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General health

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Original poster

Does this sound like a horsefly bite?

12 replies

DitaVonCheese · 09/08/2011 19:43

I was stung by something yesterday while hanging up washing. Whatever it was left a short brown sting, about 5 mm, in the bite - didn't seem to have a barb or a venom sac on it and DH thinks it's too small for a bee sting. My DB said he thought it could be a horsefly but I've been googling and there's no mention of them leaving stings behind - in fact internet says they use a scissor action with their teeth so doesn't sound right at all. Any suggestions as to what it could be? Now have a slightly swollen red inflamed patch about 4 cm x 6 cm on my arm - wasn't/isn't very painful* but is bloody itchy.

*Having said that, have been stung by a wasp today and that wasn't too painful either, so I seem to have acquired some sort of magic sting pain threshold level which is, fortunately, running alongside the fact I seem to have really pissed off the insect world (haven't been stung for 20-odd years before yesterday). I know this one was a wasp because the bastard was still hiding inside the jeans I'd been wearing for the previous five hours - it had obviously spent the morning climbing my leg and stung me on the inner thigh Stamped on it, put it in the loo, peed on it and flushed it

OP posts:

lazydog · 09/08/2011 19:50

Definitely not a horsefly - they (as you say) bite, not sting!

How thick was what was left in you? If it was a 5mm long, very thin "spike" then I've had that when I've pulled a whacking great Canadian mozzie off my skin and its left its needle in me (big bastards - spikes long enough to hit bone, it looks like sometimes!!! ) but never with the normal sized mosquitoes I encountered in the UK.

BluddyMoFo · 09/08/2011 19:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

pictish · 09/08/2011 19:54

Horseflies have little saws for beaks which they use to carve a split in your skin, so not a horsefly.

KnickKnack · 09/08/2011 19:57

Could it be a "cleg "? No idea how to spell that, or what its proper name is! They itch like hell though...

lazydog · 09/08/2011 20:48

KnickKnack - As far as I've ever heard, cleg is just another common name for a horsefly, though?

Original poster

DitaVonCheese · 09/08/2011 22:19

Thanks all. Haven't heard of a cleg but the internet seems to think it's another name for horsefly. Internet also seems to think that bees are the only things that leave stings behind, so maybe it was a bee and I just pulled the sac off with all my thrashing about?

Stoopid itchy swollen arm :(

OP posts:

cakesandale · 10/08/2011 10:07

I think it must be a bee too. Clegs don't leave stings in, and they are filthy little gits too, so the bites can get pretty nastily infected. A bee is so much better, even if ouchy.

Original poster

DitaVonCheese · 10/08/2011 10:14

It isn't too sore now, just itching like a bitch :( I can see the hole quite clearly, it's about a mm square. Maybe it was a horsefly and I just ripped part of its face off?

OP posts:

kittensliveupstairs · 10/08/2011 10:38

I got bitten by a horsefly. I felt a real pain in my arm and saw it making off with a lump of flesh. I ended up on antibiotics because they are dirty bastards.
Do you have any antihisthamines for the itching? Either cream or tablets should help.

MadameLupino · 10/08/2011 10:41

Bloody horse fly bit me last week - two days later my foot and most of my leg was purple and HUGE. Very, very painful. Only horse-sized anti-biotics and anti-histamines on prescription slowed it down. I couldn't walk or put a shoe on for nearly a week and was a very sorry bunny indeed.

Anyway, point of that self-pity was to say, if it gets any worse get to a doctor quickly and in the meantime, take anti-histamines and anti-H cream for the itching.

Original poster

DitaVonCheese · 10/08/2011 11:34

Don't think I have any anti-h, plus bfing, which I think complicates things. Could ask pharmacist but thought of getting there with newborn + toddler is exhausting :( (having bad day). Think it has spread a bit but oculd just be due to all the scratching. Also just noticed weird rash on palm of my hand (bite is on my forearm) but that could have been there before.

OP posts:

cakesandale · 10/08/2011 11:50

I think you should see GP. I have had a v bad horsefly bite like MmeLupino years ago. And I got about 14 of the little bastards in Scotland 2 weeks ago, they didn't get infected, but they were awful and I had to have hydrocortisone cream which, of course, if you are BF-ing, may not be possible. Sorry.

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