Mosquito bites, ugh!

Wow...that's interesting nothing has worked for extended period of time. What about steroid cream?

What I find that helps with other inflammation reactions is nasal decongestant spray as well as antihisthamine eye drops.

Hope you find some relief.

q

Avon Skin so Soft bug repellant

https://www.avon.com/product/skin-so-soft-bug-guard-plus-picaridin-pump-spray-31314?s=ProductFeeds&c=TMI_feeds&otc=04133310&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIoovxksrR6gIVQAiICR3b2Q3CEAYYASABEgKx1_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Where do you live old hat? Here in CA we are getting invaded by a new little mosquito commonly known as the yellow fever mosquito. It’s smaller — size of a gnat so you don’t feel it bite and it loves the ankles and elbows. It doesn’t need much water to hatch it’s eggs so often lives in saucers under flower pots etc. it’s called the aedes egyptii. Look it up and see if it’s in your area. If you have a mosquito abatement agency in your area you can contact them for more info or a property inspection.

Unfortunately the bites seem to itch way worse than the other mosquitoes. I haven’t found anything that completely takes it away. When they’re at the worst I’ll take a Benadryl at night to sleep without itching and that seems to help. I’ve been experimenting with tea tree oil rubbed on the bites alternating with cortisone anti itch cream and that seems to help. Benadryl used to make an anti itch cream but I haven’t tried that. I thought about trying old fashioned calamine lotion too but haven’t. I’ve heard wearing citrus essential oils can work as a repellent but that was just anecdotal so I don’t know if it works or not.

Thanks, everybody! Today I had to go to pharmacy chain for glucosamine re-supply so I looked for hydrocortisone lotion 1%, too, & found one variety that said "cooling gel" on its box, with aloe vera listed among other ingredients, plus it was on sale, yippee. I'm definitely in your league, Momto2 & Morg, with regard to swelling reaction; that started up when I was a teen & got bitten many times while mowing the lawn with a manual blade machine. Interesting, FlowersGal, about the gnat-type mosquito that loves ankles; I did get 5 bites above right ankle & 2 above left, in addition to shin, calf, knee, thigh, forearm, & shoulder bites = 26 total. Maybe a regular mosquito did the higher bites 'cause I did hear the tell-tale humming for an instant, around dawn, but thereafter when I got up something gnat-like did flit around my ankles. This happened where I live in NYC, near Hudson River, but my absolutely worst bite to-date occurred yrs ago at New Jersey shoreline toward dusk, where half of my forehead swelled up in a huge bulge, yuck! I did consult a doctor about that one, who told me not to feel embarrassed about seeking medical advice because it's possible to get staph infection from such "events". / Old Hat (39 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)

Thanks, DavidEA! It (they) probably came in via bathroom window so I'm thinking about putting OFF insect-repellent around the screen there. Interesting that both you & FlowerGal in CA have problems with them; are you in or near the rice-growing region north-central? (I heard that they're terrible around Williams, CA area.) Whoops, I guess not 'cause you did say So CA! Here in Northeast they become problematic between late June through August due to seasonal heat + high humidity. I'm not crazy about winter due to early nightfall especially, but it does rid us of those air-borne pests. *** BTW, for Quincy, I tried the Cortisone 1% lotion last night & it did keep things quiet for about 4 hours; then one knee bite kicked up a fuss. Overall, though, I'm in much better shape now than on Mon-Tue, TG! / Old Hat (39 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)

Thanks for the additional info, David-- you didn't type too much!!!!! We need to know what's going on with biting insects, as they've been travelling out of their usual range over the past decade & transmitting new diseases like West Nile & Zika viruses to the U.S. Some people in NYC suburbs actually got West Nile about 16 yrs back, without leaving their home area! Mosquitos are no joke. I think from experience that citronella candles repel them, but those are really for outdoor use because they give off pretty strong fumes. Also, some science writers claim that mosquitos are less likely to pick on a person if/when they have an electric fan blowing continuously in their direction. / Old Hat (39 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)

Very interesting, Bloom-- thank you! (Clove is an old-time emergency relief for toothache.) Last night I was finally able to sleep without the bites waking me up, hurray!!!!! That Cortizone 1% gel with aloe vera was about the best remedy I tried; it felt nice and cool on application, too. The bites have mostly turned pink & flat on their 5th day post-attack, but looked originally like you described and it was the 1st time that Benadryl Extra Strength lotion didn't help me much. Benadryl lotion used to be very soothing when it had calamine mixed into the initial formula, but after several yrs on the market some legal wrangling arose among the pharmaceutical companies that obliged the manufacturer of Benadryl to remove calamine from it. *** I know there is an issue with oral Benadryl whereby seniors should avoid it as a likely respiratory system irritant-- which I'm mentioning now 'cause FlowersGal wrote above that taking it did calm her bite itching. / Old Hat (39 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)

Here is what it's called on the red box it comes in: "Cortizone-10, maximum strength cooling relief gel, 1% hydrocortisone anti-itch gel"---on front of box, and on back of box it lists aloe 1st under "inactive ingredients", under those it says "distributed by Chattem, Inc." (It comes out of the tube looking perfectly clear.) I'm giving the specifics here because there were 2-3 other varieties nearby on the chain drugstore's shelf, which have the same name + red box but are lotion without aloe rather than this cooling gel-- so beware! / Old Hat (39 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)