The floods and heavy rain here in Eastern Nebraska has brought with them a flood of mosquitoes and fleas. Some mosquitoes seem to like DEET. 
Our poodle is the flea magnet, and every time she comes indoors we have to give her a flea comb treatment. My wife's blood appears to be more tasty then mine, because she gets 4 or 5 times as many bites as I do.
For the last couple of years we've been using some stuff in a plastic yellow dropper bottle called "StingEze", which is 2% antiseptic and 20% Benzocaine, a pain killer. I bought it by the dozen. After application it would take about 10-15 minutes for the itch to subside, and the relief would last about 6 to 8 hours before you had to put another drop on the bite. After about three days of applying StingEze every 8 hours, the itch was gone for good.
My wife was browsing the Internet looking for something, when she ran across a web site that advertized a device that looked the size of a Sharpie pen. Battery powered, you were supposed to hold the tip of the device on the bite for 30 seconds, and the itch was supposed to go away permanently. The reviews weren't very good for that device but it roused my curiosity enough that I googled it. Here's what I've found:
It is claimed that the principle behind the device is that it heats the skin to the "pain flash point", which deactivates the insect venom. Most venom is either a simple organic acid, like ant sting venom, which is Formic Acid, the simplest organic acid, or it is a complex peptide or protein. Some suggest that the device deadens the nerve endings in the area, so the bite can't itch. I favor the first suggestion, because if the venom were still active but the nerve endings were dead, the area of the itch would continue to swell and increase in size as the venom diffused outward. My observations of my bites after applying the heat technique is that the bite stops itching immediately, and the area of redness and swelling immediately diminishes to a small, flat red spot about 1/8th of an inch or less. On occasions a return of a very slight itch sensation is for ever neutralized by a second heat application.
My googling turned up a technique which utilizes the average hair drier gun. Set your hair blower on high heat with the fastest fan speed. Turn on the blow gun and give it 10 or 15 seconds to come up to temperature. Direct the hot air coming from the nozzle of the blow drier onto the bite with the tip of the nozzle at 1 1/2 to 2 inches above the bite. The skin will begin to heat up and get hotter and hotter. BUT, in about 5 to 15 seconds you will experience a flash of pain. At that instant withdraw the nozzle and apply it to the next bite you need to treat, if any.
That's it. Simple. But, man oh man, it it effective. 8) And economical, too! And, the skin is not burned. No blisters, very little redness which, if it appears, goes away quickly. Just heating the skin up but not getting it hot enough to create the "flash of pain" doesn't work but does create redness and soreness.
I now have a dozen bottles ($30) of "StingEze" that I ordered last fall to have on hand for this season.
Our poodle is the flea magnet, and every time she comes indoors we have to give her a flea comb treatment. My wife's blood appears to be more tasty then mine, because she gets 4 or 5 times as many bites as I do. For the last couple of years we've been using some stuff in a plastic yellow dropper bottle called "StingEze", which is 2% antiseptic and 20% Benzocaine, a pain killer. I bought it by the dozen. After application it would take about 10-15 minutes for the itch to subside, and the relief would last about 6 to 8 hours before you had to put another drop on the bite. After about three days of applying StingEze every 8 hours, the itch was gone for good.
My wife was browsing the Internet looking for something, when she ran across a web site that advertized a device that looked the size of a Sharpie pen. Battery powered, you were supposed to hold the tip of the device on the bite for 30 seconds, and the itch was supposed to go away permanently. The reviews weren't very good for that device but it roused my curiosity enough that I googled it. Here's what I've found:
It is claimed that the principle behind the device is that it heats the skin to the "pain flash point", which deactivates the insect venom. Most venom is either a simple organic acid, like ant sting venom, which is Formic Acid, the simplest organic acid, or it is a complex peptide or protein. Some suggest that the device deadens the nerve endings in the area, so the bite can't itch. I favor the first suggestion, because if the venom were still active but the nerve endings were dead, the area of the itch would continue to swell and increase in size as the venom diffused outward. My observations of my bites after applying the heat technique is that the bite stops itching immediately, and the area of redness and swelling immediately diminishes to a small, flat red spot about 1/8th of an inch or less. On occasions a return of a very slight itch sensation is for ever neutralized by a second heat application.
My googling turned up a technique which utilizes the average hair drier gun. Set your hair blower on high heat with the fastest fan speed. Turn on the blow gun and give it 10 or 15 seconds to come up to temperature. Direct the hot air coming from the nozzle of the blow drier onto the bite with the tip of the nozzle at 1 1/2 to 2 inches above the bite. The skin will begin to heat up and get hotter and hotter. BUT, in about 5 to 15 seconds you will experience a flash of pain. At that instant withdraw the nozzle and apply it to the next bite you need to treat, if any.
That's it. Simple. But, man oh man, it it effective. 8) And economical, too! And, the skin is not burned. No blisters, very little redness which, if it appears, goes away quickly. Just heating the skin up but not getting it hot enough to create the "flash of pain" doesn't work but does create redness and soreness.
I now have a dozen bottles ($30) of "StingEze" that I ordered last fall to have on hand for this season.
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