Ewww

Did I mention I've lost 12kg so far? (I think thats about 26 pounds). And
just to brag further, after an adult lifetime of high blood pressure, I now
have textbook perfect bloodpressure. Blow me down, but this moderate
excercise and sensible eating works!

One of the wonders of losing so much weight is that I can now wear clothes I
haven't worn for what seems like a lifetime (well, technically it *is* a
lifetime, the lifetime of the Yowlet, to be exact). I'm thrilled to have
discovered all thse clothes which a) are a neater fit than my fat clothes
and b) are much nicer, more colourful and happier young person clothes than
my dowdy old-woman fat clothes. I am excited!

However, life always has swings and roundabouts, and I came back from a
quick itnerstate holiday with nasty bites all over my legs. I suspect bed
bugs, but otehr people say sandflies. I don't know. All I know is that my
legs are smothered in red, incredibly itchy bites and have been like that
since the last day of my holiday, 11 days ago. Besides not being able to
sleep well ebcause of the incessant itch, I have been unable to wear long
pants because any slight brush against the legs makes them all fire into an
itching frenzy again. Alas, long parts is part of the safety requirements at
work, and so I have been confined to my office (with special dispensation to
come on site) whilst wearing clothing exposing my bare
white-with-bright-red-splotches legs.

Short pants aren't terribly proffesional looking, even if they're far more
comfortable than a skirt. Slumming in my office all day is fine, but today I
had a meeting and thought that if I had to show leg, then I would do so with
an above-the-knee skirt.

And I had just hte one! Found in the pile of 'I'm too fat for this now' at
the bottom of my wardrobe was my favourite summer light weight, quick
drying, no-ironing skirts. And due to the weight losss, it fitted. I was
delighted. I put it on, and raced off to work.

There was a smell of burning rubber in the way to work. Not too unusual with
idiots on the road.

And the same smell was there when I got out of the car. Weird.

And I kept getting wafts of it whilst I sat and typed up the report.

And then it dawned it me: it wasn't actually burnt rubber smell, it was more
like stale cat pee smell.

Knowing that it was a quick-dry skirt, I went to the ladies and plunged it
into a sink of water.

You know what the colour of that water was.

Ewwwww.

Who else smelt it? I dread to think.

I am now sitting here, wearing a wet skirt, but at least I don't smell of an
old litter box now.

And it means that SomeCat had, at one point, used all my 'thin' clothes as a
convenient litterbox. And they will *all* need a jolly good wash before I
can enjoy wearing any of them again. This is my punishment for losing weight
and ruining the Somecat's soft, squidgee lap cushions.

I don't know for sure, of course, because it could be one of 5 felines, but
I am kinda hoping in a way that it was Shmogg who was the SomeCat.

Because then, even 4 years later, I can say "B*st*rd C*t" and mean it.

B*st*rd C*t

Yowie

"Yowie" wrote in message ...

Did I mention I've lost 12kg so far? (I think thats about 26 pounds). And
just to brag further, after an adult lifetime of high blood pressure, I now
have textbook perfect bloodpressure. Blow me down, but this moderate
excercise and sensible eating works!

One of the wonders of losing so much weight is that I can now wear clothes I
haven't worn for what seems like a lifetime (well, technically it *is* a
lifetime, the lifetime of the Yowlet, to be exact). I'm thrilled to have
discovered all thse clothes which a) are a neater fit than my fat clothes
and b) are much nicer, more colourful and happier young person clothes than
my dowdy old-woman fat clothes. I am excited!

However, life always has swings and roundabouts, and I came back from a
quick itnerstate holiday with nasty bites all over my legs. I suspect bed
bugs, but otehr people say sandflies. I don't know. All I know is that my
legs are smothered in red, incredibly itchy bites and have been like that
since the last day of my holiday, 11 days ago. Besides not being able to
sleep well ebcause of the incessant itch, I have been unable to wear long
pants because any slight brush against the legs makes them all fire into an
itching frenzy again. Alas, long parts is part of the safety requirements at
work, and so I have been confined to my office (with special dispensation to
come on site) whilst wearing clothing exposing my bare
white-with-bright-red-splotches legs.

snip
Yowie

- - - - - - - - - - -

Congratulations on the weight loss! I know how hard that is.

If you really think those are bed bugs, I strongly suggest that you have
someone knowledgeable (not just friends) check it out. The reason is that
the little critters are well known to hitch hike on luggage, clothing, etc.
You would want to take immediate action to eradicate them if these are bed
bug bites. Fortunately, I do not have any experience with them, but I do
know that they can be extremely difficult to destroy.

MaryL

In ,
MaryL typed:

snip

If you really think those are bed bugs, I strongly suggest that you
have someone knowledgeable (not just friends) check it out. The
reason is that the little critters are well known to hitch hike on
luggage, clothing, etc. You would want to take immediate action to
eradicate them if these are bed bug bites. Fortunately, I do not
have any experience with them, but I do know that they can be
extremely difficult to destroy.

The doctors that I saw (have seen 2, one on the first day back, and one
yesterday) can only ID them as 'insect bites'. The rest remains
circumstantial evidence: I didn't have any sign of bites when I went to bed
in the hotel room, but I had around 179 bites mainly on my legs but also on
my arms, and a few on my torso and neck when I woke up. The first few
started behind my right knee at about 2am. They are definitely not flea or
mosquito bites, as I react quite differently to them. I doubt that they are
sandflies (a known probem in the area I visited) because they came up more
than 24 hours after the last possible exposure I would have had to that many
sandflies, and again, my reaction to the last time I got eaten by sandflies
was almost immediate and was gone within 24 hours. Cary was with me the
whole time we went fishing - which is where the sandflies were - and wasn't
touched (thank Bast) but tends to get bitten by other insects about as much
as me. We slept in different beds at the hotel, though. I'm up to 11 days
after beign bitten and whilst the height of them has dropped, the red has
spread out. There's no change in itch levels. They match the description of
bed bug bites on the internet sites I visited. Hotel beds are prone to such
things, even if I didn't see any evidence of bed bugs in the bed itself. The
hotel was aghast when I reported it, they offered my miney back immediately
and apologised profusely. It was a nice hotel, too!.

As to them hitchiking, I left *all* luggage in the car and left it there
until we had a full sunny day, knowing the interior of the car woudl reach
well over 45C and any hitchikers would die in the car. The only thing we
brought in from the trip was our clothes, and we both went straight to the
bathroom, stripped off and showered. The clothes were immediatley put in the
washing machine and washed on a hot cycle, and then put in the dryer to dry.
I've not had any fresh bites, thank Bast.

And thankfully, I can no longer smell burning rubber from my skirt, either.

Yowie

"Yowie" wrote in message
...
Did I mention I've lost 12kg so far? (I think thats about 26 pounds). And
just to brag further, after an adult lifetime of high blood pressure, I
now have textbook perfect bloodpressure. Blow me down, but this moderate
excercise and sensible eating works!

One of the wonders of losing so much weight is that I can now wear clothes
I haven't worn for what seems like a lifetime (well, technically it *is* a
lifetime, the lifetime of the Yowlet, to be exact). I'm thrilled to have
discovered all thse clothes which a) are a neater fit than my fat clothes
and b) are much nicer, more colourful and happier young person clothes
than my dowdy old-woman fat clothes. I am excited!

However, life always has swings and roundabouts, and I came back from a
quick itnerstate holiday with nasty bites all over my legs. I suspect bed
bugs, but otehr people say sandflies. I don't know. All I know is that my
legs are smothered in red, incredibly itchy bites and have been like that
since the last day of my holiday, 11 days ago. Besides not being able to
sleep well ebcause of the incessant itch, I have been unable to wear long
pants because any slight brush against the legs makes them all fire into
an itching frenzy again. Alas, long parts is part of the safety
requirements at work, and so I have been confined to my office (with
special dispensation to come on site) whilst wearing clothing exposing my
bare white-with-bright-red-splotches legs.

Short pants aren't terribly proffesional looking, even if they're far more
comfortable than a skirt. Slumming in my office all day is fine, but today
I had a meeting and thought that if I had to show leg, then I would do so
with an above-the-knee skirt.

And I had just hte one! Found in the pile of 'I'm too fat for this now'
at the bottom of my wardrobe was my favourite summer light weight, quick
drying, no-ironing skirts. And due to the weight losss, it fitted. I was
delighted. I put it on, and raced off to work.

There was a smell of burning rubber in the way to work. Not too unusual
with idiots on the road.

And the same smell was there when I got out of the car. Weird.

And I kept getting wafts of it whilst I sat and typed up the report.

And then it dawned it me: it wasn't actually burnt rubber smell, it was
more like stale cat pee smell.

Knowing that it was a quick-dry skirt, I went to the ladies and plunged it
into a sink of water.

You know what the colour of that water was.

Ewwwww.

Who else smelt it? I dread to think.

I am now sitting here, wearing a wet skirt, but at least I don't smell of
an old litter box now.

And it means that SomeCat had, at one point, used all my 'thin' clothes as
a convenient litterbox. And they will *all* need a jolly good wash before
I can enjoy wearing any of them again. This is my punishment for losing
weight and ruining the Somecat's soft, squidgee lap cushions.

I don't know for sure, of course, because it could be one of 5 felines,
but I am kinda hoping in a way that it was Shmogg who was the SomeCat.

Because then, even 4 years later, I can say "B*st*rd C*t" and mean it.

B*st*rd C*t

Yowie

Congratulations on the weight loss!

I hope the bites clear up soon. In the meantime, have you tried taking an
antihistamine? That might at least ease the itching and burning.

Joy

On Oct 21, 2:04*am, "Yowie" wrote:

I don't know for sure, of course, because it could be one of 5 felines, but
I am kinda hoping in a way that it was Shmogg who was the SomeCat.

Because then, even 4 years later, I can say "B*st*rd C*t" and mean it.

It has to be Shmogg- it's such a masterly BCT!

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

On 21/10/2011 6:01 PM, Joy wrote:
wrote in message
...
Did I mention I've lost 12kg so far? (I think thats about 26 pounds). And
just to brag further, after an adult lifetime of high blood pressure, I
now have textbook perfect bloodpressure. Blow me down, but this moderate
excercise and sensible eating works!

One of the wonders of losing so much weight is that I can now wear clothes
I haven't worn for what seems like a lifetime (well, technically it *is* a
lifetime, the lifetime of the Yowlet, to be exact). I'm thrilled to have
discovered all thse clothes which a) are a neater fit than my fat clothes
and b) are much nicer, more colourful and happier young person clothes
than my dowdy old-woman fat clothes. I am excited!

However, life always has swings and roundabouts, and I came back from a
quick itnerstate holiday with nasty bites all over my legs. I suspect bed
bugs, but otehr people say sandflies. I don't know. All I know is that my
legs are smothered in red, incredibly itchy bites and have been like that
since the last day of my holiday, 11 days ago. Besides not being able to
sleep well ebcause of the incessant itch, I have been unable to wear long
pants because any slight brush against the legs makes them all fire into
an itching frenzy again. Alas, long parts is part of the safety
requirements at work, and so I have been confined to my office (with
special dispensation to come on site) whilst wearing clothing exposing my
bare white-with-bright-red-splotches legs.

Short pants aren't terribly proffesional looking, even if they're far more
comfortable than a skirt. Slumming in my office all day is fine, but today
I had a meeting and thought that if I had to show leg, then I would do so
with an above-the-knee skirt.

And I had just hte one! Found in the pile of 'I'm too fat for this now'
at the bottom of my wardrobe was my favourite summer light weight, quick
drying, no-ironing skirts. And due to the weight losss, it fitted. I was
delighted. I put it on, and raced off to work.

There was a smell of burning rubber in the way to work. Not too unusual
with idiots on the road.

And the same smell was there when I got out of the car. Weird.

And I kept getting wafts of it whilst I sat and typed up the report.

And then it dawned it me: it wasn't actually burnt rubber smell, it was
more like stale cat pee smell.

Knowing that it was a quick-dry skirt, I went to the ladies and plunged it
into a sink of water.

You know what the colour of that water was.

Ewwwww.

Who else smelt it? I dread to think.

I am now sitting here, wearing a wet skirt, but at least I don't smell of
an old litter box now.

And it means that SomeCat had, at one point, used all my 'thin' clothes as
a convenient litterbox. And they will *all* need a jolly good wash before
I can enjoy wearing any of them again. This is my punishment for losing
weight and ruining the Somecat's soft, squidgee lap cushions.

I don't know for sure, of course, because it could be one of 5 felines,
but I am kinda hoping in a way that it was Shmogg who was the SomeCat.

Because then, even 4 years later, I can say "B*st*rd C*t" and mean it.

B*st*rd C*t

Yowie

Congratulations on the weight loss!

I hope the bites clear up soon. In the meantime, have you tried taking an
antihistamine? That might at least ease the itching and burning.

I've tried two types of antihistamines, to no avail. I tried pretty much
every home remedy plus two pharamcist-only remedies, also to no avail.

The only thing that gives me a little relief - enough to get to sleep -
is treating my legs with very hot water. It hurts like crazy whilst
they're under the water (either by shower or a towel soaked in hot
water), but pain still feels better than the itch. And for about an hour
afterward, my legs don't itch, just sort of 'buzz', which, again, is
better than the itch and means I can fall asleep. I still wake up
scratching away (scratching makes it worse but it feels soooooo good
whilst I'm doing it) and I have to for another heat treatment. I'm Ok
during the day after my morning hot shower, providing nothing touches
the spots. Which is why I wore a short skirt rather than the long pants
that are part of the required safety gear to work in the lab. I just
can't abide by anything - including critters - brushing on my legs

Yowie

"Yowie" wrote in message
...
On 21/10/2011 6:01 PM, Joy wrote:
wrote in message
...
Did I mention I've lost 12kg so far? (I think thats about 26 pounds).
And
just to brag further, after an adult lifetime of high blood pressure, I
now have textbook perfect bloodpressure. Blow me down, but this moderate
excercise and sensible eating works!

One of the wonders of losing so much weight is that I can now wear
clothes
I haven't worn for what seems like a lifetime (well, technically it *is*
a
lifetime, the lifetime of the Yowlet, to be exact). I'm thrilled to have
discovered all thse clothes which a) are a neater fit than my fat
clothes
and b) are much nicer, more colourful and happier young person clothes
than my dowdy old-woman fat clothes. I am excited!

However, life always has swings and roundabouts, and I came back from a
quick itnerstate holiday with nasty bites all over my legs. I suspect
bed
bugs, but otehr people say sandflies. I don't know. All I know is that
my
legs are smothered in red, incredibly itchy bites and have been like
that
since the last day of my holiday, 11 days ago. Besides not being able to
sleep well ebcause of the incessant itch, I have been unable to wear
long
pants because any slight brush against the legs makes them all fire into
an itching frenzy again. Alas, long parts is part of the safety
requirements at work, and so I have been confined to my office (with
special dispensation to come on site) whilst wearing clothing exposing
my
bare white-with-bright-red-splotches legs.

Short pants aren't terribly proffesional looking, even if they're far
more
comfortable than a skirt. Slumming in my office all day is fine, but
today
I had a meeting and thought that if I had to show leg, then I would do
so
with an above-the-knee skirt.

And I had just hte one! Found in the pile of 'I'm too fat for this now'
at the bottom of my wardrobe was my favourite summer light weight, quick
drying, no-ironing skirts. And due to the weight losss, it fitted. I was
delighted. I put it on, and raced off to work.

There was a smell of burning rubber in the way to work. Not too unusual
with idiots on the road.

And the same smell was there when I got out of the car. Weird.

And I kept getting wafts of it whilst I sat and typed up the report.

And then it dawned it me: it wasn't actually burnt rubber smell, it was
more like stale cat pee smell.

Knowing that it was a quick-dry skirt, I went to the ladies and plunged
it
into a sink of water.

You know what the colour of that water was.

Ewwwww.

Who else smelt it? I dread to think.

I am now sitting here, wearing a wet skirt, but at least I don't smell
of
an old litter box now.

And it means that SomeCat had, at one point, used all my 'thin' clothes
as
a convenient litterbox. And they will *all* need a jolly good wash
before
I can enjoy wearing any of them again. This is my punishment for losing
weight and ruining the Somecat's soft, squidgee lap cushions.

I don't know for sure, of course, because it could be one of 5 felines,
but I am kinda hoping in a way that it was Shmogg who was the SomeCat.

Because then, even 4 years later, I can say "B*st*rd C*t" and mean it.

B*st*rd C*t

Yowie

Congratulations on the weight loss!

I hope the bites clear up soon. In the meantime, have you tried taking
an
antihistamine? That might at least ease the itching and burning.

I've tried two types of antihistamines, to no avail. I tried pretty much
every home remedy plus two pharamcist-only remedies, also to no avail.

The only thing that gives me a little relief - enough to get to sleep - is
treating my legs with very hot water. It hurts like crazy whilst they're
under the water (either by shower or a towel soaked in hot water), but
pain still feels better than the itch. And for about an hour afterward, my
legs don't itch, just sort of 'buzz', which, again, is better than the
itch and means I can fall asleep. I still wake up scratching away
(scratching makes it worse but it feels soooooo good whilst I'm doing it)
and I have to for another heat treatment. I'm Ok during the day after my
morning hot shower, providing nothing touches the spots. Which is why I
wore a short skirt rather than the long pants that are part of the
required safety gear to work in the lab. I just can't abide by anything -
including critters - brushing on my legs

Yowie

That sounds really miserable. I'm glad you can get some relief. I hope it
goes away soon.

Joy

"Yowie" wrote

I've tried two types of antihistamines, to no avail. I tried pretty much
every home remedy plus two pharamcist-only remedies, also to no avail.

My first thought was that you got into some chiggers. It's easy for one
person to get into them while another nearby doesn't. They tend to
congregate in certain spots, and if you don't go through one of those spots,
you escape their effects. The bites you described in the OP sound just like
them, except in no case have I ever heard of chigger bites lasting more than
a week. Also, the itching isn't constant. They are definitely bad enough to
keep you from falling asleep the first couple of days, and I know of nothing
that relieves them (never tried the hot water trick though).

On 10/21/2011 03:04 PM, Yowie wrote:
On 21/10/2011 6:01 PM, Joy wrote:
wrote in message
...
Did I mention I've lost 12kg so far? (I think thats about 26 pounds).
And
just to brag further, after an adult lifetime of high blood pressure, I
now have textbook perfect bloodpressure. Blow me down, but this moderate
excercise and sensible eating works!

One of the wonders of losing so much weight is that I can now wear
clothes
I haven't worn for what seems like a lifetime (well, technically it
*is* a
lifetime, the lifetime of the Yowlet, to be exact). I'm thrilled to have
discovered all thse clothes which a) are a neater fit than my fat
clothes
and b) are much nicer, more colourful and happier young person clothes
than my dowdy old-woman fat clothes. I am excited!

However, life always has swings and roundabouts, and I came back from a
quick itnerstate holiday with nasty bites all over my legs. I suspect
bed
bugs, but otehr people say sandflies. I don't know. All I know is
that my
legs are smothered in red, incredibly itchy bites and have been like
that
since the last day of my holiday, 11 days ago. Besides not being able to
sleep well ebcause of the incessant itch, I have been unable to wear
long
pants because any slight brush against the legs makes them all fire into
an itching frenzy again. Alas, long parts is part of the safety
requirements at work, and so I have been confined to my office (with
special dispensation to come on site) whilst wearing clothing
exposing my
bare white-with-bright-red-splotches legs.

Short pants aren't terribly proffesional looking, even if they're far
more
comfortable than a skirt. Slumming in my office all day is fine, but
today
I had a meeting and thought that if I had to show leg, then I would
do so
with an above-the-knee skirt.

And I had just hte one! Found in the pile of 'I'm too fat for this now'
at the bottom of my wardrobe was my favourite summer light weight, quick
drying, no-ironing skirts. And due to the weight losss, it fitted. I was
delighted. I put it on, and raced off to work.

There was a smell of burning rubber in the way to work. Not too unusual
with idiots on the road.

And the same smell was there when I got out of the car. Weird.

And I kept getting wafts of it whilst I sat and typed up the report.

And then it dawned it me: it wasn't actually burnt rubber smell, it was
more like stale cat pee smell.

Knowing that it was a quick-dry skirt, I went to the ladies and
plunged it
into a sink of water.

You know what the colour of that water was.

Ewwwww.

Who else smelt it? I dread to think.

I am now sitting here, wearing a wet skirt, but at least I don't
smell of
an old litter box now.

And it means that SomeCat had, at one point, used all my 'thin'
clothes as
a convenient litterbox. And they will *all* need a jolly good wash
before
I can enjoy wearing any of them again. This is my punishment for losing
weight and ruining the Somecat's soft, squidgee lap cushions.

I don't know for sure, of course, because it could be one of 5 felines,
but I am kinda hoping in a way that it was Shmogg who was the SomeCat.

Because then, even 4 years later, I can say "B*st*rd C*t" and mean it.

B*st*rd C*t

Yowie

Congratulations on the weight loss!

I hope the bites clear up soon. In the meantime, have you tried taking an
antihistamine? That might at least ease the itching and burning.

I've tried two types of antihistamines, to no avail. I tried pretty much
every home remedy plus two pharamcist-only remedies, also to no avail.

The only thing that gives me a little relief - enough to get to sleep -
is treating my legs with very hot water. It hurts like crazy whilst
they're under the water (either by shower or a towel soaked in hot
water), but pain still feels better than the itch. And for about an hour
afterward, my legs don't itch, just sort of 'buzz', which, again, is
better than the itch and means I can fall asleep. I still wake up
scratching away (scratching makes it worse but it feels soooooo good
whilst I'm doing it) and I have to for another heat treatment. I'm Ok
during the day after my morning hot shower, providing nothing touches
the spots. Which is why I wore a short skirt rather than the long pants
that are part of the required safety gear to work in the lab. I just
can't abide by anything - including critters - brushing on my legs

Yowie


Just wondering if the doctors considered shingles? Now there is an itch
with spots that really takes time to cure. Good luck! MLB

On Oct 21, 4:04*pm, Yowie wrote:
On 21/10/2011 6:01 PM, Joy wrote:





*wrote in message
...
Did I mention I've lost 12kg so far? (I think thats about 26 pounds). And
just to brag further, after an adult lifetime of high blood pressure, I
now have textbook perfect bloodpressure. Blow me down, but this moderate
excercise and sensible eating works!

One of the wonders of losing so much weight is that I can now wear clothes
I haven't worn for what seems like a lifetime (well, technically it *is* a
lifetime, the lifetime of the Yowlet, to be exact). I'm thrilled to have
discovered all thse clothes which a) are a neater fit than my fat clothes
and b) are much nicer, more colourful and happier young person clothes
than my dowdy old-woman fat clothes. I am excited!

However, life always has swings and roundabouts, and I came back from a
quick itnerstate holiday with nasty bites all over my legs. I suspect bed
bugs, but otehr people say sandflies. I don't know. All I know is that my
legs are smothered in red, incredibly itchy bites and have been like that
since the last day of my holiday, 11 days ago. Besides not being able to
sleep well ebcause of the incessant itch, I have been unable to wear long
pants because any slight brush against the legs makes them all fire into
an itching frenzy again. Alas, long parts is part of the safety
requirements at work, and so I have been confined to my office (with
special dispensation to come on site) whilst wearing clothing exposing my
bare white-with-bright-red-splotches legs.

Short pants aren't terribly proffesional looking, even if they're far more
comfortable than a skirt. Slumming in my office all day is fine, but today
I had a meeting and thought that if I had to show leg, then I would do so
with an above-the-knee skirt.

And I had just hte one! Found in *the pile of 'I'm too fat for this now'
at the bottom of my wardrobe was my favourite summer light weight, quick
drying, no-ironing skirts. And due to the weight losss, it fitted. I was
delighted. I put it on, and raced off to work.

There was a smell of burning rubber in the way to work. Not too unusual
with idiots on the road.

And the same smell was there when I got out of the car. Weird.

And I kept getting wafts of it whilst I sat and typed up the report.

And then it dawned it me: it wasn't actually burnt rubber smell, it was
more like stale cat pee smell.

Knowing that it was a quick-dry skirt, I went to the ladies and plunged it
into a sink of water.

You know what the colour of that water was.

Ewwwww.

Who else smelt it? I dread to think.

I am now sitting here, wearing a wet skirt, but at least I don't smell of
an old litter box now.

And it means that SomeCat had, at one point, used all my 'thin' clothes as
a convenient litterbox. And they will *all* need a jolly good wash before
I can enjoy wearing any of them again. This is my punishment for losing
weight and ruining the Somecat's soft, squidgee lap cushions.

I don't know for sure, of course, because it could be one of 5 felines,
but I am kinda hoping in a way that it was Shmogg who was the SomeCat.

Because then, even 4 years later, I can say "B*st*rd C*t" and mean it.

B*st*rd C*t

Yowie

Congratulations on the weight loss!

I hope the bites clear up soon. *In the meantime, have you tried taking an
antihistamine? *That might at least ease the itching and burning.

I've tried two types of antihistamines, to no avail. I tried pretty much
every home remedy plus two pharamcist-only remedies, also to no avail.

The only thing that gives me a little relief - enough to get to sleep -
is treating my legs with very hot water. It hurts like crazy whilst
they're under the water (either by shower or a towel soaked in hot
water), but pain still feels better than the itch. And for about an hour
afterward, my legs don't itch, just sort of 'buzz', which, again, is
better than the itch and means I can fall asleep. I still wake up
scratching away (scratching makes it worse but it feels soooooo good
whilst I'm doing it) and I have to for another heat treatment. I'm Ok
during the day after my morning hot shower, providing nothing touches
the spots. Which is why I wore a short skirt rather than the long pants
that are part of the required safety gear to work in the lab. I just
can't abide by anything - including critters - brushing on my legs

Yowie- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Vicky, one thing I learned when the kids had chicken pox--if you try
to
treat the itch with something like calamine lotion or witch hazel, put
it
in a spray bottle. It seems to be more soothing to spray it on, the
rubbing
motion putting it on with your hands just makes it itch more. Gosh, I
feel sorry for you. I stepped in a bull-nettle once and thought I was
going
to lose my mind from the itching. (Don't know what the botanical name
for that is; it's a prickly weed with a beautiful white flower, but if
it comes
into contact with skin, you immediately get large whelps all over
that
itch like mad).

Sherry