Went camping Friday night with a bud who was a bit bummed and needed to get away and came back Saturday afternoon.

We got to our site after dark and I donned my headlamp and went looking for firewood. I was as careful as I could be to not walk into things that are problematic. BTW, there are a TON of spiders out these days in this area...

This morning, Sunday, I get up to let the dogs out, and I pull down my sock to see my ankle and foot is covered in what looks to be 100 mosquito bites.

My other ankle only has a few of the similar looking marks.

So, not knowing exactly if I have a rash of chigger bites or a reaction to something else, I go to the ER and they hook me up with some cream to address the itching.

Well, this evening I've noticed the same bite looking marks on the back of my left knee and up my thigh. Thank GOD that's where they stop.

So, I know that poision Ivy oils can spread, and chiggers can climb. The treatment seems to be pretty much the same, according to the doc who couldn't answer the question for me.

So, since I've never had to deal with either due to hyper vigilance in my wilderness wandering, I turn to you guys.

What did I get into, and how do I tell the difference between chigger bites and poison ivy rash? All the Google pictures look the same....

Chiggers usually go for restricted places, like where your sox or your underwear are squeezing you. Poison Ivy don't care, and wells up in tiny blisters...

Chiggers itch later like you can't believe!

You have chigger bites. I'll take poison ivy over it, any day.

Chigger bites will make you scratch your nuts in court and church.

Get the doc to write a scrip for some atarax. It is an antihistamine with potent anti-itch properties.

That's the problem...

I have them in both areas. Where my socks where, which would suggest chiggers, and on my thigh where I wear loose pants, which could suggest poison ivy.

Itching like I can't believe?

Check!

So far, no blisters...

^^^This^^^

Nothing I hate worse than Chiggers! I'd take Poison Ivy any damn day!!!

To top it off, my post camping shower yesterday yielded 3 ticks.

My buddy owes me big time...

What really baffles me, is that I really try to take preventative measures to avoid chiggers and ticks.

I do the DEET dance all over my clothes and exposed skin as soon as I get out of the truck...

If you put Deet around your boots,socks and ankles, you shouldn't have chigger bites. They're easy to prevent. Once they get you though, you're a scratching Mo-Fo for 4-5 days.

Pour yourself a good drink and relax, if that doesn't do it...
pour another bigger one....
I feel sorry for you. You may have the Cooties... Chiggers that were living on the Poison Ivy, I use to get it lot as a kid living in the woods around Ft Bragg

Poison ivy makes little blister like bumps that are filled with fluid.

Chigger bites are hard like mosquito bites.

Rubbing Alcohol will cut the Urushiol oil the Poison ivy leaves behind. After the oil is gone, Calamine will clear it up, unless you have a really bad reaction or are allergic.

Chiggers seem to be an early Summer bug here when the grass and weeds are green. Once it gets really Hot and dry and the the plants start to turn brown, I don't have a problem with Chiggers.


That ain't no joke. I've found PI much easier to deal with than Chiggers.

My guess is chiggers. They suck....

Somethings I really don't miss about the south/east..

Chiggers it is!

Thanks guys...

They must have been really determined if they put up with my bug spray shower....

bastidges ITCH!

Wait till they get to your balls, like Bob said....

Hate you got into chiggers my bud, those are the devil's pet. I've only got them once myself (a god awefull experience at Ft Chaffee Ark)

Hope they gave you some good meds!

Just try not to scratch em.

You can scratch em till they bleed and the "bump" is almost gone and they'll still itch due to the skins reaction.

Just gonna have to tough it out for 3-4 days...

Triamcinolone Acetonide Cream USP 0.1%....

Seems to be doing the trick.

Doc said to use sparingly....ya right!

Those rounds are hitting danger close!

Not there yet though...

Just wait till you go to the same place the next time,even if it is in the winter.

You will start to itch in all of the places that them suckers got you this time.

lots of calamine and some type of antihistamine,this and time.

Happy scratching!!!

dude!

I love me some Seasick Steve!

Easy way to tell is to scratch your ankles and then your nuts. If your nuts start to itch its not chiggers.

I used to like you...

Oh heysoos H.....

Gimme a break, its just CHIGGERS fer chrissakes....

Just a usual occupational hazard of being in the woods in the South is all. The chigger mite leaves a tiny saliva feeding tube going through the skin and it is that foreign protein what causes the irritation.

I usually scratch my chigger bites bloody, looking to scratch out the irritant that way, seems to work. Never did have them get clear to my huevos though, perhaps mine are tougher than others I dunno.

Speaking of tough, judging by the weak sister responses here I dunno that you guys have what it takes to be bird watchers.

(Emergency room? Fer CHIGGERS? Really?)

Birdwatcher

When I was a kid and I suffered from a big chigger invasion on my undercarriage, my Mom would put several glugs (that�s a measurement) of bleach in the tub with really hot water and I would sit in it until the water cooled off.

Not sure if it killed the chiggers or stopped the itching but it kept me from complaining, and Mom said it would help.

You never know what might help when the itching almost makes you crazy.

I've had more than my share of 'em. I just live with the itch for a few days. The nail polish remedy, dabbing bleach on them, etc doesn't seem to help. I scratch them too .

Ya, sorta like bringing a little bit of the outdoor experience back home with you, a felt reminder of the good times you just had being out there in the woods

Birdwatcher

I hear a snake bite can leave you quite a reminder of your time outdoors. Not sure I want to have one of them either!

The best way to get over your fear of chiggers is to go back to that same patch of damp tall grass, strip down to your jockeys, t-shirt and socks, and roll around for about twenty minutes.

I think you can also build up immunity that way, but you need to do that at least three times for that to occur.

IIRC they taught us that at ESF.

Birdwatcher

Best thing for chiggars is a hot shower with lye soap within two hours, or so, of exposure. Even if you've already sprayed down with some deet stuff before the woods trip.

Now, supposing you didn't do that routine. The itching starts after about 24-36 hrs and it's intense. Best thing to do then is scratch until you bleed and I mean scratch those little hills raw!

Now it's time for the product you bought prior to your exposure (right?). Yes, it's time to use the ChiggarRid. Smells like camphor and model airplane glue. Looks like clear finger nail polish. This stuff works! After the intense pain from application subsides, you'll notice the itch has stopped and you can go back to bed.

When you wake in the morning, your legs and ankles seem to be glued to the sheets (you didn't let dry enough). Once freed and all the protective coating is removed you'll notice the itch is back! Time to repeat the process of scratch/bleed/reapply remedy. Be prepared to do this for several days.

Somebody said poison ivy exposure is better? They're right.

This is your friend for chiggers...

I'm starting to believe it!

I'd like to amputate my legs!

That stuff the doc gave me isn't doing squat...

I've started using a benadryl itch cooling spray and it's far more effective.

I'm still not sure what I have going on here as it physically looks like chigger bites, but it's spreading like poison ivy does. Up to my abdomen now...

TFF !

One of them don't ask the question you don't want the answer to.

Chigger bites don't spread...

You sure you weren't frolicking around in the Ivy..?

If it's spreading and it's Ivy, I'd go get a shot to stop the reaction...

Hot shower, as hot as you can take. It will take the itch away for 20 or so hours. Reason is it disolves histamin and eases up the itching.

I had both, chiggers are worse, but hot shower helps a lot.

Scrach it and if it gets better in a couple of days...it's chiggers.

On the left is the pain reliever. On the right is your American Express card.

Yeah, chigger bites don't spread, and poison ivy blisters. I've got no blisters and a spreading rash of what appears to be bug bites.

I've ruled out bed bugs too, fwiw...

I'd say that this quandary is making me really scratch my head...

Mark...it just took the chiggers a long time to crawl from one end of your belly to the other. You got chiggers,brother.

Grab the wire brush, get in a hot,hot shower and scratch.

You will do this for at least 4 maybe 5 days.

Once they bite you and lay that enzyme into your skin,you're going to itch like a Mo-Fo. Killing the bastards does nothing after they've dropped their spittle into you.

My body from the waist down looked like folks used it for a dart tournament before those [bleep] got done with me. I made a hundred frivolous objections in court just so I could stand up and scrape my nuts against the table.

The only cure is time,amigo. It's simply a miserable 4-5 days once they tag you.

Makes sense to me. I'm cool with time doing its deed. I'm just very analytically oriented by nature and not knowing what I'm dealing with for certain drives me as batty as the itch does.

It could be an allergic reaction to something else completely for all I know. Which only bugs me more because now I want to know what I'm allergic to.

The treatment seems to be the same for every scenario. Address the itching and let time run its course.

It's just the not knowing for certain what I'm dealing with that "bugs" me!

Crabs?

Just drink a lot and take benadryl.



Travis

The postman sure does have a funny smile on his face as of late....

For either PI or Chigros (politically correct you know), try covering them with deodorant. Will help dry them up. To help prevent Chiggers, take a bath with two capfuls of bleach in it as soon as you can after being outdoors. Kills the little devils it does! :-)

Man who had a shot glass full of chiggers he could control, could rule the world!~

If it's poison ivy....your nuts will itch when you scratch 'em!!