Question:
I've been curious about this for a while and finally decided to pose this
question to all of my fellow "Lymies" out there.
Does anyone else feel like a mosquito magnet when you're outside? Also, do
you react severely to mosquito bites?
When I go outside in the summer, I immediately attract just about every
mosquito in the area and can end up with 5 or 10 bites within a few minutes.
The sites of the bites often become inflamed, hot, red, and the itching is
always intolerable. The bites usually last for many days and drive me
crazy.
It amazes me that other people can be in the same place and either not get
bitten at all, or if they do, their bites are slightly itchy, tolerable (they
wonder why I'm itching out of my mind) and disappear within a short time.
Since I have no memory of ever having had a tick bite -- and since I've
never been much for nature, animals, or outdoor activities -- I've given a lot
of thought to the possibility of mosquitos transmitting Lyme disease.
Anyone have any similar experiences, thoughts or theories on any of these
points?
Answer:
Personally no, but some people do attract them more than others. My dad has
got a very good story about his army days out East. He and the other guys
never bothered much with mosquito nets at night, but they never got bitten.
But a guy with them, very overweight though I doubt it that was the
connection, would carefully put his nets around the bed every night. But he
would miss a bit, it seems. Next morning he would be "covered" in bites.
For some reason he attracted them and the other guys did not. And yes, he
reacted severely to them.
I got bitten a fair bit some years ago in Panama. They were the worst bites
I ever got and yes I reacted badly to them. Not sick, but the marks swelled
my arms up like baloons. And that was pre-Lyme. But I got bitten in Spain a
couple of times and no big deal. So I figure it was the kind of mosquito
they have in the Canal zone.
