I don’t know about you, but these past few weeks I’ve been getting eaten alive!! Mosquito’s seem to love me, which is strange because they tend to love those who love sugar (sweet blood) and I am not a sugar lover…well sometimes ;0 Over the past few years I’ve become really sensitive to mosquito’s and I get extremely red and swollen. Very swollen actually! My bites look like huge tennis balls! I feel like the mosquito’s are getting worse each year, perhaps they are GMO mosquito’s?? Just a thought?!

Being that it’s almost July, I’ve got a long way to go til summer is over and so I will have to endure the stinging, itching and swelling for quite a few more weeks! I’m sure we’ve all used mosquito repellents to ward off these pesky bugs, and most repellents contain DEET. DEET does work to ward off bugs, since it helps to mask the smell of carbon dioxide which attracts mosquito’s in the first place. Our skin and breath give off carbon dioxide gas, so we become tasty meals for mosquito’s! Concentrations of about 10-30% of DEET can repel mosquito’s for about 3-5 hours. BUT…at the end of the day, DEET is a chemical and over use can potentially harm us. Our skin is very porous and anything we put on our skin will be absorbed. BUT….there are natural ways to help with the nuance of itching and redness from bites, so here are a few suggestions:

– As funny as it may seem, mosquito’s love the color black. So if your prone to getting bitten, avoid wearing black!
– Taking a high dose of B vitamins, particularly vitamin B1 (thiamine) helps to repel these little buggers! B vitamins get excreted through our urine and skin so our sweat and moisture combined with this vitamin help to repel them. 100mg to 200mg should do the trick.
– Apple cider vinegar mixed with a little water can be applied directly to the bite and will help with itching and redness.
– Take homeopathic Apis Mellifica 30CH to help with any swelling or allergic reactions to insect bites. You can also find apis gel to apply topically for the relief of pain and itching
– Rubbing alittle bit of lemongrass oil on your skin works as a great repellent
– Tea tree and eucalyptus essential oils are natural mosquito repellents as well and can also be applied to bites.
-Calendula cream/gel is also a great topical treatment for irritation caused by bites and also great as a first aid for cuts, wounds and abrasions, as well as for sunburns.
-StingStop is a gel you can find in most health food stores that contains citronella and is great for itch and pain as well as for cold sores.
-And lastly, if you’re out in the woods and are getting eaten alive and don’t have anything to apply to your bites, you can pick up some plantain (which grows almost everywhere). You would pick a few leaves, chew it….yes…chew it…..and once it becomes a mushy paste in your mouth you can apply it to your bites to stop the itch. It works like magic and because I spend a lot of time outside in the garden, I use plantain often! Plantain is also great for cuts or wounds. Here’s a picture of what it looks like so you can familiarize yourself with plantain before you go chewing some random weed!

So I hope this info helps you and your family stay free of mosquito bites this summer so you can enjoy doing more activities and less scratching!!!