The best remedy for mosquito bites (that works for me)

[nadine_mn]

Hi all

Since I am a delicious mosquito buffet and live in the land of 10,000 Lakes, every year I look like I have an outbreak of mumps. I react more strongly than a lot of people I know to bites - I get large raised hot bumps that get umm... lets just nasty. I have hundreds of scars on my arms and legs from decades of bites.

I have tried almost every thing in the market and every home remedy in an effort to ease the constant itching. One that seemed odd, but hey I'll try anything, was running a spoon (or butter knife) under super hot water then holding the hot spoon on the bite for a couple of seconds.

It works for me and has made my life less miserable. I was in the car with the windows down one evening for about 10 min, and received roughly 9 bites (husband = 0). Fantastic - bites on top of bites and in hard to scratch areas and before the whole hot metal remedy, I would have had these bites for at least a week and each welt would easily be the size of a nickel.

Put a hot spoon on each one, and they were gone by the end of the night. No itching, no redness, no scars - wow.


Not sure why it works - something about the heat killing the proteins that the mosquitoes inject, but it does for me.

So if you have tried everything and nothing works, try heat.

[patricia92243]

1. I wonder if it is the metal not the heat, For garlic smelling hands, run hands under running cold

water with stainless steel spoon and smell is totally gone. So, I think maybe the metal is what does the trick.

My hubby gets bitten all the time, so I will be interested to try your tip. Thanks for posting this. It will probably help a lot of people.

[nadine_mn]

6. I have a little round stainless steel "soap" I use for the garlic

My husband loves garlic so I use it a lot and my friend recommended rubbing my hands on the sink faucet. I was stunned that it worked. Saw that they sell little stainless steel discs that come on their own little "soap" rest and got one ... Love it, use it every time I cook.

It takes a couple of minutes (this morning it took the time of making a pot of coffee) for the hot spoon to work .. just so your husband doesn't get discouraged if he doesn't have instant relief. Hope it helps😀

[Arkansas Granny]

2. I've never heard that one, but will definitely try it.

Like you, I am mosquito bait.

[hlthe2b]

3. In all sincerity, does repellent not work for you?

Mosquitoes love me too, but far less than you, it sounds. Still, I am in a WNV haven and my cold-weather loving doggy girl needs her long walks, which puts me out at dawn and dusk. The mosquito repellent impregnated clothing from Ex-officio or Columbia is expensive, so I buy the Sawyer permethrin product (REI) and create my own. It stays on shirts, pants, socks through at least 16 washings. Then, I only have to use a bit of DEET-containing repellent on face, hands and neck-- I use a Cutter produt that smells better and wash off easier before bed time.

Don't mean to be "flip" in this regard, but West Nile is enough reason for me to try hard to avoid bites that I used to find mere nuisances.

Good luck, nadine

[nadine_mn]

5. If I know I am going to be outside I use repellent but

What prompted my post was this morning I was making coffee...and was bitten 3-4 times by a couple of mosquitos that snuck into the house while my husband was taking the dogs out. I happened to look down on my arm and saw one feasting away. I swatted it and waited a few seconds to see if it had a chance to really get me. Sure enough a large bump started forming along with itchiness (I was tempted to scratch just because I saw the mosquito, even before I felt the bite).

Then felt a bite on my forefinger, front ankle and back of my thigh. We don't keep windows open - this is just from a couple that came in with dogs.

It is unreal how much of a magnet I am. My husband can go all summer with maybe 2 bites- and he mows our giant yard with no bug spray. Me, I can't even have a cup of coffee indoors without getting bit.

My husband is fair skinned, so he has to use sunscreen anytime he is out and you can tell where he missed because he will have a light sunburn. I am that way with bug spray (DEET of course), if I go for a walk, you can tell where I missed because not only do I have one bite but often several on top of each other.

I think our city/ county sprays too because we are near the Mississippi River and the population isn't too bad. When I visit my mom up in Forest Lake, I get covered in them just from the car to the house. Ugh, bites in (yes in) my ear lobes, between fingers and toes and on my ankles are the worst. I got chicken pox in high school (a mild version I think) - still itched less than my usual summer experience growing up on Lake Superior 😟

I can't wait til winter

[DawgHouse]

10. It only takes one mosquito to cause misery!

I read somewhere that the female has to bite you five times to be "full". Then she'll rest for a few days before laying her eggs. After that, she starts feeding again!

[Lilyhoney]

4. The hot spoon works for me.

I heard about it last year and gave it a try.

[panader0]

7. Not many mosquitoes here in So Az except during monsoon (now).

I never get bit but Jeannie is also a buffet. I thought it might be because
of the skin lotions she uses. But I have heard that a small wad of moistened
tobacco applied to the bite works. I know it does for bee stings, etc.

[rurallib]

8. heard today that eating garlic really discourages the little biters

guy said he hasn't been bitten for 3 years since he started eating it - supposedly garlic pills work also

[hibbing]

9. Interesting, I'll have to give it a try

I don't react that badly, if I do happen to get a bad one, a little bar soap always stops the itching for me.


Peace

[Citrus]

11. Heat and itch

The reason the hot spoon (or hot-hot water, etc.) works is because heat makes mast cells release histamine. It's histamine that causes itch. Once the histamine is released...no more itch. It may take more than one application of the heat source, but it sure stops the misery.

FWIW, garlic doesn't really work. Mosquitoes are attracted to the CO2 we exhale. There isn't a way to stop that. Even though scents mask smells to us, the CO2 is still there. That's why fans work: they disperse the CO2 and we aren't as "visible" to the little buggers. (Garlic and brewer's yeast don't work for dogs and cats, either. Garlic is actually toxic to dogs.) Citronella and other things you burn are mostly ineffective because you have to burn so much of it that you're likely to asphyxiate everyone nearby.

Repellants work differently for different people. Some people find that none of the chemical repellants work, or (wisely) choose not to apply toxic chemicals to their bodies. And in some humid climates, repellants have to be reapplied so often that it ruins any attempts to enjoy an outing.

Some of the natural repellants are more effective, but again, it varies from person to person. Anything with a high concentration of cedar oil is extremely effective. We use it here in Florida, on an island with swamp on 3 sides. Cedar is the only effective repellant I've ever found (and I've lived in Florida nearly all my life), and it also kills on contact with any biting bug.

Current research indicates that people with blood type O attract more skeeters. (Might help to find a friend who's type O and keep her/him nearby!)

[nadine_mn]

12. Great info thanks! Crap I am blood type A

what the hell kind of misery would I be in if I were type O? I would look like one of those guys who wear a coating of bees - bee beard, except it would be millions of biting mosquitos.

Wonder how that craig's list ad would look: Seeking: Person with type O blood for long walks in the summer night, promise this isn't weird vampire stuff.

[Citrus]

15. Hahaha!

Truly LOL here. Love the ad!

[Laffy Kat]

13. Thanks for the suggestion.

The same thing happens to me. I will try it.

[madamesilverspurs]

14. Not a remedy, but . . .

Orajel removes the itch and the urge to scratch. I'm not the magnet you seem to be, but bites do swell high and wide when they do happen.

Hope you find relief!




.

[elleng]

16. Thanks for the info.

I'm back home, also 'home' to skeeters, so will try it.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. I've read that catnip can be a somewhat effective mosquito repellent.

Of course, you might end up covered in cats, but they mostly don't suck your blood.

[shenmue]

19. Covered in cats

Ahhhhh.

[vanlassie]

18. (Writing this under my mosquito net)

I am also a magnet- the exact word I use.... I got 25 bites in one evening before I hung the net this year. Housemate, and husband before that never get a bite.
I had seen the hot spoon thing but disregarded it. If I get a new bite I will happily try it. Thanks!!!

[PufPuf23]

20. A baking soda paste somewhat works to reduce the itch and persistence of mosquito bites.

A combination of eating garlic, covering exposed areas (by shirt sleeve, beard, etc., and treatment of strategic areas (cuffs, neck, etc.) with DEET is best approach.

When I was younger, I worked in the damp forests of the Pacific Northwest and SE Alaska and the mosquitos could be over whelming.