Anyone else been bitten by a horse fly?

[Rueysmum]

Yes, millions of times, as I'm so old. They're very itchy, but nothing to get too upset about unless you manage to infect them by scratching with dirty finger nails......(insert shocked smiley here).

Just one of life's occupational hazards, along with dogs' paws feet, molasses ingrained fingers, infusion of horse pee hair and excruciatingly painful scalpel necessitated thumb abcess excisions carried out by the duty doctor, accompanied by incredulous exclamations as to how this monstrosity came about.

All caused in actual fact by thistles in the hay. Rather they were in my thumb than in my horse's throat. Cost me about £1000 last time for the horse but merely a lifetime's NHS contributions for myself. Actually, compared to thumb abcesses, horse fly bites are a mere walk in the park.

 

[LollyDolly]

unless you manage to infect them by scratching with dirty finger nails......(insert shocked smiley here).

This isn't always the case, as you can see on my earlier image the spurn of the horsefly was still left in my leg (the black dot at the centre of the infection) and this was what caused a lot of the problems. The spurn combined with the bite caused a massive internal infection resulting in severe blood posioning, it was nothing to do with me scratching it. In fact I didn't scratch it once, it was far too painful to even walk let alone scratch!

 

[mandyroberts]

I thought it was just me. I take anti-histimeine the whole time in case I get bitten. My worst measured 10" across and I had to sit with my leg up for 2 days because walking was so painful, and 10 days on steroids to reduce swelling.

 

[Rueysmum]

This isn't always the case, as you can see on my earlier image the spurn of the horsefly was still left in my leg (the black dot at the centre of the infection) and this was what caused a lot of the problems. The spurn combined with the bite caused a massive internal infection resulting in severe blood posioning, it was nothing to do with me scratching it. In fact I didn't scratch it once, it was far too painful to even walk let alone scratch!

If my eyesight were better I might be able to detect the black dot at the centre of the infection, but sadly, my age and accompanying myopia prevent me from availing myself of this advantage. I'm afraid I just resort to scratching and hoping that it won't end up killing me. If my afflicted body part did swell up to epic proportions, I would however, call an ambulance.

 

[Littlelegs]

Lollydollys leg-wow!
Despite the fact I am a magnet for them- they leave the horse & aim for me, they never swell much. 50p size usually. But I do scratch them madly in my sleep. And have hot poulticed with animalintex when I've infected them. Think it must be my blood is tasty, all biting insects love me.