Horse flies again.
 

Further to me having issues with these and their bites a couple of years back I have been bitten again at weekend and have now had one of the e most painful weeks ever! One landed on my hand at the cricket club on sunday and I hit it away as soon as I saw it, not quick enough obviously! My hand has since swelled to about 3 times it's normal size, weeping goo from the bite and was boiling hot to touch and hard as rock. Visit to casualty confirmed the bleeding obvious, that I react badly to the little gits, also the bite had developed into "cellulitis". Cue a sling for massive hand, and a massive course of antibiotics ( 500 mg flucloxacillin x 28) with instructions to go back immediately if the infection kept tracking up my arm.
It now seems to be abating, still massive, still hard, very unpretty to look at, and back to A and E tomorrow for re asssessment.
All the advice I can give is if you get bitten by one of these sods, clean the wound as quickly as possible with water and something anti bacterial, eg Dettol, TCP.,and at the first sign of any swelling or redness go to casualty, they are geting loads of these in at the moment and if not treated promptly you are looking at full on blood poisoning; my fingertips had already lost circulation when I went in on Monday.:eek:

Re: Horse flies again.
 

I dread meeting a horse fly - even midges have brought me out in lumps.
It is a sign of a 'sweet' nature ;)

Re: Horse flies again.
 

Ewwwww that sounds awful. :(

I hope your hand gets better soon. My mum was bitten by one of these horseflies a couple of years ago, she hardly felt it at the time but soon after her leg swelled up and the bitten area filled with yellow goo.

Horrible.

Re: Horse flies again.
 

Apparently they don't just sting like yer average wasp, they cut with their teeth and then inject a nasty mix of whatever they have been eating to stop your blood clotting, a bit like vampires, only without the sexy image! Grrrr:eek:

Re: Horse flies again.
 

Oh dear! I hope you recover quickly Lindsay, the ex wife used to suffer whenever she was bitten by horsefly, always a trip to a&e, and usually whilst on holiday! I have been bitten, but I must taste horrible, they dont hang around on me!

Re: Horse flies again.
 

Ain't actually been bitten by a horse fly and from what Lindsay says I don't want to. was once on holiday down at my cousins place in Cambridgeshire and was bitten by a Gad fly whatever they are, never heard of them around here, but that was a bit sore for a while although I did bathe it with TCP immediately which took the soreness away somewhat

Re: Horse flies again.
 

I have a problem with midge bites.
When I sit in the sun I am mostly covered up, but my face ankles and feet are bitten.
I look like I have a bad case of acne, and last night my feet and ankles became puffy.
I used arnica gel, and now the swelling has mostly gone.
Ironic isn't it - all winter we long for summer, and when it comes it provides its own problems to spoil the pleasure of it.

Re: Horse flies again.
 

I'll give you two guesses as to which gender of horse-fly inflicts these bites and it's not the males.:)

You most certainly don't. Same happened to me last year, hand swollen to about twice size and high dose antibiotics. The doctor said if the antibiotics hadn't started to take effect within 48hrs I would have to be admitted to hospital and have intravenous medication.

Re: Horse flies again.
 

The female of the species is more deadlier than the male I seem to remember somebody once said yerself:D

Re: Horse flies again.
 

Just a note that not everyone reacts to them

Re: Horse flies again.
 

Wouldn't like to find out either SamF .. poor Lindsay :(

Just wondered Margaret ... if you had a reaction such as Lindsays ... what would you do, knowing your hatred of anti-biotics ? ... no, not being facetious or owt.

Re: Horse flies again.
 

It's looking a lot better now, thanks for all your kind thoughts! Nearly back to normal size though still very red and with a large crater on the top that is still oozing, nearly a week later! Still on the antibiotics, am really grateful for the top treatment at Accy Vic, like the man there said, it;'s basically blood poisoning and the sooner you treat the better chance you have!:)

Re: Horse flies again.
 

I do still have a survival instinct:D and have been known to take antibiotics when I know there is no other alternative.

The difference is that after taking them, I need to cure myself from the nasty effects they leave behind, which is quite a nuisance and a 'bind'.

So the crux of the matter is knowing your own body well enough (and who can do that better than you?) to realise when your situation is life threatening.

Re: Horse flies again.
 

Ok Margaret ... pleased to hear that ... as it sounds like the only course to take with this sort of reaction. Doesn't bear thinking about what may have happened to Lindsay if we did not have anti-biotics. If the blood poisoning had spread, she would have surely perished years ago ... brrrrrrrh.

Re: Horse flies again.
 

Just a little wonder, lucky I've never been stung by anything, so don't know how I would be affected, been bitten by a midge or two that's all. Now I've said that I'll let you all know over the weekend what its like, cuz there's sure to be a bad tempered wasp lurking about somewhere, just waiting to have a go:D

Re: Horse flies again.
 

Years ago, when you were a lass :rolleyes: they would have taken her arm off before it spread to far.

Re: Horse flies again.
 

Ageist remarks have no effect on me ... :p

What would have happened if you were bitten on yer scalp then ... :eek:

Re: Horse flies again.
 

The poor horse fly would have died:D

Re: Horse flies again.
 

ive never thought they had thing like that,

Re: Horse flies again.
 

Both my other half and me used to be very attractive to mossies and midges, even after using Autan. Someone recommended spraying Avon Skin so Soft dry body oil (the one in the green bottle - 'soft and fresh') on before we go out in the evening. There is something in it that makes it repellent to biting insects. It might work for horseflies, worth a try at least.
oh, it smells better than autan as well.

Re: Horse flies again.
 

I react in the same way. I was once bitten on my leg and you could actually see the poison travelling down the leg. It was awful. I had to have anti-biotics for that one.

I get bitten like mad by mosquitos on holiday but I'm allergic to anti-histamines so they make it all worse. I just have to live with it. Usually by the time I've been home a week the scars are healing.

Re: Horse flies again.
 

I would've loved to see it fly the first time!

Coat on. Door open. Leaving now. Very sorry.

Re: Horse flies again.
 

On the subject of flies. This beauty landed on Zack's shorts.

Re: Horse flies again.
 

:eek: Where was that? And what is it?

Re: Horse flies again.
 

I use this all the time at home and abroad, i can certainly recommend it.

Re: Horse flies again.
 

there were loads of them in portugal!! scary critters!!

Re: Horse flies again.
 

my husband always uses Antisan cream its really good

Re: Horse flies again.
 

We were in Doniford Bay. I don't know what it is, it's big isn't it?

Re: Horse flies again.
 

I read the title of this thread and thought one of the local dipsomaniacs had spotted Pegasus in the skies above Ossy as he wobbled home from the Rose & Crown.

Re: Horse flies again.
 

Looks like one o' these: British Dragonfly Society - Golden-ringed Dragonfly

Re: Horse flies again.
 

Yes, it's a dragonfly. We get loads of them over here and they are beautiful.

Can't you get something from the chemist which repels the horseflies? I get really bad reactions from mossie bites and usually cover myself in repellent before I go out in the evening or when I go to bed. It prevents days of discomfort.

Re: Horse flies again.
 

I work with horses and get hell from these horrible creatures during the summer months i use the horses fly repellant i recon the human stuff will keep them at bay too