Author Topic: What's been biting me? (Read 5412 times)

emmy1978 · « **on:** July 16, 2007, 18:03:17 »

Sorry didn't know where else to post this. I was at the plot for most of Sunday. When I got home i noticed small bites on my arms and one on my face (great).
One of the bites on my arm has grown to about the size of a 50p in diameter since yesterday and is really painful - agonising itchy feeling-aaagh!
I have looked up horsefly and i don't think it's that as it says they take a lump out of you, which doesn't fit with this bite.
It's only out of interest really, probably nowt I can do about it for next time although I may douse myself in citronella just in case. ;D

Shirley · « **Reply #1 on:** July 16, 2007, 18:07:06 »

It's not always what has bitten you, but how you react to it. With this humid weather it could be anything.

manicscousers · « **Reply #2 on:** July 16, 2007, 18:07:47 »

horse fly bites go like that on me, emmy, I have a nasty reaction to them, if I rub, my arm/leg/wherever the evil little s*ds have bitten me swells up and sometimes i need anti-histamines
, I find tea tree oil helps ..and not scratching ;D

cambourne7 · « **Reply #3 on:** July 16, 2007, 18:08:03 »

what have you put on the bits?

If nothing i would suggest you pop to a pharmacy and see the pharmacist

Deb P · « **Reply #4 on:** July 16, 2007, 18:12:28 »

May I suggest.........http://www.newscientist.com/backpage.ns?id=mg18925332.500

It doesn't matter what has bitten you, this method really helps! ;D

emmy1978 · « **Reply #5 on:** July 16, 2007, 18:42:58 »

Manics & Shirley - I think that's what i must have done - rubbed it when I first felt it and made it swell up.
Cam - I put 'After Bite' on it and then some anti-histamine for good measure.
Deb P - what a great site! Am off to make a brew and I will report on the results. ;D

grawrc · « **Reply #6 on:** July 16, 2007, 18:52:32 »

I'm allergic to mosquito bites and wasp stings. A couple of years ago in Tuscany I got badly bitten, especially on my forearms. The things swelled up to enormous proportions - think jaffa cakes but deeper - and started suppurating. A trip to the local chemist and my halting Italian produced corticosteroid cream and tablets. Initially they wanted me to go to the hospital! :o :o and certainly I was beginning to get feverish by then. I still have the scars to prove it.

That was the summer too when we came back home and two days later Peter became completely delirious with a shockingly high temperature and got whipped into hospital for 2 weeks. He didn't know his name for 3 days never mind anything else. We put that down to the tiger mosquitos that were beginning to be about in Italy that year. Visitors from Africa with extra meaty toxins.

We decided then that we'd never visit hot countries in midsummer again.

DadnDom · « **Reply #7 on:** July 16, 2007, 19:02:50 »

We have mosquito's where we live. I am very allergic to them and have a very swollen leg right now. One leg is double the size of the other. This is the second time I have been bitten this tear. Yet my OH doesn't have a reaction to them. She uses the hot mug trick and the bite is gone in minutes but it doesn't seem to work for me :(

SueSteve · « **Reply #8 on:** July 16, 2007, 19:06:45 »

Most days recently when I get back form the lottie, change my 'working' shorts or trousers for clean ones I notice that I am covered in bites on my legs, I dont know what they are, but they soon go.
Last year though I got bitten twice (not at the same time), while in the backgarden by the pond, I was allergic both times, and my legs swelled up so much, like a big hard lump about the size of a melon. The dr gave me anti H cream and tablets and Anti B's, it didn't work so they doubled the dose of Anti B's and gave me another lot to go with them. Eventually it settled down after around 3-4 weeks, at one point it was so painful that I couldn't walk and I even felt light headed and unable to concentrate.
This year I have spent less time looking at pond life, and so far I have not had any nasty bites.

Nadia · « **Reply #9 on:** July 16, 2007, 19:11:58 »

It could be wasp. I was bitten twice by them. I have a wasp nest in my shed at my allotment and I do not know what to do. The council refused to get rid of it and said that it is not part of the council tax. ???

Nadia

cambourne7 · « **Reply #10 on:** July 16, 2007, 19:26:47 »

emmy1978 - phew

I am lucky only sand flys like my blood ( unlucky enough to get bitten though eyelid in NZ the day before i flew home and had to get medical clearance never been so terified of a flight as i had a nightmare my eye expoleded ;D )

My OH on the otherhand must have amazingly tasty blood as most things bite him.

My only injury today from my plot was lots of nettle stings on the ankle :-\

shirlton · « **Reply #11 on:** July 16, 2007, 19:31:22 »

Hi there you would know right enough if it was a horse fly cos its like being burnt by a cigarette end. It really hurts bad nothing itchy about it at all

emmy1978 · « **Reply #12 on:** July 16, 2007, 19:43:38 »

Thanks all. Well, tried the mug trick and it works!! Not gone by any means but aaaaaah, the relief! Thank you Deb P for that. :-*
Some of you have real horror stories. I saw a programme once where something had laid eggs in a woman's face. I had nightmares about that for ages - Cam - yours sounds awful. I hate anything to do with eyes. :)
Shirl - it says in me book that a horsefly sort of razors a chunk of you away - nice. Sure it wasn't that and I've never been bitten like this before despite lots of time spent in the forest etc. Must have just had a bad reaction. ::)
Thanks all for your great advice and horror stories! ;D

debster · « **Reply #13 on:** July 16, 2007, 20:22:52 »

oh my god emmy i had one of those bites on my elbow last week swelled up with a gobstopper size lump in it itched like mad and was really sore hurt like hell to rest my arm on it.
My hubby read in the paper that the brown hairy caterpillars bite and as we have seen them in our garden pretty sure it was one cos never experienced anything like it. antihistamine tablets helped but time sorted the rest just dont scratch it makes it worse :(

cambourne7 · « **Reply #14 on:** July 16, 2007, 20:31:41 »

Quote from: emmy1978 on July 16, 2007, 19:43:38

Thanks all. Well, tried the mug trick and it works!! Not gone by any means but aaaaaah, the relief! Thank you Deb P for that. :-*
Some of you have real horror stories. I saw a programme once where something had laid eggs in a woman's face. I had nightmares about that for ages - Cam - yours sounds awful. I hate anything to do with eyes. :)
Shirl - it says in me book that a horsefly sort of razors a chunk of you away - nice. Sure it wasn't that and I've never been bitten like this before despite lots of time spent in the forest etc. Must have just had a bad reaction. ::)
Thanks all for your great advice and horror stories! ;D

Thanks Em,

I was able to fly and the bite burst a blood vessel in the surface of the eye which cleared up in about 6 weeks.

Mrs Ava · « **Reply #15 on:** July 16, 2007, 23:16:10 »

Just to add, it isn't always an insect that can cause these hives and swellings. I am very allergic to carrot and parsnip leaves. I only have to brush my arms across the foliage and after exposure to sun, it looks as though acid has been poured over my flesh. The burns last many weeks and I am still scarred from last years parsnip harvesting. Stinging nettles also bring me up in hives initially, then I am left with lots of little red pinpricks all over my hands and ankles, and if I touch them they become slightly raised and itch like crazy! Nature is mean!!

allaboutliverpool · « **Reply #16 on:** July 18, 2007, 07:22:28 »

This year I have stopped wearing shorts to the allotment.

Last year when being bitten, I looked down and there was an insect about 2mm long having a meal. I instinctively slapped it flat instead of studying it.

The resulting angry raised itchy and then leaking lesion was exactly the same as the others that I had.

Horse flies (8-25mm) are too big to miss and these are probably Black Flies (2mm), see:-
http://www.blackfly.org.uk/ for black flies and http://www.uksafari.com/horseflies.htm for horse flies.

Blackfly

Horsefly

Larkshall · « **Reply #17 on:** July 18, 2007, 07:45:42 »

Horse fly: in East Anglia it is commonly called the "Gad fly". It attacks cattle and when cattle hear one about they "gad" around trying to get away from it. It is very prevalent in areas of rough grassland. It injects a poison into the flesh. When I worked for H.M. Forestry Commission in Thetford Chase, a colleague got bitten by one, just behind his ear. The side of his head swelled up and pushed his ear forward which caused some merriment amongst the others.

Fork · « **Reply #18 on:** July 18, 2007, 08:27:17 »

Many years ago I was bitten by a "cleg"(Horsefly) on my bum............I could not sit down properly for days! ;D

tin can · « **Reply #19 on:** July 18, 2007, 08:33:46 »

I wonder what bit me the other week.
It looked like a horse-fly but was darker and I felt no pain, just noticed it sitting on my arm.
Needless to say I knocked it off and then I spent the next 5 minutes mopping up My blood!!
It only stopped bleeding after I'd given the bite area a 'suck and spit' in the style of snake bite treatment ( well- what I've seen in Westerns!!)
No pain, just loads of blood and a love bite to show!

News:

Author Topic: What's been biting me? (Read 5412 times)