Insect Bites
Natural Remedies

Insect Bite Remedies

Aspirin

8 User Reviews
5 star (8) 
  100%

Posted by J (Wilmington, De) on 08/07/2011
★★★★★

Aspirin for Chigger Bites

It is a myth that chiggers burrow under your skin, they bite and irritate like any other bitting insect, asprin on bite works wonders.


Aspirin
Posted by Ann (Deer Park, WA) on 06/26/2008
★★★★★

I had multiple mosquito bites and checked earth clinic for relief. Found a remedy of wetting the bites and rubbing in an aspirin. (I also wet the aspirin.) Immediately the burning and itching was gone and the bites healed so much faster than previous episodes. Also,the bites didn't swell anywhere near as much as previous bites. My arm was so full of bites that it was red from the wrist to the elbow. The first time it took two aspirins, but as the bites healed one did the job. The aspirin left a white gritty residue, but that was a very small payment for great relief. Thank you!

Replied by Star
(Stamford, Ct)
08/04/2009
★★★★★

I get beaten by mosquito quite often even with insect repellent. I have bad reaction to mosquito bites, the area will swell up and get very itchy, it will take weeks to calm down and leave a mark on my skin. My doctor prescribed me with cortisone and it speed up the healing process. In an outdoor BBQ last week, I got 2 bites and as usual had bad reactions. I applied the prescribed cortisone, it gave me some relief on the itch for a short while and it did not calm down the swelling. I remembered reading about the aspirin remedy last week and decided to try it. It worked right away when I rubbed it onto the swelling spots, it calmed the itchiness and I can see the inflammation starting to heal, I left it on overnight and they were much better the next morning. I told my doctor about it, she said you need to be sure that you are not allergic to aspirin and be carefully if you have anemia. Thank you for sharing the remedy, I now have a speedy way to clam the bites!

Replied by Tinam
(Brisbane, Queensland)
04/13/2011

I unfortunately am allergic to mosquitoes and the swelling and itching is severe and painful at the same time. The bite will usually be bad for 2 weeks and then slowly fade. I was bitten on the foot last night which now is so swollen I can hardly walk on it. I tried the aspirin remedy, but unfortunately it did not work. I have tried tiger balm in the past which does not work either. I use Olive Leaf Extract on the bites, which takes the itching away, but only lasts for a short period, and doesn't help with pain and swelling. I think the remedies work, I just think my bodies reaction to the mosquito bite is too severe. I started taking a vit B supplement which is great. I get bitten very seldom. Thanks for the remedies and suggestions everyone.

Replied by Lana
(Valencia, Spain)
02/20/2022

What doctor - aspirin is prescribed every day without checking for allergies but when you apply it topically you should check for allergies and you can get anemic 😂 Sorry but your doctor is a clown and needs to go back to medical school.


Aspirin
Posted by Sylvia (Wilmington, NC) on 05/20/2008
★★★★★

I tried the aspirin on a mosquito bite and it worked well, the itching left. Thanks.


Aspirin
Posted by Roger (Richmond Hill, Ontario) on 03/27/2008
★★★★★

Mosquito bites drive me nuts. I'm one of these people who can't stop from scratching. So, living in Canada, there would be some years where I would end up doing a lot of scratching and scarring. When I read this remedy in the Home Remedy Book and it worked, I told myself that the $30 I paid for the book was worth this one cure. It also works for spider bites. It works better if you deal with the bite(s) as quickly as possible.

Wet the area of the bite with water and rub plain ASA onto the area. Because I'm a scratcher, I do it rather roughly. For spider bites I use two applications about a half hour apart. The itchiness disappears in a few minutes and may reoccur the next day. I just do another application and usually the itch doesn't return.

EC: We wrote Roger back to clarify what ASA is....

Replied by Roger
(USA)
03/28/2008

Just plain aspirin - I use a generic brand - it really works but be generous with the water - my daughter, who is health conscious, uses aspirin on her and her kids - it's saved a lot of hours of sleep.

Replied by Daisy
(Jax, Fl)
06/05/2015

ASA is the abbreviation for acetylsalicilic (sp?) acid - in other words, aspirin.


Avocado

1 User Review
5 star (1) 
  100%

Posted by Pixie (Jakarta, Indonesia) on 04/11/2012
★★★★★

Around 20 years ago, when my mom was asleep, she was stung by a centipede. It was very painful, and her hand became swollen. So my aunt & my cousin, tried to find whatever herbs they can find outside the house. They tried applying several herbs, but none worked. The pain was getting worst & her hand start to swollen till the arm.

Out of desperation, my mom got an avocado & mashed its flesh & apply it to the swollen area. Finally the pain subside & she can sleep. The next morning, there were no more pain & her hand was back to normal.

Few years after later, my sister was stung by a bee at her forehead while she was riding a motorbike. She was crying & crying & it was already swollen when she got home. My mom had someone to buy an avocado, then applied to my sister forehead. Not long after that the pain was gone & it was healed completely.

So, if you was bitten by an insect & you have an avocade at home, please give it a go. Big yes for avocado!!!


B Vitamins

1 User Review
5 star (1) 
  100%

Posted by Jen (Danbury, Ct) on 02/02/2011

Vitamins B12 and B6 are listed as the top preventative for insect bites. Can you give me a recommended dosage to achieve this effect? I am a magnet for mosquitos in the summer. When everyone else is unbothered, I am the first one the mosquitos gravitate to. I've tried taking a B complex vitamin in addition to my multi vitamin and this did not do the trick. So I think there probably wasn't enough of B12 and B6 to deter the mosquitos. Thanks!

Replied by Brijorg
(New Haven, Ct)
02/09/2011

Jen from Danbury, I used to be the same way. I have been using tea tree oil for cuts (and poison ivy, insect bites, etc). The last time I went camping my friend who usually does not get bitten was complaining about the mosquitos which surprised me because I hadn't noticed any. Then I realized I had put on the TTO and the mosquitoes didn't seem to like the smell (many humans don't either though). I read here on EC that most essential oils have this effect (I think the mosquitos cannot distinguish your scent from the oils). So try applying some blend of essential oils you like (add a musk to last longer if you want).

Replied by Jholl
(Louisville, Ky)
09/26/2011
★★★★★

Back a few years ago, I had been on a health kick, taking brewer's yeast as a natural source of B vitamins. I didn't think about it much until I went on a canoe trip with a group. The woman I was with, was swarmed by black flies. We counted forty bites! She was a bit peeved at me. They were completely on her, not one came near me. I am certain it was the brewer's yeast I had been taking. I literally took a handful that morning figuring it would give me extra energy for the trip. Later I read the B1 in the brewer's yeast is especially repulsive to insects. You put off a smell they don't like. I like being repulsive to them for a change!

I hope this is hopeful for those reading it. I don't know the exact doses, but I think it is wise to keep taking those brewer's yeast tablets if you know you will be outside where you are likely to be bitten. You can take them indefinitely as far as I know.


Baking Powder, Ammonia, Meat Tenderizer

1 User Review
5 star (1) 
  100%

Posted by Gary (Claxton, Georgia) on 06/30/2007
★★★★★

The recommended first aid is: wash the sting area with copious amounts of warm soapy water then wash the bite site with household ammonia, scrubbing vigorously with a sponge to get under the skin flap to the poison.

Make a solution of baking powder, meat tenderizer, and ammonia, i.e. 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon meat tenderizer, and 1 cup ammonia. Scrub this solution into the wound.

The ammonia and baking soda return the body's acid/base balance to normal neutralizing most of the effect of the poison injected into the skin by the insect. The meat tenderizer's enzymes help break down the protein aiding the solution in neutralizing the poison.

I keep a pint jar of the solution stored at room temperature. It's very effective.


Baking Soda and Aspirin Paste

1 User Review
5 star (1) 
  100%

Posted by Delia (Springfield, Mo) on 06/17/2017 1 posts
★★★★★

I had what looked like two bug bites about 3 or 4 inches apart come up on my leg Monday evening. I am sensitive to bug bites so I am used to wierd reactions and have learned how to deal with them. These bites were different from anything I have ever had before (I am thinking it might have been a house scorpion sting). One Tuesday there was just a giant red area and it started itching like crazy. Normally running hot water over bites really helps, so I tried that but it just made this worse. I used hydrocortisone cream and diphenhydramine cream at the same time and that would take care of the itch for a while. Cold compresses helped some with the redness and swelling. Kept doing that through Wednesday day morning but it was just getting more swollen, red, and itchy. By Wednesday evening it was really starting to spread. It was looking rather scary so I decided to look for stuff to try on here overnight and if there was no improvement by morning I'd go see the doctor.

I started taking two diphenhydramine tablets every four hours and read through all the remedies for bug bites. I remembered my mom putting a paste made of baking soda on bee stings when I was little so I tried that first. It helped a bit. I decided to try adding crushed up asprin to the baking soda paste. When I went to bed I just covered the whole area in the asprin/baking soda paste and slept with a towel under my leg. When I woke up at 3:00 to go to the bathroom, most of it flaked off. When I got back in bed there was still some of the dried up paste left on my leg. I used some hydrocortisone cream to rehydrate it and went back to sleep.

When I woke up it was looking a lot better. I was fortunate enough to be off Thursday, so I stayed home and kept the asprin/baking soda paste on all day. I reapplied the it several times and ocasionaIy put a little cortisone on to rehydrate it, still taking 2 diphenhydramine every 4 hours. I slept with the paste on my leg again Thursday night and by Friday morning it was almost completely better. I was able to get through work just taking diphenhydramine and using the hydrocortisone cream. I went ahead and did the paste over night last night and all that is left is a few small red blotches that itch every once in a while. Am gonna do the paste overnight again for good measure. It seems no matter what goes wrong I always find a remedy on here that works. I don't have health insurance and am allergic to the cheap antibiotics so this has saved me a lot of money.


Bee Remedies

Posted by Bonnie (Fairbanks Ak, Alaska, Usa) on 06/09/2011

for people bothered with bees on their patio:

I lived in arkansas they have lots of rice patties there so the bees are really really harmfull to kids'. they showed me how to make it safe for me and my family and dogs to set outside with out being bothered. take a small bucket with a handle put enought water in the bottom to just enough cover the bottom place a wire around the center of the handle hanging down. half way down to the botton on the wire push a ham hamhock cheap one with lots of fat on. the bees will eat so much they fall in the water and drown.

hang the bucket at least 10 feet away from the deck in a tree branch. Up high enough kids can not reach it. It really works.

ps my friends used empty gal milk jugs put water just to cover bottonwrap two slices of baccon wrapped tight around the wire even a little sweet on it helps. Slide in hole threw the opening return lid leave enough wire to hang it from a tree limb. now take a phillips head screw driver push holes half way around the milk jug. this way the bees can get in but not out they will eat and fall and drown

throw away jug and start a new one. where the bucket you you have to wash

hang where chidren play and dogs rest. it really works I had them by my front swing so I could set out at night'

ps do not set where flowers pollen they need the bees to grow.

summer tips to make summer more enjoying

on the bucket handle wire a wire about in the middle of the handle let it hang half way down in to the bucket.

Replied by Lisa
(Rabat, Morocco)
06/09/2011

Why would you want to kill the bees? Haven't you heard of colony collapse disorder? If all the bees disappear then we will disappear also! Bees are our friends. I would respectfully suggest that you find a better way to deal with them, or better yet learn to live with them.

Replied by Carly
(Seattle, Wa - Usa)
06/09/2011

Lisa said:

06/09/2011: Lisa from Rabat, -, Morocco writes: "Why would you want to kill the bees? Haven't you heard of colony collapse disorder? If all the bees disappear then we will disappear also! Bees are our friends. I would respectfully suggest that you find a better way to deal with them, or better yet learn to live with them."
------------------
Hi Lisa - Bees that ingest or go after ham and bacon meat (as suggested in the post on traps for them) are generally wasps, not honey bees. Wasps can be quite agressive - especially in the Fall, and also if one is barbecuing meat. We have had a natural hive of feral honey bees in a huge tree in our back yard for the past 5 years or so, and so far they have bothered not a soul. They are about 40 feet from our back door. It is quite a large hive, and I believe it has split off once since we have lived here. Anyway, point being... If the bees are agressive, or attacking people and pets, chances are very good that they are not honey or mason bees (the ones that pollinate plants). They are most likely wasps - and they are nasty creatures. Just my opinion - now will someone help me down off of my soapbox please. ;-) I just wish I lived where the sun would actually shine enough to worry about the bees at this point. sigh.

Replied by Cheryl
(Socal)
05/13/2017

I was just about to write the same thing....those "meat eating" "bees" are not the ones we need to worry about b/c they are not the ones pollinating our food. The ideas and suggestions above sound great for handling those horrible wasp pests though!

Replied by Lou
(Tyler, Tx)
06/28/2017

We had a terrible wasp problem. I found a couple of ways to prevent them from coming around. 1) Stuff a brown paper bag full of smaller paper bags or newspaper. Tie a ribbon around the neck of the bag and hang it where you see wasps. They think it is a wasp nest and won't go near it. 2) Get the Hot Shot no pest strips at the major hardware stores. Hang them in the attic and the garage attic. Problem solved!


Bentonite Clay, Silver Ointment

1 User Review
5 star (1) 
  100%

Posted by Selena (South Tx) on 08/06/2016
★★★★★

I don't know what the heck bit me on one wrist area and the upper arm on my other arm but man, these bites were like golf balls under the skin and the itch and pain, redness and severe swelling was unbearable..

What always worked on "bites" in the past-crushed garlic/lemon juice, real iodine solution like lugols, or baking soda and vit c on and on did nothing and the area looked now like a reddened burned area and I felt really really ill and feverish and took aspirin and started to drink water nonstop..

I remembered I had some real betonite clay up in a cabinet and mixed a thick paste and made a cast on these areas -instant relief from the itching and after about an hour, i could see these areas literally oozing through the clay and the pain lessening..

So I made the clay paste and used it 4 times that day, about every 4 hours and the swelling and redness was decreasing-.

Then I remembered i had a over the counter silver ointment and put a little bit on the areas and instant relief from the itching-.

So I can definitely "vouch" for betonite clay application for a severe type of bite to reduce the swelling and draw out toxins and then the over the counter silver ointment to keep it clean and protect the skin and promote healing as it certainly did look like a scalding type of a burn on my arms..

The skin did not burst, there was no bleeding or bruising, and I am now 4 days post bite..

Still itches like u-know-what but I am definitely on the mend/resolution phase..

I still cannot figure out what bit me-but man, what a reaction I had..


Bleach Bath

1 User Review
5 star (1) 
  100%

Posted by Jennifer (Texas, US) on 10/10/2014
★★★★★

I'm all about the most holistic approach, But when I got chigger bites while doing yard work I wanted a fast fix. My friend's mother told me to take a warm bath with bleach & before I could even adjust to the temperature of the bath they were gone. I soaked for about 5 minutes & problem solved.

Replied by Christene
(AB)
08/18/2024

How much bleach should I put t in the bath?


Borax

1 User Review
5 star (1) 
  100%

Posted by Mcphyster (Eastland, Texas, Usa) on 06/09/2012
★★★★★

Chigger Bites

Wet the end of your finger, dip it in Boraxo and vigorously rub it on the chigger bite. It not only feels good but will stop the itching usually with only one application. I live and work outdoors in chigger country and this is one thing that I have found that works consistently. I do intend to try the aspirin tho', next time around.


Borax or Vitamin A

1 User Review
5 star (1) 
  100%

Posted by Robert S. (USA) on 06/22/2022
★★★★★

Try consuming a little borax in water, insects die if they eat anything with even a tiny amount of it in anything they eat, in your case blood. It is also fatal to all insects, the reason it also acts as a repellent. I have a problem with Fungus Flies, but mixing it with water and spraying it around gets rid of them fast, but it only lasts 2-3 days.

Another thing to try is Vitamin-A. Insects hate people with higher than normal amounts in their bodies. Vodka is another thing mosquitoes hate, just mix with some water and use it in a diffuser, mix it with some coconut oil and use it on your skin.

I also noticed that no bugs will go near coconut oil & they don't like honey either. FYI... I live in the USA in the northeast.


Campho Phenique

1 User Review
5 star (1) 
  100%

Posted by Charles (Richmond, Va) on 06/10/2012
★★★★★

I had an old farmer live next door for many years and when I got chiggers from cuttting fire wood one fall he told me to rub the bite with Campho Phenique and it would kill the chigger in one application. (and it did) It comes in a small green bottle for few dollars and last a long time, CVS normally carries a few bottles but any drug store should have a bottle on the shelf. Actually it works for all insect bites, I just dip a cotton swab in the bottle and rub it gently on the bite, the odor goes away in a little while. God Bless


Castor Oil

Posted by Kathy (Chicago, IL) on 06/19/2009

hi e mailed you with a question but think it was misunderstood. had a flea infestation and revieved several bites which have turned brown and look awful. question was referred to pet section. didnt want to know how to get rid of fleas wanted to know if any remedy for the brown spots. have been bit before and never had this happen. thanks for any help



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