- I just woke up with it, then next day bigger - now a bicep boob. Doc doesn't know what it is (no surprise there then) he just wanted to discuss smear tests, why so many x-rays. so many letters from consultants, do I smoke, why haven't I been back, no thyroid test for a year - sigh....
anyway I never EVER get bitten - hubby does 'tho (esp mosquitoes) but this has surprised even him! Took an anti-histamine, told to come back if red lines appeared (blood poisoning) is it a low immune reaction? J x
Wow, looks painful. Horsefly bite? Lot of them around at the moment.
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Didn't see any horseflies about so I thought it could've been a mossie,- can't you tell straight away when they bite or are they stealth too? also bit on stomach and 1 appeared on neck this morning grr! J x
Ouch! Mozzies are definitely stealth biters, often at night, and it's possible to get a bad reaction to the bites. (I've had them that "come up like dinner plates" as a friend of mine puts it, but never anything that looks as swollen and tender as yours. Rubbing ice on it may help. (The bite, not the mozzie! ) You mentioned mattresses but it doesn't look like a bed bug's had at you (they tend to be smaller, grouped "breakfast, lunch and dinner" bites).
My first thought was horsefly too. They are the only ones for me that get that big and I had one in the house in all this warm weather - never seen that before (horsefly not weather - although.....)
Last time I had a bite that big it was a face boob! Be thankful it got our arm!
I was bitten by a spider ( think that was what it was, i never saw it) last week, it was SO painful, it hurt like mad as soon as it happened and the finger that was bitten was really swollen and very painful for a couple I'd days. I made a Germolene poultice for it and eventually it recovered but it was nothing like as bad as yours looks.
I agree with the others bed bugs and I think cat fleas too leave a cluster of bites so it probably isn't that and you would probably have noticed a horsefly flying. I knew that whatever bit me was living in the plant I was tying back.
I have been bit like that before. Mark the edges with a pen and check in an hour. You will find the red has gone past the pen marks and you need to see your gp pronto for antibiotics. I got one on the side of my knee 2 years ago and couldn't walk properly for 2 weeks!!
Watch for any spreading and "fingers" or "trails" going towards the arm pit (ie the infection would go to the heart and be spread round the body). I was bitten on the thigh by some random insect and very soon had a little red line going towards my groin. I got very strong antibiotics from the doc to kill it.
I daren't think about what is hiding in old mattresses. When at uni they had an infestation of bed bugs, but the bites were nothing like your picture.
I really think you ought to go and see another Doctor or call in at your local A & E asap, because that looks infected to me and you can`t be too careful. Better to be safe than sorry!!!
Thanks both, all calm now (see reply below) I think the thought of bed bugs is the worst, yuk!
urgh, you have my sympathy. I react to horsefly bites in a similar way but without the redness. Good luck with it.
I read this post in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep and subsequently had a dream that all my thyroid problems boiled down to an infected insect bite on the bottom of my foot!! *sigh*
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sorry about that, I feel guilty! J x
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No need! It was one of those nights with really high humidity and restlessness. It did amuse me when I woke up and realised where the link had come from Mx
Thank you lovely guys for your replies and suggestions, I was a bit worried as flies/bugs don't usually find me tasty! (sorry if I worried others and caused nightmares) - it's calmed down today just turning into bruising round the edges - will keep an eye on it tho' - and still none the wiser on the culprit! (I'm thinking spider, as I did see them) J x
vinigar works ,it takes some of the sting away, i use it for mossies gnats..Bathing it in warm salt water ,a flat tea spoon to an 8 oz beaker full keeps it clean and soothes it too .Be carefull not to pop it .
I would have gone to doctors with that for antibiotics.I am one of those sad ones that get bit all the time.
However i would go doctors straight away if i knew it was a spider bite
as i saw a woman on TV whos arm was massive and her flesh was
splitting as though it was melting off. all through a spider bite,
Glad to hear your bite is getting better - it was a whopper wasn't it!
My husband is ultra sensitive to mozzie / midge bites and although it is mean of me that suits me fine because I once read that the perfect way to avoid insect bites was to stand near someone who is more sensitive than you are. Well I married him - husband was not amused when I told him that but I must say it has worked for the 40 years that we have been married - up until the little whatever it was - and I am sure it was a spider - bit me last week.
Looked really painful. Used to get bitten to pieces by gnats/mozzies when we lived near the River Medway in Kent (something to do with one of the small islands being a breeding ground for them) and my husband laying next to me was not touched. Do seem to be better since I have been taking a B complex though. Also find that Jungle Formula works brilliantly when abroad.
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