Chiggers

[partinj]

Hi everone here one for you all Me and my girl Mchelle when hiking over the weekend down in virgin. Got back home found our feet had chickers on them. Do any of you know a good way to get rid of these thing they itch really bad try some itch cream did nothing. met a guy at the cvs said to use finger nail pos. What do you guy think :-?

[naturejunkie]

Despite popular belief, chiggers do not burrow into the skin. Just keep the bites clean and take and antihistamine if possible and apply cortisone to reduce itching. Beyond that, just wait out the itching.

[Seeker]

sorry... chiggers are a b!tc4... there's not a lot of comfort for them. however, white vinegar or plain ammonia will take some of the edge off... the other advice about an antihistimine and cortisone cream is also good.

prevention's the best medicine... permethrin spray on outer garments (pants/shorts/shirt), socks, hat, tent/tarp/hammock, as well as pack, will prevent most of it. i had friends who wore dog collars around their ankles, outside their boots, in places where it was really bad, but the safety label says not to do that.

[taildragger]

If you react to them the same way that I do (i.e. they swell into large almost boils on your skin), then you can just pop them and let em drain. I always found that swimming in a pool would cause them to drain, and lead to relief.

[Panzer1]

As soon as you come back in the house, take a shower. That's supposed to wash most of them off before they can do any real damage.

Put your clothes in washing machine to prevent them from getting loose in the house.

Panzer

[greentick]

Despite popular belief, chiggers do not burrow into the skin. Just keep the bites clean and take and antihistamine if possible and apply cortisone to reduce itching. Beyond that, just wait out the itching.

You are correct sir!

Per the SOF Medic Handbook: The inject an irritating secretion when they meet an obstacle like a boot or belt and then drop off. No burrowing (that's scabies).

Itching peaks on day 2 and lasts for up to a week.

Hydrocortisone cream, benadryl, pepcid for itching.

Scratching can lead to a secondary bacterial infection (due to violating the integrity of the skin).

Prevention: DEET, not sure if permethrin works.

[leeki pole]

I've had good luck with Absorbine Jr. on the affected area, let dry and then apply hydrocortisone cream.

Get ready, though, you're going to be itching for a while. Don't scratch!

[Brad]

I was up in SNP on Saturday and got covered in chiggers too. Unfortunately, mine are not confined to my feet. Underarms, stomach, thighs, and even one enterprising little fellow who took a bite out of a very special place. :eek:

What's been working for me is slathering them in a baking soda & water slurry, then letting that dry. Once the baking soda dries and absorbs the pus it really seems to help keep the itch down. Plus I've been keeping the A/C on and wearing as little clothing as possible to stay dry.

[saimyoji]

Pee on em.

[Tennessee Viking]

Hi everone here one for you all Me and my girl Mchelle when hiking over the weekend down in virgin. Got back home found our feet had chickers on them. Do any of you know a good way to get rid of these thing they itch really bad try some itch cream did nothing. met a guy at the cvs said to use finger nail pos. What do you guy think :-?
Clear nail polish. Dot the areas of your bite, and a day or so later should kill the chigger.

[budforester]

I use DEET and rubber- band my pant- legs when I'm in redbug territory, so I don't get many. I want to try dotting on a paste of meat tenderizer next time ... that has helped on bee, wasp, and caterpillar stings. If that stuff the chiggers zap you with is a protein, this might remove it and lessen the itch. Has anyone tried this for chiggers?

[greentick]

Clear nail polish. Dot the areas of your bite, and a day or so later should kill the chigger.

The chigger is gone by the time you feel the itch.

Nail polish might work with scabies tho... That itch is from them burrowing and mite droppings.

[teledaveaustin]

I knew peeing on jellyfish stings worked. But chiggers?

[Ramble~On]

Used to get these in the Marines.
There was an over the counter medicine called "Chig Away" or something like that.
Nail polish worked but slowly.....
What really works and gets rid of them and stops the itching............
HOT water...I mean go in the shower and basically scald yourself. Sucks for a minute or two but gets rid of the bugs and their itch.

[Nearly Normal]

Red Bugs.
Nasty bite.
Scratch awhile and they'll go away in a couple of weeks.
When we was kids, playing in the woods all summer, Granny used to give us a teaspoon of sugar with one drop of medical Turpentine every Monday. I don't know that it worked, but we never got any on us.
I don't reccomend it. But we took it.
Might kill you now a days, most things seem to.

Again, that might be why I'm only,
Nearly Normal

[hopefulhiker]

We used to put fingernail polish on them too. That worked...

[SloHiker]

My experience has been that chiggers are not very difficult to repel with almost any "bug spray" readily available. Once you've been attacked, the topical cortisone creams generally provide some level of relief. For me personally, the nail polish treatment has always worked better than anything else as the dried polish provides a physical barrier that blocks the air from the site of the bite - thereby inhibiting the pain receptors in the skin. Just my 2 cents worth - hope it helps.

[Cannibal]

I use DEET and rubber- band my pant- legs when I'm in redbug territory, so I don't get many. I want to try dotting on a paste of meat tenderizer next time ... that has helped on bee, wasp, and caterpillar stings. If that stuff the chiggers zap you with is a protein, this might remove it and lessen the itch. Has anyone tried this for chiggers?

Would only work if they left something behind other than a chemical. Works great for marine animal stings as they usually inject something (stinger, barb, etc.) and the tenderizer is used to break-up that "thing" and allow the bloodstream to carry it away in little pieces.

[kayak karl]

i just hiked the batona trail in nj. got bite over 1000 times. you are right. you dont know untill after they are gone, ebsom salts have helped the most. and wearing socks on my hands at nite so i dont itch :)

[CherrypieScout]

Clear nail polish works well in Alabama

[eArThworm]

Distilled from http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/arthopo/chiggers/ , which seems to have everything there is to know about chiggers:

"A chigger usually goes unnoticed for one to three hours after it starts feeding. During this period the chigger quietly injects its digestive saliva. After a few hours your skin reacts by hardening the cells on all sides of the saliva path, eventually forming a hard tube-like structure called a stylostome. ...

Itching usually peaks a day or two after the bite occurs. This happens because the stylostome remains imbedded in your skin tissue long after the chigger is gone. Your skin continues the itch, allergic reaction to stylostome for many days. The stylostome is eventually absorbed by your body, a slow process that takes a week to 10 days, or longer...

Warm soapy water is all that is necessary to remove and kill chiggers. There is no need, and it is rather dangerous, to apply household products such as kerosene, turpentine, ammonia, alcohol, gasoline, salt or dry cleaning fluid. Don't do it.

Attached chiggers are removed by even the lightest rubbing. If you are away from civilization, you can remove attached chiggers before they do much damage by frequently rubbing down with a towel or a cloth.

Lotions will relive the itching somewhat, but no substance is completely effective. The only ultimate cure is time, since there is nothing you can do to dislodge the chigger's feeding tube, the true cause of your itch. You must simply wait until your body breaks down and absorbs the foreign object.

In the meantime, local anesthetics such as benzocaine, camphor-phenol and ammonium hydroxide may provide you with several hours of comfort at a stretch. Over-the-counter creams can also help. In rare cases, some people are allergic to chigger bites and require prescription medications from their doctor
.
The most popular home remedy for which there is little justification is to dab nail polish on the welt. This cannot "smother" the chigger because it has not burrowed into your skin, and it was probably scratched off long ago. The only benefit to applying a thick coat of nail polish is that it helps to remind you not to scratch the bite."

And from another source: "If you've got an itch, put it under water as hot as you can stand it for as long as you can stand it. It will burn up all your histamines (the things your body produces that makes the itch). In other words, you'll do ALL your itching at once. It will take your body about 6 hours to produce replacement histamines. So, hot water every 6 hours..."

Not that you can bathe in hot water every 6 hours on the trail. :-0

[Panzer1]

nicely written, eArThworm. There's a lot of useful info here.

Panzer

[Tennessee Viking]

I just saw a survivor show where the guy was under attack by ants, chiggers and bad foot fungus. Suggested laying hot coals or recent fire ash over the ground where your sleeping. The direct heat will drive most creatures away. Or the dry ash will dry out anything living in it.

[hopefulhiker]

Learn something new everyday!