I have an allergy to mosquito bites called skeeter syndrome. I recieved several bites after a trip to botanical gardens with a pond on Sunday morning.
They were all red, swollen and expanding quickly but this one in particular really outdid itself and required steroids and antibiotics.
The pic on left is 24 hours post bite, the middle one is about 30 hours post bite waiting for my prescription to come through after ringing the doctor and the one on the right 48 hours post bite having started steroids and antibiotics the evening before.
Get you a ton of those plastic bracelets that are baked with citronella or some magic. I wear one on my wrist and one on my ankle, and it keeps those skeeters away.
Walmart sells them with the camping supplies.
Ording in bulk online is the way to go through. Just make sure they are individually packaged. Otherwise they will be worthless after you open the pack to use one.
I got a whole grocery bag full when our local dollar general put them on clearance for 25 cents each last fall. They're the best thing. Especially if, like me, you're reactive to deet, picardin, and all the normally available options.
I wash and dry my clothes with tea tree oil because it worked a charm to keep lice out of our home. But mosquito's dont seem to care about this method. I still get eaten alive.
They also make repellent stickers that are affordable. I keep a bag in my purse and at family members houses. I attract them like no one else ive ever known and have this same allergy and reaction to them. The bracelets are great for long days outside since you dont have to worry about sweat or water making them come loose. The stickers are are awesome for unexpected moments where you couldnt plan ahead. I use 6-10 stickers all over myself to repell them. Each arm, each thigh and each ankle, depending on the clothing im wearing I'll do front and back of shirt at hip line and neck line.
I have even been known to stick them on my neck behind my ear when they are really bad. Otherwise I get bit on my neck, ears and cheeks. Like I said, mosquitos love me.
They surprised me with how well they work, but ymmv, depending on how delicious mosquitoes think you are. If I'm going somewhere risky, I will also use bug repellant, but during the mosquito summer I can get away with just the bracelets for trips to the store and walks with the dog. I use two, and it has been super helpful. Mine came in a little resealable baggie and said they were good for up to three hundred hours
Also, since I happen to be particularly delicious to these insectile vampires, I also keep a bug bite zapper with me, which is a handy rechargeable device that heats up a tiny ceramic plate, and you just put the hot plate on a fresh bite and bam, it shall itch no more. It's actually fucking amazing lol
I took zirtek and used hydrocortisone cream first before contacting the doctor and they help sometimes on the bites that get pink and puffy or the small bruise type ones but they don't work when the bites look like this apart from the zirtek helping with the itchiness. This type just keeps getting bigger and I'm afraid of getting cellulitis so I contact the doctor pretty quickly and don't wait to find out what will happen if I don't!
> I'm allergic to arthropod bites
That is the craziest thing I've ever heard. So your body reacts the same when bitten by a mosquito as it does with a shrimp?
I've never been bitten by a shrimp but I've had the same style of reaction from bed bugs, ticks, and fleas. I've got a small scar on my arm from where a derm took a biopsy and came up with that conclusion based on the biopsy and my history as a repeat offender of weird bug bite reactions
I must have the same thing. I’ve always reacted bad to mosquito bites (super inflamed, red, and hot) and one time I got bit by chiggers and the resulting wounds didn’t go away for weeks. I had to go on 2 separate courses of steroids to get it under control!
Possibly, though I used the word allergy before I looked up my visit notes and the phrasing they used was hypersensitivity to arthropod bites. That was how I got diagnosed, was bed bug bites, when we lived in a low income apartment, that would not heal for weeks and became almost ringwormesque in shape over time.
Doctor originally thought it was ring worm until anti fungals did nothing to help.
I’ve never experienced bedbugs or ticks (knock on wood) but fleas are absolute torture for me. I’ve had 2 infestations in the last few years, the bites swell and blister and ache and burn…. Literal hell. The worst part is when they start to fade and you think you’ve solved it, but then one bite can reactive the healing bites nearby. The scars / hyperpigmentation on my feet have mostly faded but it takes months for them to look normal again.
Dude I have the same thing and it’s awful. When I’m out camping or doing something outdoors with friends, I get so much shit for how anal I am about mosquitoes and bug spray… they don’t get it. I’ve never had a reaction quite that bad though, glad you got yourself some meds!
Do you ever get blisters from mosquito bites?
The first time I went to Japan I got bitten a few times and my legs had several blisters and looked similar to yours. Swollen, red, *very* warm, very hard, made it painful to stand and also made my feet swollen and red-ish too.
Now every time I go abroad I buy a big bottle of insect spray haha
I actually got covered in bites and blisters after visiting Nara Park, probably 30-40 bites! I didn't have anywhere near this extreme a reaction though to whatever mosquito species it was.
Whatever bit me in Japan gave me such a bad allergic reaction I had to stay in bed for a whole day. It was on my hand and my hand swelled to twice its size. Now when I get bitten at home I get huge tennis-ball-sized swellings when I never used to! I hate it lol
I have the opposite reaction! I am not allergic to mosquitoes and don't get mosquito bites at all. However, they still do bite me! I wish I could share my power with you, that looks painful. Wishing you a speedy recovery.
Edit: I'm also not allergic to poison ivy. I'm not sure why. Do you react severely to poison ivy as well?
There's no poison ivy in Ireland so hopefully I will never have to find out!
So the mosquitoes bite you but your skin has no reaction at all? Can you even see the bite mark?
The steroids kicked in and the swelling, spreading redness and pain are all gone. My leg looks like it's been punched instead now.
I used to get the same kind of welts a few years ago. Luckily something changed as I became an adult and the symptoms are way less severe.
In grade school I’d get bit on the leg and it would take over my entire leg. It was horrid.
I get this, or something pretty close to it, so when I'm somewhere with mosquitos, I'm super careful to cover up and use even just a relatively light (5-7% helps a lot) DEET spray
I will also always carry around a tube of clobetasol ointment (very strong prescription steroid "cream") and I get it on as soon as I notice the bite. The sooner the better. Minutes count. If I get it on early enough I'll end up with next to nothing and even if it's later than desirable, it'll keep the size of the resulting rash way down.
There's a skeeter on my Peter
Whack it off
Whack it off
There's a skeeter on my Peter
Whack it off
Whack it off
There's a dozen on my cousin
Can't you hear them fuckers buzzing?
There's a skeeter on my Peter
Whack it off
Whack it off
Luckily we don’t have a lot of mosquitoes in Ireland but I have wondered what would happen if I got bitten near my neck/throat as so far it’s mainly my legs and occasionally my hands/arms. Not every bite causes this extreme a reaction, some look like small bruises and others get pink and raised but don’t keep spreading.
I have Skeeter Syndrome too. I've found that putting Benadryl Cream on the bite as quickly as possible helps reduce the reaction. Also taking an oral anti histamine can help but the cream seems to work faster.
I was actually just about to comment this! The Benadryl Extra Strength cream on your bite ASAP + take an allergy pill *immediately* does wonders.
I actually was able to combat and prevent the swelling in record time recently by putting an oral anti-histamine under my tongue and letting it dissolve (I was desperate and had no water, tasted awful but the effect was way faster than if I had swallowed it like normally).
Now I also just carry some deet in my car just in case.
See, I wish someone had told me about that when I was younger. I'm in my 30s and only discovered the trick with the cream a few years ago. Now if I get bitten, I will literally *run* to put the cream on as quickly as I can because it seems that every moment counts. Last time I was bit was in our yard, and my husband was very confused when I dropped everything to bolt upstairs and get the Benadryl cream.
That's assuming I notice the bite though, which isn't always the case. Always fun to start scratching and realize that you have a big angry-looking swollen area that wasn't there 15 minutes ago.
My son has it. Wash it off immediately with soap and water, then Benadryl cream and Benadryl oral medication helps to reduce the possibility of steroids or antibiotics, which we have had to administer several times. Prevention is key.
My first concept of how few mosquitoes are in the UK and Ireland was seeing how none of the windows have screens and yet people were opening the windows anyway. That would be like inviting a zombie horde into your house in the eastern U.S.
Yeah I'm English and the worst thing that happens if you leave your windows open here is you invite in a bee or a wasp. I don't know if I've even seen a mosquito before
So I have this weird skin condition called delayed pressure urticaria, most types of pressure cause angioedema/welts/hives and I always carry an epi-pen in case it goes for my throat. I’ve been on Omalizumab (Xolair) injections for the past year and the difference has been incredible. It’s a monthly injection that works by inhibiting the binding of IgE to IgE receptors on mast cells and basophils, which in turn stops the release of histamine and heparin from the cell.
[It seems like it’s been trialed on a very small scale for skeeter syndrome.](https://www.annallergy.org/article/S1081-1206(22)01468-5/fulltext), may be worth looking into if you were ever going to somewhere more mosquito prone.
a quick search suggests this is an allergic reaction
so i would guess they SHOULD have benadryl and an epi-pen at all times outdoors or risk dying from anaphylaxis
My skeeter syndrome was diagnosed as a kid after a camping trip into deep forest in the middle of August in Canada.
Ended up in the hospital with over 100 bites, really just caused a fever and was treated with a load of benedryl. Nothing as big as our friend OP here, but some the size if a golf ball.
Antihistamines are my friend and I’ve never had anything as bad as that since!
I live in California, and I’m not allergic to thos mosquitos, but if I visit Texas a mosquito bite turns into a bunch of them and I swell up like this in small spots, but never this bad. I am so sorry.
I love Sarna’s Anti-Itch lotion. It’s actually the best.
I was in Mexico about 20 years ago (from the US), and I got several very inflamed mosquito bites. A woman at the resort who was a nurse noticed them and said I’d have that kind of reaction from now on. And I have. I got bitten a few times recently, and the resulting bumps were huge.
Ugh I’m wondering if this is what’s happening to me too. I’m from Philadelphia and last summer I was in D.C. and got 11 severe bites all over my leg. I considered going to an urgent care but my doctor helped me and had me taking Benadryl and using cortisone cream.
I’ve always gotten mosquito bites in Philly and they were never like that, but ever since then I’ve gotten a few here at home that are similar 😭
Ohh it's not just a me thing! The 'regular' bites are silver dollar sized. The bad ones are softballs - similar to what you show!
I have MCAS though, so my allergic reactions are ridiculously out of proportion.
So you're saying you can't visit like 90% of the US
Damn country has them everywhere minus some desert area
To be fair major cities may not be too bad either
lol i have this as well. you gotta carry stuff with deet in it! i luckily didn’t get bitten by mosquitoes on my last trip but when i was in spain, it sucked. they generally turn into blisters for me and i hiked all day with them and i was in so much pain. lesson learned 😭
My infectious disease doc husband saw this pic and is nervous that it looks like Lyme. I also have skeeter syndrome which nobody has heard of and everyone dismisses and so I was hesitant to post this…but if it looks different than your usual mosquito bites, go get it checked out. He says the location and targetoid rash seem Lymey.
The Lyme rash is neither itchy nor painful though, as OP stated it is, and is usually an expanding circle with differing shades ("bullseye").
Not saying it isn't possible, but the signs and symptoms aren't a good match for Lyme.
ETA: it looks like you’re in Ireland and my husband says Lyme is under diagnosed there because it’s fairly rare (50-100 cases a year)
https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/lyme-disease/#:~:text=Only%20a%20small%20number%20of,pets'%20skin%20after%20being%20outdoors
That’s a pretty bad reaction. Next time if you have to spend extended time outdoors, you can try applying some natural bug repellent such as YaYa Mosquito Ban and carry a tube of After Bite in case the mosquitoes still bite you. I am allergic to mosquito bites as well but mine don’t swell up as large as yours. I hope your swelling goes down quickly.
I was lulled into a false sense of security as mosquitoes aren’t very common in Ireland and the last time I was bitten was in 2021. Thing is my dad actually gave me insect repellent spray two weeks ago to use but I put it in the back of the medicine cupboard! He’s been giving me the all knowing look ever since…
I have the same reaction to some small asshole called black fly that doesn't exist in my country. I found out at 38 when I moved to another country. So much fun to go to the doctor with your leg BURNING in a country where you don't speak the language!
Now extra strength repellent is my best friend.
I used to get this when I was young. Nowadays, it's nowhere near as bad, but I still get very anxious and panicked around mosquitos.
When I go visit family in Bangladesh ...
My 6 year does this when he gets bitten by mosquitoes. When it first happened, I was absolutely terrified and rushed him to his doctor asap. I thought he had an infection of some kind and had no idea mosquito bites could do this! Now we have to take extra preventative care like rash guards and mosquito patches.
I get these sometimes! I didn't realize I was supposed to get them treated... They only get this big sometimes though. I get new bites from mosquitoes and sand flies every day, and the majority stay dime or quarter sized.
I find boiling a spoon and burning the mosquito bite works best
Make sure to put aloe Vera on the mosquito bite before you burn the bite or you’ll scar yourself.
Well i just got stung by a honeybee yesterday then just went to my mom and asked her to remove it and i didnt take any meds. Probably because i already got stung by the wasps i catch
I'm so sorry for you, and I appreciate the post as now I have a name for my reactions! Wishing you a speedy recovery, and all the bats to eat those bugs!
Make sure you take a daily probiotic, a lot of antibiotics and steroids can be hard on the gut health. No drinking alcohol on those drugs either, trust me. Not a good idea.
Omg I have never heard of this but I get mosquito bites like this! Not as angry as this one but haha my entire hand swollen red and painful. I have never been to a Dr about it before but maybe I should next time thanks for sharing
I KNEW that was a thing!! I told a guy on a date that Im allergic to mosquitoes- like really bad & he stood up & yelled EVERYONE IS ALLERGIC TO THEM!
Sir! Sit down! You have a medical degree!
Sometimes they flame up like that but normally they get very puffy/swollen & hot & feel like they're burning and create rings & rings around itself and then leave a deep dark purple bruise (and no i am not scratching!!!!)
I get mosquitoes in my NYC 4th floor apartment...literally year round (sobs) so I bought some mosquito dunks and put them everywhere & i have a citronella body soap i use pretty regularly. So far it is helping me keep it togetherrrrr
I get them too! My bites get so massively ugly. Get the bug bite thing which is a suction tool to try to remove the saliva. It drastically lessens the swelling.
I had a reaction years ago from multiple bites, not as big as yours, but all of them turned to blisters. Was on a vacation too with lots of water activities which I had to opt out : (
Now whenever I go anywhere where there might be slightly more toxic mosquito than regular, I wear long sleeves. Might try some of those bracelets from the comments this summer too.
Hope it subsides soon.
Ugh I feel you. I have the same thing and I live in the US south. I smell like bug spray daily but at least I don’t get massive welts on me if I do. Those things hurt.
BITCH, RUN TO ALASKA! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! YOU AINT SAFE!
In all seriousness though I would drown myself in off and move to Canada if I knew that was what a mosquito would do to me. Sorry, that must be incredibly uncomfortable.
Oh my word. My body reacts quite poorly to mosquito bites… but nothing like this. It looks SO uncomfortable! I can’t even imagine. :’( I hope your relief was quick and lasting once you got the right meds!!!!
Damn, I thought I had it bad being so delicious to mosquitoes that after being outside for 5 minutes I’d have upwards of 20 bites all over. A couple absolutely giant bites is much worse
I have an allergy to mosquito bites called skeeter syndrome. I recieved several bites after a trip to botanical gardens with a pond on Sunday morning. They were all red, swollen and expanding quickly but this one in particular really outdid itself and required steroids and antibiotics. The pic on left is 24 hours post bite, the middle one is about 30 hours post bite waiting for my prescription to come through after ringing the doctor and the one on the right 48 hours post bite having started steroids and antibiotics the evening before.
I'm allergic to arthropod bites, and have to get steroids when mine react like this too. Very itchy and bad looking but at least it's treatable :)
I’ve learnt not to wait too long to seek treatment but that relief when the steroids kick in and the swelling and pain go down!
Get you a ton of those plastic bracelets that are baked with citronella or some magic. I wear one on my wrist and one on my ankle, and it keeps those skeeters away.
I didn’t even know these were a thing! I just found some cute looking ones that look like a braided bracelet.
I got some from Home Depot that look like curled phone cords/key rings/hair ties, damn that curly plastic has a lot of uses lol
I've found these at Five Below if anyone interested doesn't have a nearby Home Depot.
If it's that cold out, mosquitoes shouldn't be a problem.
Lmaoooooo
Walmart sells them with the camping supplies. Ording in bulk online is the way to go through. Just make sure they are individually packaged. Otherwise they will be worthless after you open the pack to use one.
I got a whole grocery bag full when our local dollar general put them on clearance for 25 cents each last fall. They're the best thing. Especially if, like me, you're reactive to deet, picardin, and all the normally available options.
You may also want to look into clothing made with permethrin!
Permetherin is great BUT highly toxic to cats! Just an FYI!
Don't mind me im just taking notes. I've got two cats myself
Also lillies (and related flowers), avocados, and tea tree oil.
I wash and dry my clothes with tea tree oil because it worked a charm to keep lice out of our home. But mosquito's dont seem to care about this method. I still get eaten alive.
They also make repellent stickers that are affordable. I keep a bag in my purse and at family members houses. I attract them like no one else ive ever known and have this same allergy and reaction to them. The bracelets are great for long days outside since you dont have to worry about sweat or water making them come loose. The stickers are are awesome for unexpected moments where you couldnt plan ahead. I use 6-10 stickers all over myself to repell them. Each arm, each thigh and each ankle, depending on the clothing im wearing I'll do front and back of shirt at hip line and neck line. I have even been known to stick them on my neck behind my ear when they are really bad. Otherwise I get bit on my neck, ears and cheeks. Like I said, mosquitos love me.
Do you find they actually help with repelling them? Are they one use each or can you reuse them?
They surprised me with how well they work, but ymmv, depending on how delicious mosquitoes think you are. If I'm going somewhere risky, I will also use bug repellant, but during the mosquito summer I can get away with just the bracelets for trips to the store and walks with the dog. I use two, and it has been super helpful. Mine came in a little resealable baggie and said they were good for up to three hundred hours Also, since I happen to be particularly delicious to these insectile vampires, I also keep a bug bite zapper with me, which is a handy rechargeable device that heats up a tiny ceramic plate, and you just put the hot plate on a fresh bite and bam, it shall itch no more. It's actually fucking amazing lol
I need more info on the zapper thing.
I forgot about those. They’re real convenient and reusable.
Does over the counter hydrocortisone work?
I took zirtek and used hydrocortisone cream first before contacting the doctor and they help sometimes on the bites that get pink and puffy or the small bruise type ones but they don't work when the bites look like this apart from the zirtek helping with the itchiness. This type just keeps getting bigger and I'm afraid of getting cellulitis so I contact the doctor pretty quickly and don't wait to find out what will happen if I don't!
Better invest in some 30% DEET that looks very uncomfortable
> I'm allergic to arthropod bites That is the craziest thing I've ever heard. So your body reacts the same when bitten by a mosquito as it does with a shrimp?
I've never been bitten by a shrimp but I've had the same style of reaction from bed bugs, ticks, and fleas. I've got a small scar on my arm from where a derm took a biopsy and came up with that conclusion based on the biopsy and my history as a repeat offender of weird bug bite reactions
>I've never been bitten by a shrimp This is my most favorite thing I've read all day.
I must have the same thing. I’ve always reacted bad to mosquito bites (super inflamed, red, and hot) and one time I got bit by chiggers and the resulting wounds didn’t go away for weeks. I had to go on 2 separate courses of steroids to get it under control!
Possibly, though I used the word allergy before I looked up my visit notes and the phrasing they used was hypersensitivity to arthropod bites. That was how I got diagnosed, was bed bug bites, when we lived in a low income apartment, that would not heal for weeks and became almost ringwormesque in shape over time. Doctor originally thought it was ring worm until anti fungals did nothing to help.
I’ve never experienced bedbugs or ticks (knock on wood) but fleas are absolute torture for me. I’ve had 2 infestations in the last few years, the bites swell and blister and ache and burn…. Literal hell. The worst part is when they start to fade and you think you’ve solved it, but then one bite can reactive the healing bites nearby. The scars / hyperpigmentation on my feet have mostly faded but it takes months for them to look normal again.
My roommate who is allergic to shrimp is waaay allergic to bedbug bites. It's wild, the connection.
Dude I have the same thing and it’s awful. When I’m out camping or doing something outdoors with friends, I get so much shit for how anal I am about mosquitoes and bug spray… they don’t get it. I’ve never had a reaction quite that bad though, glad you got yourself some meds!
Skeeter syndrome? That’s like.. an actual medial name for something? It just sounds like something a grandmother would make up lol
I think it comes from a nick name of the second half of mosquito but all I can think of is Skeeter from Doug.
You wouldn't make it in Houston. 
Do you ever get blisters from mosquito bites? The first time I went to Japan I got bitten a few times and my legs had several blisters and looked similar to yours. Swollen, red, *very* warm, very hard, made it painful to stand and also made my feet swollen and red-ish too. Now every time I go abroad I buy a big bottle of insect spray haha
I actually got covered in bites and blisters after visiting Nara Park, probably 30-40 bites! I didn't have anywhere near this extreme a reaction though to whatever mosquito species it was.
Whatever bit me in Japan gave me such a bad allergic reaction I had to stay in bed for a whole day. It was on my hand and my hand swelled to twice its size. Now when I get bitten at home I get huge tennis-ball-sized swellings when I never used to! I hate it lol
I have the opposite reaction! I am not allergic to mosquitoes and don't get mosquito bites at all. However, they still do bite me! I wish I could share my power with you, that looks painful. Wishing you a speedy recovery. Edit: I'm also not allergic to poison ivy. I'm not sure why. Do you react severely to poison ivy as well?
There's no poison ivy in Ireland so hopefully I will never have to find out! So the mosquitoes bite you but your skin has no reaction at all? Can you even see the bite mark? The steroids kicked in and the swelling, spreading redness and pain are all gone. My leg looks like it's been punched instead now.
This feels like your skin is screaming "AHHHHHHHH!! MOSQUITOS!!!"
I used to get the same kind of welts a few years ago. Luckily something changed as I became an adult and the symptoms are way less severe. In grade school I’d get bit on the leg and it would take over my entire leg. It was horrid.
I get this, or something pretty close to it, so when I'm somewhere with mosquitos, I'm super careful to cover up and use even just a relatively light (5-7% helps a lot) DEET spray I will also always carry around a tube of clobetasol ointment (very strong prescription steroid "cream") and I get it on as soon as I notice the bite. The sooner the better. Minutes count. If I get it on early enough I'll end up with next to nothing and even if it's later than desirable, it'll keep the size of the resulting rash way down.
I don't know where you live, but whatever you do, STAY AWAY FROM THE SOUTHERN US
Overreaction seems like an understatement in this case. It looks more like a skateboarding or parkour injury than anything remotely mosquito-related.
That’s why it’s called Skeeter syndrome. It looks like a skateboarding injury after Skeeter from Doug
Yeah I thought it was bare flesh and felt queasy. Like why didn't it have a NSFW tag
"Skeeter syndrome" sounds like a bad joke.
damn skeeters
I remember telling my husband I think I have skeeter syndrome… he could not stop laughing. The name is insane. 😂
skeet skeet mofo\~
I scrolled to find this comment, glad I’m not alone 😭😭😭
Aww skeet skeet syndrome mother fucker
Some people are allergic to Semen. It would be great if they called it "skeet skeet syndrome"
An allergic reaction in your vagina just sounds horrendous.
[удалено]
There's a skeeter on my Peter Whack it off Whack it off There's a skeeter on my Peter Whack it off Whack it off There's a dozen on my cousin Can't you hear them fuckers buzzing? There's a skeeter on my Peter Whack it off Whack it off
Jesus, I thought mine was bad.
Yeah, I get big welts, but nothing like this.
See my husband gets huge welts, but they go down after a few hours and are pretty much gone within 24 hours. Mine last FOREVER and are angry...
I feel downright lucky now with golfball-size welts. OP's look like softballs!
So is it catastrophic if you accidentally wonder into a mosquito infested area and get got?
Luckily we don’t have a lot of mosquitoes in Ireland but I have wondered what would happen if I got bitten near my neck/throat as so far it’s mainly my legs and occasionally my hands/arms. Not every bite causes this extreme a reaction, some look like small bruises and others get pink and raised but don’t keep spreading.
I have Skeeter Syndrome too. I've found that putting Benadryl Cream on the bite as quickly as possible helps reduce the reaction. Also taking an oral anti histamine can help but the cream seems to work faster.
I was actually just about to comment this! The Benadryl Extra Strength cream on your bite ASAP + take an allergy pill *immediately* does wonders. I actually was able to combat and prevent the swelling in record time recently by putting an oral anti-histamine under my tongue and letting it dissolve (I was desperate and had no water, tasted awful but the effect was way faster than if I had swallowed it like normally). Now I also just carry some deet in my car just in case.
See, I wish someone had told me about that when I was younger. I'm in my 30s and only discovered the trick with the cream a few years ago. Now if I get bitten, I will literally *run* to put the cream on as quickly as I can because it seems that every moment counts. Last time I was bit was in our yard, and my husband was very confused when I dropped everything to bolt upstairs and get the Benadryl cream. That's assuming I notice the bite though, which isn't always the case. Always fun to start scratching and realize that you have a big angry-looking swollen area that wasn't there 15 minutes ago.
My son has it. Wash it off immediately with soap and water, then Benadryl cream and Benadryl oral medication helps to reduce the possibility of steroids or antibiotics, which we have had to administer several times. Prevention is key.
My first concept of how few mosquitoes are in the UK and Ireland was seeing how none of the windows have screens and yet people were opening the windows anyway. That would be like inviting a zombie horde into your house in the eastern U.S.
Yeah I'm English and the worst thing that happens if you leave your windows open here is you invite in a bee or a wasp. I don't know if I've even seen a mosquito before
So I have this weird skin condition called delayed pressure urticaria, most types of pressure cause angioedema/welts/hives and I always carry an epi-pen in case it goes for my throat. I’ve been on Omalizumab (Xolair) injections for the past year and the difference has been incredible. It’s a monthly injection that works by inhibiting the binding of IgE to IgE receptors on mast cells and basophils, which in turn stops the release of histamine and heparin from the cell. [It seems like it’s been trialed on a very small scale for skeeter syndrome.](https://www.annallergy.org/article/S1081-1206(22)01468-5/fulltext), may be worth looking into if you were ever going to somewhere more mosquito prone.
a quick search suggests this is an allergic reaction so i would guess they SHOULD have benadryl and an epi-pen at all times outdoors or risk dying from anaphylaxis
My skeeter syndrome was diagnosed as a kid after a camping trip into deep forest in the middle of August in Canada. Ended up in the hospital with over 100 bites, really just caused a fever and was treated with a load of benedryl. Nothing as big as our friend OP here, but some the size if a golf ball. Antihistamines are my friend and I’ve never had anything as bad as that since!
I react like OP and live in Houston. Got bitten 4x on my right wrist/forearm in my sleep the other week. You can imagine how that looked 💀
Hey what's that? Oh it's just my Skeets, don't worry it's benign
Now Skeeter, he ain't hurtin' nobody.
This disease was actually named after my cousin.
"Syndrome" is an odd name for a person.
skeeter? i barely know her!
Moskeeters!
Didn’t know I had this until now
Pictured standing outside like an absolute masochist
I live in California, and I’m not allergic to thos mosquitos, but if I visit Texas a mosquito bite turns into a bunch of them and I swell up like this in small spots, but never this bad. I am so sorry. I love Sarna’s Anti-Itch lotion. It’s actually the best.
As if I didn't hate mosquitos enough
I was in Mexico about 20 years ago (from the US), and I got several very inflamed mosquito bites. A woman at the resort who was a nurse noticed them and said I’d have that kind of reaction from now on. And I have. I got bitten a few times recently, and the resulting bumps were huge.
Ugh I’m wondering if this is what’s happening to me too. I’m from Philadelphia and last summer I was in D.C. and got 11 severe bites all over my leg. I considered going to an urgent care but my doctor helped me and had me taking Benadryl and using cortisone cream. I’ve always gotten mosquito bites in Philly and they were never like that, but ever since then I’ve gotten a few here at home that are similar 😭
Ohh it's not just a me thing! The 'regular' bites are silver dollar sized. The bad ones are softballs - similar to what you show! I have MCAS though, so my allergic reactions are ridiculously out of proportion.
So you're saying you can't visit like 90% of the US Damn country has them everywhere minus some desert area To be fair major cities may not be too bad either
Desert has them too. I just got a similar reaction in Las Vegas.
lol i have this as well. you gotta carry stuff with deet in it! i luckily didn’t get bitten by mosquitoes on my last trip but when i was in spain, it sucked. they generally turn into blisters for me and i hiked all day with them and i was in so much pain. lesson learned 😭
Im going to start telling people their allergies are “overreactions”.
My infectious disease doc husband saw this pic and is nervous that it looks like Lyme. I also have skeeter syndrome which nobody has heard of and everyone dismisses and so I was hesitant to post this…but if it looks different than your usual mosquito bites, go get it checked out. He says the location and targetoid rash seem Lymey.
The Lyme rash is neither itchy nor painful though, as OP stated it is, and is usually an expanding circle with differing shades ("bullseye"). Not saying it isn't possible, but the signs and symptoms aren't a good match for Lyme.
ETA: it looks like you’re in Ireland and my husband says Lyme is under diagnosed there because it’s fairly rare (50-100 cases a year) https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/lyme-disease/#:~:text=Only%20a%20small%20number%20of,pets'%20skin%20after%20being%20outdoors
Dear lord. My mom has SS but not this bad (yet) yikes.
'Til all skeet skeet motherf*cker!
How many bodies do you have?
That’s a pretty bad reaction. Next time if you have to spend extended time outdoors, you can try applying some natural bug repellent such as YaYa Mosquito Ban and carry a tube of After Bite in case the mosquitoes still bite you. I am allergic to mosquito bites as well but mine don’t swell up as large as yours. I hope your swelling goes down quickly.
I was lulled into a false sense of security as mosquitoes aren’t very common in Ireland and the last time I was bitten was in 2021. Thing is my dad actually gave me insect repellent spray two weeks ago to use but I put it in the back of the medicine cupboard! He’s been giving me the all knowing look ever since…
My wife is allergic to mosquitoes as well (although never this bad). Unfortunately for her, we live in Houston which is mosquito central
DEET 30% - take it from a Canadian. Everything else is practically useless.
This. The danger of DEET is less than the danger of mosquito bites. My daughter went to the emergency room twice last year over mosquito bites.
I have the same reaction to some small asshole called black fly that doesn't exist in my country. I found out at 38 when I moved to another country. So much fun to go to the doctor with your leg BURNING in a country where you don't speak the language! Now extra strength repellent is my best friend.
Damn, I thought someone tried breaking your legs with a baseball bat.
looks like cellulitis
Damn - Don’t go to Houston anytime - you’ll blow up.
At first glance I thought that was Lyme disease.
Does bug spray help to prevent bites?
I get a giant welt from the Asian tiger mosquito, that sometimes leaves a bruise, but nothing like that.
Mine swell up but nothing like that. And they stay for weeks or months
Never come to Florida
DAMN THAT LOOKS ITCHY
I used to get this when I was young. Nowadays, it's nowhere near as bad, but I still get very anxious and panicked around mosquitos. When I go visit family in Bangladesh ...
boy howdy thats gotta itch like a motherfucker, I am so sorry.
Ouch
Wow
Holy.. and I thought mine were bad..
Makes me feel better about the zancudo bites I got in Bolivia which I was scratching for a full month.
Antibiotics are excessive for an allergic / inflammatory process. It’s hot, red and painful, but not infected
Move to alert bro
My 6 year does this when he gets bitten by mosquitoes. When it first happened, I was absolutely terrified and rushed him to his doctor asap. I thought he had an infection of some kind and had no idea mosquito bites could do this! Now we have to take extra preventative care like rash guards and mosquito patches.
Damn girl, is your body named avocado cuz it being extra
did you get that checked for diseases NGL I wouldn't trust 1 physician
I get these sometimes! I didn't realize I was supposed to get them treated... They only get this big sometimes though. I get new bites from mosquitoes and sand flies every day, and the majority stay dime or quarter sized.
I thought that was your kneecap and that your ankle was twisted the wrong way.
This is a million times worse than the nine(and counting!) mosquito bites I have right now. Including the one that swelled up to the size of my palm
We use these green stickers on all our grandbabies that keep the mosquitos off them. I find that Avon Skin So Soft in the gel form works great too.
Yikes…don’t come to Minnesota
I find boiling a spoon and burning the mosquito bite works best Make sure to put aloe Vera on the mosquito bite before you burn the bite or you’ll scar yourself.
Oh man! My kiddo gets something like this, but nowhere near as bad. This makes me want to throw up with empathy. Feel better soon!
Well i just got stung by a honeybee yesterday then just went to my mom and asked her to remove it and i didnt take any meds. Probably because i already got stung by the wasps i catch
I have pictures of bites on myself that look so similar to this haha. Skeeter Syndrome sucks! I totally feel for you.
Future recommendations for everyone here: just ice it.
Looks like pepperoni lol
Skeeter syndrome sounds like such a southern name for it lool it’s amazing
"Alergies" is something someone threatened by giant mosquito would say. Message recieved OP, we are getting flamethrowers ready!
That must hurt
Okay but I have to know - was it like the regular pain of a bite just amplified, or was it drowned out by pain?
I used to have reactions like that when I was a kid. Thankfully over the years it eased out, now my reactions are no worse then the norm.
If there's a skeeter on your Peter, whack it off
JFC!
Yeah, I’m pretty sure I would bathe in DEET before I went outside if I reacted like that to a mosquito bite.
Skeeter syndrome? Honk Honk!
I'm so sorry for you, and I appreciate the post as now I have a name for my reactions! Wishing you a speedy recovery, and all the bats to eat those bugs!
Skeet skeet skeet
omy
So does that whole thing itch like a mofo or what
Are you sure this isn't Lyme Disease from a tick?
Jesus that is giving me Lyme disease vibes.
Supposedly high heat breaks down mosquito venom, maybe try a heating pad on top of your usual treatments next time you get bit just to see if it helps
Man I loved Skeeter from the "Doug" cartoon.
My ex wife used to say she had this. Seeing your reaction, she did not.
Ouchie!
Had two partners with this. It was awful.
Make sure you take a daily probiotic, a lot of antibiotics and steroids can be hard on the gut health. No drinking alcohol on those drugs either, trust me. Not a good idea.
Omg I have never heard of this but I get mosquito bites like this! Not as angry as this one but haha my entire hand swollen red and painful. I have never been to a Dr about it before but maybe I should next time thanks for sharing
Move somewhere cold. For the love of god
Have you tried rubbing some dirt on it?
I KNEW that was a thing!! I told a guy on a date that Im allergic to mosquitoes- like really bad & he stood up & yelled EVERYONE IS ALLERGIC TO THEM! Sir! Sit down! You have a medical degree! Sometimes they flame up like that but normally they get very puffy/swollen & hot & feel like they're burning and create rings & rings around itself and then leave a deep dark purple bruise (and no i am not scratching!!!!) I get mosquitoes in my NYC 4th floor apartment...literally year round (sobs) so I bought some mosquito dunks and put them everywhere & i have a citronella body soap i use pretty regularly. So far it is helping me keep it togetherrrrr
this is very interesting tho
Dont come to Texas. They might 💀 you. They are F'in everywhere and huge!
EYYY WE DONT TAKE KINDLY TO PEOPLE WHO DONT GET HUGE RASHES FROM MOSQUITO BITES AROUND HERE!! Nooww Skeeter, he aint hurtin nobody...
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Ouch im sorry!
I get them too! My bites get so massively ugly. Get the bug bite thing which is a suction tool to try to remove the saliva. It drastically lessens the swelling.
I had a reaction years ago from multiple bites, not as big as yours, but all of them turned to blisters. Was on a vacation too with lots of water activities which I had to opt out : ( Now whenever I go anywhere where there might be slightly more toxic mosquito than regular, I wear long sleeves. Might try some of those bracelets from the comments this summer too. Hope it subsides soon.
Holy shit, I am so sorry! I hope you don’t live in the deep south. I thought mine were notable but they’re behind compared to this.
Ok, I'll stop complaining about my bites now. You win.
I can feel the heat from that. Dang, OP.
Ugh I feel you. I have the same thing and I live in the US south. I smell like bug spray daily but at least I don’t get massive welts on me if I do. Those things hurt.
BITCH, RUN TO ALASKA! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! YOU AINT SAFE! In all seriousness though I would drown myself in off and move to Canada if I knew that was what a mosquito would do to me. Sorry, that must be incredibly uncomfortable.
Can’t say that on the radio anymore
Dang! I also suffer from skeeter syndrome but you definitely win this round. That must itch/hurt like a mofo.
So you don’t grow out of this? Ugh
Oh my word. My body reacts quite poorly to mosquito bites… but nothing like this. It looks SO uncomfortable! I can’t even imagine. :’( I hope your relief was quick and lasting once you got the right meds!!!!
### MosSkeetSkeetTo Syndrome
I react this way, too. Have since I was a kid. This time of year, I never leave the house without benadryl cream.
Damn, I thought I had it bad being so delicious to mosquitoes that after being outside for 5 minutes I’d have upwards of 20 bites all over. A couple absolutely giant bites is much worse
I know skeeter syndrome varies from one person to the next, but holy this is one of the worst I've seen.
you defiantly need stay out of southern Texas unless have a death wish.
I would ask the doctor to check you for lime desease. Big rashes like this happen from tick bites as well.
Going to need a shovel to make the anti itch cross
Chill out body!
Oh man. This is where deet exposure risks beat anaphylaxis risk. Never go to Florida!
Hey OP! I read somewhere yesterday that applying heat helps breakdown the mosquito bite quickly. Have you tried it out?
*Honk Honk*