I have numerous mosquito bites and am using insect repellent and cream, is there anything else I can do?

It has been a bad year for Mosquitoes but hopefully they should be dying out soon.

When we came to Spain the first thing we bought were mosquito nets for the windows so we could sleep at night without being bitten. I also bought nets for the bed too but now find the window nets work so well that we hardly use the bed nets. You can get travel mosquito nets online, on Amazon or similar, which can go over the beds.

The window nets can be bought cheaply in any Chinese Bazaar but the sticky velcro that comes with it doesn't stay on that long so I use the thicker sticky velcro that the Ferreteria's sell.

You can also buy thicker netting on a roll to put on the front door grill too (in the Ferreteria's and this works well in summer as it stops mossies and also flies coming in when the front door is open and the grill is locked. An old credit card is good to hard press the netting on the velcro.

As for going out we found that the Spanish repellent is best and you can get it in any supermarket but we were also recommended a new one this year called Halley which is a bit more expensive but can be bought in a Pharmacia (chemist shop). It worked well for us when the mossies were swarming a few weeks ago.

There is also a liquid called Nuenco which is a large bottle of cologne which the Spanish use for their babies and children . It isn't an actual repellent and I wouldn't use it on its own when mosquitoes are bad but it smells lovely and is good to put on after a shower and then use the repellent on the places more likely to get bitten. I often decant it into a little spray bottle to take out with me in the evenings. 

However, as I said, you really need a good repellent in the mosquito breeding season and this year has been the worst we've known. Hopefully it won't always be that bad and we won't need such strong repellent in future.

Hope this helps.

Jan

Ps For the bites themselves, I also take out an After Bite pen that you can buy in Boots at the airport or probably in Spain too. Calamine lotion or cream is good for the itching too and can be bought in Spain.

Hi Jan,

Thanks for your reply, I have got Hally which is helping a lot, will look at mosquito nets online x

Hi,

​Prevention is better than having to deal with the pain itchiness of the bites ...

You can use some essential oils which are natural (I hate all that chemical stuff which can't be good for you).
You can use Terra Shield pure (just a drop) or mix it with fractionated coco oil, a few drops of arbovitae and patchouli to make it stronger if you like the scent. Works wonders even against the flies.
I also use it on the dogs and horses.

If you have been bitten just rub some fresh aloe vera gel from a leaf from your garden (take just a cm of the leaf every time you need some.

You can also stimulate some acupuncture points against itchiness.​

Greetzzz

Buy a plug in device

caroline

I get bitten very badly and use Halley repelent.

I take antihistamine tablets (chemist) all year round

If I get a bad bite (weepy and sore) I get antibiotic cream from the chemist if not too bad then antihistamine cream.

I also wash the bites in Betadine soap (chemist) to help stop any infection.

We have nets on the windows and doors and use the plugins. Lidl ones are quite good and not too expensive.

I have tried everything and this is the best I have found. I still have marks and scars from some of the worst bites.

Good luck