Once a year while cutting the grass I get bit by something and it swells up and gets red like a mother. I always thought I kicked up some spider and go to the doc who thinks its infected and gives me an oral antibiotic. It clears up after a couple of days and that's all she wrote.

Yesterday I got 2 bites on one leg and 1 on the other while walking cutting the grass. I felt one of them happen. The odds of that being a spider is pretty slim. I'm certain that's a mosquito. The bite on one leg made my skin red and swollen 6" around, the other 2 bites on my other leg are around 4". Zyrtec always seemed to help or at least not hurt, so I took that yesterday and today.

The walk-in clinic is closed today so I did some interweb research and came up with "Skeeter Syndrome", some enhanced allergic reaction to mosquitoes or at least some mosquitoes. It seconded Zyrtec or some other oral antihistamine and added hydro-cortisone, so I threw some of that on. I'm going to wait it out this time and see what happens.

I'm thinking I am uniquely sensitive to one type of mosquito that I only encounter during a certain time of the year and only at our current residence we have lived at for about 4 years. I never had this issue before and I've been feeding mosquitoes for 36 years. Anybody else have this affliction?

I would also put some antibiotic ointment over it too, just a suggestion. God Bless

Perhaps you should wear trousers when working in the yard

Wear loose fitting pants and blouse them in your boots.
Will keep the biters away from your legs.

I got chewed up "real good" this past Saturday while shooting at the outdoor range. Not positive, since I was not aware until after the fact, but it's a pretty good bet that they were fire ants.

Later that night the bites on my lower legs -- ankles and shin area -- started to itch and burn. I wiped the area down with rubbing alcohol, which seemed to help. Went to bed and woke about 3:30 am with big time discomfort.

A bit of Google action and the recommendation was Hydrocortisone cream and Benadryl. I had neither on hand and the discomfort was intense enough that I threw some clothes on and went to the only 24-hour store near me, Walmart. At dark-thirty a.m., Walmart is a fairly civilized place to shop. I also picked up a bottle of 40% DEET (the strongest that they had) for future range sessions.

The Benadryl and Hydrocortisone did the job. No more discomfort, in fact I am barely aware of the bites now, even though there are lumps, bumps, and large areas of red skin; the wisdom of the internet advises that will all subside within a few days.

There is a cautionary note on the generic Benadryl bottle, warning against operating heavy machinery. I don't know how much the washing machine weighs and I need to do some laundry.

If a little pustule appears it's probably fire ants. In the future make a little paste out of powdered meat tenderizer and apply a glob covered with one of those Band-Aids that seal all the way around.

Luckily, Iowa doesn't seem to have fire ants. This only seems to happen one time during the summer. Pants are too hot for push mowing. DEET or cutting earlier in the day would have helped. I'm just glad I think I have it figured out.

To the best of my knowledge we do not have fire ants anywhere in Iowa. We do however have those little dog p@%$er flies that bite and raise a nice welt on your face, besides being just blasted irritating.

It's fuuny, I don't react to mosquito bites or bee/wasp stings, just a small red spot where I got bit/stung. However, there is a small gnat that when it bites me I swell up something fierce.

Put Windex on it and take some 'tussin.

quote:

Originally posted by ggile:
It's fuuny, I don't react to mosquito bites...

I've got a buddy like you and I hate him.

The guy can be out all day in the thickest of skeeter infestations and not have an issue at all. For some reason the skeeters don't much care for him either and the few bites that he does get don't bother him at all.

Me on the other hand, well, I'm a mosquito magnet. The little spawns of Satan are all over me in an instant and the bites swell up and itch for a good week afterwards.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
Put Windex on it and take some 'tussin.

Ammonia does help if put on immediately.

I have a product called After Bite that has ammonia as the active ingredient. It works better than most things I've tried, but it's far from perfect.

My Fiancee and her son swell up a lot more than I do when bitten by mosquitoes. Not quite to the extent the OP does, but it's a noticeable difference between us. Benadryl Itch Relief Spray seems to work wonders for them (It's available at Target, Walmart and other places I'm sure).

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
Me on the other hand, well, I'm a mosquito magnet. The little spawns of Satan are all over me in an instant and the bites swell up and itch for a good week afterwards.

I've got a buddy like you - whenever he's close by the mosquitoes leave me alone

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

quote:

Originally posted by ggile:
It's fuuny, I don't react to mosquito bites...

I've got a buddy like you and I hate him.

The guy can be out all day in the thickest of skeeter infestations and not have an issue at all. For some reason the skeeters don't much care for him either and the few bites that he does get don't bother him at all.

Me on the other hand, well, I'm a mosquito magnet. The little spawns of Satan are all over me in an instant and the bites swell up and itch for a good week afterwards.

When my wife and I did a lot of camping, she would get eat'n alive by mosquitos and I'd have no problem with them. Drove her bat shit crazy and some how it was my fault. It's a female thing.

Jim

Dangit, I thought this was gonna be a thread about the late Skeeter Skelton...

As it is, I do usually have to take anti-mosquito precautions.

Occasionally I'll welt

Depends on the specie of skeeter

Man I feel your pain, I'm allergic as f&*k to wasps, yellow jackets, all hornets, and fire ants. Got allergy shots for years, carry an epi-pen, etc.
Pretty much as a result anything that bites, I swell up way more than a normal person and it lasts for days. Tip my doc gave me years ago, that actually works, is to dab baby orajel on your bites. that stuff knocks out the itch for sure, but you can't do it over a large area. And the bug repellant roll on I've been using really works, called Parakito. Worth checking that out as well.

Hmmm. so a fire ant does not equal almost immediate pain?
I am in Arizona and our red ants here are immediately painful as hell and kind of like the OP's reaction to skeeters, can be a week or more of throbbing, fevered damn misery.

quote:

Hmmm. so a fire ant does not equal almost immediate pain?
I am in Arizona and our red ants here are immediately painful as hell and kind of like the OP's reaction to skeeters, can be a week or more of throbbing, fevered damn misery.

I can send you some from the Gulf Coast. They travel well since they came to this country from South America via a ship to Mobile, Alabama. They cause some pain immediately but not too intense. Some people however have intense allergic reactions like you describe.

no skeeters , but Gnatinthecraw.

twice now while mowing, the second time it came out my nose hole