Bites

[ladyofastolat]

Is anyone wise in the ways of insect bites? I know I could Google this, but reputable health sites tend to say "if in doubt, see your doctor," and other sort of sites tend to say, "OMG! You're DYING!" so I prefer to start with the wisdom of the real, sensible people who live in my LJ.



I picked up half a dozen insect bites in Capri. They did nothing out of the ordinary - i.e. they turned into small swollen white lumps which itched like crazy for 2 or 3 days, then slowly faded to pink. However, nearly 2 weeks later, two of them suddenly decided to come back for a second round, this time as battalions. First the site of the initial bite was surrounded by a perfect circle of what looked almost like new bites, although they had no puncture mark. Then the gaps filled in, so now I've got swollen, pinky-yellow lumps over two inches across. Now the other original bites are starting to do the same.

Is this normal? Should I just be patient, and continue to treat with antihistamine, and trust that they will go away in time? Or are they likely to spread even more, unless I take action?

Comments

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

If it were me, I would go to a pharmacist on Monday. Whatever it is, I hope it gets better soon!

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

There's a chemist a couple of minutes' walk from work, so I'll pop in tomorrow. Thanks!

[leesa_perrie]

Not an expert by any means, but I'd go to the chemists and ask to see a pharmacist. They're pretty good with this sort of thing and can advise if you should see a doctor or not. Either that, or phone your surgery and ask for a call back?

If you want an answer today, you could try the NHS healthline (whatever its called these days). They can be slow getting back to you, but they could offer some advice. Or there's the walk-in centre option if you have one nearby (not everyone does, though).

I wouldn't leave it, it sounds to me like it should be seen by someone - though tomorrow would probably be fine.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I'll try the chemist's tomorrow. There's one very near work, so it's easy enough to pop out. To be honest, I hadn't thought of trying a chemist. I once asked a pharmacist about a rash I periodically get on my hand (teeny pin-prick blisters on my fingers) and she reacted in a "why on earth are you asking ME? How should I know?" sort of way, which made me think I was wrong to assume that pharmacists might know that sort of thing. But I'll try tomorrow.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

It is worth asking to speak to the pharmacist, rather than random person behind the counter.

[squonk79.livejournal.com]

I know you're seeing your pharmacist about the bites - and you should! - but the rash you get on your hands sounds like pompholyx, a type of hand eczema. I get it from time to time, tiny little blisters that itch like crazy. Took an age to get a diagnosis, GPs were clueless but a specialist i was seeing for something else entirely spotted it right off.

[pellegrina.livejournal.com]

It's been years since a pharmacist offered me any opinion that wasn't so couched in "talk to your GP" as to be useless, so I'd try the GP. (I only ever had mosquito bites in Italy, and none of them behaved like that!)

[bunn.livejournal.com]

2 inches and two weeks afterwards does sound quite big and late. If it were me, I'd get it looked at - particularly after my ridiculous infected eczema thing last year, which was entirely down to assuming that a 2-inch itchy patch couldn't possibly be anything major...

You feel such a wally being threatened with hospital for something like that! And the thousand giant orange pills full of Science are not much fun, although admittedly much preferable to swelling up and turning manky.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I'll try the pharmacist tomorrow. I have to say, though, that if doctors said such things as "I am giving you a thousand orange pills full of Science!" I'd be much more likely to go to them. :-D

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I bet doctors would *like* to say things like that more often. Telling people to lose weight, stop smoking and eat more vegetables must get very tedious.

Incidentally, this is a perfect opportunity for my Wonderous Radish icon, which gets few outings.

[chainmailmaiden]

No it's not normal and yes you do need to get someone to check them out. If you don't want to see a doctor straight away, the advice of going to see a pharmacist is good. If it was me though I'd head straight to the doctor. I've had bites get infected in the past and they can get very nasty indeed if you do nothing about them.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I thought you'd know. :-) I'll try the pharmacist tomorrow; it's only a couple of minutes' walk from work. They share a building with the doctors, so I can go on and make an appointment if they advise me to. Given that I've now got 5 bites all behaving the same way - although on a different timescale - I wouldn't have thought it was an infection, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Pesky Italian insects!

[meglorien.livejournal.com]

I don't recognise the pattern you describe, but when we visited Italy, just normal mosquito bites caused huge red circles. And by huge I mean picture the size of your palm.

I hope it's not an infection and that you're well taken care of.

[mific.livejournal.com]

Doesn't sound good. With the delayed worsening it's probably either an infection or you've now become allergic to something in the bite. (Allergies don't develop the very 1st time we encounter something, but on later exposure). Either way, I reckon it's see-a-doctor time.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

How are you now?