Mosquitos....

[whowhatwhy]

Ok, whilst sitting out at a bbq in the south of england 3 days ago I recieved 36...yes 36(!) mosquito stings (bites, injections...whaever) on my ankles and knees and feet. Needless to say that i'm not a happy bunny. This was inspite of me having a 90% DEET bath before going out!

And now 3 days later, each bite is getting alot redder and swollen and VERY itchy. My question isn't the obvious one, rather why didn't my friends sitting next to me get bitten at all? Why did the entire UK population of mossies pick on me?!

oh, okay...also, does anyone know of any way to stop the itching?!

cheers.

[kermit911]

I'm not sure why they were all picking on you, but to stop the itching I use Backing powder and a little bit of water. Mix it together to make a paste, then apply. Should work very quickly.

good luck

[Garamond]

Hiya
I dunno if this is of any help but you might wanna have a look at http://www.50plushealth.co.uk/index.cfm?articl eid=3883
Put as much horse manure as you can into your handbag and just leave it open and quite near you. You never know . . .
How about calamine lotion for the bites?

[dynamicduo]

Avon 'Skin so soft' is good at keeping mosquitoes away

[Snowy Owl]

Lavender Gel will help to stop the itching...and it smells nice too.....or Antihisan from the chemist.

[whowhatwhy]

thanks for your suggestions...although i'm not sure about the horse manure Garamond! I will try the baking powder on one leg, the lavender on the other leg, Avon on my ankles and calamine on the rest!

I have a 90% Jungle DEET solutuon Garamond, you know the stuff that melts all plactics upon contact...doesn't help a jot, they just carry on regardless. I must have something in my blood that they like....little B@�$*&DS!

[naz_nomad]

shove some vinegar on the bites ... that'll stop the itching

[ugly_bob]

Lemon juice is supposed to be a great repellant.

[remesses]

there are two reasons that i know of why they picked on you.
firstly mozzies find you by your carbon di-oxide emitions, so you must be a heavy breather.
secondly mozzies are more likely to bite you if you have eatean something sweet like bananas.
so take an aspirin and get a mosquito net :P

[Champagne]

I read recently that scientists have discovered that mosquitoes are drawn by the 'smell' of people. Some people give off a pleasing scent to mosquitoes which is why they are more prone to being eaten alive. Like me. I have 5 bites on my right leg (3 of which are right next to each other) and they are all bright red and very ugly looking. Mozzies just love munching me! I'm definitely going to try some of these tips though...

[jonarizmendi]

I am allergic to mosquitoes and what I do if I get really itchy and red is to put either ice on the affected parts or take a really cold shower, that always helped! second thing, do not use tight clothes and most of all DO NOT WEAR tight socks, or socks at all if possible as it makes the itch and stings worse.

There's a special cream which is good for itching called Eurax and you can buy it in Boots for a fiver or so.

Do not scratch your skin cos you won't be helping at all. Hope this helps!

[webbo3]

not sure about after you have been bitten but to help stop it happening drink a couple of glasses of tonic water , i remember speaking to a english lady,while we were on holiday , who lived in tenerife,aparently there is a chemical ( the name escapes me ) in tonic water that repells mossies), she was drinking plenty of it .

with and without the gin.:-)

[Peter Pedant]

The itching should go - dont scratch ! Calamine is quite good

Insect repellent - anything with di methyl phthalate in it should work - read the side, they all contain it.

Insects are repelled by (cigarette) smoke - they dont have lungs and it gets into the spiracles, so you culd try a green repellant and cosy up to a smoker, There is only one insect that flies towards smoke, I think it is Chrysops, because that's where the humans are !

[Peter Pedant]

The thing in tonic water is quinine and although good for malaria and some heart rate abnornalities, I didnt know about the insect repellent bit. I bet she had fun adding gin to the tonic to make it drinkable

When I was in Thailand someone pointed out a fella who ate a lot of the scrunty-scrunty tree, or was it the bugaloo tree ? and he never got bitten. The Latin name was nux vomica, and I said look he should be dead, it contains strychnine [cos I kinda carry all these things around in my head] and the Thais said,
O no he not dead! he live!
and I said Ok next monument....It was Angkor Wat and I know this is in Cambodia, but you know you get the idea.....

[matt_london]

I always use this for bite itch relief. It works incredibly well. Better than creams. http://www.boots.com/shop/product_details.jsp? productid=1033153

Give it a go.

[whowhatwhy]

Peter Pedant i was at Angkor Wat recently, great place especially at sun rise when there are less of us tourist littering up the place! Strangly enough I never have problems with Mozzies when i'm travelling...only sandflies kill me, Honduras was a nightmare as the sandflies made my ankles bleed!

But when i'm back in the UK I always react very badly to UK mozzies, big, red swollen lumps. Strange. I saw the link you recommended matt and so I have ripped a ciggy lighter apart and tried the 'shock' treatment...and it certainly did stop the itching. Cheers.

Thanks for all the info, appreciated.