Itchy insect bites

[ayjay]

I've got a couple of ways of dealing with bites when they get itchy, anti-histamine cream is the obvious one, but washing soda will also work (it was easier when you could still buy proper soda crystals - not the dust they sell now).

 

A couple of weeks ago, someone on another forum suggested an idea which seemed bizarre, there's no obvious reason reason why it should work.

 

i tried it, it worked - today , the wife was complaining of an itchy bite on her arm - I tried it on her, it worked, but I still have no idea why.

 

I suppose I'd better spill the beans and tell you what it is - if anyone can suggest why it should work I'd love to know.

 

Take a roll of sellotape, preferably about 20mm wide, cut off 20mm and you should now have a 20mm square of sellotape - put it on the bite - that's it, that's all.

 

 

[chesters1]

Weird ,as you say!

Hopefully its not a tick bite ,keep an eye out for a bulls eye mark appearing but its not always presnt

Edited September 9, 2016 by chesters1

[Ken L]

Presumably, the unmyelinated nerve fibres that generate itch sensations are busy sending signals to the brain so it can try to work out what the sensations are coming from he patch of tape (Has a really big hornet just landed on me?) and can't send itch signals at the same time.

Capsaicin based pain relieving creams and sprays exploit a similar idea by getting those same nerve fibres to generate heat signals which reduce the main nerve's capacity to send pain signals.

Just conjecture of course, but it's a fair guess.

[chesters1]

Warning dont use the capsaicin cream on itchy ring pieces ,truthfully they work also by over stimulating the nerves so they get fed up complaining.

My mrs was prescribed a tube but it didnt work much

[ayjay]

I don't seem to get bothered with ticks, despite bimbling around for the last 20 years in the New Forest, often through chest high bracken and clad only in shorts and T shirt I've had just the oneTick attach itself to me and that was when I was fishing, sitting in the grass leaning against a grass bank behind me.

 

That was quite amusing at the time, I felt something on my back in the shower the next morning, at that time I was working in Swanage which involved racing for the 7.40 Sandbanks ferry, I had to leave home ten minutes before my usual time which made every morning a rush. I got the wife to look at it, but time being short she couldn't see what it was. I got to work and asked the young plasterer to take a look, he looked at it and said:- " I don't know what it is, but it's got F***ing legs". That remains a favourite phrase with me to this day.

 

Presumably, the unmyelinated nerve fibres that generate itch sensations are busy sending signals to the brain so it can try to work out what the sensations are coming from he patch of tape (Has a really big hornet just landed on me?) and can't send itch signals at the same time.

Capsaicin based pain relieving creams and sprays exploit a similar idea by getting those same nerve fibres to generate heat signals which reduce the main nerve's capacity to send pain signals.

Just conjecture of course, but it's a fair guess.

 

It's reasonable to assume that it must be something nerve based, but, while I can feel the sellotape on there for a fair while, or at least I'm aware that it's there, it depends to some extent how much body hair is at the spot how much you can feel the sellotape, on smooth hairless skin it's quite quickly forgotten, but the relief remains, and I'm sure that after a couple of hours I'd have forgotten about the hornet, which could just as easily have been a butterfly.

 

I've got plenty of Capsaicin cream, (the wife had it for post-herpetic neuralgia but stopped using it as the fumes made her cough which was counter productive when it came to relieving the neuralgia pain), I don't think I'd risk using it on an insect bite though.

 

[Ken L]

Warning dont use the capsaicin cream on itchy ring pieces ,truthfully they work also by over stimulating the nerves so they get fed up complaining.

My mrs was prescribed a tube but it didnt work much

 

Vicks Vapo-Rub on the old chap is "interesting" - and running it under the tap doesn't work because it's waterproof....

[snakey1]

 

Vicks Vapo-Rub on the old chap is "interesting" - and running it under the tap doesn't work because it's waterproof....

As is handling anything after slicing and dicing superhot chillies without wearing gloves, the worst I've suffered is putting contact lenses in after doing the above despite having scrubbed the hands at least 4 times with various cleaning products, capsaicin is a real sod to remove from skin.

[chesters1]

 

Vicks Vapo-Rub on the old chap is "interesting" - and running it under the tap doesn't work because it's waterproof....

LOL but it would help the mrs breath more easily

[Phone]

ajay,

 

Don't know why but nail polish does the same. If you are modest use clear.

Carp love Capsaicin as an attractant. No food value.

 

DON'T mix n-butyric acid and capsaicin. (from experience, especially if you are going to pee in the next 3 or 4 days)

 

Phone

[ayjay]

ajay,

 

Don't know why but nail polish does the same. If you are modest use clear.

 

I'm not going to pry into your private life Phone, but I have sellotape readily available.