# REALLY bad reaction to mosquito bites.



## Jojo F. (Apr 7, 2007)

DS reacts HORRIBLY to mosquito bites. They swell up soooo bad, hot to the touch, and the area is hard. Anyone else's children/yourself react this way?

I'm wondering why he reacts so badly and what I can do after the fact. We do use a natural bug spray that works very well but there always seems to be just a couple bites out of the year.


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## my3peanuts (Nov 25, 2006)

My dd reacts like this. Last year her entire upper thigh was swollen from one.


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## kjbrown92 (Dec 13, 2007)

My DD's bug bites are usually between the size of a quarter and the size of a half dollar. She's 3, and has a lot of food allergies, so I'm not sure if it's just a heightened immune response for her (she's on Zyrtec all the time for seasonal allergies and it doesn't help the bug bites at all).


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## [email protected] (Jul 11, 2007)

My dd was like this. Once she had a bite and the entire leg swelled up so much that it looked as if she had sprained her ankle. She is 7 now and doesn't react so badly. I think it is worse for some kids. Of course with all the EEE and West Nile Virus we avoid mosquitos as much as possible. I never found anything to calm the bites once they happened.


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## CarrieMF (Mar 7, 2004)

My body started doing this last summer. The bites I got 2 years ago were bigger than they used to be, but it was last summer when they went really big, hot & red. It started with a Sandfly bite. It bit me in 2 places on my leg. The next day my leg was really itchy & I looked at it. It was raised by about 1/2" & was 3" long, HOT, red & really itchy. I ended up buying some Bendryl Spray stuff that worked until the coolness of the spray went away. Then it would be itchy again but not as bad. It took a week or so of using it for it to go away completely.

This year I was bit by a mosquito in 2 places on the arm. The 2nd bite swelled up & was hot. It was not as raised, maybe 1/4" & dollar coin sized. It wasn't as hot but I tried to make sure I did not scratch at it.


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## Eliseatthebeach (Sep 20, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jojo F.* 
DS reacts HORRIBLY to mosquito bites. They swell up soooo bad, hot to the touch, and the area is hard. Anyone else's children/yourself react this way?


All my dc have this reaction, it's just a sensitivity to the bites. My dh has the same problem. I used to take them to the doc and every time the same thing..."it's just a bug bite". We have a ton of mosquitoes around here. Last year I invested in a mosquito magnet. It runs on propane and attracts them by expelling carbon dioxide.


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## Metasequoia (Jun 7, 2005)

Dd1 reacts horribly to some type of insect bite - in fact, her eye was swollen completely shut all of last weekend, poor kiddo. It happens a few times a year & is oddly always near her eye - I hope she doesn't get bites near both of her eyes at the same time!


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## Juise (Jun 14, 2007)

It doesn't make them go away, but to help with the itching and the hotness, I use a few drops of tea tree oil in a small spray bottle of water. It has a great cooling effect, not to mention it's cleansing properties. Plus, kids love spraying it or being sprayed


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## mommathea (Apr 7, 2008)

My dd who was 2 at the time reacted that way last year. After the swelling went down she would get a little hard bump at the bite. This year it doens't seem to bother her, thankfuly. Now my 1yr old son is getting the same reaction. Hopefuly it is a temporary thing. It looks so horrible with the swelling and all.


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## Sileree (Aug 15, 2006)

I got all swollen up when I moved from California to Michigan at age nine and got bitten by skeeters for the first time. I guess because my body wasn't used to it. Now I just get tiny bumps.


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## mbravebird (May 9, 2005)

My son reacts this way to lots of bug bites. I have found that Arnica Oil -- not cream, oil -- really helps with the swelling if I get it on early enough. I think it helps the body absorb the fluid? Not sure. It just helps.


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## Irishmommy (Nov 19, 2001)

My kids and I get that bad. Rubbing the inside of a banana peels seems to help with the swelling, and I've heard that carrying around Bounce fabric sheets repels them, but I've not tried it.

We have had to resort to benadryl at times for the itch though, when the banana and calamine lotion don't work.


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## neptunemama (Jun 20, 2005)

I don't know if you have a daily mosquito problem or if it's just occasional. My older dd swells up terribly from mosquito bites, but we don't have very many mosquitos where we live. It's when we are camping that she gets eaten alive. We've learned that what helps her is to give her Claritin a day or two before we go camping, and then every day that we are there. It doesn't reduce the number of bites, but for her it dramatically reduces the swelling and itching from the bites. The bites will swell a lot, but shrink to normal size fairly soon, unlike before where she'd be swollen for days.

If we lived where she was getting bitten constantly, then I'd probably look for another remedy, since I don't think I'd want her on Claritin constantly. Not that Claritin is unsafe, but I'd try to find other ways to minimize her swelling.


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## kwilki8 (May 24, 2005)

This happens to me with the horrible swelling. Usually I just wait for it to subside, but if I have several bites the only thing that really helps me is benadryl.


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## Maree9304 (Jan 8, 2008)

I signed up here a while back but came across this thread on google. LOL
The mosquitoes have been awful here, lately. It's been raining and on friday, we attended a funeral and there were soo many mosquitoes out there.

That night, we noticed that my 2yo son's calf was swollen and I saw a couple of bites. It was really tight and he was walking funny. I bought some benadryl and hydrocortisone cream to help with the itching. The swelling has gone down but only a little bit and his calf doesn't feel so tight anymore. It's no longer hot to the touch and the redness has decreased a lot.

Do you think he's okay now? I've been worrying nonstop since we discovered the swelling but I don't know when I should really worry and take him in to the doctor.

The worse part is, mosquitoes seem to really like him.







It's unfortunate that others experience this, but it's kind of comforting all the same.


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## Jojo F. (Apr 7, 2007)

When DS was younger the reaction was even worse, hard to believe because it's still really bad, just like you describe. Now he still gets huge welts that get tight and hot to the touch but he never seems really bothered by them, they are just really unsightly and makes us mamas worry to death!!!

Personally, I don't think it's anything you would have to take him to the doctor for. They'd tell you it's a bad reaction and give you benadryl and hydrocortisone, exactly what you have done. Once DS was really sick, had a huge bite too, we went to the doc and I asked him about the bite. He said it was nothing to worry about









We take extra precautions using a natural repellent that really works and having DS put on long sleeves and pants at dusk.


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