Insect Bites

[redferd]

Has anyone gotten bitten by chiggers? I think I got a lot of bites from those insects? Went to the doctor and had a blood test and no results so far. Been putting Benedryl cream all over myself. The itching is the worst I have ever felt. Just wondered if anyone had this problem and what did you do for the symptoms?

[Old Hunter]

I have been eat up by them before (here we call them redbugs) - they swarm best around 75° +/- but tick repellents work on them too. Best preventative, short of repellent or Permethrin, is when you get home from the woods scrub hard with soap using a terry-cloth washcloth - that will kill the little buggers. Once you are bitten you just have to suffer through it - they get you worse wherever they can push against something tight to help them bite into to you (socks, elastic band of your shorts, etc.) Been there and done that - hope you don't go nuts itching!! OH

[treefarmer]

Being in the South we call chiggers, "redbugs". My dad was a chigger/redbug magnet, whether mowing the yard or fishing from the bank of some lake, canal or creek. Mother was an RN and she recommended he put powdered sulfur in his trouser cuffs. When he did that he was good to go but if he forgot they would literally cover his ankles and calves with bites . Best they could do back then was some type of ointment for a little relief, he just had to "wear 'em till they healed up ! On the other hand I'm apparently immune to them, maybe because I was raised on the sulfur water from a shallow well in central Florida. (Some folks wouldn't drink it.)
redferd, hope you can find some relief very soon!
Treefarmer

[Dinadan]

Old Hunter is dead on. I work outdoors and before I go into the woods I spray Deep Woods Off around my trouser cuffs and around my waist band. That really cuts down on the chiggers, ticks too. A good hot soapy wash with a cloth is the best thing I know to curtail the itching. Someone at work once said that if you take a nail punch and heat it up red hot and stick it to the chigger bite it will stop itching, but I have never tried that.

[Mumbleypeg]

Working outdoors daily, during late spring through fall I'm in constant battle with chiggers so well acquainted with the devils! Once you get them the only solution is what you're doing - benedryl cream or benedryl spray, or if you can find it a product called Chigarid has worked well for me to relieve the itching. CVS and Wal-greens usually have it.

Prevention is the best way to deal with them. Sulfur dust works. Just get a bag of powdered sulfur, pour some into an old sock, and beat yourself around the bottoms of your pants legs, socks and shoes/boots. The powder will filter through the sock and deposit on your clothes in a thin film. Go higher depending on how high the grass and brush you'll be in.

I don't like chemical insect repellents like DEET or pyrithrins, especially on my skin (or the skin of anyone else for that matter). Best to keep that stuff on your clothes only IMHO. But I have had good results from spraying/rubbing cedar oil (Cedarcide https://www.cedarcide.com is one such product) on my skin. It repels other insects like mosquitoes, flies and gnats as well as chiggers. It smells like cedar though so you may or may not like that.

As others have mentioned a hot soapy bath as soon as possible after exposure is recommended. Chiggers crawl around on you for a while before they bite so washing them off before they decide to make you their meal helps a lot. And of course wash all clothes you were wearing.

Contrary to popular belief chiggers do not burrow into your skin and hang on. They eat some of your skin cells before dropping off to lay their eggs. In the process they release some of their saliva into your skin, which causes your body to have an allergic reaction, which in turn causes itching.

Ken

[fergusontd]

Use clear nail polish to relieve the itch. Old remedy always worked for me. ftd

[RobesonsRme.com]

Put a couple of caps full of Lysol in a bath tub of warm water and lie in it for thirty minutes.

Charlie

[Paladin]

Lots of chiggers where I come from. Fire ants have eased the problem somewhat tho.
I use a couple of things to relieve the itching.
One is a pink lotion called Caladryl. I think it is a combination of calamine lotion and benedryl. The relief is not immediate but given time it will help. Reapply as often as needed.
Second, my bride swears by aloe vera plant juice. It will also give some relief but I believe it to be more effective on mosquito bites and fire ant bites.
You should be able to pick up a bottle of the Caladryl at the local pharmacy.
I sure hate those little devils as they make me miserable.

Ray

[redferd]

Thanks for all the info. I did go online to different health sites for info but from what I could understand, the larva or redbugs were not a problem but I wondered where they went after the bites. I thought maybe the larva were inside the bites eating me? The articles did say the chiggers them selves dropped off after they fed and got full. So my worry was the redbugs or larva. I went to the doctor and was not diagnosed with anything... the doctor did give me a blood test but did not say what that was for. I called a week later and was told they did not have the test results but would call me when they got the results in. I have been rubbing hyldrocortisone cream and Benedryl cream on which worked ok at first. It took the redness out but left the itchy bumps. Now those don't seem to work very well. I worked outside in the back yard cutting brush and raking leaves wearing coveralls over my regular clothing. But when I came inside the house, I did not shower at that time, I showered before I went to bed. I just removed my coveralls and came upstairs from the basement and sat in my recliner and wore the clothes for a few days before realizing that the clothes may contain the bugs. I washed my clothes and ran the sweeper over everything I could and washed everything..bedding , towels, clothing..etc. It has been over a month or more since I got itchy and the itch is getting a bit worse at times. So I am concerned about that issue. Also my buddy was in the brush along with me and did not get bitten. He did go home and burned his clothes and showered. I have allergies and very sensitive skin so ??? But from all I've read and been told, these are chigger bites. I just hope they go away soon. I do not think there are more in the house at this time. I have never been so itchy. The itch is keeping me awake most of the night. I think my next action will be spraying the whole area with insecticides.

[jerryd6818]

Use clear nail polish to relieve the itch. Old remedy always worked for me. ftd

+1

[Paladin]

Use clear nail polish to relieve the itch. Old remedy always worked for me. ftd

+1

Sorry to disagree with my forum mates but I think this nail polish thing is just urban legend. It is based on the premise that the nail polish forms a bond (non-permeable) and chokes the little bastards to death while they are burrowed up in your skin. That is all fine except that the chigger isn't there (another urban legend). He has chowed down and moved on. Should you wish scratch or whatever, the bond on the nail polish is fractured anyway. If the little bugger was in there he'd take a deep breath.

Ray

[Mumbleypeg]

Redford, since you were clearing brush, and it's been over month, I'm wondering if you might have got into something like poison ivy. Usually chigger bites heal after a week or so even if you don't do anything for them. Poison ivy will hang on longer, especially if you're highly allergic to it. The fact that your buddy didn't get it could be possible with either poison ivy or chiggers. As others have said, chiggers don't bother them. And some folks, like me, are pretty much immune to poison ivy.

I would hope your doctor would know the difference though. In the case of poison ivy I've known folks that had to get allergy shots to clear it up.

Ken

[philco]

I've been eaten up by chiggers more times that I could count. The best relief I've found for the itch they produce is a product I found in the camping section at Walmart called "After Bite" . It comes in a dispenser similar to a magic marker. You rub it on the chigger bite and it helps sooth the itch for quite a while. It smells a lot like ammonia and I think (going by memory here so no guarantees) the active ingredient in the "After Bite" is ammonia. I've tried dabbing a cotton swab dipped in household ammonia and rubbing it on the chigger bite with equally effective results. Worst side effect I noted was it made me smell like ammonia.

[jerryd6818]

Use clear nail polish to relieve the itch. Old remedy always worked for me. ftd

+1

Sorry to disagree with my forum mates but I think this nail polish thing is just urban legend. It is based on the premise that the nail polish forms a bond (non-permeable) and chokes the little bastards to death while they are burrowed up in your skin. That is all fine except that the chigger isn't there (another urban legend). He has chowed down and moved on. Should you wish scratch or whatever, the bond on the nail polish is fractured anyway. If the little bugger was in there he'd take a deep breath.

Ray

I freely admit the use of clear nail polish (now why did it have to be clear?) was based on what has turned out to be an old wives tale HOWEVER it did work and that's not an old wives tale. That's experience talking.

I had (and don't know where it came from) a product called "Itch Be Gone" and that stuff worked GREAT. Can't find a fresh supply anywhere. This has been 20 years ago.

[fergusontd]

I think what the nail polish does is the same as hair spray does on mosquito bites, it seals off the bite from the air. I learned this from my Grandmas old remedys from the 1800's. ftd

[gsmith7158]

Redferd it sounds like to me you are describing the symptoms of Scabies rash which is caused by a microscopic mite that bores into your skin and lays its larvae. It is long lasting and difficult to get rid of,it can take 6months to a year to kill off those little critters. It is most often contracted through close contact with another person who has the rash,their clothes or or bedding. It can also be contracted from animals with a certain type of mange. I had this many moons ago and believe I got it from a sofa in a.hotel room. It requires daily treatment with a special prescription lotion, which I can't recall the name of but it took me 6 months to get rid of. I've had redbug bites many,many time and their effects are usually gone in a week. I would ask my doctor if that's a possibility because it is highly annoying.

[redferd]

The MedicineNet and the other sites all say the chigger makes a funnel hole and kills the flesh and eats that. When it is full , it drops off and the funnel hole with the fluid the chigger leaves causes the itch. I put some clear finger nail polish on my skin and it does have a cooling effect. Maybe it is the acetone in the polish that cools the itchy skin? I think the use of the clear polish instead of red colored polish is used so it is not as noticeable? I had poison ivy and I know this is much different. No blisters, just lumps. Even in my hair on my head there are itchy lumps. My real worry is that I spread the chiggers all over the house and they feasted , dropped off, and then got hungry and get back onto me and will bite again. I don't know how long they live nor what happens when the larva hatch and become chiggers. Maybe the house is now infested? What a mess that will be. Now my friend and brother will not come to visit me. I can't drive due to the loss of my vision . So I can't go to their house. Getting old was no fun and this is something I did not need to add to all the problems I have now. I want to thank everyone for all the comments and info. Much appreciated. I'll be staying inside from now on. At least until I can get some insecticide and spray it all over the place outside.

[Dinadan]

Redferd - I have had chiggers several times a year for the last sixty years. What you are describing is not typical. as the others said, the itching usually goes away in a few days if not hours.

Question: had you taken any unusual medications before the symptoms appeared?

What you have sounds more like a bad reaction to a drug than chiggers. A few years ago I was prescribed a sulfa drug for an infection and within a couple of days I had lesions all over and it took a while for me to get back to normal. Funny, but I made it to my fifties without ever knowing that I was allergic to any medication.

[redferd]

No medicines taken. Searched the different sites for scabies. The only thing chiggers and scaboes have in common is the itching. I have no rash just small red dots and itching. Nothing like the scabies photos on the web to make me think this is scabies. But I will ask my doctor about it and see what she says. I just changed my bedding and used the sweeper all over the bed and the chair I sit in. I got three bites on my right arm but cannot say it was from the chair or the bed? Also put on clean clothes and will wash all the bedding and other clothes in bleach and soap and hot water. I am very tired of all this washing and cleaning almost everyday. I still have to call the doctor to find out what the blood test was for and what the results are for that.

[jerryd6818]

Have you been out of town and stayed in a motel recently? Bed bugs are back in our lives.

[redferd]

Have not been out of the house since last Thursday. No motels or other houses. Just the 20 to 30 diameter by 6 foot high brush pile out back last Thursday. We had 2 inches of snow on everything and the day was very cold. I poured a cup or two of gas onto the edge of the brush pile and lit it. It would not burn well so I put two gallons of water onto the place where I had lit it. I watched it off and on to make sure it was out. I did not go into it or near it. Just tossed the gas onto it and later tossed the water onto it. I really do think this is chiggers from all I've read on the web sites. I think I may have infested the house with them? I have three more small red dots on my upper right arm. I put some cortisone cream on them as they are itchy. That's why I think they are in the house now. I will keep cleaning but as long as the chiggers have me to feast on, well, I guess they will keep on producing. Can't say I've ever been in this type of situation before?

[philco]

Redferd do you have any indoor pets (i.e. dogs or cats) ? Something is most likely continuing to bite you periodically. Chigger bites just don't linger a month in my experience. I'm not sure what part of the country you're in, but this isn't really chigger season for most of the country. If it's not an insect bite, it's most likely an allergic reaction to something you're continually exposed to. I'd suggest you consult a dermatologist if this problem continues much longer. I sure hope you can figure this out and put it in your past soon.

[Mumbleypeg]

Have not been out of the house since last Thursday. No motels or other houses. Just the 20 to 30 diameter by 6 foot high brush pile out back last Thursday. We had 2 inches of snow on everything and the day was very cold.

If it was cold with snow, I'm pretty sure it's not chiggers. Chiggers like warm weather, and humidity. I get chigger bites every summer but never in my life have I ever encountered them in the winter, early spring or late fall. First frost, they're gone.

Ken

[Paladin]

Have not been out of the house since last Thursday. No motels or other houses. Just the 20 to 30 diameter by 6 foot high brush pile out back last Thursday. We had 2 inches of snow on everything and the day was very cold.

If it was cold with snow, I'm pretty sure it's not chiggers. Chiggers like warm weather, and humidity. I get chigger bites every summer but never in my life have I ever encountered them in the winter, early spring or late fall. First frost, they're gone.

Ken

What he said!!

Ray

[Unk]

Yep, I have been eat up by chigger numerous times - but the itching (and brother, do they itch) is usually gone in a 3 or 4 days. I haven't ever seen the bites last anywhere near a month. And always from the waist down - usually on calves and ankles - never on my head!