having chiggers and remaining sane...

[justbugged]

Have a glass for me. I am sure it will be good for you.

 

[oldchickenlady]

Quote:

No seriously...be very glad you don't know what a chigger is. They are tiny little blood sucking creatures that live in the middle and lower United States (and further south, too I am sure). They are found in the woods in grass, etc. They get on you and are so tiny you cant hardly see them. When they start biting you...that's when you know! Then it's too late! I think when they bite you they inject some substance under the skin that ITCHES LIKE MAD for days! Or maybe they actually burrow under your skin...I don't know, but I do know there is nothing else on God's green earth (at least here in the US) that will make you itch more than a chigger. The more you get on you, the more bites you have, the more you itch! There is another name for them also...redbug. Same critter, just different regional name. They are horrible! And I always manage to get in a patch somehow! If you spray your pants, socks and shoes with Deep Woods OFF! you might get by with out getting any on you.

 

[3goodeggs]

Okay, here are the results of the aforementioned helpful suggestions:
Ammonia has an up side and a down side. Even though I wore thick jeans in order not to scratch all of my skin off...all that incessant rubbing 'wore' my skin off. SO-ammonia on raw skin is a real OWIE. however, the up side is I handle pain MUCH better than itches, and I think I will just wipe on ammonia when it is too much to suffer with.

The hot hot water felt really good. I am glad I had some Epsom salts. (I keep it for my plants.)

I am thinking of crushing a benadryl into some vaseline and slathering that on. I am so glad they stayed low and did not find the usual areas. at least that is an up side.
Thanks everybody.

I feel better and I was really miserable.

...and now for that glass of whiiine.

 

[ChooksChick]

Quote:
Oragel!! Oragel, Oragel, Oragel.

In this region you get eaten alive if you forget the sulfur, and I've learned that max strength Oragel is your only one, true, long-lasting friend. You get a little sticky and sweet, but the bites can be numbed, and it is BLESS-ED!!

 

[noodleroo]

I have never tried this on chiggers; I haven't had them since I found out to do this. For the sting and itch of fire ant bites, I make a little paste of Diatomaceous Earth and water and smear it on the area. It works as it dries on my skin. It is the ONLY thing that I have found for relief.

I have no idea if it will work on chiggers, but you might try it on a small area.

 

[3goodeggs]

I am looking for that ancient tube of orajel now. may have to get more tomorrow.

I HATE fire ants. I HATE them. I am a peaceful person, but part of the reason my ankles do not itch as badly as my knees is because they are 90% fire ant bite/sting scars. I hate them. Did I mention that?
I will try the DE... on everything. While I was scalding I thought about my poor hens when they had lice.
I was a bad mom!

 

[dedicateddourly]

I didn't know what a chigger was either (til reading this thread), and I'm so dang itchy now.

 

[True Grit]

I didn't know what a chigger was either until we moved away from the suburbs further out in the country. Holy Cow, I got out of the shower one morning and noticed my pre nether regions were crazy itchy and these red marks were popping out all over my stomach. I went to urgent care and the P.A. diagnosed me with molluscum contagiosum, which I found out later was a sexually transmitted disease! Hullo! Noway nohow! Off to another doc, who referred me to another doc who also didn't know what it was and just gave me some antibiotic cream and steroid cream. Finally they went away and then lo and behold the next year, back they came! Well at least this time I knew they would go away. I looked all over the internet (thank-you Al) and figured out for myself what they must be but still went to the skin specialist who just said she figured they were bug bites. All I can think is that they are not that common in Minnesota. Now I spray my feet at the very least if I'm going to be walking in our grass from Father's Day to about now. If working in the yard I spray everything and always shower right after I'm done.

We use stuff we found online-Denver's Sting Stopper and Berts Bees Bug Balm but I'm sure the old hands at chiggers have better solutions.
I feel for you poor baby, poor baby.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

I've gotten into them many, many times. Not so much in Wisconsin. I was fishing a small pond in Kentucky one time and sitting in the grass. They tore me up. I had 300 - 400 bites from the waist down, there was barely a square inch of skin that didn't have a sore. In Texas, I had a neighbor with an overgrown backyard where he discharged the water from his washing machine so it didn't go into the septic field. The first time I helped him cut it I came away dozens of chigger bites, anytime I helped him after that I never got off the lawn tractor.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Gold-Bond cream helps.