So recently I've been outside a lot, helping my dad work in the garden. I take many precautions with the sun and everything (sun hat, sunblock, umbrella), but one thing I completely overlooked was mosquito repellent! I noticed that my mosquito bites seem to be swelling more than usual, and I was wondering if the extra swelling was lupus related, since lupus in an inflammatory disease? They're not infected or anything, but I was just curious.
yeah I think so. I have that issue sometimes too. some of the bug spray burns my skin so I have to just deal with it until i have a place to go! We really should be more careful about getting bit, because they cray disesess.
Dear sunshinespraypaint,
First I have to tell you that this on screen name of yours rings a bell in my past, sounds like a Frank Zappa song or something, please tell me! LOL! Can't seem to 'reach it'!
I buy bug spray at the health food store, it not only keeps the bugs off, it soothes bites if you get them. I really smeared up the grandsons with it on the 4th for the fireworks my hub puts on for them, and no one had a single bite. I have 2 kinds, could only find the green ban. Smells horrible, works like a charm, non toxic, tested in the Australian rain forrest.
Hope this helps you! Witch hazel will help the itching!
Hugs,
SK
No it’s not from a song. It’s a Facebook thing. My friends call me sunshine and i spraypaint sunshine on their Facebook walls lol.
Hey girl, painting sunshine is a gift! More people should do it! Just seemed to ring a bell! LOL!
That’s funny because ever since I have been diagnosed, I get fewer mosquito bites, which I found peculiar, because I spend the same amount of time outdoors. I thought maybe something in my blood from Lupus was turning them off. My mosquito bites used to swell, now they itch for a day, then there gone the next day.
Hi Lark,
I just remembered that my girlfriend up on the mountain uses those plastic things, I think they are 'Off' brand repellants and you just stick them on a belt loop or on your the neck of your t-shirt! She says they really work, this way you are not smearing yourself up, and to keep the gnats off use scented dryer sheets.
Hope we are helping you!
SK
Hi! I'm new and I hope it's OK to jut dive in...great answers! I just want to relay that when I was young every kind of bite would plague me and get super infected and now, nothing does! So weird, I'm that person in the cloud of bugs with no bites, like the person up there.
Someone, I can't remember who, told me that mosquitoes will not bite you if you have been drinking tonic water. There's a tonic drink in Europe in the vending machines (San bitter) and I hate tonic water, but when I went all through Europe, I drank it everywhere. That's my only field data, but I had zero bug bites and the students I took had many problems.
So if you grow older, wear the two repellents up there and drink tonic, you should be just fine! haha!
Hello dani!
Welcome! Yes, please dive in! Feel at home! So nice to have you!
I have been allergic to bees for a long time, had a sting by a honey bee when living in CA, my arm was BAD, hurt me for years, sent me to hospital then to allergist. I barely reacted there!! I told him I could roll through all types of poison, ivy, sumac, all of it and never get it, but if stung just once was in big trouble, and asked WHY Iwasn't reacting. He says your body can change so fast, with no warning! Said the next time I was stung I could go either way, no reaction or in trouble before an ambulance could reach me. So I have epi pens everywhere. Said alot of it had to do with pesticides, that the pesticides make the stings more lethal! He went on to explain that certain B vitamins can repel bugs, so I got them took them until I was saturated, still drew bugs and bees like a magnet.
Then I went to Egypt to see the Pyramids and temples, they told us there to wear blue clothing and we would draw less bugs, to especially stay away from yellows. Well, of course you would know that many of my clothes were yellow! HA!
Now my GP told me to drink tonic water for my muscle spasms, but it makes me sick, But for those who can drink it, imagine if it helps your muscles and keeps the bugs off!!! WOW!! JACKPOT!!
Hey, thanks for the good info, dani! Maybe I need to try it again!
Hugs,
SK
I imagine the bites may trigger an allergic response. I get angioedema & hives occasionally. My husband bombed the house for fleas & I reacted to it when I came back in. Your immune system is hypersensitive with Lupus. anything like perfume, cleaning products etc can cause an allergic response
I have to be very careful of bug bites both outside, and in. I was bitten by a Kissing Bug a couple years ago, and went into anaphalactic shock that night. Very scary. Thing got into my bed!
I have noticed greater swelling from mosquito bites, and ant bites. I take allergy meds (OTC) and they make me sleep better, as well as the swelling going down more.
Wow thank you everyone for your responses! It's so great to be able to connect with all of you guys. I bought some mosquito repellent the other day, so hopefully that'll work.
Hope you all are well today, and be sure to stay cool in this nasty heat!
Hi Lark,
Bites do cause swelling more with Lupus....if i get nat bites now the size they go to is terrible plus i've noticed they do take a while to heal to what they used to do.
I don't think it matters how high we take our protection level with Lupus because there's always something which occurs no matter what.
Love Terri xxx
Hi Terri,
I was telling Lark that scented dryer sheets help keep the gnats away from you, I put them all over me on days they are bad and I want to be outside! Stick them on the kids too! Supposed to get the baby this weekend!
LOL! Ah, Tez 20! Yes, I think you have this whole thing just right.
Tez_20 said:
Hi Lark,
Bites do cause swelling more with Lupus....if i get nat bites now the size they go to is terrible plus i've noticed they do take a while to heal to what they used to do.
I don't think it matters how high we take our protection level with Lupus because there's always something which occurs no matter what.
Love Terri xxx
Hi Lark,
I think Lupus does make us more sensitive and have bigger reactions to bites and stings. I have always been a bug magnate. If anyone in the group was gonna get bit up it was me. Mosquito bites on me look like stings on other people. I sometimes get edema and bruises. The only weird exception are fire ants. I get only a small reaction and my poor husband gets lit up from them... go figure.
Oh those fire ants are just little demons! They surely did like me!
Another thing I had a problem with when I lived in St Pete were the sand fleas!!! I worked on the beach, had no pets, and would drag home sand fleas, they ate you alive, had to set off bombs in the house to get rid of them, and it made everything greasy! I did not know it the first time I used them, when I could finally come back in the house, the minute I walked into the kitchen, I slipped, grabbed my big wooden table to catch myself and pulled that down on me to boot!
So here I was, all bit up, now bruised and banged up from head to toe with this greasy stuff everywhere, it did kill them though, but this was a constant problem!! Don't miss the fire ants, fleas or the snakes, I had potted flowers outside my door that the pygmy rattlers would get in, talk about fear!!!!!!!!!!!!! The snakes were the very worst!!!! They probably heard me scream up in Maine! LOL!
Susan,
I never knew that about dryer sheets but i'd be ok going on our back with those, never mind nat bites i am heading for trouble doing that....we have alot of bees and swaps around here....mind you i could always test them on the dog as he loves wasps.lol
Good information susan but at the moment i don't fancy being stung. xxx
SK said:
Hi Terri,
I was telling Lark that scented dryer sheets help keep the gnats away from you, I put them all over me on days they are bad and I want to be outside! Stick them on the kids too! Supposed to get the baby this weekend!
Hello RJQ,
Yes i have got it right because it does'nt matter what money you spend on stuff to protect yourself...it's like lupus as always got something prepared...it's a total nightmare at times for we all. xxx
RJQ said:
LOL! Ah, Tez 20! Yes, I think you have this whole thing just right.
Tez_20 said:Hi Lark,
Bites do cause swelling more with Lupus....if i get nat bites now the size they go to is terrible plus i've noticed they do take a while to heal to what they used to do.
I don't think it matters how high we take our protection level with Lupus because there's always something which occurs no matter what.
Love Terri xxx
Thank you all for the info. I was thinking it was just me with the bugs bites.