Being itched to death

I was clearing out an area of my yard last weekend and proceeded to get eaten alive by mosquitoes and ants. I have over 30 bites on my arms .. I've tried that hydrocortizone stuff, bactine, alcohol, vinegar, peroxide and even WD-40 to stop the itching but nothing is working. Any one have any home remedies for bug bite itchies? I had to cut all my fingernails down to the quick because I was shredding myself. I try really hard not to scratch but I can't seem to stop. Even wearing long sleeve shirts doesn't stop me. About the only thing that works is ice, but the minute my skin warms back up the itching starts again.

A

I've not tried this but a friend uses witch hazel on bites and swears by it.

Is it possible your itching is now a reaction to the scratching? Have you tried benadryl cream... that seems to help me.

Also when bathing, I am able to stop itching skin by applying a light coating on creme rinse to the itchy areas.

Witch hazel sounds promising - I remember my granny using it for bug bites when I was a little girl. I tried the benadryl cream and like most of the stuff, it works for about 15 minutes then everything starts up again.

I was just reading about counter irritants and capsacin (sp) cream sounds promising too. I think I'll head over to the drug store and see if I can find the cream and the witch hazel.

Thanks!

A

Good luck and please post what works for you...

We always used wintergreen alcohol at the beach for those giant mosquito bites when I was a kid...way on back, I know. WD-40...you must be desperate, oooh!

Have you tried a paste of baking soda?

Linny

Well the witch hazel worked until it quit stinging and capsacin cream was good for about 15 minutes until it quit burning. My neighbor who stopped by to return my square foot gardening book took one look at my arms and listened to my whine about my week long itch torture and said .. be right back .. she came back with a pill and said take this .. it was one of her claritin pills .. I said what the heck and took it .. that was at 6pm and the itching has decreased considerably .. I wish I had discovered this stuff last monday. It's actually working and the itching is not as intense.

As to the wd40 I remembered an article on the web about unorthodox uses for common household products and wd40 was mentioned for insect bites. After a week of this itching I was desperate to try anything.

You have got to be allergic to mosquito bites. How grim!

Even though it is not a home remedy, I am glad the Claritin works for you.

Wonder if Benedryl would work, too? Course it'd probably knock you out if you're not used to taking it in pill form. Then you wouldn't care if it itched or not;)

That's why I didn't take benedryl in the first place because it makes you loopy. It didn't even occur to me to try another antihistamine.

Try Spirits of Ammonia( not household ammonia). Old nurse remedy for reviving fainty patients. It is in a small brown bottle. This is the ingredient that is in your over the counter itch relief "stuff". Usually found around bandaids, astringents, etc. at Walmarts.
Also cheap hairspray works. I do not know why.

Well the claritin worked for a few hours but after it wore off .. the itching woke me up at the crack of dawn and was worse than ever before so I'm not taking that again. I've given up trying to put stuff on it. So I've taken to slapping the itchy places with a plastic ruler and putting cold compresses on my arms when it gets utterly unbearable. This approach doesn't stop the itching completely but its slowly becoming manageable.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Xeranthemum, you are having an allergic reaction (inflammation) and one dose of antihistamine is not going to cut it. That's like taking one antibiotic tablet and looking for a cure. You'll be better off calling your doctor for a prescription or asking the pharmacist for suggestions, so that you can get some long term relief. I have a friend who says that children's benadryl helps her (without the drowsiness). I hope that you feel better soon.

Thanks .. I've pretty much got it under control with the cold compresses and counter irritant by slapping. It's just a matter of letting everything heal at this point. I try to avoid drugs as much as possible and doctors even more since nowadays their litany is always "ive got a pill for that"

Good advise, Debbie. Allergic reactions can become a problem. Serious problem.

I agree with the spirits of ammonia. The last instant relief insect bite stick I had was ammonia. Campophenic (sp?) is in another.
For bee stings, Clorox on a cotton ball has always worked for 64yrs.
;)

Well I found a good solution which has stopped the itching. I have wrapped my forearms where the bites are in gauze and wet the gauze .. the itching has totally stopped. I got the idea when I noticed how well the cold compresses worked. As long as I keep the gauze damp, no itching.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions.

You can also dip a q-tip in clorox and dap on stop.

Lavina