My friend Kelli’s youngest child is a little girl adopted from China. Kelli and her husband have 3 older children of their own, but since Sarah is their first child from another country, they have occasionally experienced challenges and adjustments based on the inherent cultural and genetic differences.
One such challenge is Sarah’s extreme reaction to mosquito bites which apparently is not uncommon for those of Chinese heritage.
Living in Florida and being very sensitive to mosquito bites can pose a challenge as mosquitoes can be a year round problem particularly if the winter is rather warm as it has been so far this season.
Telling a young child not to scratch is a losing battle most of the time, and Kelli has not found any of the Western style remedies for mosquito bites to work very well for Sarah.
As a result, just a few mosquito bites could send Sarah to the doctor for examination as they would sometimes get infected from her scratching. The picture above is of Sarah’s leg after a recent run-in with a hungry mozzie!
Besides being a busy Mom of four, Kelli is also an Adoption Specialist and blogs about the adoption process, so with her international connections, she was able to consult with her Chinese friends about Sarah’s problem with mosquito bites.
Their suggestion?
An old Chinese remedy for mosquito bites which is rubbing the bites with the inside of a banana peel!
I asked Kelli to let me know if the banana peel remedy worked the next time Sarah was bitten, and within a few days, Kelli reported back that the banana peel worked! The picture to the right shows Kelli applying the inside of a banana peel to Sarah’s bite. The peel is folded over backwards which is why the inside of the peel is also facing the camera.
The banana peel not only worked, it worked FAST!
Here is Kelli’s email to me about her experience with this home remedy:
“Well, sure enough Sarah got 2 bites this evening….They immediately began to swell and the area all around the bite was quite red, of course some of that was from her itching.I applied the banana peel, as advised by my Chinese friends, and within 2 minutes the bite stopped itching. About 5 or 7 minutes later, the site was significantly less red. When I glanced at it again before bed, though I could still see the bite, her skin was no longer red. Best of all, she didn’t seem bothered by it.Since she is so young it is hard for her not to scratch, and I will forward you a picture of a current bite which landed us at the doctor’s office out of fear of infection (we’re in the clear for now). She has been on antibiotics once before from a bug bite getting infected after her scratching it, and I try to avoid antibiotics so was not happy when this recent bite started looking so bad.From now on, we will honor this Chinese remedy…I wish I had known this secret years ago!”
The most interesting thing about this remedy to me is that it is fairly well known that eating bananas is a surefire way to be a prime mozzie target at sundown. While eating bananas seems to attract mosquitoes, rubbing the bites with the inside of the peel heals them!
Does your child have problems with mosquito bites too? The next time the mozzies leave their calling card on your child’s skin, skip the ammonia sticks and other chemical based remedies that will end up in your child’s bloodstream and simply try the inside of a banana peel!
Do you know another home remedy for mosquito bites that works well too? Please share in the comments section.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
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{ 125 comments… read them below or add one }
I love this idea! I use apple cider vinegar and that sure takes the stinging sensation out as well and helps with the itching.
Oh, yes, Apple Cider Vinegar works like a charm too. Potassium in the ACV (and Banana by the way) are so helpful for anything related to skin. If you are itching, potassium is the answer. I put it on bites neat, in my bathwater, and if I want a great pick me up in the morning, I splash 50% ACV/50% water on my arms and legs (never face…ouch!).
By the way, careful! I found that in the Midwest, perhaps other places, the grocery stores like HyVee carry FAKE apple cider vinegar. Best to get the real thing in the health food section. Braggs Raw Apple Cider.
White vinegar is good too.
I love this idea! My son is a mosquito magnet-usually getting 5+ bites at at time. He swells up so badly when he gets them. We usually cover them with bandaids to keep him from scratching them, but he still swells really badly. Hopefully this will help!
I was told by a friend that mouth-breathers attract more stinging, biting insects. Encourage your son to breath through his nose and see if it helps!
I’m a nose breather and get eaten alive, so I don’t think that has anything to do with it
How long should you hold the peel there for it to be effective? I wonder if just cutting a small piece of peel and taping it on with a bandaid would be more convenient. We are mosquito bait here most of the year also. Can’t wait to try this!
Tina, you don’t need to leave it on the skin. I just rubbed it in a circular fashion until the area felt a little slippery. The itch relief lasted for about 6 hours for me when I used it for poison ivy. I react badly to poison ivy and the itching would drive me crazy. I was amazed at how completely it took the itch away!
Great tip. I had a friend who once misunderstood, and thought that she was told that eating bananas would deter mosquitoes. So, she took a lot of bananas on a camping trip and made her kids eat lots of them. They were eaten alive!
Eating garlic and drinking lemon water will help repel mosquitos.
Bananas are definitely NOT good camping food! LOL
some people are more attractive to the mosquitos, I could send my twins out to play in the same area, side by side the whole time and one would get lots of bites and the other few or none.
Wow! My son has some bites on the back of his knees that just will not go away. I’ll be peeling a banana after this post! I am friends with Kelli, too– what a wonderful woman! So glad Sarah is better!
Baking soda is excellent for any itching, insect bites etc. I use it for poison ivy too. I just mix with water to make a paste or dilute further and wash with it to remove the oils.
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We use homeopathy, and the prime one to use for those big itchy irritating mosquito bites is Staphysagria 30c. It would not conflict with the banana peel. The great news about using homeopathy is her body may eventually respond better and better when bitten. That’s interesting about bananas…one attracts, the other cures. This is actually the homeopathic principle of “like cures like”.
Baking soda with water to make a paste (as Jenny also suggested), hands down has been the best for our family! My son is highly allergic and swells up into a very bad cellulitis even if he doesn’t scratch. Trick is you have to lather it on within the first few minutes or it won’t work. Amazingly after less than 5 minutes the basic property in the soda counteracts the acidic mosquito saliva and no more itching and no big bump at all by the next day!! I carry a little bag in my travel first aid kit.
Sandy – I hope you can answer this: I got cellulitis for the first time ever after doing an intensive gardening in early evening. Lots of bug bits and then noticed the next day a reddening on the lower part of the leg. Seemed to be spreading and when it started to puff up, went to emergency thinking this is the beginning of septicemia.
Antibiotic IV + 10 days scripts of antibiotics + $2000 later…….
The doctor said he was pleased that I came in early!
Interesting you mentioned your son has had bad cellulitis. If he had something that continue to spread, is that when you would think it’s out of hand?
Helen-
Glad to hear you are okay. Boy that must have been pretty scary!
If I don’t do the baking soda remedy, within 2-3 days after the bite the area around the initial bump spreads about 2-3 inches. Once, the poor thing was bit right behind his ear and his whole ear swelled pretty badly. Then I applied topical hydrocortisone and gave motrin and watched closely.
Since we’ve been through this many times (I am also a nurse) I know what to look for. So I would say that if it spreads much more than that with no improvement, starts to ooze, or you get a fever, I would get it checked out.
Sounds like it could have been many types of bugs where you were gardening. Not sure where you live or what kind of spiders around, but certain kinds of spiders can cause a pretty bad cellulitis.
I’m in NZ and think maybe our mozzies are slightly different as my toddler eats a tonne of bananas and doesn’t get bitten – however he does also consume a lot of chicken liver so perhaps that repels them? I get bitten all the time and swell up to the point of not fitting in shoes. Since I’ve been consuming raw milk my reactions are less than half what they used to be. Next time I get attacked I’ll be sure to try the banana peel. Thanks for sharing!
I spray mosquito and fire ant bites with ammonia or windex…. stops the itch immediately. I might have to reapply for fire ant bites after a few hours, but it puts an immediate end to the mosquito itch. Also noticed that mosquito are not so interested in me after I added organ meat and raw milk and home made sauerkraut to our diet. I’m just sayin’………
Ok…so my son woke up with his leg swollen pretty bad from a bite he apparently got last night. I put the banana peel on his leg (he fought me the whole time…), but wasn’t able to keep it on very long-we were running late for school. So my question is, how long does the peel need to stay on, and should you wipe the spot after you take the peel off? I sent him off to school so we’ll see how it looks when he gets home. I have a feeling I didn’t keep it on long enough though…
My son is allergic to mosquito bites and gets giant red knots that last a week. The best thing I have found is lavender oil from doTERRA. Others may work, but this is what I use and it’s gone in 24 hours! I carry it with me everywhere now. It also stops the itching. Just rub a drop on the bite every few hours.
i use lavender oil too! works great and i love the smell
SO trying this next time! My oldest is a prime target, as am I. They don’t seem to bother DH or our younger DD much. Funny too because the younger DD is the banana eater…
Neat!
My mom would use vinegar on our bites whether it was mosquito or ant bites.
Apis works wonders for skeeter bites!
Thanks for a great blog. Banana peel and other tips on your website are excellent!
Calcium Bentonite clay moistened and placed on *any* insect bite draws the poison right out.
My mom use to put apple cider vinegar and kosher salt on ours, worked great!
great. I go into anaphylaxis if I’m exposed to banana peels. I guess I’ll try the vinegar!
Try unrefined, organic coconut oil. It takes the sting and itchiness away in a few minutes and heals quickly. I use it for any kind of skin itch, bite, scrape or dry skin, even on a slightly infected ingrown toenail. It works!
Homeopathic remedy ledum works also.
ei Sarah,
i am from the Philippines, and yes, we have been doing this for a long time and i can see that my kids’ mosquito bites gets less and less itchy. keep it up!
Does this only work on mosquito bites? What about other kinds of bite you discover when you wake up?
having 2 adopted from China, i can attest to bad reactions to mosquito bites – just miserable. We have found great relief using a drop of tea tree oil. We use it straight up, but others would recommend diluting it with a carrier oil…
yes, we also use tea tree oil and lavender oil for bites and it works pretty good
I used to react terribly to bites until i found out that taking a daily B complex vitamin with C added in helped enormously. It actually prevented me from even getting bit in the first place. Mosquitos can carry disease, so the less appealing she is to them the better. Put her on a B complex that also includes a C vintamin.
I start taking a B1 tablet a day in early spring (my 18yr old son does also). We would both be eaten alive day or night by mosquitos. Now I can make it through a whole Spring, Summer and Fall and not get bitten at all. When we do get bitten, it’s the whole huge red welt, fever and itch that drives you crazy. I realize that this doesn’t work for everyone and wish my grand-daughters were old enough to take a B1, but not yet!
Good to know!
This is amazing!! Does it have to be an organic banana?
Crystal Newman – not natural but when you are desperate…Absorbine Jr really helps me with the itch. Not a permanent fix but…
Amazing the results with EGA Therapeutic Oil and AFT. Nothing like it.
I make a mixture of witch hazel and aloe vera with lavender and bergamot essential oils and put it in a spray bottle. It does wonders at soothing the itch and healing quickly on bug bites and even poison ivy breakouts. It’s easy to make for yourself but is also available on my website. It’s called Hydrating Spritzer. I love the banana peel idea but it sounds messy and inconvenient. I’ll try it though…I love natural remedies.
Debbie,
There is absolutely NO mess with the banana peel. When I used it for my poison ivy, I rubbed the peel on the area in circles for a minute and it left no visible residue on the skin. In fact I used this because the poison ivy was on my face and I didn’t want anything noticeable or irritating to the skin. I put the whole banana peel in a zip lock bag and kept it in the refrigerator so I could use it to reapply as needed.
The itch relief lasted for about 6 hours.
Sandy~ just an FYI, I have taken a high potency B complex and extra C for years and I get chewed up every year. I’ll have 20 bites to everyone else’s 5. Maybe the mosquitos are lacking those nutrients in my area. LOL
Kathleen Lyon for Bethany
I’ve used banana Peel on viral Witt’s but never thought about using it for bites! My oldest daughter gets eaten alive although I need to be more consistent because I know plantain herb salve and also essential oils…
straight lavender oil works well too… easy to throw in a purse.
What a great tip! I get horrible swelling from mozzie bites. I got 3 bites on my forehead and within 30 minutes, I looked like a klingon with 3 horns on my head. So far, my boys haven’t been too bothered by them thankfully!
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I make a paste out of baking soda and water. immediate relief.
Al Al Jafar
I’m allergic to bananas, eating them, but swell up a lot and itch when bitten… will try this!
My son had an infection similar to this , I put some tumeric on it and by the morning it was gone.
Mosquitoes are a big problem for me. I moved to Florida in August and am wondering if I can stay. I believe I have what they call “Skeeter Syndrome”. I get welts, blisters then bruises. The itching lasts over two weeks even if I don’t scratch and I get respiratory symptoms. So as you can imagine I’m trying everything!
I get bit all the time even in peoples screened in porches. I have recently been given a recipe for a mixture of essential oils which seems to work. I’ve been trying it now for a week and the only bites I have are from when I didn’t have any on. After I try it a few more times I will post the recipe.
For existing bites I will certain try the banana peel but for me I have found that applying ice ASAP really helps. For me the sooner I apply ice after getting bit the fewer issues I have with the bite.
Hi Sheena ~ please let me know what the formula is, I’m dying from bites over here… Thanks!
I really think this “recipe” is working for me. It was given to me by a long time Florida resident. She use to sell it. There are of course many bug repellents that work but you don’t want them on your skin all the time. This smells nice and really seems to work. I put it only on one side of my body to test it to see if I only get bites on the other, but I have not gotten a single bite anywhere even several hours after putting it on. And I’ve seen mosquitoes fly past me. This is amazing for me! As I’m pretty sure I’m made of mosquito crack.
So here is the recipe…
2 ounces grape-seed oil
20 drops each lavender, eucalyptus, clove and neem leave
I’d like to replace the grape seed oil with coconut and may try that, but for now I’m not messing with it. The women, Joan, who gave me the recipe said it works for noseeums too whose bites are even worse than mosquitoes.
Thanks for sharing this banana peel thing, my kids are sensitive to mosquito bites too. I’ve been learning for the past few years about essential oils so I always have some on hand. Patchouli is an oil that works almost instantly to stop the itch. My kids ask for it now whenever they get bit.
I use pure eucalyptus oil on all bites. works great!
I’m so going to try this! I seem to be a magnet for them!
We use either lavender oil or witch hazel for bites, whatever is available. The weed plantain (not the banana-like fruit) also has astringent properties so if you’re out on a hike and can identify it, break open a leaf and rub it on the bite to draw out the toxins. My grandmother’s family mixed ground plantain leaves with raw milk to make a a paste and was able to save her brother from a rattlesnake bite!
Wonder if it will work with Red Ant bites
Witch Hazel works great.
I used this exact same remedy for poison ivy that was on my face. There was this big raised red streak of poison ivy on my cheek and I didn’t want to use anything that would irritate the skin or have that pink, chaulky looking goop like Caladryl lotion. It worked like a charm! The itch relief was immediate lasted for about 6 hours. The banana peel didn’t leave any residue and left the skin soft.
So if it worked my poison ivy, it makes sense that it would work mosquito bites too!
Coconut oil works amazingly! I’ve used it for mosquito bites, a wasp sting, scrapes, an allergic skin reaction…you can use it for anything that needs healing. Takes the itch and redness away in just a few minutes. I like to use the unrefined, organic coconut oil.
Real vinegar works too!
Wonderful collection of remedies accumulating here!
Ammonia works too.
I put FCLO on my daughter’s osquito bites and it brings down the inflammation quite well =)
I hate abbreviations — what is FCLO?
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=FCLO
Fermented Cod Liver Oil
Heat works also. I have a little device that heats up, you hold it on the area for about a minute (I do like two) and voila! It was $13. I’m sorry I’m just blanking on the name at the moment. When I’m anywhere and and I don’t have it I grab a compress as hot as I can stand and use that instead.
Peppermint oil dabbed on it works wonders..
Will try this and the ACV this summer!
In my family we wet a washcloth with the hottest water the tap will produce – in other words, not boiling. Hold it on the bite. It will make the itch much worse for a second or two but after a few (2 or 3) applications – one right after the other – the itching will subside. It can get slightly uncomfortable because it is hot but it sure is better than the itching and takes less than a minute.
PS – she is scratching…not itching the bites.
Banana peel was the only thing that helped my husband when he had poison ivy.
The vinegar is only giving me an hour of relief. So trying this one tomorrow – thanks!
We use a drop of tea tree oil straight out of the bottle on a q-Tip or applicator. If I treat within the first 20 minutes it goes away! It works so well I have never tried anything else. Living in Louisiana, we have plenty of opportunities to test the results. It also works well on fire ant bites. Same thing, if I treat promptly, the bite will not develop a white head. The first time we tried it on ant bites, my older son walked through a bed while mowing and had about 20 bites. He developed one white head and it was probably one that I missed.
I’ll definitely try that in the spring! Another odd remedy that I’ve successfully used is to use clear tape (think Scotch tape, not packing tape) ASAP on each bite, after wiping with alcohol. Leave it for 30 min or so, and do it twice a day till the bite is totally gone, usually in 36-48 hours.
I was taught the same as Beverle by my grandma. I usually only applied the hot cloth once, though maybe I’ll try it multiple times if it doesn’t work next time. Then I either let it air dry or pat it dry to avoid any rough motion, which could aggravate the itching sensation again. It’s not perfect but it works great, especially if you don’t have any bananas, apple cider vinegar, or lavendar oil handy! But I will definitely try the banana peel thing, and I’ll tell my dad about it — he always had bad reactions to mosquito bites.
Great home remedy. I have to try it. I always use lavender essential oil on mosquito bites and it works great too.
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Homeopathic Apis also
Thank you thank you!!! My oldest get huge knots the size of apricots with her mosquito bites.. And they always seem to find her
. Thank you!!!
I am allergic to mosquito bites, they burn and swell horribly. But putting on apisgel and taking the apis homeopathic granules immediately after being stung will stop the swelling and pain immediately.
If we had bites that we couldn’t stop scratching, my mom would put some vinegar on it. There would be a tiny bit of a sting and then the itch would stop.
Never heard of the banana peel remedy, thank you so much!
And the other remedies mentioned here are great! who knew? And the plantain weed? Too awesome – thanks for that one!
Remember that Aloe Vera has a characteristic that PULLS INTO the skin whatever you put with it. So Aloe combinations with remedies are more effective however the Aloe could possibly cause retention of the sting toxin you are trying to be rid of.
Another option is Epsom Salts, so cheap and such a relief. I get rid of itchiness when in the shower I rub handfuls of Epsom Salts over the itchy bumps. It was the only relief I found for agonizing chiggers after camping. Not only does a salt draw out toxins, but the Magnesium has a very positive effect. And of course bathing in Epsom Salts heals all kinds of things as it pulls out toxins and feeds the body.
Calamine lotion is an awesome remedy for many things as well – its zinc which our bodies use in all kinds of ways. It may be ugly but wow it works.
As far as avoiding being bitten at all, Avon’s Skin-So-Soft works for many people. I know horse owners that put it on their horses for bug bite protection. I wonder if its the vanilla ingredient? Who knows… SSS works for me and the dog too when we go camping.
Oh and its true, clay is an awesome remedy too for drawing out lots of skin problems. You can use versions you find from the beauty counter, expensive to cheap. The cheapest I’ve ever found is Queen Helene’s Mud Pack Masque with Natural English Clay – a jar for like 5 or 10 bucks I think. Found at Sally’s Beauty Supply or online. I used to sell a very expensive black sea mud mask and found the ‘magical’ effects of a clay mask to be many. Now I buy this simple less expensive stuff.
Following
I was looking for these remedies when we went camping last summer because I am allergic to bites and I couldn’t find anything natural/organic that worked well. Hopefully this is my saving grace.
Thanks,
Adrianne
I’ve always been allergic to moquito bites. It’s better now than it was when I was a child, but still bad. Once I had a mosquito bite that swelled up to cover the ENTIRE front of my thigh. I wish my parents had known about this remedy! I will be trying it next time I’m bitten.
The best thing for insect bites is plantain. Just look around for a plant growing nearby. Pick a leaf, tear it up and keep squeezing between your fingers until it gets juicy. Rub the juice on the insect bite or even bee stings or stinging nettles and it will stop it within minutes. You can also pick some and make a tincture to have on hand, but I think it is easier to just pick a fresh leaf and use it. We have used this remedy for years.
This is so interesting !
A lack of Vit B6 often lis the problem, NEEM oil is excellent for allergic reaction to bites (Sandfly/Midgie & Mossies)
WOW! I wish I would have known about this years ago. My son for some reason reacts every bit as badly and this poor girl does. I’m not sure why, but mosquitoes love to bite his forehead and consequently he’ll look like he has two horns protruding from his precious face. They will swell to the size of a halved ping pong balls. Not kidding…I wish I was. I am so excited to read this and I will definitely be trying this the next time he get’s bitten. Thanks Sarah!!!
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Using a paste made of baking soda/water or activated charcoal/water makes a huge difference!
We just learned this while fishing in Minnesota last summer. It’s fun to be near the lake, but deer fly bites are the worst! Applying a dab of toothpaste (the toxic kind, like Crest or Colgate) over the bite will take the itch and pain out immediately. It also reduces the redness and swelling; works well on mosquito bites and bee stings.
LAVENDER OIL applied neat works wonders. I’ve always used it on my child. I’ll try the banana skin on eczema, you never know, it may work for that too!!!!! Sorry, don’t know how to put this comment on your blog.
That is very cool — I’ll keep this in mind for any friends who are susceptible to bad reactions to mosquito bites. Can’t hurt to try! I’ve done the apple cider vinegar thing, and it does take the sting out (while the swelling hasn’t really been affected, but pain relief is definitely a plus).
Goats and Greens\’s last post: Test Driving: Eye of Round Roast
banana peel did not work for me…
Banana peels also work on warts. You have to tape the peel to the wart each night, remove in the am and continue until the wart falls off.
yes going on a vit b complex + C regimen helps.
Banana peel works for many things. I first heard of using it from Maureen Salaman Kennedy when she used to do seminars. She said to use it on hemorroids, and I thought that was such an outrageous thing! I have a feeling it will work on anything that itches. Yes, there are many things that will also work, but if you happen to have a banana peel at the right time, why not use it?
Inside a banana peel for mosquito bites and whitening teeth.
How do you use it to Whiten teeth…that would be awesome to try…
thanks!
Oh wow! It works!! Just tried it on myself and my daughter – we both came back from vacation with a number of mosquito bites – fantastic!! Thanks for the tip!
I don’t know where I heard this, but if you rub a little deodorant on the bite, the itching stops. Been doing this for more than five years now, and it works, smells good too!
I used banana peel to treat a poison oak rash that I had a few years ago. I don’t know why I never thought to use it for mosquito bites!!! My kids and I are all allergic to them.
I’ve heard raw onion also works. We tried it on a scorpion bite and it worked instantly.
A family we know takes the following:
In the morning take 100 mg of Vitamin B6 (or a multi-B vitamin)
The mom says, “Mosquitoes wouldn’t even land on us.”
Love all the remedies. There must be a common (or several) denominator. One person mentioned that anything with potassium will help with itching. I’ve had a bad case of dry itchy shin for a few days due to having spent 4 days in an arid, cold climate and in front of a fireplace. I *just* rubbed some diluted ACV on the itchy spots and wow! No more itching! Thank you everyone for sharing.
Make a paste with meat tenderizer and a few drops of water. Apply to itchy bites (mosquitoes, fleas, etc.) or stings (bees, wasps, etc.) for instant relief. This works with scorpion stings too – first-hand knowledge. It doesn’t have to be Adolph’s meat tenderizer but it has to have the same active ingredient. I keep a jar in with the first-aid supplies because the last thing you want to do is search through everything in the spice cabinet when you want it NOW.
not natural and not for sensitive skin–I’ve put bleach on bug bites.
Right after I shared your banana mosquito remedy on my Facebook page I received this link from a Facebook friend from Sweden. I didn’t know that workers on banana plantations were being poisoned by pesticides. Thought you’d want to know as well.
http://www.bananasthemovie.com/
Well this past summer I read about baking soda for mosquito bites and when my friends daughter was bit while we were at dinner I decided to try it. I mixed it w/a little water to make a thick paste and applied , it seemed to work well too because the only thing her daughter said to me while playing was that she needed more because it was coming off, but not itching. After that I used on my kids w/ good results.
Thanks Phylis for the Bananas link. I haven’t been able to eat any Dole products because they “allegedly” use Auxigro as fertilizer. I have an extreme sensitivity to MSG and that’s what Auxigro is all about.
received about 20 bites/stings from ants in the yard yesterday. scrubbed baking soda into my hands, took potassium for the itch and krill oil for the inflammation. The soda left my hands very dry and in need of lotion but the itch and pain was minimal after the treatment.
Bug magnets, PLEASE read!! I’ve had severe reactions going back to childhood in the tropics. Have now lived in a low-bug area for decades. When I started vacationing in the lake region of Italy about 20 years ago, I found that I had a potentially deadly reaction to no-see-ums. I have severe, strongly hereditary, early onset Type II diabetes. To cut a long story short: if you are diabetic, or predisposed to it, your body excretes thiamine (B1) at 17 times the normal rate. One result is that bugs love you! A few years ago I discovered benfotiamine (synthetic lipid-soluble thiamine, paradoxically safer than the water-soluble version). I proved the theory on myself, as I returned to the same area every year. With the benfotiamine, I didn’t just not react, I DIDN’T GET BITTEN. There are other benefits to taking this regularly, and you won’t find it in regular multi-Bs. I urge anyone, especially diabetics, to look into this. It alleviates neuropathy and mitigates eye & kidney damage, as well.
Alison, Can you recommend a brand of benfotiamine? I’m a bug magnet and would very much like to not be one.
Sheena, I get the Multi-B Neuropathy Formula from benfotiamine.net. At benfotiamine.org, you can read the published studies, etc. (and disclaimer, I have no financial or other interest in the product or company). I note that other people in this thread have mentioned B6, which is also in this formula. However, in the past I took regular multi-Bs, with no effect on the bug bite problem. With the benfotiamine, you take it regularly to keep your B1 levels up, not just to treat bites when you get them.
Tea Tree oil : )
Tea tree oil helps kill staph bacteria, raw honey or crushed plantain weed help swelling and itching go down rapidly (matter of hours.) My 5 yr old gets cellulitis regularly with mosquito bites and begs for the plantain to stop the itching.
My grandmother ALWAYS had a bottle of rubbing alcohol with banana peels soaking in it. She used it for arthritis, but also for insect bites. Since she lived on a cypress swamp/lake in North Florida she was the EXPERT. After the bite was no longer itching she would put either “booze” (I never did know which kind) or tea tree oil on it to ensure that no infection got in.
A few yeas ago I came in contact with poison ivy,very nasty. The only thing that worked was the banana peel
I put vanilla extract in a small spray bottle of water and spray it on before going outside in mosquito season here in California. The mosquitos do not bite me I have spayed it on my granddaughter too and she does not get bit at her soccer games or practices It works and cost is minimal
Well, I go to a site called, http://www.bulkherbstore.com and they talked about an herb that is called Tansy. Her sister went to South America and wanted something to repel all bites. She said that it works incredibly well! So, think I will get some and try it! Thanks everyone for the tips!
3 mossy bites in succession, just tried banana peel remedy 5 mins ago and itching has stopped.
Thanks for the tips itching was driving me mad.
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