Mosquitos love me, and I hate them. I always seem to get bitten more than anyone else, and my bites swell up huge and itch like crazy. They're sometimes even painful.
My dad says that if he doesn't scratch his bites, they go away completely in four hours. I got one on my cheek last night at around 5:00. Two hours later, I touched it for the first time. It was huge, and pressing on it gently hurt. Today it's normal sized and itchy. I haven't scratched it at all.
Does this happen to anyone else? Is it possible I'm allergic to mosquitos or something? And why the heck do they love me so much?
Posted by HegemonsAcolyte (Member # 1468) on :
Actually, anyone who gets any sort of reaction to mosquito bites is allergic to them. People who are not allergic to them don't react.
However, it is possible that you are more allergic than most. From what you said though, it seems that your dad is the one with an unusual reaction, because it going away after 4 hours seems really fast to me.
Posted by Theaca (Member # 8325) on :
I wonder if taking an antihistamine like claritin prior to exposure (or right after) would help. I bet it might. Also, ice might help, or ibuprofen, to cut down on the inflammatory response.
Posted by Theaca (Member # 8325) on :
I noticed that in some areas of the country I'll get a bigger response to the local mosquitoes than in other areas of the country. I've spent a bit of time trying to figure out which part of the country has the gentlest mosquitoes. Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
Could be it takes a little longer for the larvae to burrow deeper into your skin than some other people.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Deep Woods Off.
Antihistamines do help, IME. The summer mine got REALLY bad I had prescription antihistamines, but mostly just Benadryl.
Apocryphally, eating large amounts of garlic helps. I don't know if it really does, but I like garlic anyway, so it's no trouble. These days, I get bit pretty rarely.
Posted by MandyM (Member # 8375) on :
We have some big ole mosquitos here in Texas and my daughter reacts the same way you do to bites. She gets big knots under her skin and they feel hot to the touch. The only thing that seems to help her is Benadryl spray. They also have an anit-itch stick with the same meds that I keep in my purse but the spray seems to work better, especially if I get to the bite right away.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
I am allergic to Mosquitos. I have about a 15 minute reaction to each bite, where they swell up to quarter size, drive me downright insane, then I'm all better.
Three or more bites in one time, and I have to sit down. Its a bit exhausting.
What you need is any spray that contains DEET. Spray this on and it will keep the mosquitoes away. However, you have to spray it on all exposed parts--arms, neck, ankles, anything not covered with clothes.
Posted by Jenny Gardener (Member # 903) on :
Mosquitoes can put different amounts of their anti-coagulant into the bite. And different species have different chemistry. I have given up on using deterrent, and just allow myself to be bitten. I've found that I'm actually doing better by just accepting the bites - they DO itch, but not terribly long if I take a shower after I've been outside a while. I don't hate and fear the bites, and I think that my calmness may have something to do with my perception of the pain and itching. I am odd, though, a lover of insects; my first reaction to my first mosquito bite of the year was one of rejoicing.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Brinestone: Alot studies have postulated that certain people "smell" better to mosquitos, and they prefer to bite them. It has to do with your perspiration, some people smell terrible to skeeters and others smell like..um...the blood version of a thanksgiving feast. Unfortunately if the mosquito is thirsty enough (I hesitate to use that adjective because blood they drink is for their eggs, not for their own sustainance) they will bite you regardless of how you smell. They don't have a preference for certain blood types.
quote:Originally posted by Jenny Gardener: Mosquitoes can put different amounts of their anti-coagulant into the bite. And different species have different chemistry. I have given up on using deterrent, and just allow myself to be bitten. I've found that I'm actually doing better by just accepting the bites - they DO itch, but not terribly long if I take a shower after I've been outside a while. I don't hate and fear the bites, and I think that my calmness may have something to do with my perception of the pain and itching. I am odd, though, a lover of insects; my first reaction to my first mosquito bite of the year was one of rejoicing.
Oh man I am in the opposite camp. I use deterent and just reapply as needed. I smack em whenever I see them, even if I am not being bitten. But I might just be paranoid from my years growing up in south east asia where mosquito's didnt just make you itch, they pumped malaria into your blood stream. I can still recognize the species that does it. I love living in Utah where mosquitos just don't survive, and neither do cockroaches. They both abounded in Hong Kong.
Posted by maui babe (Member # 1894) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jenny Gardener: I have given up on using deterrent, and just allow myself to be bitten. I've found that I'm actually doing better by just accepting the bites - they DO itch, but not terribly long if I take a shower after I've been outside a while.
I know a lot of people consider mosquito bites nothing but a nuisance. I've even heard folks wonder aloud why anyone would even spend money, time or energy on repellents. But the fact is, any mosquito exposure is potentially a health risk.
Sure, in most parts of the developed world, we don't see much Dengue fever, malaria, filariasis, Japanese encephalitis, or Yellow fever (among others). But any time you travel, you're at risk for these kinds of illnesses, and they can be deadly.
Also, at any time, the mosquitoes in your area could become infected with a virus or parasite from travelers from other parts of the world. Here on Maui, we're especially sensitive about it, and we monitor our mosquito populations routinely. But we never know when we're going to get someone visiting from SE Asia or Oceania or South America with Dengue (we don't worry about malaria because we don't have Anopheles mosquitos here). All it would take is one visitor or Maui resident returning from Tahiti or the Philippines, and we'd have another outbreak.
My advice to people who call the department of Health is that mosquito contact should ALWAYS be minimized, because you can never know for certain what they might be carrying. Using repellents, protective clothing and making sure your home is mosquito free (using screens and eliminating breeding grounds near your home) is well worth the effort.
Posted by Dr Strangelove (Member # 8331) on :
Brinestone, mosquitos love you because you're so sweet .
That's what I always tell people, and then follow it up by saying mosquitos hate me because I'm a very bitter person.
When I was hiking on the Appalachian Trail in Maine I saw a lot of different reactions to mosquitos on my fellow hikers. I barely reacted at all. On the other hand, one guy in particular looked absolutely horrible. His arms and legs (the only exposed parts) were just one massive mosquito bite. We had a lot of musings, sitting around the shelters at night, ensconed in our mosquito proof tents, as to the nature of the mosquito and his motivations for going after certain people more.
Edit: I forgot to put the point of my post: Uncle Bens. I doubt you'll have it over there, but in Maine it was like water: Necessary to survive. If by any chance you do find some, that stuff worked amazingly.
Oh, and another side note. I read a magazine article about DEET and it said that studies showed no improvement from I believe 50% to 100%. Which is to say 50% DEET is just as effective as 100%. I believe the maximum amount it stayed on was something like 4 hours. So ... yeah.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
*waves* Hello. My name is Anne, and I'm a mosquito magnet!
Everyone else can get one bite or none; I'll come out with at least ten bites. They last forever and itch like crazy and are hugely swollen. Antihistamines don't help much; even if they do help a little the effect wears off long before I can take more. I've found cortisone cream somewhat effective, sometimes. I've had reactions where I get three bites and my entire arm swells up. I hate, hate, hate it! The only thing I've found that helps prevent bites is to take Trader Joe's Super B Complex (massive doses of B vitamins) several days before I go out in the evening. If you take enough B vitamins that your skin smells like them, it repels mosquitoes. The bad part of this is that your loved ones can smell it, too, and I personally do not enjoy smelling like B vitamins, which I find disgusting. But it's a trade off; if I know that I'm going to be somewhere with lots of mosquitoes, I usually go ahead and do it because the smell wears off faster than the bites would (mine generally last 3 to 5 weeks. Interestingly enough, I also bruise easily and bruises can last up to 4 months on me.)
Posted by Dr Strangelove (Member # 8331) on :
Oh, another funny story. When I was camping with my dad years and years ago in the Ocala National Forest, we went to bed in the same tent, in identical sleeping bags, and I woke up with 97 bites on my back. He had two on his whole body. It was weird. Since then I haven't really been bothered. Does anyone know if its possible to build up a resistance or something?
Posted by Soara (Member # 6729) on :
Never go to the arctic!
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Gee, kq, you call yourself a mosquito magnet? Pshaw! Anyone else gets one bite, I've had a hundred. Or, more likely, they've had none and I've had them all. ALL I TELL YOU! IT'S MADNESS!!!!!
Mosquitoes bite me despite DEET or other repellants. (Not that DEET is available here, but back in Canada...) B vitamins never did squat to deter mosquitoes from me. Neither did garlic.
Here, we have Dengue and malaria, and I've been lucky so far to have acquired neither. An aunt of Fahim's was hospitalized last week for Dengue. She's doing better now, but Dengue can be really really nasty. Mosquitoes don't love the locals - they're generally not as bothered by mosquitoes as foreigners are, and most locals don't even use mosquitoe nets. Ack! I wish I were so lucky.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
My mother informed me that Poison Control suggests putting deodorant on the bites as soon as you notice them. The higher the aluminum zirconium content, the better (Arm and Hammer is the best brand I have found so far).
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
There are mosquitos here that can take a direct hit and keep flying. They are black with white stripes. My husband believes someone told him they are called "midges".
Posted by maui babe (Member # 1894) on :
This is Aedes albopictus, AKA the Asian Tiger Mosquito. It's very small, but even in flight its distinctive white stripes are very visible. It is a day-biter, and is one of the vectors for Dengue fever.
Nasty little girl she is... not your friend, although they are actually very pretty.
Edit: is this the mosquito you see Pooka? Where do you live BTW?
Posted by SC Carver (Member # 8173) on :
The bites go away pretty quick for me, but my yard is a haven. It seems I have many more mosquitoes than anywhere else in my area. I don't have any standing water that I can find. Does anyone have a way get rid of swarms of mosquitoes or know what atracts them? Citronella does nothing.
Posted by maui babe (Member # 1894) on :
Look for very small pools of water, in plants or even in depressions in a tree. Obvious sources are old tires. Another area that's frequently overlooked is gutters on the eaves. Our vector control guys ALWAYS find mosquitoes breeding in gutters.
There are many many species of mosquitoes and they all have different preferences where to lay eggs. Most people worry about large bodies of water - big puddles or ponds, but many mosquitoes like far smaller collections of water.
It takes about 7 days for mosquito eggs to hatch and become a biting pest. While we were in the midst of our Dengue outbreak we recommended folks "walk through" their yards weekly, and dump out ANY standing water... pet dishes, rain collected on tarps, clean gutters etc. If you have certain kinds of plants that collect small amounts of water, you can spray them with a solution of dishsoap that will kill the larvae and not harm the plant.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by maui babe: This is Aedes albopictus, AKA the Asian Tiger Mosquito. It's very small, but even in flight its distinctive white stripes are very visible. It is a day-biter, and is one of the vectors for Dengue fever.
Nasty little girl she is... not your friend, although they are actually very pretty.
Edit: is this the mosquito you see Pooka? Where do you live BTW?
Also known as the "Aedes Mosquito" it transmits Malaria as well.
People talk about 50,000 people dying from smoking annualy well malaria bags between 1-3 million people anually, mostly children
I can't think of any disease that kills more people.
Posted by maui babe (Member # 1894) on :
No. Anopheles is the only genus of mosquito that transmits Malaria. Aedes transmits Dengue, Yellow Fever, West Nile Virus and other diseases, but NOT malaria (Thankfully, because then my job would REALLY suck if I had to worry about investigating imported Malaria too.)
Posted by maui babe (Member # 1894) on :
Okay, that made me sound really heartless... it's not just that my job would suck, but life in Hawaii would be very different if we had Anopheles mosquitoes here. We get new mosquitoes species introduced here from time to time and we always breathe a HUGE sigh of relief that they're not Anopheles (yet).
BB is right that Malaria is a huge killer, and we're one of the few tropical locations that's never had to deal with it.
Interestingly, there is an occurence known as "airport malaria "... when newly arrived passengers from malaria endemic areas infect mosquitoes near an airport, or mosquitoes are transported by aircraft, and then residents who live or work near the airport become infected. Western Europe and parts of the US have cases often enough that physicians usually know to watch for it. Another reason to never take mosquito exposure lightly.
[ September 26, 2006, 04:44 PM: Message edited by: maui babe ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
you are right maui babe its nice to have the little bit of misunderstanding cleared up, Ill have to tell my parents off. Posted by SC Carver (Member # 8173) on :
Maui,
Thanks, I just had my old gutters removed becuase they weren't working right and rotting the wood on my eaves. Maybe that will help.
I also have a whole bunch of plants, shrubs, and ground cover vines in my back yard. I don't know if that has anything to do with it, but they seem worse by the vines.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Remove pools of standing/stagnant water from your area and that will help alot.
Posted by divaesefani (Member # 3763) on :
No one has mentioned West Nile Virus in this thread. We have a least a couple deaths in the county every year because of it, and every doctor's office I go to has Health Department memos up all over on how to prevent it. Is it not a big deal in other parts of the country?
Speaking of citronella, I've only had it work once, for repelling mosquitos. It was my son's first birthday party. We had a luau, so we had about 30 Tiki torches around the yard for effect. At the end of the night, we noted that no one had even one mosquito bite. It took a lot of citronella, though!
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
West Nile Virus is in Canada as well, and my sister and her family have had it.
Posted by maui babe (Member # 1894) on :
Every state in the continental US has at least some West Nile Virus activity (Alaska and Hawaii have been spared - so far). But WNV doesn't begin to compare with Malaria, Dengue, Yellow Fever and other mosquito borne illnesses in terms of morbidity and mortality. Not that it's pleasant, but it's really more of a bird/horse disease than a human one.
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its nice to have the little bit of misunderstanding cleared up, Ill have to tell my parents off.