Mosquito Bites: What's your cure?
 

I started this thread because I saw no other dealing with this issue.

As I sit here, I am nursing a few mosquito bites and I was wondering what my fellow TFP'ers do about their bites.

I've been told everything from lotions to bleach. What works for you? What doesn't?

I hope something will work for me. Else I may be forced to scratch... :(

Thanks!

Calamine ( sp? ) lotion works best for me. Only side effect is the dried out pink blotches you get for an hour.

I usually scratch all the flesh off them, leading to them later becomming infected and pus-filled.


Note: May not yeild best results.

Benadryl itch stopping cream.

The itch from mosquito bites is caused by a histamine reaction in your skin. The Benadryl cream has an antihistamine ingredient.

Homemade:
Baking soda (mix with water to make a paste)
Tea bags (wet)

Off the shelf:
Cortaid
Calamine

For what it is worth, I'm a big fan of slapping instead of scratching....

don't go outside

TRUE! Thats what I do too!

Just leave em alone!

Scratch till they hurt, then wait until they start itching again.

Aloe gel seemed to work well during my just-finished 2 week stint in the Great North woods.

Netting would be a good before-bite option.

When I got a really bad itch, I stick it under the hottest water I can stand. Only takes a few seconds for the pain of the heat to go away, but then the itch is gone.

People keep telling me I'm gonna get skin cancer from doing it though.

Heh, Thanks for the great answers. I'm trying the baking soda idea. Unfortunately my mosquito problem is indoors, and there must be some standing water (plants maybe?) somewhere they are living. I've been on the hunt. They get me at my desk and when im asleep.

Im going back to my hunt. Wish me luck.

Update: I got the little effer that was attacking me under the desk. It was a fat one too. I think there should be a website about Mosquito death. Yeah, I'm gonna celebrate.

hmm get a wet towel and freeze it then wrap it around your bites. that and hot showers. im allergic to them and i swell up really bad and thats what i do and take benedril.

Apply some hydrocortisone cream to the bites.

That's what I use, works well.

I try and remember to wear something like "OFF" if I know I'm going somewhere I'll get bitten. Something about my blood they like (NOTE: I have been known to have a little blood floating around my alcohol system).

pour gasoline all over yourself. put flame to said gas. you will forget the itching in now time!!!!!!!!!!



aloe vera (spelling?) help, beandryl cream does wonders for me: I have an incredible alergy to mosquito bites. mine swell and seem to itch worse than others and the benadryl ointment really works well.


and guys if you have major mosquitos go to a . um... garden? place and tell them your dilemma. find out if you guys have any 'martins' in your area; it is a bird that eats up to 1k mosquitos a day. they do wonders here in the south and all you need is a ghourd........

hm...best solution i've found to mosquitoes is to get bit well over 100 times on the same day.

once you're done with that suffering, they seem to lose interest.

seriously. happened to me about 10 years ago, i had counted 100 bites on my legs alone..i stopped counting at that point...

but now if they even care to bite me, the bite lasts about an hour with very mild itching, then it's gone.

;)

I get so much satisfaction out of itching them that i itch tell they dont bother me anymore. The worst part about mosquito's is the buzzing that they make!!! It drives me insane at night

I usually just scratch around the bite, totally avoiding the bump. It feels like you're scratching the bite, but you're not. Works wonders.

I put a wet washcloth in the microwave and get it really hot, then touch it against the bites. Stings like hell for a few seconds but then it quits itching for good. Apparently the heat cooks the proteins that we are allergic to, then that stops the itching.

turn on the fan they hate wind

Do not try this at home, I'm a trained professional, or uh ... something like that.

I got sick of the 35 bites on my arms and legs, so I fired up the butane soldering iron and touched it to the center of each one for just long enough to feel it, and then put an ice cube on it, no burn, and the skin flaked off to reveal another layer of skin within an hour.

liquid soap works for me, if i get it on the bites quickly enough. also if you're inside, there was a computer program written that uses your PC speaker to emit a noise thats supposed to repell mosquitos. i'm not sure if it works though.. here's a link: http://www.centrume.krakow.pl/~jaro/...my/antimos.exe
(via google)

I thought I was alone... I now have an intense disliking for mosquitos eventhough I don't get bitten that much any more. Whenever I see a program on tv that mentions mosquito eradication, I'm like, where do I sign up?

I don't go outside.

Eh.. no.. The speaker thing is ineffective, just like that downloadable ringtone. PC Speaks are incapable of the ultrasonic frequency ranges that they claim to be effective against mosquitos.

Heat works well at nuetralizing the poison, as SIN suggests. Get the bite as hot as you can stand as soon as you can after the bite and it should go away.

I too am a professional with a bachelor of science degree, so do not try this at home, kids, unless you have appropriate credentials.

Nobody mentioned using a sharp fingernail and pressing it firmly right across the middle of the bite then another criss-cross from that so you X'd across the middle of the bite mark. If you press the nail hard enough, you'll cause the squeeter's saliva and some contaminated local bodily fluids to ooze out, maybe a teeny bit of purifying blood flow after that, then let it heal and it don't itch.

Sometimes when if I find mosquitos biting, I make sure to sit near my wife since they like her taste better and leave me alone ...maybe cause I eat too much garlic?

You could also look into that Mosquito Deleeto gadget or have a flock of hummingbirds or bats as pets, or some other mosquito devouring species.

Whenever the mosquitos are out in force, I'll light up a smoke and set it in an ashtray nearby. They don't seem to like it.

Neither does my wife, so it's two birds with one stone :lol:

I let em itch, and just ignore it. Goes away pretty quick.

On the occasions that I am in mosquito country then tobacco juice, smoking & mesh clothing extensions work for me.

But usually I stick to deserts for travel nowadays.

Mike.

Now don't hate me for this.... But I don't notice the bites. I can spend the day at the lake, and when I get read to leave, I can notice 50 bites.. and say to myself, "wow! They WERE biting today".. while my sister is still whining about them biting (as she'll do the instant they bite her).

It doesn't itch AT ALL to me, unless I start to scratch it, which is always by accident.. aka brushing it against some sort of rough cloth. But yeah I notice nothing, its wonderful.

Mind you, I'm allergic to just about damn near everything else.. heh.

"mmm.. sure are fun to scratch."


i rub salt on them. something my dad taught me.

in the past week ive woken up with 5 bug bites on my feet. 4 of them were in one night, 2 on one foot and 2 on the other foot symertrically. i thought i was abducted by aliens

I tend to go the preventative route with wearing long sleeved shirts and pants.


I look like the anti-tan compared to others, meh.

Toothpaste works well. The minty freshness kinda tingles, but I think it dries it out and reduces irritation.

same here, its gross but it gets the job done

Rubbing alcohol, just put some on the bite and it will immediately stop the itching and the swelling will go down.

I've never had a Mosquito Bite. No really, they bite me but I have never gotten the red itchy bump. I guess I'm not allergic.

Yay! Someone else who uses the "X-ing them out" method. :)

Everything that works has already been said, but I have a couple funny stories about skeeto bites.

A friend of mine had cancer (not the funny part, don't worry). While she was on chemo, any mosquitos that bit her would die. Hehe suckers!

My grandma would slap mosquitos on her skin while they were biting her and leave the little carcass there on her arm or whatever. Said it was a warning to the other mosquitos that that would be their fate if they dared to bite her. :lol:

Scratch it till it goes away.

There's a product called 'afterbite' that generally works pretty well at stopping the itching. Only problem is if you apply it after scratching, it stings quite a bit. That, and I can never seem to find it and resort to scratching a lot.

piss on em'

I find that if you do nothing to them (don't scratch), eat healthy and sleep more (and earlier), they tend to go away faster and not get very bad.

My cure is to not go outside.

a product called "AFTERBITE". Kind of hard to find, but they alway have it at Walgreens. Within 15 minutes the itching is gone and never comes back. It is amonia based...but I have never tried just plain amonia.....

benadryl cream works really well, as does hydrocortizone

put alchohal on it. It works trust me.

Witch hazel can relieve minor skin irritations like bug bites and rashes. It doesn't work for everyone but it might work for you. It's really really cheap and if it doesn't work for that, you can use it as an astringent to clean up your pores.

There are enough good answers here that I don't need to add my 2 cents - but I do have a question - what the hell are mosquitos doing in your house in <b>Tucson</b>????????

I lived there for 20 years and saw maybe 3 the whole time.

Growing up I used Sea Breeze. I walked around with a constant dozen or more bites during the warmer months. The ones behind the ear were the only ones that got scratched too much, mostly by my pillow.

Now I just distract myself and pretend I don't feel the itch. It works for everything.

Yup, I use Afterbite as well. Skeeter bites don't bother me or my youngest daughter a bit, but my wife and oldest girl both go out of their mind if they get bit even once. Afterbite works great for them.

A buddy claims that he mixes hand lotion and ammonia, and that works great as well. I haven't tried it yet, as I still have about two years supply of Afterbite. :D

..

I have heard that if you use Chewing Tabacco make a paste and rub it on the bite, the swelling and itch will immediately go away. The tabacco supposedly sucks the posion right out. I have never tried it, San Diego doesn't really have a bug problem. But anything is worth a shot

I lie in a hot (as hot as I can stand) bath for a bit, and resist the urge to scratch them. After a while, you don't feel like scratching em anymore.

I live in Tucson too, I've noticed they've been around a little. I think it's from all the rain we just had. But yes, I didn't see it mentioned in here, but the best thing I've found for bug bites is your own saliva. Seems to me that if I lick a bug bite, it stops itching. Works for me though. Surprised no one else mentioned this...

I slap them if they really itch and use anything cold.