We don't have many horse flies around at the mo so when I stopped briefly at Jack's field on Thursday morning to remove his fly rug, I didn't think I'd need to double-layer myself. But, of course, Jack was an arse and wouldn't be caught straight away. Then I decided to Sudocreme his ears so I didn't notice the horse fly on the side of my leg (thru my jods) until it took a chunk out of my skin. At that particular moment my hand was covered in cream (the other holding Jack!) So by the time I'd wiped my hand to swat the fly, it had had a meal. First bite of the season for Janey.
Now, I started eating the ketogenic way back in March. It's been fab, I've lost a ton of weight and I feel fab. One of the benefits of keto is that's it's very anti-inflammatory - so good for people with fibromyalgia etc. Formerly, I needed to take a daily antihistamine as I have always had an overactive nose that runs. A LOT. Well since I'vebeen on keto, my nasal secretions have died down so I don't take any medication more. So.... going back to the horse fly bit, I decided NOT to take an antihistamine, but to see how my body copes with the reaction. The ONLY treatment allowed myself was the use of a hairdryer to blast the toxins with heat. I started pretty much straight away as I went for coffee with bezzie and YM Jen, so I asked to use her dryer.
Thursday evening the bite looked like this...
Yes, that tiny pink dot. All good so far, but traditionally I know that my bites really flare overnight.
Yesterday morning it was as expected....
... a little swollen, hot and hard.... but this is the interesting bit... NO itching or pain!
Over the course of the day it got zapped with the hairdryer about 4 x 30 seconds and the lump continued to swell.... but not that much, for me....
When I got in the bath last night, I fully expected it to instantly flare and itch like crazy, but there was no reaction at all.
This morning the lump has subsided, along with the inflammation. You can just about see a paler ring around the redness where the poison has reached.
So.... proof that the hairdryer method really does work if you're vigilant and attentive for a few hours. For info, previous bites would by now have been the size of a side-plate - hot, hard, itchy as hell and painful.... and would have lasted about 5 days. I didn't know about heat killing off the toxins so would have been using cold flannels to no avail.
Life-changer. I really don't fear horse fly bites quite as much now. (Next time I'll probs pop an antihistamine too but I wanted to do my experiment cold turkey).
Now, I started eating the ketogenic way back in March. It's been fab, I've lost a ton of weight and I feel fab. One of the benefits of keto is that's it's very anti-inflammatory - so good for people with fibromyalgia etc. Formerly, I needed to take a daily antihistamine as I have always had an overactive nose that runs. A LOT. Well since I'vebeen on keto, my nasal secretions have died down so I don't take any medication more. So.... going back to the horse fly bit, I decided NOT to take an antihistamine, but to see how my body copes with the reaction. The ONLY treatment allowed myself was the use of a hairdryer to blast the toxins with heat. I started pretty much straight away as I went for coffee with bezzie and YM Jen, so I asked to use her dryer.
Thursday evening the bite looked like this...
Yes, that tiny pink dot. All good so far, but traditionally I know that my bites really flare overnight.
Yesterday morning it was as expected....
... a little swollen, hot and hard.... but this is the interesting bit... NO itching or pain!
Over the course of the day it got zapped with the hairdryer about 4 x 30 seconds and the lump continued to swell.... but not that much, for me....
When I got in the bath last night, I fully expected it to instantly flare and itch like crazy, but there was no reaction at all.
This morning the lump has subsided, along with the inflammation. You can just about see a paler ring around the redness where the poison has reached.
So.... proof that the hairdryer method really does work if you're vigilant and attentive for a few hours. For info, previous bites would by now have been the size of a side-plate - hot, hard, itchy as hell and painful.... and would have lasted about 5 days. I didn't know about heat killing off the toxins so would have been using cold flannels to no avail.
Life-changer. I really don't fear horse fly bites quite as much now. (Next time I'll probs pop an antihistamine too but I wanted to do my experiment cold turkey).