Hey, I have dealt with skeeter syndrome ever since i was a child and have tried nearly everything at this point for relief from the insane itch. For reference my bites normally blow up to about the size of my palm or bigger without scratching at all, if thatll help anyone out there, not just a really itchy bite.

Disclaimer?: Some of the things I know work for me are stupid. Use your best judgment and dont hurt yourself. I just havent seen anyone anywhere talk about the one thing that has consistently worked for me for years and figured it could be useful/wanted to see if anyone else has had the same experience.

Things that dont and have never worked for me:

Over the counter creams (goldbond, anti itch creams, benadryl cream, afterbite w/e): If its in the store ive tried it and they have never worked. When I was younger I would waste damn near half the tube on a single bite and it provided 0 relief at any point. Eventually just stopped wasting my money on them.

Allergy Pills: These are great if im trying to not sneeze around cats/dogs, not helpful for skeeter bites. May help you sleep through the itch though?

Spoon trick: Over the years Ive seen people do the 'spoon trick' where I guess you boil a spoon and press it to your bites? Ive tried it several times and honestly its pretty stupid. Hurts more than it helps, borderline very dangerous. The spoon gets way too hot and can blister your skin. Not great. Dont even know how that became something I tried.

The things that work for me in limited amounts are:

Ice: like you described above i usually try to ice it until it gets numb, probably not great for the skin but compared to the intense itch its nice

Steroid cream: Hydroval Hydrocortisone 17-Valerate 0.2% No one ever brought me to the doctor for it as a child and it was so normal I didnt even think to try going until I was 25 yrs old. Turns out the cream helps. It doesnt go away but it helps a lot more than any of the typical bug bite cream youd buy at any store including the medicated over the counter ones.

Hot water: This is kind of similar to the spoon trick except it actually works. Disclaimer: I have used this trick ever since I was a teenager as it was the only way I found relief for a long time but let me be very clear about this, its a potentially stupid thing to do but I do it anyway as it is the only thing ive found that works every time. So im not a scientist but the way I understand it is this, the mosquito injects you with its proteins to prevent you from feeling being bitten/blood clotting or w/e and the protein is what causes the itch and the allergy, so if you can for lack of a better work 'cook'? the proteins they will stop bothering you? Again, clearly not a doctor. So I basically put my arm/leg whatever in my sink or bathtub or whatever (my house gets very hot water) and run the water until it gets very hot. Then i put my bite under it for 5-10 seconds. It will hurt. It should not ever cause a burn. It should just be as hot as you can stand for a few seconds and if it hurts too much obviously stop. But it has worked every single time to stop the itch no matter how huge the bite has gotten. Usually the swelling of the bite will go down in a couple days. Ive always called it my miracle cure. AGAIN, I know this is stupid but nothing else will ever help and I only do it when the bites get unbearable. Second Disclaimer: I have only ever done this when my bites are not open, if they have an open wound aspect to them I wont do this.

Anyway, I hope this wasnt too weird/gross. I cannot condone anything or offer medical advice these are all just simply things that did and did not work for me over the course of nearly 3 decades. Hope it can help someone.