Okay. Here’s the deal. I don’t like bugs. Period. So anything bug-related just freaks me out.
Last weekend I was in Texas. Yes, I know that’s information I’m not supposed to give you, but it’s a big state, and I think being in Texas might be relevant here.
Anyway, I was out in a field helping put up a screen pavilion thing, and the person I was with said “Hey, you’re on an anthill!”, so of course I leapt into the air and off the anthill damn quick. Not quite quick enough, though, as my ankles and shoes were covered with the little fuckers. It took a minute to get them all off (OK, I just poured water over my feet and shoes until they were all DROWNED! HAHAHAHA!), and I got a couple of noticeable bites in the meantime, but I don’t think they were fire ants–the bites were a little painful, but not the OH MY GOD OW OW OW of fire ant bites.
OK. A couple of the bites got a little pimply looking, but a week passed and I didn’t think much about them. Until about three days ago, when my ankles erupted in an agony of itching. What the fuck? So I did a little scratching of the ankles, and now I have little bumps–like *more* bites–all over my ankles, and my toes, and in places I don’t think I had bites before. And they won’t itch for a while, then one will start to itch, then I’m pretty much doomed to an hour of manically scratching and flailing around.
What the hell did they do to me? I’m trying to convince myself that millions of ants are not going to burst through my skin any second. But why would my ankles itch NOW, 9 days after the fact?
polyopia 
April 24, 2006 at 2:58 pm
Well, if I were you I’d go talk to a medical professional, ya know… just to be safe.
I was bitten by ants once. It was my first time I ever went duck hunting. I dove behind a bush on top of an anthill. This stirred the ants up something fierce. A little while later I felt things in my pants.
In the process of getting the ants out of my pant I got 2 bites in close proximity to my “area”. Generally speaking, the bites hurt quite a bit for about half hour or so, then I was fine.
April 24, 2006 at 3:02 pm
OK, first, I’m amazed that this is the first occurrence of the sentence “A little while later I felt things in my pants” on this blog.
Second, I knew someone would suggest seeing a doctor. I’m actually going for a physical tomorrow (once every four years or so I decide seeing the doctor is a good idea), so I guess I’ll mention it to her…
April 24, 2006 at 3:31 pm
I am not a doctor, but I play one on the internet. The conventional wisdom is that your bites are actually healing and that is what’s causing the itching. Like your body was just holding off the ant venom and now your immune system is attacking it full on. Scratching does not help, but it does feel good. For sure, show the doctor. If you don’t have red, hot, swollen areas that are getting bigger, you probably don’t have anything to worry about. If you do, they may have to amputate your feet.
Just kidding. Calomine lotion, oatmeal baths, and sometimes just rubbing ice cubes on the affected areas will give you relief. I hate ants. They give me the heebies. Ants in Jeese’s pants give me the heebie jeebies and now I won’t be able to get that image out of my head for the rest of the day!
April 24, 2006 at 5:12 pm
Please don’t take offense, but I like coming to your blog for a good laugh most days. This statement got me today – “A little while later I felt things in my pants.” and ” I got 2 bites in close proximity to my ‘area’.”
Oh my goodness – that gave me the giggles. LOL!
Um – back to your issue Luckybuzz – I can’t offer a solution, but I can tell you I feel the same way about bugs. I dislike any and every bug! bleh!
April 24, 2006 at 5:17 pm
Totally–Jesse is rockin’ the comments today. 🙂
April 24, 2006 at 5:57 pm
If I only I got the same response to my posts as I do my comments….
😉
April 24, 2006 at 9:14 pm
Perhaps they aren’t ant bites at all, but evidence of chiggers. The symptoms and location sound right for them.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2100.html
April 24, 2006 at 11:44 pm
Yep–thanks for the link, lucyrain. Sounds like chiggers all right. Ewwwww.