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revenge of the mosquitos
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 09:19 pmA couple of weeks ago at work when I was outside for lunch, a mosquito was pestering me, following me from the bench to the picnic table. So I decided to kill it. The next time it landed on me, I swatted it. I felt my hand crushing it briefly, and then jerked away, shaken. Damn world, turning me into a killer.
Starting about a week ago, I seem to have gotten a case of adult-onset allergy against mosquito bites. I hope this is a temporary thing. Instead of having the bites stay pea-sized, they keep getting bigger until the size of a quarter or more, and the skin swells up. Sometimes the swelling itches and burns, sometimes not. Taking anti-histamines helps get rid of the swelling and itching somewhat. Otherwise the swelling goes away in about a day.
I'm wondering if my body's overreaction to the bites is somehow due to the chigger bumps which still haven't entirely faded. Or to the hot-pepper burn I got on my hands while de-seeding some peppers, the day before the swellings started.
This week I killed another mosquito, outside at lunch. Now it's not just defending myself from a bunch of itchy bites, but also from annoying swellings.
Actually, I'm still not entirely sure it's mosquito bites that are causing the swellings, as I haven't seen what's been biting me. The reaction is more like a spider bite reaction, but it doesn't seem likely to me that I've been getting repeatedly bitten by spiders several days in a week, both inside the house and outside.
I'm posting this not to complain about it, but so that maybe Google will index it, since I haven't found much info on sudden adult onset of mosquito allergies. Especially not in relation to chiggers or hot peppers.
.
Last night, I saw a pale-colored, unpleasant-looking spider in the house. So I caught it and took it outside. But while descending the porch steps, preparing to release it onto the grass, I stepped on a large cockroach. Barefoot. Squish. Ugh. Poor cockroach. Sigh. Just can't win.
Starting about a week ago, I seem to have gotten a case of adult-onset allergy against mosquito bites. I hope this is a temporary thing. Instead of having the bites stay pea-sized, they keep getting bigger until the size of a quarter or more, and the skin swells up. Sometimes the swelling itches and burns, sometimes not. Taking anti-histamines helps get rid of the swelling and itching somewhat. Otherwise the swelling goes away in about a day.
I'm wondering if my body's overreaction to the bites is somehow due to the chigger bumps which still haven't entirely faded. Or to the hot-pepper burn I got on my hands while de-seeding some peppers, the day before the swellings started.
This week I killed another mosquito, outside at lunch. Now it's not just defending myself from a bunch of itchy bites, but also from annoying swellings.
Actually, I'm still not entirely sure it's mosquito bites that are causing the swellings, as I haven't seen what's been biting me. The reaction is more like a spider bite reaction, but it doesn't seem likely to me that I've been getting repeatedly bitten by spiders several days in a week, both inside the house and outside.
I'm posting this not to complain about it, but so that maybe Google will index it, since I haven't found much info on sudden adult onset of mosquito allergies. Especially not in relation to chiggers or hot peppers.
.
Last night, I saw a pale-colored, unpleasant-looking spider in the house. So I caught it and took it outside. But while descending the porch steps, preparing to release it onto the grass, I stepped on a large cockroach. Barefoot. Squish. Ugh. Poor cockroach. Sigh. Just can't win.