Very big, swollen, itchy bites on arm circumfrance (sp) same as the bottom of a tumbler... any advice??

[bubblez]

Also the area of the bites are hard to the touch. Is there anything that I could put on them?? Or natural solutions??

TIA

eucalytpus oil

Piriton and an ice pack.

are you sure it isn't ringworm?

ringworm pics .. its not a worm its a fungal infection btw

Have you been anywhere where you might have picked up a tick?
I ask because my mum picked up a deer tick while on a dog walk and got limes disease. It's worth looking into that because it's a bit nasty.

It's probably a reaction to a less sinister bite though as limes is very rare. I always come up in huge welts after mozzy bites and even midgy bitesx. I'm very allergic.

I believe you can buy anti histamine cream too. Otherwise drink lots and lots of echinaecia as it has anti inflammatory properties. (So does ibuprofen, but I don't know where you stand on the heavier drugs).

Do you know what bit you? A friend of ours had a red, swollen patch on his arm that was growing and getting worse and it turned out it was a spider bite. He ended up on various tablets after being sent to toxicology at the hospital.

I would get your GP to have a look at the skin around the bite area. Anti histamine would probably help.

Apply some hydrocortisone cream/ointment it you have any/can borrow a bit from a child with eczema.. it works quickly and well. I had one that I showed to the pharmacist and this is what he recommended.

I get this and use antihistamine cream

could it be horse flies?

I'm very allergic to mozzies and other biters, and often get this sort of reaction, especially if there are several bites over a small area.

Antihistamines are the best solution, I find, far better than any non-drug things that I've tried.

Oral antihistamines will take down the swelling, and there are also antihistamine creams that help with the itching. Eurax is not an antihistamine and is great for itching, but don't put it on broken skin. Benadryl (IIRC) is another good cream for allergic reacitons. There are also creams with local anaesthetic (Lanocaine?), but I find that I prefer the other options. Matter of personal choice.

If the bites blister or get infected, go to the gp as they may not be 'simple' bites, plus infection would need antibiotics. Spider bites are very very rare in UK.

Ok well after looking at all those pics I can honestly say that it isn't ringworm (thank godness)

The actual bites are weeping (sorry if tmi) but I dont have any idea what has bitten me. I have come up like this before from bites (I assume mozzi bites) and worse at times (one bite came up as big as a side dish and went purpley,greeny, yellow) when I was abroad, but never in england. So I've only ever been to the chemists abroad about them and needless to say they haven't been much help.

You know I have never considered that it might be an allergic reaction of sorts to the bite (how naive) so anti-histamines seem to be the general consencious... and eucalyptus oil the natural way..

Thanks all...

I think that I might try an anti-histamine cream just need to find one now that is ok for broken skin..

Put it everywhere that is swollen, just avoiding the actual bite itself - I assume that's where the skin is broken. If you don't see an improvement begining within a couple of applications, then take oral antihistamine of your choice or go to gp in case the bite is infected.

Have you tried the zappers? They give a tiny click of an electric current to disperse the histamine that causes the itch and the hardness. They are about 2" long and dark green plastic. We got ours in Boots, think they are about £7. Absolutely brilliant as I normally scratch and scratch and within 5 minutes the itch goes away.

nellie, did you push down and give 5 or more clicks each time it itched?

If they are over a week old it is a possibility that they are infected and that you will need more than antihistamine to sort it out so a trip to talk to pharmacist or Gp may be a good idea.

oops i blame sleep deprivation for my wooly headedness