Mosquitoes

[Lurcher-lady]

Something has just dawned on me.....since starting on B12 injections over 12 months ago I haven’t had one mosquito bite. Is there a recognised connection I wonder? I used to be the one on group holidays who was always covered in mozzy bites 🤔

[Foggyme Administrator]

Lurched-lady...No idea but...someone posted a question about insect bites a couple of days ago.

Take a peek here: healthunlocked.com/pasoc/po...

👍

[Lurcher-lady in reply to Foggyme]

Oh thanks Foggyme I’ll go have a look. I’ve spent all lockdown and up to now outdoors when weather allows and only just realised I’ve been bite free.

[Nackapan]

The opposite was said by someone recently.

I'm still getting bitten but not as badly as not been in the usual fields I used to walk in.

That would be a bonus if lots of b12 in our blood put them off 😎

[Lurcher-lady in reply to Nackapan]

I’ve just not had one bite.......not complaining lol, it’s just unusual 😂

[FaermundMyrna]

Oh my god- you're right! The last two summers I was COVERED in mosquito bites, it was horrible, and I simply didn't understand why (I never used to get this problem)...I went for a blood test a few weeks ago and I'm folate deficient so I've been taking tablets and I haven't been bitten once this year.

[Emmers5]

In the Midwest lots of fishermen take B12 tablets to discourage mosquitos. Although I haven't noticed any relief for myself. Oddly, my son who was just diagnosed b12 deficient never gets mosquito bites.

[pitney]

someone once told me that they had not been bitten since eating garlic, I don"t know if its fact or fiction though

[Midnight_Voice in reply to pitney]

That’s vampires.

[pitney in reply to Midnight_Voice]

Yes but they only come out after dark

[Ritchie1268]

My partner has always been bitten over the years when it's warm weather, she doesn't have B12 deficiency. I used to joke it was because she had good blood & they left me alone as they don't like dodgy blood.

Since I've been SI for 18 months, during the hot weather we've had I'm covered in bites.

[Mrsyng188]

Hi, about 15 years ago, a lovely lady in Boots the chemist advised my partner to take vitamin B to help with bites. It works, going from hundreds of nasty raised bites he only has a handful. Take vitamin B daily for a week before and during holiday. Very cheap to buy, about £1 for 60, does both of us.

We tell everyone we see with nasty bites, very easy for them to remember - Vit B for Bite

[Hidden]

I read about this some years ago when the advice was to have a scraping of Marmite on your breakfast toast as you then exude a smell which wards off mossies. As two of our grandsons were mosquito magnets and liked Marmite gave it a try. No more bites. The local pharmacist then suggested using B complex vitamin pills during the mosquito season.

My wife was a real problem with them and the B complex pills cured her.

My daughter has been in B12 injections for 25 years and doesn’t get bitten. I started 5 years ago and get the occasional nip but nothing to worry about.

There has to be some benefits for having our problem, don’t you think.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

I remember being told it was brewers yeast in b vitamins that the insects don’t like but I don’t know how true that is Maybe some of our scientist can throw some light on it.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

The newspaper report I read was of a lecture in Leeds to Boots staff by a professor of pharmacy. He reckoned it was the B vitamins which cane from the processing of Brewers Yeast which Marmite is made from. We have passed this on to many of our friends and as my wife can’t stand Marmite we discussed it with our local pharmacist who said it was well known to them and to use B12 complex pills instead, it would do the same.

[Lurcher-lady]

That’s fascinating kcbrecks thanks for the info.....makes perfect sense. Funnily enough someone once described me as being like marmite.....either love her or hate her. Now I know why 😂😂

[Starfish123]

I have definitely noticed the b12 connection with insect bites. I’m usually covered with bites in the summer but if I take b12 I don’t get anywhere near as many. So far this year I’ve had one bite and it’s not as itchy as usual. I don’t have confirmed pa just low levels of b12.

[nikaoo]

This would make perfect sense! I was working at a camp in Alabama a couple summers ago and got bitten so bad by chiggers I looked like I had a skin disease on my legs. Of the hundreds of other people there no one had them as bad as me. I also complain that mosquitoes bite me a lot!

[alchemilla12]

yes it's long been known that B vitamins in general help protect against insect bites so taking a B complex supplement was always something I recommended to my husband when we went to Greece