I got a bad case of chigger bites when I was in Ohio in mid September. My doctor prescribed a cream like what you would use to take care of poison ivy. After a week or so the itching went away and the bites pretty much disappeared so I stopped using the cream.
A few days ago the bites ALL flared up and are itching worse than before!!!!!  :mad:  
Is this common for them to just come back and start itching again? Any cluse as to what I should do and how long this will last?  :confused:    

I'm no doctor but if you scratched you may have gotten infantigo in the bites. You need to see doctor for that.  I got bit about the same time you did so know what you went through.


Take care,
Mike

I get them boogers a few times every year. The cream the 1st Doc gave you was like Granny Clmapetts cold cure. After about a week your cold is gone!
After itching for a week or so, chiggers are gone too  :-)
I don't know that I've ever had a "flare up" second round before.
Mike may be right, they may be infected.

No doubt it was a topical anti-inflamatory. It would provide temporary relief, but your body is going to react to the toxin from the chiggar. Clean the bites with some rubbing alcohol and maybe apply some neosporin or something like it, if they are really inflamed. Drink lots of water too. Always helps flush toxins.

The topical cortizone the dr. gave you relieves the itching and swelling but doesn't do anything to the bite.  You need to keep using it until they go away.  It takes nearly a month for me.  We need to find something to introduce that eats chiggers and we can shoot with bows.  Maybe a highbred bird of some kind.


Mike

Guys get you a bottle of tea tree oil (Melaleuca). Only takes a Q-tip full to treat a bunch of chigger bites and the problem is over.

Bleach will kill chiggers, it is kinda uncomfortable like as in it burns like Hades but it will kill them quick.

Turpintine works well. Just dab a q-tip full on each bite

When I had them early this summer here in PA and couldn't believe we had them, someone said what I'd read before:

Get meat tenderizer and mix a paste.

I did it..dries sandy... bed was like I was at the beach...but whew..first nights sleep in a 2 days and using it 2x/day for 3 days... GONE... never flared back up and with all my allergies, I usually react big time to bites!

Are you sure you didn't just get into some more.I have never heard them coming back after a month,.Kip

get you some flea and tick collars,wrap around your legs,but make sure you apply over good thick socks.his will keep em off of you.sulfur powder also is real good buts its messy.

It stinks liek haites but I got them bad when I farmed one time. Filled up the tractor and took a rag over my shins and ankles ........ good ole diesel. It burned like fire but the itch went away. But then I am no Doctor either  

Better yet, forget what I said and go to a good Doc  

I've had them for about a month and the damn things are still itching!!!  Its gotten a bit better but still bothers me - esp in the eve.  I tried all the over the counter creams.  Lanacane -I believe in the yellow tube - worked fairly well.  

Hot, hot, hot, soapy water right away!!!  And the tea-tree oil did give me some relief.

Also, take benedryl every 4hrs....makes you tired but it was the only way I could keep from ripping my skin off!!

I'm with Mike...we need to rid the woods of these little @#$%^&&*!!!!

As soon as you get home put Chlorine Bleach in a tub of hot bath water and take a bath.  The bleach will kill the chiggers.  It's an old wives tale that the chiggers bore under your skin at the bite site.  Actually, they just bite, introduce their toxin, and go elsewhere and repeat the action.  They will come back periodically and feed on the festered bite sites.  That's why it's important that you kill the chiggers with the bleach bath.

Bill

Prevention...PERMETHRIN!!
Treatment....take your pick of the above suggestions
Duration.....seems to vary A LOT from my experience

I'll second the bleach bath.  I grew up in chigger hell.  It was our common practice to bath in a bleach solution, and it works, very well.

You can also go to a real drug store and buy sulfur-cream of tartar tablets and take a couple every day.   You won't smell like sulfur.  But, ticks and chiggers won't like how  you smell.  It makes a big difference.

If you can't find the tablets  you can mix sulfur and cream of tartar into honey and take it that way.  It also is pretty good for clearing up acne.  

some people are more allergic to them than others. Sounds like you are havin an allergic reaction. Soap and water will kill the chiggers just like a wasp dies. If you dont wash up after coming in the bite area get worse the longer the chigger feeds. Better treat your boots before you put'em back on you could be getting more from there also. Pretty safe to say that if you hunt the same general area your gonna get bit more. Funny how the bites differ from person to person. I get a tiny red dot with a clear blister center. My sister gets a big'ol quarter size swelled area raised about a quarter inch! Shes allergic to misquitos the same way. Guess I got lucky with the bugs. Shes not allergic to poison ivy but I get it every spring and keep it most of the 3-d season, not sure which one is luckier                Chigger rid works pretty good. If you scratch the bites or your clothes are rubbin the bites, they will itch when exposed to air. Camphor works ok on the itch also. Hope you stop itchin!!!-Greg

When I first got them I used chlorine bleach as well as tea tree oil. They both gave me temporary relief but didn't cure the itch completely. Now I am almost done with the perscription cream.
I have not been back to the chiggar area since my trip in September and there are none here in Michigan.
I'll get back to the doctor and see what we can do. Thanks for the advice you guys.