Solutions

 When it is hot, I do not want much to eat. But, when I am hungry, I do not want to cook. Plus, I was having a reaction to med that upset my stomach. So, what did I do? Spend money I should not.

In the meantime, mosquitoes are getting in somewhere. I was puzzled and horrified. I sat up after sleeping and a cloud of mosquitoes rose up from my sheet-covered body. Plus, fleas attacked me. Fleas attack me all the time! All this leads to uncontrolled itching and scratching. I was still bloodying my legs with toenails, scratching in my sleep or just when I itch. I was a mess. This has been going on for at least two months this year.

I have bad reactions to bites!

Putting Vicks Vaporub on itchy places no longer works as there are too many bites. I can have one mosquito bite on my arm and end up a bloody mess. My sheets are bloody , too! I tried Chiggerex with 10% Benzocaine. Initially, it worked. Well, it still did, just not as strong as I needed. However, it does work very fast.

Finally, I called my allergist, requesting something strong for the itches. He called me and talked for 20 minutes. He suggested Benadryl cream which I do have. I have too much itchiness from bites.  Besides, I have tried the Benadryl cream and it is not sufficient. I won't take Benadryl tablets because it makes me too sleepy and out of it.

Surprisingly, he suggested Zyrtex and Allegra. I take Zyrtec and did not realize it would help with itching bites. Since I take one and have not noticed any relief from itching and am not drowsy at all, He told me to take two each day, one at a time twelve hours apart.

Plus, I am using, at his suggestion Gold Bond cream with 4 % lidocaine. It is a miracle. After one day, the sores on my legs and ankles and arms and hands are no longer messy looking. I don't rub it in much, just sort of glob it there, so I have a white film on the many bites and the scabs. However, it does not bother me, and it is better than the messy, bloody scabbed skin I had before. It is in a bottle with screw-on top and a tiny pinhole to squirt it out. It is neat and I don't have to poke my finger in a pot of cream as with the Chiggerex.

Other than for the looks of my skin, this has lowered the possibility of infections--two good things. The infected sores have since lost their angry look. They are practically unnoticeable now.

If anyone is having problems with itchy bites and scratching, everything I used worked. But, since there were so many, only the Gold Bond has has met the test and passed.  I think that is because there are so many bites. The other things worked for a few bites.

This has not been a frugal journey. However, most of the solutions have only been around $7. Being hot and itchy has been miserable. Plus, I broke out in hives at one point. The hives went away before I got the Chiggerex and Gold Bond cream. Gold Bond that I purchased can be used for sunburn, cuts and scrapes.

When I was a child and scraped myself, the only thing my mother used was mercurochrome.  And, it stung so badly! I hated it turned my skin orange. Mercurochrome and calamine lotion were all we had for skin boo boos. I don't recall using anything other than calamine lotion for itches.  Right now, I have my own little pharmacy of itch creams and antibiotic creams!

I remember sitting looking at the mercurochrome bottle and learning to spell the name long before I should have learned to spell a word that long.

This has been expensive. But, Zyrtec from Sam's Club costs $16 for 640 capsules. That last for two years. So, exbf will get me a package of those before he comes up. We checked prices, and this is the cheapest place per pill. When he worked at Sam's, he always bought this for me, cheaper than WM or other places.

The hot spoon and cold spoon thing does not work on this many bites, I would take about 80 minutes to heat or cool bites on my body. I got to itchy to continue.

Okay, I solved the mosquito problem, where they came from.

What works for you when you have a bite that itches forever and scratching it makes it worse? Do you ever bloody yourself scratching? Have you tried Chiggerex or Gold Bond with lidocaine? Did anyone ever get mercurochrome dabbed on your cuts and scrapes by your mother? Or Calamine lotion on itches?

What do you use?

Numerous flea and mosquito bites are plaguing me. I itch. I claw. I bleed.  I don't want to take Benadryl because I would be too sleepy all the time.

I have tried Benadryl cream and a hydrocortisone 10% to no avail. Finally, the pharmacist suggested Chiggerex. I still itch. In the night I use toenails on one foot to bloody the other foot.

This is not just a maddening itching and bleeding. Some places where I have dug into my skin have gotten infected. Last year, I had to get an oral antibiotic and topical antibiotic so I would not develop sepsis in the open sores that had become red and swollen two inches across beyond the smaller edge.

What do you use for itch that is otc? If you use a prescription for itches, I can get that prescribed.

One particular itch was between my toenail and first joint. Chiggerex barely eased the itch at all.

Monday, I can get a prescription, but Sunday, I can get an otc. This anti-itch does not have to be an anti-itch application. I use Vicks Vaporub to stop itch, but I have so many bites so close together that I need something stronger. I won't use anything with ammonia because I am allergic/sensitive to ammonia and won't be able to breathe. My lungs will become congested.

Today, it was 94 F at 4 pm. Monday, I have to start the process of buying a new ac. It's too hot for the crockpot, and no, I cannot put it outdoors.

Right outside the backdoor, there is a wasp nest. Someone offered to knock it off. No, they would just want to sting me. And, I am allergic! So, I have to buy wasp spray.  It's always something!

Your turn
Remedies for itch that does not involve oils or something exotic? I don't care it is weird right now. I don't need advice on getting rid of mosquitoes and fleas. Well, Anne, I forgot about the branches of hickory trees, but I will get those tomorrow. I hope no one sees the limbs and thinks I am a little crazy.