I would like to remind many of you that close minded people tend to be poor survivors. I am not advocating for any particular treatment, but dismissing things out of hand without consideration has been the road to ruin for many folks in emergency circumstances
Sorry... I missed it. Didn't notice anyone being closed minded or dismissing things out of hand without consideration. I thought people were offering thoughtful opinions. Silly me.
Naro, are you being sarcastic?
Nicely done.
Tarzan, I am So Sorry about being closed minded.
Here let me try to correct that failing on my part!
From
http://www.fireant.net/Bites/Home Remedy for Treating Fire Ant Bites:
There are numerous home remedies for fire ant bites. We list some here for educational purposes only, with no guarantee that they will work.
Please Note: If you have an allergic reaction to fireant bites,
please seek medical attention, rather than trying a home remedy.
* Take an antihistamine (like Benadryl) to help prevent allergic reactions and swelling
* After washing the bites, quickly (within 15 minutes) apply:
o Worcestershire sauce. Cover the bite(s) with a paper towel and saturate with the sauce. Read more.
o Topical steroid cream such as a 1/4% or stronger hydrocortisone cream.
o Baking soda and water (thick paste)
o Bleach and water (half and half)
o Meat tenderizer and water (thick paste)
o Alcohol
o Ammonia alone, or alternately applying ammonia and hydrogen peroxide with two rags, cotton balls, or paper towels.
o Vinegar. (This is the suggested solution for use with box jellyfish.)
o Crushed aspirin (thick paste). May help even after a day.
o Salt (thick paste)
o Tea Tree oil (may also be good for other insect bites, such as, chiggers, fleas and mosquitoes)
o Aloe jell
o Dishwashing liquid
o Freshly cut onion
These can reduce the pain and itching. You can carry a small spray bottle of one of these mixtures with you to use immediately if you know you will be in an infested area that is not close to the house.
* Apply an ice cube to reduce pain and itching
Note that the site referred to is flogging their own miracle panacea insect and jelly fish treatment.
They were kind enough to include an ingredient list for their super solution too.
Water, Walnut Shells, Emulsifying Wax NF, Pentaerythrityl Tetracapryate/Caprate, Isopropyl Palmitate, Cetrearyl Alcohol, Polysorbate 60, Sodium Bicarbonate, Papain, Alcohol Denat, Sodium Hydroxide, Methylparaben, Propylparaben and Phenoxyethanol
The walnut shells are there as an abrasive because you are supposed to scrub this into the skin just enough to mildly abrade it. The water and wax are really just carriers.
There is some papain to denature proteins in the venom, and some alkalies like ammonia, lye (Sodium Hydroxide), baking soda (Sodium Bicarbonate)
The rest of the chemicals you can look up for yourself if you want.
Some are just soothing skin cream stuff but at least one is antibacterial.
Like I said before. I have found diluted household ammonia to work OK. A solution between 3% and 6% seems to be effective enough and relatively safe.
I am still very leery of putting strong chemicals directly on skin.
I have seen burns caused by bleach and by lye.
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