Zark (Emerald City) on 09/26/2022
I had been bitten on the hand whilst gardening and the bite was still intensely itchy and inflamed after a week. The heat cure didn't work as I tried this first. Next day or so I tried tea tree oil and that provided permanent relief to the itch to the area it was applied. Later the periphery where I hadn't applied tea tree oil still itched, so I applied the oil more broadly this time and then no more itch at all. The next day the badly inflamed bite area had calmed down very noticeably.
Sarah (Oklahoma ) on 06/30/2022
Eucalyptus oil worked for me.
Jane Hicks (Midway, WV USA) on 06/23/2022
Robert S. (USA) on 06/22/2022
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.
April Dawn (Inland PNW, USA) on 06/13/2022
TODAY THE ASPIRIN WORKED! I dissolved one aspirin tablet with a tiny bit of warm water from the tea kettle and rubbed the paste into the bites. RELIEF!! I'm looking at the worst (freshest) bite and the horrible redness is almost completely gone. As a test, I scratched just it and it did start up with that deep itching that comes with deep-set insect bites, but I reapplied the aspirin paste and it is no longer bothering me.
As a preventative, I plan on consuming Brewer's Yeast and giving it to my family, as it is known to be a powerful deterrent to biting insects. Since we have a camping trip in two weeks, this will be a great test! The dosage is a mystery, but I plan on researching on here and other sites to glean as much knowledge as possible to make an informed choice. If I can remember, I will post results. But I will definitely be taking aspirin along on the trip just to have on hand if the Brewer's Yeast doesn't work :)
Michael (New Zealand) on 05/16/2022
I am only letting you know about this NZ Secret because it works for me and our family - I have no financial interest in the Company.
Maybe EC will not print it but there you go! Deirdre was experiencing insect-biting problems recently, so it behoves us to do something to assist her!
This is the crowd I mentioned in a previous post but I know that you probably only read the recent ones??!!
Here is an abbreviated version of an email got from them:-
"We sell Goodbye Sandfly to people in the USA for use with the little black no-seeums as well as mosquitos. If you order more than $75USD shipping is free. If it's under $75USD it's about $20usd for shipping. Check out our website".
Cheers from Down Under
Libby (Brighton) on 02/03/2022
Thank you for all the thumbs up for this..it has worked for me brilliantly. Bitten to pieces and I was scratching endlessly, nothing else worked. It lasts a long time too before I have to repeat, and things seem to be clearing up too now. Thank you again. My daughter says she does the same for her eczema on her hands and that works for her.
Hope (Sacramento, CA) on 05/13/2021
Michael (Westchester NY) on 08/15/2019
After reading some remarks on this site I did the following. Washed the area with warm soap and water, applied apple cider vinegar with paper towel let dry for 30 min. more ACV then applied Tea Tree Oil with Qtip and sprinkled some foot powder on top of the TT Oil. I started this 1 hour before bedtime. In the morning the itch was gone and the red mark turned dark reddish brown. I think this helped the healing process.
Sofia (USA) on 07/14/2019
Amazing stuff!!!!
Rob from Kentucky (Bowling Green, KY USA) on 06/26/2019
People are bringing firewood from deep inland and the chiggers catch a ride on the wood so now for the past 3 years, we are getting eaten up with bites. My girlfriend's skin is super sensitive and when she gets a chigger bite, the red inflamed area stays on her for months.
This year I dabbed a drop of straight eucalyptus oil on all her bites (and mine) and the itchy, inflammed bites started to disappear in record time. My stopped itching instantly and were gone in 2 days and hers about 4 days. So now you know. Put Eucalyptus oil in the travel first-aid kit!
Mama To Many (Tn) on 08/25/2020
Art (California) on 08/21/2020
For a repellent, I use different essential oils mixed with vodka and simply shake the spray bottle and spray it on. I don't mind the smell of clove oil, so that is what I use as a more human friendly insect repellent, but some other essential oils can work also.
I have written about this before on EC.Other uses for Vicks gathered from the web are toenail fungus (multiple studies), topical pain reliever, antiseptic due to its essential oil content, pimples, mild psoriasis and eczema, but I would never consider it for large areas, only for a few small spots as too much can enter through broken skin and cause health problems, sore muscles, relieve bruises and speed the healing process, to repair cracked heels, warts, apply to feet before bed and put white cotton socks on to help relieve a cough due to a cold, for squeaky hinges if you don't have oil handy, to help deal with strong odors that might otherwise make you sick, apply a little around the nose openings, but not inside the nose as some police do when having to work around a dead body, helps relieve athlete's foot, ringworm and minor burns.
In any case, Vicks Vaporub can be useful for short term use, but I refrain from mid and long term use and would never recommend that anyone use it other than for short term use as I believe the essential oils in it could allow the other ingredients or the oils themselves to be over absorbed and this would not be good. Vicks Vaporub has been around for many decades so it appears to have a decent safety profile, but a little caution with its use won't hurt!
Art
Cindy (Illinois, Usa) on 08/09/2020
I put EVERYthing on it - cayenne, DMSO, coconut oil and something else, I don't remember what, but it stopped hurting with the first bit of cayenne. With the pain and the size - which was too small to even see what kind of critter it was, it scared the dickens outta me so I threw everything at it! LOL! It was right over a vein, just up from the wrist. I'd never had that kind of pain from a bite or a sting! I remember what the other thing was - it was ascorbic acid paste. I'm guessing it was a spider of some sort as I've been stirring up unattended corners around the house but it was so tiny that there was nothing left of it after I slapped it. I had a little red spot for a few days but, initially, the bite was so small there was nothing to see. The red spot got to about the size of a pepper corn, but it's gone without a trace now. I think that was Monday or Tuesday and it's Sunday but was still a little red yesterday so that's quite a while for it to stick around with no feeling to it. No bump or itch or anything, once the pain was gone. Just that red spot.
Oh! And borax solution which I'd just made. I forgot I slapped some of that on it.
Marsh57 (CO) on 06/09/2020
Mama To Many (Tn) on 06/25/2018
I put a drop of tea tree oil onto a pea-sized amount of plantain salve (which helped by itself, but not as much as with tea tree oil! ) and put this on bites 2-3 times a day. I think coconut oil with tea tree oil would work just about as well.
~Mama to Many~
Delia (Springfield, Mo) on 06/17/2017
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.
Barbara (San Luis Obispo, Ca) on 11/27/2016
Also, life guards use hot, hot water for sting ray hits. They have tubs at the life guard stations and tea kettles. They pour the boiling water from the tea kettle into the tub and mix with some tap water. You put your stung foot into the tub for half and hour until pain is gone. They add boiling water occasionally to keep the water as hot as you can stand - works like magic!
Oceanman58 (Los Alamitos) on 08/10/2016
Thank you for your help in many different areas. Do you have a category or have you thought of one for people who are prone to flea bites?. I would love love love to find a combination of foods to eat that would change my system enough to keep those horrible fleas from biting. Garlic by itself doesn't work.. Brewers Yeast by itself doesn't work..Not eating sweets by itself doesn't work. I battle these fleas every year from walking my dog and if anyone has found a dietary system that changes one chemistry enough to not get bit, it would be a godsend... Thank you for considering this category...
Oceanman58 (Los Alamitos) on 08/10/2016
