I have toothpaste on my toes right now.

Quite an odd statement, isn't it?  But its true.  I'm laying here right now in our big over sized chair (that I can lay across) with my feet hanging off the edge because I have quite a large amount of toothpaste on my feet.  You see, Friday night, my boyfriend had a bonfire, and for some reason, Mosquitoes are really drawn to my feet.  I've never really had this problem before.  Normally, I'm lucky enough that they stay away from me... but this year, my feet are getting covered in bites.  I couldn't even tell you how many I have right now.. and they seem to be in clusters.  Its really very itchy!  So, like I do... I set out to do some research on the right way to get rid of the itchy.

I have always been able to ignore my mosquito bites.  And that's really the best management for bites.  Actually, there was an article in this month's Real Simple Magazine on insect bites.  That by itching the mosquito bites, you're releasing more histamines (because it is an allergic reaction) and by doing so, you're making it itch more!  A vicious cycle, right?  So this is ultimately the best way to treat them.  I know that for myself, after ignoring them for a couple hours, I forget about them and then no more itching.

But.... these ones on my feet are just unbearable!  They constantly itch, no matter how much I ignore it... especially the ones on my toes!  I found this great website, Tipnut.  This particular article on relieve mosquito bite relief, has a ton of options to choose from.

I went ahead and put toothpaste on my feet.  These seems to be a pretty popular remedy, as I found it on other pages.  But I would like to share with you, some of the other remedies that are posted on this page:

• Vinegar!  You can either apply this to the individual bites (with a q-tip perhaps) or take a bath with it.  You can just mix about 2 cups in with your bath water, and this should help to relieve the itch.
• Honey.  This stuff is really quite versatile, isn't it?  And because its anti-bacterial, it can help to fight off any bacteria that you have entered into the bite from itching.
• Rubbing Alcohol
• Tea, its soothing.  I feel like a good chamomile tea concentrate would work great because of its soothing properties.  
• Baking Soda & Water paste. (hey!  you can use this for acne to!  do you think there's some relation?)
• Salt & Water (this could also be done as a foot soak, which would've been perfect in my case)
• Aspirin

Check out the website for a ton more remedies!  These are just some of my favorites.

The toothpaste is working for me!  I think its because of its cooling affect from the mint.  Although I do think I missed a spot because this one spot is still itching uncontrollably!  There's also a couple spots where it still itches a little bit, but its bearable... and hopefully it'll get better with time.  The only downside is that because they're on my feet, I can't really get up and move around, so I'm just kind of stuck here.  They should be gone in a couple days though!