Weird Question But-Mosquito Bites?

[seraphim]

Last summer after I first went gluten free...and before I went gluten free..if I was bitten by mosquitoes i would itch like crazy and the bites would swell up pretty big. Fast forward to this summer now and I've been bitten quite a few times and now they only show up small and itchy instead. Has anyone found after being gluten free for some time that this has changed for them too? I know it could be unrelated but I thought I'd ask because it seemed interesting.

[gfreejz]

I have noticed that as well. Also before gluten-free, if I had cuts or scratches on my hands and got cutting fluid on them from work, they would hive up. Now it doesn't bother me. I also had allergy induced asthma that went away.

[nvsmom]

I find some bites react differently than others, but I always put it down to different types of mosquitoes. The bites I get at this time of the year are much smaller than the ones I had in the spring.

 

... And then spider bites are a whole other story - makes three inch welts... nasty critters.

[Celiac Mindwarp]

Mine have been better since I had kids. They prefer Mr Mindwarp now.

I do have an overall lower level of inflammation underlying now, maybe that helps.

[mommy2krj]

I find this question interesting for a number of reasons.

 

My oldest, my daughter, when she was little would swell up so bad from mosquito bites. She outgrew that and they don't seem to bother her anymore...at least not anymore than anyone else.

 

My youngest doesn't seem any more or less affected by mosquitoes either before or after going gluten free, though his reactions to cats are more severe.

 

This is where it is weird though. My middle child, my 15 year old son. We went gluten free as a household. The youngest is the only one that tested positive. We recently went up north camping with my dad. The only time, really, that he has had a real chance to indulge in all things gluten.

 

Now, I didn't find the mosquitoes to be any better or any worse than any other time I've been up there. However, every single bite that my 15 year old got from a mosquito would swell up like crazy! Huge welts and itch more than normal too...it was driving him nuts! Makes me kind of curious if it had anything to do with ingesting gluten for the 4 days we were up there after having been mostly gluten free for the month or two before that? Hmmmm.....oh and he NEVER has reacted to mosquito bites like that before...not even when he was little.

[seraphim]

Yeah it's all really strange isn't it? As for it being different mosquitoes it didn't seem to matter where I was..if I got bit i got crazy large itchy patches. There were pictures taken last summer and it wasn't closeup and you could see the blotches all over my legs from the bites. Just horrible! Sounds like we've all had some experience with this. Very interesting. I was going CRAZY with the afterbite last summer. Didn't need it this year really.

[mommy2krj]

Yeah, we came home from up north and the bites here weren't any better. There's a hole in the screen in my boys' room so mosquitoes are getting in and he came down and showed me the new bites. Good grief! Poor kid was going crazy with the itching! And this is a 15 year old teenage boy who has had athlete's foot on his hands and arms! I think he went through more anti-itch stuff with the mosquito bites than he did with the fungus!

[Celtic Queen]

I've always been eaten alive by mosquito bites but one thing I've noticed since going gluten-free is that I'll be bitten one day and the actual bites won't show up for a day or two.  We have a cabin we go to on Saturdays and I'll put on a ton of bug spray.  Even still, I know they're biting me.  But the actual bites won't show up or start itching until I'm back at work on Monday.  It's bizarre.