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amyinowasso

Bug bite/plant rea tion

I wonder if any of you have heard of a reaction like my husband had. He had a bite on the underside of his upper arm. The underside of his upper arm, arm pit and upper part of his side swelled up, turned very red and eventually the outer edges got small water blisters. The doctor gave him a steroid shot and it is getting better. It didn't look like any spider or tick bite rash. It didn't hurt, or really even itch. Probably just his allergic response to something, but I would like to know WHAT! He was out mowing and getting rid of weeds.

Comments (4)

  • chickencoupe
    9 years ago

    Oh, I'm so sorry this happened to him. I'm glad he's not miserable with pain or itching! Hope it heals up fast. No idea what it might be, but I understand your concern because he's def allergic!

  • MiaOKC
    9 years ago

    Are we talking lawn weeds or big ole' pasture weeds? I happened to see recently on Oklahoma Gardening (OETA) that there are several weeds in OK that can cause an allergic response in a reaction to sunlight. The way I understood it, was the plant rubbing your skin PLUS shining sunlight on it (like if you were out weeding in the daytime) could cause an allergic reaction. I'm sorry I don't remember the weeds, they were all in OK, though, and it was the episode that aired maybe 3 weeks ago.

    Wait, I just went and looked it up, it's on their YouTube channel. I think he mentions the allergic reaction a few minutes in. Let me try to link.

    PS - I am allergic to wasps (I found out) and when I got my first sting, it looked like a normal sting/welt at first, but by the next morning had gotten bigger and bigger, red and hot to the touch. 24 hrs later, it was growing by leaps and bounds (I marked the edge with a pen and watched it), so the next day I went in and had to get the steroid shot. It didn't blister, though, it just was a welt that eventually got so big you couldn't really tell there was a welt at all, just a big red hot patch encircling my whole upper arm.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Broadleaf segment on OKG

  • c1nicolei
    9 years ago

    There are many plants that can cause the fluid filled vesicles but if there was not itching, it was unlikely something like poison ivy or poison oak. Some of the milk weed, hog weed and others can cause a non-itchy reaction like that. If it had been a wasp, you would think he would have felt the sting, but other insects can bite and there can be a reaction, but again usually there is pain/itching. Either way, glad he is better and only had visible issues.

  • AmyinOwasso/zone 6b
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks, interesting video. I have not seen wild carrot, or Queen Annes Lace, which was the one you were talking about. But we live next to a drainage ditch. We used to call it a creek. Then the city came through, took out all the trees, used herbicides along the water (I assume to prevent the lovely willows that grew there.) We went from a variety of wild plants, including milkweed, to pretty much nothing but Johnson grass and bind weed. Some blackeyed Susans have come up this year, Mostly it is awful weeds. I guess Wild carrot is related to Giant Hogweed/wild parsnip which is even worse. After googling this, I have something I always call sticktights, they look like carrots, bur the seeds are those nasty little things that stick in your socks and shoestrings. I noticed some next to the herb bed. But that is the chigger patch, so I didn't stop to pull them. Hmmm.

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