As we left the SD Discovery Center last week, I let each of the Big 3 choose a souvenir. Landen chose a model of the earth and moon to paint, Nathan chose a set of Kids Connects and Teresa chose a stencil art set. I was good to go. I was happy to have some laughs and a couple glasses of wine with my good friend Rachel.
Well . . . it seems a few souvenirs found their way home with me after all.
Chiggers.
Oh, yeah. I thought chiggers only lived in stagnant water. Not so. It seems they can live in sand by the Missouri River, too!
The bites didn't show up until Tuesday morning (we had visited the river the previous Saturday), so I thought I had been bitten by spiders during the night. I thought maybe a spider family moved in while we were all on our vacations and were angry that we had returned.
I tore our bed apart and washed all of the sheets and blankets. I thought that solved the problem, but then more bites kept showing up. Yesterday, I tore the bed apart AGAIN and checked all around and under the mattress for anything creepy crawly. Did we have bedbugs? If we did, I was getting rid of them sooner than later!
While the sheets were washing, I went on Google (you know, THE medical authority) to learn about the bites I was experiencing.
From what I found, I am 99.9% it is chiggers. The bites take a couple of days to appear and keep showing up. The good news is that it is a myth that they burrow and stay in the skin. The bad news is that this itching could last 2-3 weeks.
Last night, I launched my home remedy attack. First I covered my legs in red wine vinegar (no apple cider vinegar to be found), but I mostly just smelled like my recipe for Three Pepper Pasta. A bath in Epsom salts helped for a little while. Then I tried putting mouthwash on them with limited success. I finally found a pretty good remedy in rubbing alcohol.
Does anyone else have any tried and true cures for chigger bites?
For the next couple of weeks, I will be the host of my own
Itchy and Scratchy Show!
