Insect bites- ARGH!

[Chic Freak]

Does anyone have any cunning tips for treating insect bites?? I got eaten alive by midges yesterday and the itching today is driving me INSANE, I even woke up to find myself scratching in the middle of the night! They're all over me from about mid-thigh to scalp I have bite cream, which is sort of taking the edge off for an hour or two at a time, but if anyone knows of any other treatments, that would be great. Seemed like the kind of random thing someone on here might know

[slickwilly13]

Midges. *L* You people have funny words for things. My advice is prevention. Is insect repellant w/ deet easy to find over there? If so, then using a formula w/ the highest amount of deet. Such as Off! or Cutter. For treatment, keep using the cream, but also use tablets. It gets into blood. I recommend Benadryl tablets if they are available in your area. Midges. *L*

[FoodFight]

I've always had good luck with Aloe Vera for skin irritation. The best results come from fresh cuttings but the prepared gels can also provide some relief.

[SymphonicX]

I fucking GUARANTEE if you use Arnica cream of some sort it will solve the bites almost immediately - used some after being r@ped by insects in South Africa and it worked a treat

[AcesandEights]

I've always had good luck with Aloe Vera for skin irritation. The best results come from fresh cuttings but the prepared gels can also provide some relief. So true. I really need to pick up a plant. I've no green thumb to speak of, but having had one in the house when growing up and being able to take a raw cutting and apply it directly to a burn, bite or annoying abrasion was always great.

[Chic Freak]

My advice is prevention. Is insect repellant w/ deet easy to find over there? If so, then using a formula w/ the highest amount of deet. Such as Off! or Cutter. For treatment, keep using the cream, but also use tablets. It gets into blood. I recommend Benadryl tablets if they are available in your area. Midges. *L* midges are not funny I was using "jungle formula" repellent. I didn't think to check the label and I've never heard of deet. I hope I can get it over here. So many drugs that are over the counter in the US are only available with a prescription here. Benadryl- isn't that for hayfever? I fucking GUARANTEE if you use Arnica cream of some sort it will solve the bites almost immediately - used some after being r@ped by insects in South Africa and it worked a treat Thanks for the tip! I will keep an eye out for it in Superdrug. Rape is a good word. Bastard insects!!

[MinionZombie]

Benadryl- isn't that for hayfever? True, but it's generally an anti-histamine. When I had an awful time with a skin allergy I kept taking my hayfever tablets throughout the autumn and winter and spring and it stopped all my itching and inflamation/welting/etc ... mind you, that was a skin allergy brought on by cheap-ass clothing dye ... which somehow linked with eating oats (which I found out about much later, not that I was ever allergic to oats ever before...weirdly). I too have had my fair share of midgie and insect bites, the matress I had at uni in the last two years must have been skanky as I'd get these swollen bites on my arms, which went away when I left uni. Also, last year when I was filming "Signing Off", I came back covered in bites, which were initially just red blotches, but which became relatively large lumps which ITCHED LIKE BUGGERY for a few days. Those bites were too strong for my hayfever anti-histamines though, and my anti-itch cream only (as you say) took the edge off. What's this "Arnica" stuff, symph?

[Chic Freak]

I too have had my fair share of midgie and insect bites, the matress I had at uni in the last two years must have been skanky as I'd get these swollen bites on my arms, which went away when I left uni. If each bite had three puncture wounds it mean you had bedbugs. I saw it on TV Think I may be getting some Benadryl when I get a chance to get down the shops!

[DubiousComforts]

Midges. *L* You people have funny words for things. Yeah, what are midges? Around these parts, Midge is the name of the waitress at the 24-hour diner. And I'm sure there is more than one of those (hence "midges").

[Publius]

Around these parts, Midge is the name of the waitress at the 24-hour diner. And I'm sure there is more than one of those (hence "midges"). And they're biting Chic Freak? Zombie attack! Sorry, Chic, you're a goner. We'll make sure you don't reanimate, though.

[slickwilly13]

Its a biting fly. Some people call them sand or black flies.

[Chic Freak]

Yeah. Tiny little flies that seem really innocuous but bite like mosquitoes. I might actually take a photo of my newly diseased-looking skin and post it so you guys know I'm not just moaning about nothing. I'm surprised I have any blood left! Maybe that's why I'm so tired today.

[DawnGirl27]

How about Calamine lotion (the pink stuff used to stop itching chicken pox)?

[Yojimbo]

Once as a kid visiting relatives in hawaii, I went with my cousins on a hike where I got bitten on litterally every inch of exposed leg and arm skin. (I was wearing shorts as were my cousins, but had no idea that they were mosquito resistant and I was not) These bites resulted in massive, massive itching, and I actually got a fever from the number of bites. At the time, one of my relatives concocted a remedy which involved mixing baking soda with (I think it was) hydrogen peroxide, forming it into a paste and slathering this on the bites. I recall it seemed to reduce the itching to some degree, but I do remember still being totally uncomfortable for the remainder of the trip.

[krakenslayer]

Midges (where I live it's pronounced Midjies) are a tiny insect very common in the UK, particularly in damp rural areas, PARTICULARLY in Scotland. In the evening, the females swarm around warm blooded animals, including human beings, and bite them like mosquitoes to drink their blood. They are much smaller and their bite is not as bad as that of a mozzie, but they are far, far more common and swarm in much greater numbers than mosquitoes even in tropical areas.