Horsefly bites?

Is there anything to get the swelling and heat down?
Also there’s clear liquid (I assume this is a puss type substance) coming out of the actual bite area.
My left leg below the knee is one big cankle?

Need to tie up hands as its so itchy, mustn’t scratch, mustn’t scratch.

Witchhazel and ice pack

Oooh thanks geoff.

Got some really good fly bite gel in a chemists in France a few years ago. Haven’t come across anything near as effective in the UK.

Wracking my brains for the name…. yellow and white packaging

I had this last year but on my right leg so can’t really comment 😛

You just remined me of last year’s vow to stick with wearing Ronhills.

Only kiddin !

Doc gave me antibiotics and some cream called Fucidin.

Had to pay prescription for the pills but doc said the cream was only about 4 quid so just buy it over the counter. (if that makes sense).

Got some really good fly bite gel in a chemists in France a few years ago. Haven’t come across anything near as effective in the UK.

Wracking my brains for the name…. yellow and white packaging

I had this a few times last year.

Mine were accompanied by heat and a nice red area following the vein… Ended up having antibiotics each time. On one occasion, the ones from the walk in centre weren’t strong enough, ended up in A&E and getting a monster dose of some combined antibiotics.

Keep an eye on it…

I got bit last week. Spring’s definitely here! 🙂

Germoline helps – anaesthetic plus antiseptic

i got one last week. it’s still itching now. i put some anthisan on it which rapidly reduced the swelling and heat but you need to apply it regularly for it to be effective.

Had an enormous one come up on the back of my leg last summer, swelled up to considerably bigger than a £2 coin!

Anyway it popped (lovely!), but it got infected too… Went to the doc’s, they prescribed me a course of antibiotics. Cleared it up completely within 3 days…

Anthisan for the win. Comes in tubes like:

http://www.boots.com/en/Anthisan-Cream-25g_922795/

TBH I find they’re not too bad if you can ignore them a bit, then you forget about them till something hits the affected area.

my last one, horse flies love me!, i had 3 on one leg once, just put some Boots anti-bite stuff on it, it went dark red not long after this, soooo itchy
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June 15th[/url] by rOcKeTdOgUk[/url], on Flickr

Someone needs to suck the pus out.

That one bit me last year.

Dunno about creams ad things really, so perhaps Sudocrem and some certrazine OTC antiistamines for the swelling/ itching.

Marmite or garlic tablets to stop them biting in the first place.

Taken by mouth, not rubbed on or bathed in…

I swear that horse flies have teeth – I can feel the blighters bite! And I always react to them – generally a swollen area the size of my hand 😕
Anthisan doesn’t seem to do anything, ice is the best treatment, and recommended to me by a doctor.

Blunt teeth – sharp ones would hurt less

I hate horseflies. Teeth with wings!

Get to the GPs asap. Happened to me a few years ago and the infection (redness) spread up my leg. Doc gave me powerful drugs and even so I was utterly knocked down by the bites. Remember going to les gets shortly afterwards and having zero energy to ride

The trick is not to get bitten in the first place. You need to offer them a better target to go for…

…carrotflies would be the obvious bait…

Thanks chaps.

There are 2 bites on the one leg. Why they go for my skinny pins I don’t know!

Last year I went to the local G.P with just the one bite and was told just to ignore it, but this time, I’m limping around a bit more.

Think I’ll just WTFU. (with a bit of ice).

Draw a line with biro around the redness- if it spreads outside the line …GP. Sod mTFU its your health

Lucky it was just your lower leg: next time it could be a child’s face.

Shit! It could have been my face!

get well soon though.

monksie – Thanks, it happened when I was with you, glad it wasn’t your face or anyone’s for that matter 🙂

Maybe I’ll wear longs and not 3/4s on the next few rides.

Double sheet! Clearly, you’re infinitley more attractive than me J. It’s not all bad being as ugly as I am. I can always find a silver lining

I have bitten by flea lately, I think it is flea anyway, bloody itchy they are on the spots they feasted on me. 😯

As a result of my two horse fly bites I had to wear thin running tights under my baggies. Not fun but when riding in fern/overgrown rides far better to be safe IMO.

Are you taking anti-histamines as well?

Take your trusty pocket knife and cut the bite out – it’s the only way to survive

I’ve heard that horseflies tend to go for dark coloured shapes so, using the same logic as avoiding shark bites by not being the slowest swimmer, avoid horsefly bites by wearing lighter coloured clothes than someone else in your group.

thepurist – Amazingly for the first time in years, I was wearing all black.
Swelling has gone down a wee bit, but the 2 bites are still sore.

It’s true…ish! Sciency bit from the Guardian

I got bit the other weekend. 3 bites on my leg. Not good really, but didn’t think much of it at the time. one day later and I had a fever/shaking/flu like symptoms. Following day, runny nose, following day, slightly better. Seemed to coincide with the fading bites.

My guess is that, as there’s been a lot of muck spreading of recent, that’s the last thing the little buggers were on. When they bit me, I had poo bacteria injected into my blood.

nice.