Crazy reaction to mosquito bites?

[Ann15]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this question, but I'm not sure where else to put it. My 3-year-old DS seems to react much worse to mosquito bites than normal. We've had a really rainy summer and they are everywhere. I think a mosquito got into DS's room the other night because yesterday morning he had a cluster of huge knotty bites on his ankle (he also slept really poorly, so I'm guessing the getting bitten was the reason). He was walking and running normally and didn't complain about pain or itching, although I saw him rubbing his ankle against the rug to scratch a couple of times. So I wasn't too concerned, but today the bites are smaller and his whole ankle is just puffy. I gave him some Benadryl and tried icing it for a while to see if that would help. I think it's gone down a bit, but I'm just wondering if anyone else has seen this.
If it's still bad tomorrow I will take him to the doctor, I just don't want to be too alarmist when he seems perfectly fine otherwise. He is starting to get annoyed when I keep checking it and asking if it hurts, itches, etc.
Any experiences with this or advice?

[kjbrown92]

My daughter is the same way. They get huge, hot and red. And they send her to my bed at night because they itch. One thing that really helps the itching for us, and seems to make the swelling go down faster (than doing nothing) is putting bentonite clay on the bites. I also give her benadryl at night to help with the reaction and to help her sleep (and not scratch it all night long) if she has a few of them.

[Limabean1975]

The same thing happens to me, and also to my 4.5 year old DS. It does not happen with every bite, but quite frequently. Both of us have had facial swelling large enough to distort our features; limb swellings as big as a tennis ball or more. I have had bites that ooze pus - LOTS of pus.

Doctors have told me some people just react like that - it may be to a bacteria on the skin that enters with the bite, or it may be to something the mosquito carries.

[Limabean1975]

Just wanted to add - for treatment we use ice packs, benadryl if it's making us miserable, and of course anti-itch remedies on the skin.

[Joyster]

Happened to my DS1 at school one day last year. The first few bites of the year usually make a huge show of swelling and then they go to being normal skeeter bites. The first time though, he got a bite above his eye and the whole eye puffed up til it was just about shut. I treated it with Benadryl and it was back down in a few hours and normal the next day.

[Ann15]

Thanks for your quick responses, mamas! It's reassuring to know he's not alone.

[StephandOwen]

DS got bit bad this last weekend while visiting his grandpa. While my dad and I were setting up the tent (ds wanted to camp in the backyard) ds decided to come out and watch. Not a good idea. The next day we counted 12 huge knots on his head from mosquito bites (I had just shaved his head too so he had almost no hair and the knots were very visible). Only one of them really bothered him bad (it was right above his eye) so I put some benedryl cream on a bandaid and put that over the bite. By the next day it was much better. He got the bites Saturday night. Today (Tuesday night) they are still a little swollen but not nearly as bad as they were before.

[tanyalynn]

I've seen changes in myself and the kids wrt insect bites, it's mostly mosquitoes and fire ants where we live. At least for us, I think it's largely a question of detoxification--how difficult is it for our bodies to get rid of the injected toxin from the insect. I react a lot less to bug bites than I used to, my son is improving too--this is the health issue I've been working on for us for a couple years now.

As a short-term thing, when DS got 50 fire ant bites on his hand/forearm a year or so ago, lots and lots of vitamin C and homeopathic ledum helped a lot--they looked horrible, but other than sleeping somewhat restlessly the first night, he didn't seem bothered by them. For anyone who hasn't had a fire ant bite--my first ones, 6 or 8 years ago, made my foot hurt so much that I couldn't wear shoes for a couple days, and I had a pussy, itchy sore for about 6 weeks. I react a lot less to them now.

I haven't played with other nutrients that may be involved, mag and B vitamins and zinc and such may be involved, I give them to the kids regularly and along with the other health stuff I've been working on with them, I think it's why the kids' reactions to bug bites seem to be improving over time.

[MidnightCommando]

Your son is definitely not alone! I have lived with hypersensitivity to almost any insect venom for my whole life and looks my my DD (3) has inherited it. Mosquito, ant, fly, etc bites turn into large welts and itch for days and days. We went camping this weekend and DD got bit by something in the middle of her forehead, now the swelling looks like it's draining down and the bridge of her nose and inner eyes is swollen and puffy

Aside from preventative measures (long sleeves, bug spray) when your son gets bit there are a few things that I've found that help. Benadryl for bad reactions or if he cannot sleep (Dr. Sears website has proper dosing instructions for children under 6). There are a few different types of anti-itch medications that you can find OTC and different ones seem to work on different types of bites. Benadryl makes a spray, there are 'skeeter' sticks with various ingredients (usually benzocaine or isopropyl alcohol). If somewhere around you carries Bioron prodcuts, Apis helps as does their bite cream. A PP mentioned Ledum and it works best when given in the first 4 hours after incident.

Not to scare you but keep an eye if he gets stung by bees/wasps. Those with reactions to mosquitos and other insects have a larger chance of developing a severe allergy to wasps. I have this and carry an ephipen around at all times. I am hoping that DD does not get this. As with any allergy, you need repeated exposure to develop the reactions but keep a close eye if your guy ever gets stung.

HTH

[mwherbs]

I have a couple comments- I live in the SW and regionally we have bugs that bite at night and the bite looks like a mosquito bite but it is firmer and takes a long time to go away- conenose bugs they can hide between the bed and frame or in papers/books around a bed and between the mattress and box springs- so you can look see if you have such a critter
the other thing is as a baby I use to get giant hives from mosquito bites and as I got older the reaction was not as dramatic but was still different than other people's reaction to mosquito bites- any how about 20 years ago I discovered I had gluten intolerance and since I adopted a gluten free diet mosquito bites are normal - and go away very quickly -- so it is something to consider - is there something irritating the immune system already increasing reaction --

[meemee]

my dd till she was 5 was hugely allergic to mosquito bites. but only for a certain time. like the first 2 - 3 weeks of the season and then she wouldnt react at all.

during those weeks i put a paste of baking soda on her bites. the bites would take a couple of weeks to come down and the bruise would take another couple of weeks to disappear.

i also doubled the amount of garlic we ate.

[JaneS]

I think this is a deficiency of the nutrients which clear histamine from the body as Tanya suggested.

For us, the whole food vitamin C complex (not chemical ascorbic acid or sodium ascorbate) has been the key: from camu, acerola or amla.

[provocativa]

yes, I agree with Jane that it cna be an underlying histamine issue and wanted to add that exposure to another allergen can create and elevated histamine reaction. Off dairy and wheat oru bites go away faster because dairy and wheat lower our liver function. The vitamin C histamine clearing links are easy to research, if anyone is in the mood to click around.