Starting this Monday, not only did I catch a fever, but the next day I started getting mosquito bites. Today, I counted a total of at least 9 bites, and it’s been so hard not to scratch them. If you put me in a room of 10 people with mosquitoes, not only would I probably the only one to get bitten, but I would also start swelling. It’s one of the many reasons why I prefer winter over summer.

Thankfully, I’ve only had to go to the doctor once because the swelling was so bad. Most people seemed really surprised that this even existed, so I thought blogging about it would not only be useful but it would also occupy my fingers so I would stop scratching myself.

Usually, at-home treatment for Skeeter Syndrome is all you’ll ever need. You know you have Skeeter Syndrome if you have swelling around the bites and it’s sometimes accompanied with bruising and blistering. I actually have a few blisters on my arms right now.

I use hydrocortisone cream to help relieve itching and swelling. Then, I’ll take a benadryl if it’s that bad. If there’s one thing you need to avoid at all costs, it’s scratching the bites. It makes it 100x worse than it already is. It can make the swelling even worse and the bite may become infected. Thankfully, the bites should only last a few days if you haven’t been scratching them.

Unfortunately, there are times where that’s not the case. I’ve had a couple of instances where the bites were large even though I hadn’t scratched them at all. In the two photos below, these bites took about 5-6 days to completely heal.

I woke up like this and almost freaked out when I looked in the mirror.

It looks like I have double knees.

I’ll be going to Mexico for a week in November, so if there’s one thing I’ll be packing, it’s bug repellent. One last tip: make sure to close your windows and doors as it gets darker. The few times that we’ve accidentally left our door open, I instantly had bites the next morning.