Chigged.

[Ben Ruset]

My wife kicked me out of bed for scratching my ankles.

I ran the bath water as hot as it would go and soaked my poor ankles in it for about 10 minutes. I'm about to put on an ocean of calamine lotion and try to go to bed again.

It figures that the first time I go out in the summer, I would get chiggers.

Ticks I can deal with. It's the chiggers and skeeters that just bother me so much.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

Chiggers are da debbil. Nothing I have taken will help except oral Benadryl (the topical kind seems worthless), and Benadryl turns me into a bobblehead zombie for three days. So I itch.

 

[Ben Ruset]

Yeah I took benadryl last night, and am still sleepy from it.

 

[davensj]

I`v found that Ivarest (for poison ivy) works for me to stop Chiggers from itching.

 

[Boyd]

Welcome to our sorry club, my ankles are also itching. I've tried Ivarest and agree it's probably as effective as anything else. When I had a really bad case two years ago I tried everything I could find in that section of the drug store. Aveeno also makes a calamine sort of cream which seems to help.

Hot water does feel good for awhile, but from what I've read it actually stimulates the histamine mechanism which causes inflamation and makes the itches worse afterwards. Try cool water instead and see if that works better.

 

[Badfish740]

This may sound like a dumb question, but do chiggers have a certain area/vegetation/etc...that they prefer? To my knowledge I've never gotten them, and the way you guys talk about them I'm sure I'd know if I did. Just the other day I walked through a lot of knee high grass/weeds to get to a few different fishing spots in the woods near my house. I'm not itching at all, but this was in Hamilton Township, Mercer County. Do chiggers only live in the pines/shore area?

 

[Ben Ruset]

This may sound like a dumb question, but do chiggers have a certain area/vegetation/etc...that they prefer? To my knowledge I've never gotten them, and the way you guys talk about them I'm sure I'd know if I did. Just the other day I walked through a lot of knee high grass/weeds to get to a few different fishing spots in the woods near my house. I'm not itching at all, but this was in Hamilton Township, Mercer County. Do chiggers only live in the pines/shore area?

They are all over. And knee high grass/weeds is their favorite place to be!

 

[Boyd]

Yes, I think tall grass is their favorite hangout... I don't know how far north they go however. They don't exist in upstate NY where I used to live (Lake Ontario area). I think the winters are too harsh for them there... no ticks either. But lots of terrible mosquitoes and biting flies! But growing up in Missouri and Southern Illinois I learned all about chiggers the hard way.

It's funny, I'd say that most people around here have never heard of them either. Years ago when I first moved to the area, my wife broke out with terrible itching and rash-like symptoms. She went to the dermatologist who gave her cortisone and said it must have been some kind of allergic reaction. That didn't sound right to me because I also had lots of bites also, so I looked in some bug books and realized it was chiggers that we got from walking through high grass in the pines with the dog. I thought it was pretty outrageous that a professional like a dermatologist in South Jersey wouldn't recognize that!

 

[Teegate]

I thought it was pretty outrageous that a professional like a dermatologist in South Jersey wouldn't recognize that!

Most likely all his life was spent indoors or traveling in a car between being indoors, and had not idea there is another world out there. And the same for most of his patients.

Guy

 

[bobpbx]

You know, I noticed something last month when I got them. I have an outdoor pool. After diving in (which I have been doing a lot lately), the itch goes away for at least an hour. Try chorine bleach mixed with cold water. Maybe we have hit on something.

 

[woodjin]

Okay two things
1) It surprises me also how little anyone knows of chiggers. I once had a 14 y.o. girl (student of mine) tell me she was attacked by a bunch of super small, invisible spiders and her entire lower half was covered with bites. Well, it was chiggers of course. this was in Medford. She lived just off Jackson road (the part that is still paved). Can you believe she didn't get them till she was 14. I said "Welcome to the club young lady".

I never got chiggers growing up in Monmounth county. Never, and I spent a great deal of time in the woods, barefoot alot also.

2) Okay, this works for me, I swear. Go to the beach and stand in the water or swim for at least a 1/2 hour. Closer to an hour if you really want some relief. They sting(but don't itch) it is a good, veryyyyy goooood kind of sting. Then they don't itch, usually not till the next day. They seem to heal quicker also.

Jeff

 

[woodjin]

I just wanted to add...I remember one time having them real bad and going out of my mind because I couldn't sleep. It was late, like 2am and I drove to the beach and ran in. It was the best feeling in the world!!!

almost.

Jeff

BTW I'm not sure if soaking them in a tub of salt water would have the same effect but for some reason I suspect it wont. I think the motion of the surf, the water rushing over the bites makes a difference.

 

[LARGO]

I have done the very same years ago! Thank goodness the Jersey shore is so close. The salt water ( From the Sea ) does wonders, also good for poison ivy. That remedy was told to me years ago so I figured, why not try it on Chigger Itch. Also hint regarding Chlorine. I had a pool before and if You apply loads of pool shock, then go in ( Although seriously not recommended by the manufacturers ) does wonders.

I had a few chigger bites already this season but nothing noteworthy. What is funny though is my daughter, who can roll in poison ivy with no result, got 3 bites a couple weeks back while out with me. I had been telling her that while she laughs about the poison ivy and how I get it and she don't.... Chiggers do not segregate their victims. Now she knows firsthand.

G.

 

[onehand]

well i have gotten lucky this year so far, a few weeks ago a got about a dozen on a short walk in the woods
usually i get hit with about 50 t0 75 chiggers at a time, twice a season, i always seem to forget the bug spray (too many dead brain cells)

 

[piker56]

Chigger remedies

Two years ago I got chewed up pretty bad and ended up at a dermatologist. He prescribed something called Olux (hope I spelled it right). It was hard to find, but it works really well on any insect bites. A word of warning about the chlorine remedy, a friend of mine burnt his skin using a solution that was too strong. Be very careful how much you add and how long you use it.
When is first frost?

 

[Boyd]

Yeah, I have heard the swimming pool and ocean remedies recommended for various kinds of itching, like poison ivy and flea bites as well.

But really, I think it's a question of mind over matter in the end. So do anything which makes you feel better. They will run their slow course no matter what...

 

[davensj]

Years ago when I was a kid, I used to get poison ivy so bad that I spent most of the spring and summer
In the house. My Mom would load me in the car and off to the beach we went…. She’d give me a Popsicle stick
And send me in the water to break open the poison blisters. The next day they were all scabbed up.

 

[daved]

i guess im one of the lucky ones i havent gotten chiggers. all the times i been camping and walking through the woods i have never gotten them. years ago when my family was camping my dad got chiggers and he didnt go anywhere he stayed at the campsite and that was the last time he went. lol

 

[Ben Ruset]

I think they are attracted to certain people. I get them without fail.

 

[piker56]

The best way for me to beat the chiggers is to canoe instead of hike. Last Friday I had off from work and spent the day on (and in) the Batsto. Had a great day, and no chigger bites! The grassy area of the lake was blanketed in yellow flowers, not sure of their name. Lots of turtles sunning, saw a couple of herons fishing, almost no people on the water, just a really good day.