Know any brill insect repellent or got any advice on vitamins to take to prevent gettin bitten?

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cubalishus

I was in Cayo Coco myself in April this year and can honestly say I never got bitten by mosquito's once, we had more of a problem with sand flies than anything, they bite round the bottom of your legs, having never been anywhere like that before I had no idea what to do, one kind lady advised us to spray mosquito repellent from our knees to our feet every night before we went out and that stopped the pesky little things, as you have a month to go take antihistamines for at least 10 days before you get to Cayo Coco as that will really help with the sand flies and if you do happen to get bitten by mossies, Avon do a after sun with mosquito repellent in it too and that is absolutely excellent, you can go on line and find Avon yourself and order it that way, Boots sell a 50% deet mosquito spray too and that's good, I was terrified before I went to Cayo Coco with the stuff Trip Advisor wrote about the place and the mossies, but honestly they spray every night and we only came across a few people who had been bitten but they had left their patio windows open all night, just relax its nowhere near as bad as its made out to be, have a fantastic time and enjoy yourself, you will love it.

cherub

the most recommended formula for preventing bites is the jungle formula. You will find it in a good chemist or in duty free at a major airport.

peter moris

There is a product on the market called a zapperclick and what you do is zap yourself with it and it soothes itching and eases swelling. Costs about Â£2-50

nick n

All these herbal hippy type stuff don't work. Only stuff that will work has DEET in it. Hey it what the Thai's and the rest of SE Asia use
3.

It's hard to recommend a specific brand without knowing where you live. Different brands are sold in different countries. But there are recommendations on ingredients.

The gold standard is DEET. It is sold at all sorts of strengths, but once you get above 50%, you really do not gain much in effectiveness. The higher the percentage, the less often you have to reapply it. If you live in the US, Canada and some other countries, you can get either Sawyers or Ultrathon, which are formulations encapsulated to sit on your skin and release the DEET slowly. This may enable you to reapply less often. In one major study
â€¢ A product containing 23.8% DEET provided an average of 5 hours of protection from mosquito bites.
â€¢ A product containing 20% DEET provided almost 4 hours of protection
â€¢ A product with 6.65% DEET provided almost 2 hours of protection
â€¢ Products with 4.75% DEET were both able to provide roughly 1 and a half hour of protection.

Picaridin (KBR 3023 or Bayrepel) has been shown to be as effective as DEET at the same concentration. However, most picaridin products have a pretty low percentage of ingredient.

Oil of lemon eucalyptus [active ingredient: p-menthane 3,8-diol (PMD)] appears to work as well as low concentrations of DEET. Mosi-guard uses this ingredient.

Citronella oil does have some repellent properties, but it doesn't last too long.

Avon Skin So Soft (the original formulation) is not effecive, however, Avon markets Skin So Soft repellents with some of the above ingredients.

I've seen recommendations on TT about Odomos, made in India, as being effective and "safer than DEET." Odomos contains 12% DEET--they just use the full name N N Diethyl benzamide.

All studies to date show that stuff you eat--garlic/vitamin B/thiamin/Vegemite---have exactly zero effect on whether or not a mosquito will bite you.

oakhill

One good insect repellent that actually smells good is lemon eucalyptus oil. It is recognized by the US-CDC as effective in repelling insects and does not have the potential harmful effects of DEET.

james.nicholson11@btinternet.com

i have found that using avon skin so soft dry oil spray works really well as a insect reppelent allthough its not sold as one theres something in it that the insects dont like

le_coupe

Just get any insect repellent you can from the chemist and use loads of it. It normally stinks, but better than getting bitten.
Get one of those electronic things for your room at night too.

zanoshi

Vitamin B Complex. Take it everyday before you go and while you are there. Your skin releases a smell that the mozzies don't like that is unnoticable to you.

traceylill

Hi there. I was in the Carribean twice. The first time I was eaten alive and I got a VERY bad allergy to the Mosquitoes so the second time I went I was more careful. I opted for Deet 50% and I wasn't bitten once. You can get this in the pharmacy. Just tell them you want a deet product.

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