Relief for mosquito bites

This Week In The HSI Forum

It’s that time of year again: Spend an hour or two doing yard work, barbequing, or taking a swing in the hammock and later you’re bound to have an itchy mosquito bite here and there. And it seems that mosquitoes find some folks tastier than others. An HSI member named Marken, for instance started off a Forum thread titled “Severe itching from mosquito bites, can anyone help?” with this posting:

“Every year I get eaten up regularly, so much that the bites can not even be counted! Nothing works to stop the bites, or the itching. I have tried everything but nothing brings more than very temporary relief. Anyone got any ideas?”

Marken came to the right place to ask that question. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen such a wide variety of natural treatments for one individual health problem. The postings in this thread generally fall into two categories: bite relief and mosquito repellent. And because Marken asked specifically for relief ideas, we’ll start with a quick rundown of bite relief solutions.

Margaret: “Recently I suffered some mosquito bites and I applied GSE (grapefruit seed extract) to them with very good results. Also use Hydrogen Peroxide which is effective.”

Lee: “Lavender oil will take the pain away. I used to use alcohol but the lavender oil works better. Make sure what you buy is the real stuff distilled not diluted with another oil. This is wonderful for burns as well.”

Joyce: “I have found calendula ointment works.” (Calendula is an herbal anti-inflammatory.)

Mike: “An old remedy I’ve seen used was mixing two full cups of vinegar into a warm bath. Stay in the bath for about 10 minutes and then rinse. Pat yourself dry”.

Corinne: “I have tried ice on my bites with great success. Stops the itch and reduces the swelling.”

Lucille: “I have always used 1000 mg of vitamin C for any kind of insect bites and for itchy rashes. It works good for me.”

Brandt: “We have had very good success for all types of bug bites using Lime juice. Squeezing the juice from a lime and rubbing it in is all we and the local people ever used when I was working in the tropics.”

Ari: “Tea tree oil works best if applied soon after bitten bite will be gone by next day!

Ani: “Tiger balm. If you want to stop the itch this is the way to go it’s immediate.”

The amazing thing about this list is that it’s just a partial list. So if you try all these methods and none work, just go to the “Severe itching ” thread for others that might do the job. Of course, you won’t need any of them at all if you don’t get bit in the first place. Here are four suggestions from members who offer natural ways to repel mosquitoes.

Ani: “A drop of geranium oil on forehead, wrist & toe before going to bed and I never get bothered by the blighters.”

Roz: “I eat lots of garlic and seem to never be bitten by either mosquitos or flies anymore.”

Hoss: “Try building up your Vitamin B12 reserves. Use a sublingual. If a person is going to be working in an area exposed to malaria infected mosquitoes in Mexico, the doctors will administer B12 shots daily for a couple of weeks to build up reserves. Personally, I would take a B complex along with additional B12.”

Randy: “Dr Joseph Mercola recommends a product called Buzz Away – a natural insect repellent.”

And as with the bite relief list, the four suggestions above are just a few of the total offered by HSI members who seem to have no end of methods to repel mosquitoes or to treat those itchy and annoying bites when the repellents don’t work. This is a good thread to check out if you live in an area with heavy mosquito concentrations.

Other topics on the HSI Forum this week include:

• Asthma
• Vitamin E
• Glutathione
• Foods for low thyroid
• Growing wheatgrass
• Low blood pressure