Mosquitoes and Wasps and Bites, Oh My!

The word “mosquitoes” brings other words to mind. Bugs. Blood-suckers. Real-life vampires. Disease-carriers. But for most of us in first-world countries, they’re just annoying. Itchy. Stop! Don’t scratch your
bites- that will only make it worse.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mosquito_Tasmania_crop.jpg)

Quick! Distract yourself. Find some alcohol-based hand-sanitizer, such as Purell or Germ-x, and gently apply some to your bites, the alcohol will sooth the itch.

What’s awful is when you get a bite by your eye! The only thing worse than that is two bites! Last week I got a bite in my eyebrow and another on the inner corner of my lower lid, both surrounding my left eye. I was not about to put hand sanitizer anywhere near my eye, so I put vinegar on my affected areas with a cotton ball. I got the idea to use vinegar because we had it out for treating wasp bites.

My sister, my brother, and I were all stung by wasps that day! I have never been stung by any bug in the bee family, and I didn’t know what hit me! I was outside, walking by a metal bench swing, holding my plate of food, and I had sudden pangs in my leg and heel. It happened so fast, I don’t know where the wasp bit me first! I limped over to a different seat and checked my leg for signs of injury. A dot of red appeared on my leg, and the surrounding skin swelled up like a mosquito bite. The bump appeared yellowish in contrast to the adjacent area, which was red from the blood rushing to the scene of the crime. The whole time my leg and heel continued to throb! (By my heel I mean the bony ridge on the back of my foot, not the round part of my sole. Somehow the wasp stung me through my sock!)

I found out my sister had already been stung on the wrist, and she treated her bite with vinegar and baking soda, which were still out in the kitchen. My mom and I doctored my bites by putting baking soda on the spots, pouring vinegar over them, and letting it fizz. Then we repeated the whole procedure for good measure. The pangs in my leg stopped, but my heel and ankle still hurt when I moved it. The swelling and redness went away, too.

A little while later, my brother leaped off his seat, yelling and waving his arm like a windmill. I asked him where he was stung and he retorted “Does it matter?!” Turns out he had a big bite taken out of his forearm. In addition to baking soda and vinegar, he put an icepack on it to bring the swelling down. Later, we asked him how he was doing and he said “Well, I can’t feel anything!” The ice had numbed it.

The culprits, we discovered, were from a nest inside the hollow metal frame of the bench swing.

To recap: hand sanitizer or vinegar will sooth mosquito bites, while baking soda and vinegar are great for bee bites. Coming soon Now it's here:  A natural mosquito repellent recipe you can make using household ingredients.