Bug bite

I got stung by an army of fire ants once and you could watch the poison move through my body as each different part began to swell. It was completely freaky!

When my tongue and throat began to swell I knew it was time to go to the doctor.

Don't mess around with allergic reations - they can be fatal!

Well, I've never been allergic to any kind of bite before, but I have had lots of swelling from mosquito bites before. I remember when I got bit and it felt just like a mosquito bite. I've just never had this much swelling before and it itchs like crazy right around the area that I was bit. If it swells up any more between now and tomorrow, I think I'll go have it looked at.

I once was been bitten and could see the poison working up my arm. For some people if the line gets to their heart they will die.

I second the doctor thing but stress not to be too worried about it.

Mud on the bite helps draw back the poinson I hear.
I have also seen people use baking soda.

fire ants. Ouch. That must have been awful.

Montana that's scary! Sounds like a spider bite. Be careful.....

Thanks Craven. I'm watching to make sure I don't see any lines traveling up my arm and so far it's just my hand that's swollen. I assume mud or baking soda at this point would be useless seeings it's been over 24 hours since I was bit.

You could be right. I didn't actually see what bit me, but it felt like a mosquito. I get a bit worried when it comes to bites because we have lots of ticks around here. We do have other spiders around, but I don't know if they're harmful or what.

Most spiders won't kill you and even the ones that can rarely do. But, the bites can go from feeling like a mosquito bite to turning your whole arm black.

I wonder if an allergy medication would help?

I know I'd be mega-dosing on the Benedryl.

Still, I have bad allergies and I'm too young to die.

I think it was one of those monster mosquitos you see once in awhile. My mother saw one buzzing around me the same time I got bit. I don't really think it's anything to worry about, but when my whole hand swelled up it made me nervous. Damn bugs!


Hey Craven, What happened to your cute paper clip?

It must be terrible having such bad allergies :-(

From the swelling I would have thought it was a horsefly, but when those sting it hurts as much as a bee sting, so I know it wasn't that.

Unless you have a serious medical reason not to do it, the medical advice on this sort of thing seems to be Benadryl asap. Your allergic reactions can get worse over time, so if you let this one go, the next one could be worse. (that's a synopsis of the lecture i got from a doc the last time i didn't hustle my butt to a walk-in asap after some bug bites - now i keep Benadryl on hand).

Is there a certain kind of Benadryl I should look for. The swelling seems to be going down a little and it doesn't itch anymore, so this is a good sign. I didn't realize it could be serious.

Thanks Beth.

I keep Benadryl around for allergic reactions as well..just the liquid plain bottle of stuff works.

Id second the spider bite thing....and that whole line travelling up your arm..oiy..thats when you must immediately drive yourself to the nearest doctor/hospital...really..been there, done that..its bad and it scares the heck out of you but, I would say if it didnt do it by now, unless it became worse it shouldnt do that.

I've got some liquid Benadryl at home, tablets at work. The Benadryl at home is for me, and the dogs (before Bailey's rabies shots, and for Cleo's motion sickness).

and spider bites, oyyyyyy. A colleague of mine ended up with cellulitis as a result of one - bad bad bad.

Is there any reason NOT to go to the doctor first thing in the morning? Too expensive? If at all possible, I think it would be worth it to do so... they may well say "it's fine", but that's what they're there for.

I'm gonna pick up some Benadryl tomorrow to keep around the house for these times. I've been constantly checking it and it hasn't gotten any worse. I think the swelling is going down some and it's not itchy anymore, so we'll see how it looks tomorrow.

Sozobe
We are kind of located in the boonies and my doctor and hospital are not that close. They are very short of doctors in these parts and I just don't want to take up their time with something that could be nothing when they could be taking that time to care for people who are really in need.

Thank you all for your concern. You're such a caring bunch ;-) I'll let you all know how it's doing tomorrow.

OK. Good luck. Sleep well.

I just heard a rather scary story* about a guy who was traveling and had heartburn and was taking the standard stuff for it (Mylanta?) and it wasn't really helping, and he was just being stoic about it and his wife made him go to the ER, and it wasn't hearBURN, it was heart problems, something with the arteries, really severe, a couple of hours away from disaster. It's not our job to decide what is a waste of the doctor's time -- it's their job to sort these things out.

Eek, that's not very reassuring going-to-sleep advice, sorry. I'm sure everything is fine. Things staying the same or getting better are always a good sign. Just, if you're in the least bit concerned, I don't think you actually need to have any compunction about going to the doctor to have it checked out.

Let us know!

*Not Snopes-ish email or friend of a friend, either -- this was a guy at a conference my hubby just went to. He's fine now, had some sort of artery-expanding surgery (it has a technical name but I'm blanking) and should be fine.