Scratching the Itches

We live in an area where there are many plants, insects and arachnids that attack on a regular basis.  Poison ivy, poison oak, chiggers, ticks, spiders -- they seem to be everywhere.  Since the first warming rays of the Spring sun caused the tender shoots of poison ivy to grow, I have itched.  Working in the woods to clean up the brush exposes me to all of the above.  Scratching those itches happens because the irritation overcomes the will to ignore.

Chiggers may be the worst.  Sometimes all it takes is to walk through the grass for the tiny creatures to find purchase and work their way to a point where they can bite.  One of their favorite places to hide is in or near berry bushes.  Picking dewberries or blackberries is a sure way to gather a few.

They latch on to the skin and feed, but you don't know they are there until they drop off.  That's when the itching begins.  They leave behind enzymes as well as the mechanical damage of their feeding probe that are attacked by the immune system.  That's when the itching begins.  Scratching can cause bacterial infections that then make it even worse.  The skin becomes more inflamed, and it often takes weeks for the red spots to fade.

Deep Woods Off with Deet is a good way to prevent or at least to reduce the number of chiggers that make it to your skin.  That or completely avoiding grass and woodland areas are really the only way to evade them.

There are many things that remind me of chiggers.  Small annoyances often become serious problems if allowed to continue.  It is best to prevent such things, but if they occur, they should be dealt with promptly rather than allowed to fester.  Such things happen in families, with friends, at work and any other place we encounter "irritations" that are unresolved.  Sometimes they remain because we fail to deal with them -- such as a loose shingle, or a broken screen, or a rattle in the car.  Learn to deal with them promptly.  Don't put them off.  Scratch the itch, but better yet, treat it or prevent it.

The Black-eyed Susans pictured below are growing wild in one of those parts of our place where the chiggers like to live.  I thought the photo was worth the risk of the itch anyway.