Horsefly bites on people

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poiuytrewq

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Little experience as I've weirdly never been bitten by one!
Daughter reacts badly but the latest is really nasty. She came home from school complaining and I could see it through her jeans. It's on her thigh. It's red and hard itchy and sore. Whilst this is always what she gets it's not usually in a place she has to sit on or walk with.
Any good ways of soothing? I've found germoline cream which says local anaesthetic and for bites and stings and figured Ice and antihistamine?
 
When I get a bad one, I used very hot salt water, soak a flannel in it and place on the affected area. Seems to draw the yuk out, then apply antihistamine cream!
 
I react really badly to them and the key seems to be treating them as soon as possible. Got two when I was camping last weekend - one I noticed (and killed) the fly just as it was departing and immediately whacked some Anthisan on and the other I didn't even notice until it started itching that evening, and then Anthisan'd it. The former developed into a small red mark and was only a tiny bit itchy. The latter made my arm come up in a huge itchy lump which only went down after three or four days, despite plenty of applications of cream.

Awful things. Grrrrr.
 
There used to be a spray-on called WaspEze which I swore by, haven't been able to get it now for a while now :(

I tend to tackle it on two fronts: firstly I take an oral anti-histamine like Piriton (note: follow the recommendations on the packet if you are driving!!); and then I'll use a spray-on like Jungle Formula. If that's not available I'll use Tea Tree, Lavendar oil, or Neem.
 
I have huge reactions to horse fly bites too so I go for prevention rather than cure. It's got worse over the years. I've just started wearing what I call my "tramp clothes" at the yard! I double-up my layers because they can bite through your clothing. I bought a big man's shirt from the charity shop, along with a big pair of cream wide-leg linen trousers so they can't get through if they land on me. And liberal applications of Jungle Formula insect repellent.

If I do get bitten I swell and have side-plate sized red, hot, itchy reactions :( I don't generally feel them bite so I don't know until the next day but I always have an After Bite "pen" about.... I have them at home, in the car and at the yard. It's ammonia and I dab it on regularly and this usually calms things down within about 24 hours. If I'm lucky and do spot one on me I can start treating it straight away which can minimise my reaction. It really press me off riding once they appear. I look forward to the end of August when they disappear again. They were late this year.... usually start at the end of May.

Another tip I learned last year which seemed to help is blasting your skin with a hot hairdryer intermittently. This seems to break down the toxins in the itch and inflammation but be careful not to burn your skin! I've always used cold compresses in the past as this also calms down the itch, but the heat seems to work better for me.

And oral antihistamines too.
 
I got three last week. If I get them on my thigh they always come up really bad in a red,hard lump. My records being the size of a tea plate. It is best to wear light fabrics that don't press up against it or rub - skinny jeans are not good! Oral antihistamines and bite cream. They don't come up as bad usually on any other parts of my body (back, arms etc)
 
Be aware that these have a tendancy to turn to cellulitis (infection of the skin tissues) so if red and hot consider going to the doc's to have it checked. Assuming that it's not infected then 1%hydrocortisone cream is better than anti-histamine cream for reducing the itching etc
 
poiuytrewq said:
Little experience as I've weirdly never been bitten by one!
Daughter reacts badly but the latest is really nasty. She came home from school complaining and I could see it through her jeans. It's on her thigh. It's red and hard itchy and sore. Whilst this is always what she gets it's not usually in a place she has to sit on or walk with.
Any good ways of soothing? I've found germoline cream which says local anaesthetic and for bites and stings and figured Ice and antihistamine?
Click to expand...

I use http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zap-IT-ZA...hash=item3f7fdbb688:m:mzGXAVHDBaxKChxYsGo_IbQ
 
Thankyou all!
This is huge! It's at least side plate size and rock hard. Not sure if the germoline helped but it's still visible.
Might call in tomorrow at the chemist and get her some repellant to avoid further bites.
 
another vote for hydrocortisone cream from the chemist, I react really badly to the bites and Anthisan does nothing for me!
 
poiuytrewq said:
Thankyou all!
This is huge! It's at least side plate size and rock hard. Not sure if the germoline helped but it's still visible.
Might call in tomorrow at the chemist and get her some repellant to avoid further bites.
Click to expand...

Please do go have it looked at by a medical professional as it sounds like it may well be infected, esp if painful
 
I got 7 bites the other day in about 5 minutes at the gate of my field turning out, one through my clothes. I reacted really badly to about 4 of them and I had just about cleared up a bad reaction to one on my leg a few days before. I was taking antihistamine tablets anyway but in the end I put some Aloe Vera on them just to try and sooth them a bit as they where so red and sore. In about 12 hours they had reduced by half, stopped itching and being as painful and in about 48 more or less gone. I'm not normally one to use Aloe for stuff like that but I really needed something to just ease them a bit and it was to hand. Can't say if it will help our daughter but I was really, really surprised at how quickly they healed up as it took longer with antihistamines.
If they really start to get painful its worth a trip to the docs just in case.
 
mynutmeg said:
Please do go have it looked at by a medical professional as it sounds like it may well be infected, esp if painful
Click to expand...

Echo this. I've had to go to GP a couple of times - got anti biotics , anti histamines and anti inflammatories!
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
There used to be a spray-on called WaspEze which I swore by, haven't been able to get it now for a while now :(

I tend to tackle it on two fronts: firstly I take an oral anti-histamine like Piriton (note: follow the recommendations on the packet if you are driving!!); and then I'll use a spray-on like Jungle Formula. If that's not available I'll use Tea Tree, Lavendar oil, or Neem.
Click to expand...

Wasp eze had 2 ingredients, one of them, the anti histamine mepyramine maleate is in boots bite and sting relief cream. It comes in a yellow box.

I find that if I catch the little b@gger biting, washing it thoroughly straight away minimises the reaction (before applying the cream)
 
mynutmeg said:
Please do go have it looked at by a medical professional as it sounds like it may well be infected, esp if painful
Click to expand...

yes do, if it turns into cellulitis then it'll be even more painful and def need ABs. Poor girl! My mum and I are both prone to over reacting to things like this, insect bites, scratches from thorns, you name it.
 
Anthisan, an antihistamine (I use cetirizine, which ever unbranded one is in the £ shop), and if the pain is really bad ibuprofen. Had one last year on the top of my arm - throbbed like hell and made sleep impossible but this did the trick. The Xpell fly repellent wipes (also from the £ shop :D) seem to be doing a good job of keeping them away so far this year.
 
If you want to stop them biting and or you reacting you need to up your vitamin b1 intake you can buy tablets of b compund vitamins. They bite girls particualarly as they need the hormones to breed themselves so old folks tend not to get bitten as much or as seriously. That is not to say they wont bite for food if a nice sexually mature girl isnt available
 
Ibuprofen gel. I react horrifically to bites, horseflies usually leave welts covering my entire thigh so just 3-4 bites will leave most of my body swollen, red and rock hard. Ibuprofen is the only thing that has sorted it, I don't even bother with antihistamine creams at all now. If it is really bad then I take oral antihistamines, but ice and ibuprofen has a far better effect for me. If you can get one mixed with menthol to help cool then even better (Deep Relief uses both).
 
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