insects are attracted to and I just wait for them to die down