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

[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!