Something bit me yesterday and I have some questions

[LauraGB]

We went for a long walk in the woods yesterday. I had my sweatshirt tied around my waist. Dd said "Hey, Mom, you have blood on your t-shirt!" The spot was right around my waist where my sweatshirt was tied. I have no idea what bit me, but I didn't feel it at all. I must have tightened my sweatshirt and either killed it or scared it away. When I looked, it kind of looked like a giant mosquito bite with one red dot in the middle (hence the blood) - but there are no mosquitoes out yet, so I know it wasn't that. Oh well, no big deal. Then, later it started to itch, so I looked again, and there were 3 bites then. All looked exactly the same. I jumped around and shook my clothes out, but I hadn't really felt anything crawling around to begin with. Today, they are about the size of a nickle, red, raised and all have only one mark of penetration. They are warm to the touch, but there are no white rings around them. But holy cow, do they itch!

 

So, my question - do spider bites always have 2 marks of penetration or can they just have one? Would it be stupid to lance them and squeeze the venom (or whatever it is) out? I know - that sounds gross, but I have to ask.

 

Is there anything other than calamine lotion and neosporin to put on it? Some sort of poultice concoction, maybe?

 

Thanks,

[ThatCyndiGirl]

Calamine lotion was proven in a lab not to work. Baking soda, meat tenderizer and oatmeal baths might work.

 

If it were me I would squeeze out whatever is in there, but I don't know if that's a good idea or not.

 

Mosquitos are out in OUR area. You must be lucky not to have them!

 

 

Brown recluse spiders are rather popular around here. (OK)

[LauraGB]

Calamine lotion was proven in a lab not to work. Baking soda, meat tenderizer and oatmeal baths might work.

 

If it were me I would squeeze out whatever is in there, but I don't know if that's a good idea or not.

 

Mosquitos are out in OUR area. You must be lucky not to have them!

 

 

Brown recluse spiders are rather popular around here. (OK)

Good about the calamine - I don't have any and would have to make a trip to the store.

 

I think it's still too cold for the mosquitoes here - I didn't see any yesterday. Probably early June.

 

I googled spider bites and how to identify them. I can't do that again. That was highly disturbing, especially given the current circumstances! I don't think it was a recluse, though. Wouldn't there be two marks of penetration with those? And a white ring by now (it's been about 24 hrs)? I can't go back to those sites to look or I'll go into full blown panic mode!

[mom2denj]

My dd was bit by a poisonous spider a couple of years ago. It got very infected. When I took her to the Drs. he did squeeze all of the puss out and then put her on antibiotics. It took 2 rounds of it. I would probably go to the doctors.

[lionfamily1999]

Could it be biting flies? We get those here before the mosquitos come out and they can be viscious.

[ThatCyndiGirl]

Okay, who all is doing some serious sympathy itching right about now?

 

I was "giving youngest dd 'scratchback'" yesterday when I felt something. It looked like just a small scab, but when I pulled with tweezers it was a brand of tick we didn't recognize. We had not seen that particular breed.

 

Gross. Sucking the blood right out of my baby is the FASTEST way to get yourself a one way ticket to the inside of the fireplace around here!

 

We have been in full-blown tick mode for over a month here. :glare:

[klmama]

I suspect it's from wasp stings - the yellow jackets and other small wasps are all out now. You probably caught one in your sweatshirt and it stung you a few times. They are small enough, you might not notice it as anything more than a little pinch. Benedryl cream helps tremendously.

[LauraGB]

I was "giving youngest dd 'scratchback'" yesterday when I felt something. It looked like just a small scab, but when I pulled with tweezers it was a brand of tick we didn't recognize. We had not seen that particular breed.

 

We have been in full-blown tick mode for over a month here. :glare:

 

Ugh! Ticks! You know, when I was little, it was pretty customary to just check yourself over at the end of the day and if you had one, you just pulled it out and burnt it and it was no big deal. Now, however, those disgusting little skin burrowing disease spreaders gross me out more than spiders.

[Laurie4b]

Could be chiggers. They are very prone to bite at the site of elastic on the body. (be glad it was your waistline!) http://img.webmd.com/dtmcms/live/webmd/consumer_assets/site_images/articles/health_tools/bad_bugs_slideshow/flickr_photo_of_chigger_bites_on_leg.jpg

 

Tea tree oil worked best for me. Once I had so many, my whole abdomen was covered with big welts--definitely enough space to conduct an experiment! ) I used cortizone on one side and tea tree oil on the other. The tea tree oil side showed more rapid improvement.

 

Here's a site that describes them http://www.medicinenet.com/chiggers_bites/article.htm

Edited May 16, 2010 by Laurie4b

[LauraGB]

Could be chiggers. They are very prone to bite at the site of elastic on the body. (be glad it was your waistline!) http://img.webmd.com/dtmcms/live/webmd/consumer_assets/site_images/articles/health_tools/bad_bugs_slideshow/flickr_photo_of_chigger_bites_on_leg.jpg

 

Tea tree oil worked best for me. Once I had so many, my whole abdomen was covered with big welts--definitely enough space to conduct an experiment! ) I used cortizone on one side and tea tree oil on the other. The tea tree oil side showed more rapid improvement.

 

Here's a site that describes them http://www.medicinenet.com/chiggers_bites/article.htm

 

Thoroughly disgusting. But I think that might be it. Makes complete sense considering where we were. Ick.

 

I bought some hydrocortisone cream and found our old tin of Burt's Bee's Res-Q Ointment (the thing we always went to when we didn't know what to do..."Put some Burt's Bee's on it!"). The harshest stuff in there would be the lavender oil, I think, so not too harsh. I put the hydrocortisone on one and the Burt's on the other two. I do have tea tree oil - did you dilute it in olive or coconut oil before you put it on, or just straight up?

 

ETA - I didn't take a shower last night - did that this morning. Can these critters live on...gasp...bedding?! (Please say no Please say no Please say no...) I didn't have any more this morning and dh doesn't have any. Maybe I should just wash the bedding in case...

Edited May 16, 2010 by LauraGB

[Tree House Academy]

I would like to tell you they couldn't live on the bedding for a few days. But I can't. ...........

[Melanie in WI]

[ but there are no mosquitoes out yet, so I know it wasn't that.

 

I think I live not too far from you and we had mosquitoes out the other day!

[LauraGB]

[ but there are no mosquitoes out yet, so I know it wasn't that.

 

I think I live not too far from you and we had mosquitoes out the other day!

 

 

I was in Kewaunee, though. Although, with how wet it has been, I bet they'll be out sooner. Grrr. These bites don't look like even the craziest mosquito bites I've gotten. They do, however, look a little like it does when my kids get bitten by them - they seem to suffer worse than I ever have.

 

I think - I'm quite certain - it was chiggers after reading about them. :glare:

[Jean in Newcastle]

Laura - whether it was chiggers or mosquitoes, the treatment is the same - tea tree oil!

[mammaruss]

I swell up like that from mosquitos....and they are out in full force as of this evening! ackkk!!!

 

We have also been loaded up with ticks every.single.night. for the last month. The dogs have not had them, but all the humans in our household have had them!

[Tap]

DD11 just got bit at 3pm in our yard, 4 days ago. Yesterday, we were at the Urgent Care because several of them were the size of silver dollars and were quite swollen, red and hot. She has about a dozen bites and they range from quarter size to dollar. They itch horribly and hurt. :(

 

{Just so that everyone knows.....The doctor thinks she is either allergic to them or some got infected. I usually don't like prednisone, but in this case I agreed to a small dose for a week. It has made a big difference. We have a script for antibiotics if they get worse instead of better.}

 

Due to dd, I have done a bit of shuffling this week with treatments.

Triamcinolone-rx that I already had on hand- Worked a bit on the itching but not much

Hydrocortisone cream-helped with itching somewhat but can't be used for a long time as it can thin the skin.

Rubbing soap on the bite-from the internet-it actually did help when nothing else would, but only for an hour or so. We happened to have an old Ivory bar so we used that mixed with water.

Benadryl cream worked good on the itching but again only lasted an hour or so.

Triple antibiotic with pain reliever-definitely helped when used in combination with the Benadryl cream

 

Oatmeal baths. We ground up oatmeal until it was a powder and added it to very hot bath water. We also took an old baby sock and added extra oatmeal in it. She soaked it and squeezed out the 'milk' onto her bites. She says the bath helped a lot.

A heated rice pack helped when nothing else could be applied to it. But as her body adjusted to the heat, she no longer had the benefit.

Ice made them all worse, but a cold wash cloth was distracting at least once or twice for 10 minutes or so.

Tea tree oil didn't help but these were some pretty gnarly bites.

 

FYI-Meat tenderizer will help a lot but only in the first while after a sting or bite. The action of tenderizer is to break down protein. Protein is what your body is reacting to in a bite/sting. We didn't realize she had even been bit until too late.

 

The thing that has worked the best for her has been: applying Benadryl cream, topped with triple antibiotic w/ pain reliever. Over that we put a non-stick gauze pad on. We then wrapped them with Coban (the gauze wrap material that sticks to itself). The ones that we couldn't wrap, we covered in ex-large bandaids.

 

The light pressure of the wrap with the meds made the itching much more tolerable. She also wasn't accidentally rubbing them on anything or unconsciously started to itch them.

[DaffodilDreams]

Chiggers do like the waist band areas. My abdomen area was covered with chiggers after a blackberry picking session in OK one time. That was my first and last time picking blackberries. I will now gladly pay whatever price a store/someone asks after that experience. The itching was horrible. I tried all kinds of things, but the only thing that finally worked was painting them with clear finger nail polish. Someone else who had a bad case of them before told me about that trick.

[Corraleno]

DD11 just got bit at 3pm in our yard, 4 days ago. Yesterday, we were at the Urgent Care because several of them were the size of silver dollars and were quite swollen, red and hot. She has about a dozen bites and they range from quarter size to dollar. They itch horribly and hurt. :(

My DD gets the same thing, she's very allergic to mosquito bites. I use Tea Tree oil on the bite and give her a children's chewable Benadryl tablet. The ointment isn't very effective when the allergic reaction is so strong, but the oral tablets are.

 

Jackie

[LauraGB]

DD11 just got bit at 3pm in our yard, 4 days ago. Yesterday, we were at the Urgent Care because several of them were the size of silver dollars and were quite swollen, red and hot. She has about a dozen bites and they range from quarter size to dollar. They itch horribly and hurt. :(

 

{Just so that everyone knows.....The doctor thinks she is either allergic to them or some got infected.

 

Your poor dd! I hereby quit my own whining - my 3 spots are nothing compared to that! Have they been able to determine ewhat bit her? Are fire ants a possibility? Several people are seriously allergic to those and they are a real pain in the...well, I guess wherever you've got them.

[LauraGB]

Thanks everyone! Between the tea tree oil and the Burt's Res-Q stuff (our own personal Windex ;) that's from the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding), the redness is diminishing, still itchy when the topical wears off, but definitely look better.

 

Now I know - where tighter sleeves and pants legs in the woods...

[Tap]

Your poor dd! I hereby quit my own whining - my 3 spots are nothing compared to that! Have they been able to determine ewhat bit her? Are fire ants a possibility? Several people are seriously allergic to those and they are a real pain in the...well, I guess wherever you've got them.

 

It was a mosquito. She saw a few buzzing around so we put some repellent on, but obviously too late. We usually only have to worry about them at dusk here, but since I am paying attention more now, I can see them buzzing in the bushes during the day. I think someone must have some standing water on their property near by, I will have to investigate.

 

The bites are starting to go down and now they starting (barely but noticeable) to fade to deep purple and red bruises. It will be a while before these go away totally. :(

 

No, fire ants here. I used to live in Texas though and one time got bit all over one foot. I was in soooo much pain. I still remember it vividly 15 years later.

[Terabith]

Thanks everyone! Between the tea tree oil and the Burt's Res-Q stuff (our own personal Windex ;) that's from the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding), the redness is diminishing, still itchy when the topical wears off, but definitely look better.

 

Now I know - where tighter sleeves and pants legs in the woods...

 

(See, windex actually DOES work pretty well for this kind of thing. Ammonia and all......)