Mosquito bite welts???

[hemispheredancer]

What are the best ways to treat these bites? DD11 got a few on the back side of her legs and they have turned into welts about 4-5" across? I have tried the Benadryl cream and calamine lotion but they are still driving her crazy. Should I give her a Benadryl pill? She has never had a reaction to mosquitos like this. What more can I do?

 

[mom2of2]

my son gets these too. This is what my Dr said to do: Give a benedryl pill/liquid and then use Cortizone cream not the 10% one but the 5% one. NEVER EVER use both the benedryl pill and cream together.

 

[Virgo10]

I feel her pain.... really! I got bitten by something called a chigger last week. If the welts on her legs form blisters, they may not be mosquito bites at all.

Oral Benadryl would certainly be advisable if the topical creams aren't working. I came close to taking some Friday night when the itching woke me up at 2 a.m. As it was though, the cream combo (benadryl and calamine lotion) I was using allowed me to get back to sleep.

Chiggers are horrid little things. Do a Google on them. On second thought, if gross stuff makes you want to run screaming from the room, you might want to pass on that.

 

[Lorix2]

You also might try "Witch Hazel", it's found where you buy rubbing alchohol and peroxide. It takes the itchiness away, I apply it with a cotton ball. I cannot take Bendadryl as it knocks me out in the smallest dose. Bug bites are no fun.

 

[powellrj]

I am not sure how safe this is, but when I was a kid, my DM would put vicks vapor rub on ours. They would stop itching!

 

[BoPeep]

When my daughter was little she would get those big welts from mosquitoes. Her dr. said it was because she was allergic to mosquitoes (she was allergic to everything else, why not mosquitoes too?). Fire ants bites would do the same thing to her. She would also get a bunch of tiny blisters within the welt.
Nothing entirely relieved the itching, but benadryl cream helped. She's 12 now and seems to have outgrown her allergy to mosquitoes since she no longer has this reaction to bites.

 

[PrincessKitty1]

1% hydrocortisone ointment works great. To me, the ointment works better than the cream (I think the cream is more likely to rub off and the ointment stays in one place).

 

[snappy]

Immediately after one of us gets bitten by a mosquito I aplly a paste of aspirin and water. Leave it on, and the bites disappear.

I will say I don't think any of us are actually allergic to them though.


Benedryl and prednisone is what is prescribed for my son's allergy to shellfish, along with an epinephrine injector if he starts to feel his throat feeling funny.

 

[luvdzne]

DD is allergic to mosquito bites. They swell up sometimes the size of golf balls. I give her oral benadryl and put cortisone on it for itching.

 

[funhouse8]

DD is allergic to mosquito bites. They swell up sometimes the size of golf balls. I give her oral benadryl and put cortisone on it for itching.

This is what I do too. My DD's eye was swollen shut for two days over the weekend and we went to the Dr yesterday. He said the strongest thing he could give her is benadryl and to keep taking it till the swelling goes down. She is at work now but it was still swollen this am. Once when we were on vacation she got bite so bad the lifeguard at the water park asked me if she had the chicken Pox!

 

[BrinxFam]

As someone said earlier, please do not give the oral Benadryl and use the cream. I did without thinking and overdosed my DD. It was awful! We use a paste of baking soda and water applied to stop the poison, as advised by the hospital, along with the oral Benadryl.

 

[shortbun]

Apply cold compresses to help with the swelling after all other is done. It's the swelling that makes them itch really bad.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

My daughter used to have reactions to mosquitos (twice requiring treatment in the doctors office b/c they look liked she had gotten punched and not bitten with the "goose eggs" that formed).

I would have her take an antihistamine--benadryl usually works. That is what we had to do for her. One bug bite near her eye (she looked like Rocky!) was so bad that they even prescribed antibiotics to ward off infection. But that is for an extreme bite only that is heading that way. Since her eye was involved--that is what they did.

 

[OzFan]

Immediately after one of us gets bitten by a mosquito I aplly a paste of aspirin and water. Leave it on, and the bites disappear.

I will say I don't think any of us are actually allergic to them though.


Benedryl and prednisone is what is prescribed for my son's allergy to shellfish, along with an epinephrine injector if he starts to feel his throat feeling funny.

My DD is allergic, I mix aspirin powder into a paste and apply it over the top of the bite. it works GREAT! So, I'll second the aspirin paste!

 

[DisMN]

Being careful so you don't get frostbite, an amazing way to stop the itch dead in it's tracks is to ice it. Using a plain old icecube right on the welt. Do it for as long as she can stand it....my doctor said it seems to neutralize the poison and it has worked very very well for us. It will work on old bites as well, if they're still itching that is.
Once in a while I've had to re-ice the area if it still itched but usually it works with one "application".

I like going the non medicated route and this is one time the solution was ridiculously easy.
Good luck!!



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[lajones81]

I get these all the time! It's so frustrating and quite annoying especially when you are an adult! Hugs to those in pain!

 

[Aidensmom]

The welt is an allergic reaction, one that I am well versed in, as I unfortunately am allergic to them. Oral Benadryl does help, but for a quick way to help with the itching, I apply rubbing alcohol to the bite. Works well with fireant bites too.

 

[alliecats]

I am 33 and still get those big goose eggs. I suspected it was an allergy. And it takes weeks for them to go away, probably because I can't help clawing at them. Will try some of these tricks!

 

[tiff211]

I was just going to post something about this same thing. I got bit the first weekend in June in FL on the back of my forearm and due to my scratching it is even worse. The area is swollen, red and all bumpy. It still itches to high heaven. The bug that bit me was a little red flying bugger. I haven't done anything to treat it except put some benadryl spray on it but that didn't help much. I will try some other suggestions.

I was getting a little worried and planned to call the dr.

 

[DisneyRoys]

DD is also allergic and gets the large welts. We always gave her a cornstarch bath. Just put 1-2 cups of cornstarch is a warm bath. Let her soak for about 15 mins. This works well for other bug bites too- like chiggers. It really keeps the swelling down and seems to work better than just applying the cornstarch paste to the skin. We would also give her the oral Benadryl. She finally ended up having to get allergy shots and this stopped the welts from forming.

I think the cornstarch bath may be an old southern remedy. When DH and I were kids we always took these baths. My Mom and Grandmother said they took them as well. Just curious if other areas of the country have heard of this?