Article source for : CHIGGER BITES?
About four weeks ago, I went to a lake in Michigan to go swimming. I've been going to this lake every summer for the last 15 years. I was shocked to see how much the seaweed had taken over the lake and decided to remove a little. I put it on shore to dry overnight and later used it as fertilizer in a nearby garden. I don't think I was in the lake more than 45 minutes. The next day, I had over 100 insect bites - big red welts - all over. It reminded me of chigger bites, but much larger. The itching was continuous torture. Over the counter cortisone cream was a joke. Nothing seemed to work. The next day I went to the emergency room and got a steroid shot and steroid cream. The shot didn't work. The steriod cream worked for about a few hours, enough to take the edge off. Anyway, it took three weeks for this malady to end. Oddly, I still have the red marks. They will probably take a while to disappear. The doctor only diagnosed the bites as "contact dermatitis," or inflammation caused by contact with a foreign substance, which could be anything. I've since been to the same lake twice and swam in the same area with no problems. I wonder if I disburbed something in the seaweed. Anyone have any similar experiences this summer?