Vitamine B1 as mosquito repellent

[reeves99]

I'm really looking forward to camping season. I'll be spending about 6 months in a wooded location north of Montreal. Mosquito country.
I'm a mosquito magnet and I'm fairly allergic to the little rascals. They really take the fun out of camping for me.
I use DEET repellent but if I miss a spot or forget to apply I'm an easy target.
So I've been researching what to do. And Vitamin B1 (150 mg per day) seems promising. Does anyone here have experience using it? Does it work to prevent bites?
I'm practically an expert on after bite care (or at least what does and doesn't work for me) but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and so on.
Thanks!
Phil

[cmartin748]

No but let me know if it does. I'm in Florida for a few months and they do their best to eat me alive before I can get back into the camper.

[kcwild]

Dr. friend of mine does mission work uses it

[David B.]

I believe it works, but you should also stay away from eating bananas while camping in mosquito infested areas.
Dave & Paula

[Dennis mn]

Originally Posted by David B.

I believe it works, but you should also stay away from eating bananas while camping in mosquito infested areas.
Dave & Paula

I never heard this, but will remember it next time, we don't use vitamin B supplements, but increase our consumption of garlic during mosquito season.

[Island Claire]

I read an article a year or so ago and the guy worked in NWT every summer. He used to eat as much lemon as possible in the months lead up to leaving and while he was there and also used it in as many body products as possible. It worked for him. My sister lived in Nunavut and they bought bug shirts and loved them.

[Owen Lindsay]

For the past decade or so My wife and I have started taking Vitamin B1 around May and keep it up through the fall. It has made a big difference in cutting our number of bites, and doesn't offend our friends like raw garlic does. I have worked in Northern Saskatchewan and throughout Alberta and spent three years in the diamond mines north of Yellowknife. B1 has made our outdoor lives a lot more bearable. $5.00 a bottle is cheap help for the summer months.

[Kevin A]

The key thing is to change your body chemistry enough to make you invisible to the biters. My wife has taken almost everything recommended to ward off the no-see-ums in Florida and nothing has worked yet. However, the mosquitoes have not really been a problem, so the garlic and vitamin pills may have helped for that. It seems that it is the CO2 that attracts them, so we are experimenting the next trip with some essential oils (lavender, rosemary, etc.). Supposedly these do a good job with the small biters when mixed with a carrier oil and sprayed on. Meanwhile, they little guys don't seem to bother me much, so we can't enjoy the same walks and bike rides when she's being bitten up. Waiting for a magical cure!

[reeves99]

Originally Posted by Owen Lindsay

For the past decade or so My wife and I have started taking Vitamin B1 around May and keep it up through the fall. It has made a big difference in cutting our number of bites, and doesn't offend our friends like raw garlic does. I have worked in Northern Saskatchewan and throughout Alberta and spent three years in the diamond mines north of Yellowknife. B1 has made our outdoor lives a lot more bearable. $5.00 a bottle is cheap help for the summer months.

Thanks everyone. Good suggestions.
Good evidence that vitamin B works! I'll start to take it two weeks before camping.

[steve dunham]

We have used a insect repellant that contains lavender oil but no deet. It does work but not as well as deet and you need to reapply it quite often .

[Christian in FL]

I have used B Vit as a bug repellent with much success. I suggest starting taking it 2 weeks before camping is planned. I took a multivitamin B complex. Don't overdo it though, too high a dose is excreted by your bowel and will not make for a pleasant trip!

I have also used a spray called NatruaPel, it is deet free.
It also helps to decrease or eliminate the amount of sugar in your diet.

[bullfrogeh]

We've lived in mosquitoe and black-fly portions of Ontario for over 60 years. We use an Australian product called 'RID', and believe it to be the best we've ever had. But, we haven't found it available up here; so, you'll need an Aussie friend who'll send it to you for a Xmas gift each year, as we do.

[reeves99]

I use the Watkins DEET products. They are less greasy and sticky than other products. They don't have a strong smell either, and they work really well. But I'd like to be less dependent on constant applications of DEET.
I appreciate the no sugar and no bananas suggestions too. At this point I'll try anything to make myself less delicious. I've missed too many evening campfires by staying indoors behind screens.
Don't know why I'm so allergic to mosquito bites. I have no other allergies.
Did I mention I hate mosquitoes?

[james kent]

During our years of back country canoeing we found that perfumed soaps, hairspray most deodorants and most other feminine products acted as an attractant. Unsented products were somewhat effective. In the end we relied mostly on deet to keep the little irritants at bay.


Sent from my iPad using Fiberglass RV

[Carl V]

I usually put on repellent only when the mosquitoes are real bad.



I just hate the smell.
But last time we bought some, it was OFF Deep Woods Dry, a "new to us" form that is still in a spray can, but comes out dry, like a thin powder that kinda disappear. It's not greasy, doesn't smell much, a much better product IMO.

Never had much luck with vitamins or alternative repellents.

[Donna D.]

The most effective mosquito repellent I've found is wind. Doesn't take much. Sitting outside under the awning and using a clamp-on-the-awning-arm small office fan is enough to move the mosquitoes along. Doesn't work when you're hiking however. For that, I just stay close to someone who attracts mosquitoes. Then they usually leave me alone

[bullfrogeh]

For what it's worth - After several years of 'canoe tripping' with High School students north of Lake Superior - I've learned, and then taught, that clothing colours also have an effect of your attraction to mossies, and especially black flies. Lighter colours and white are less attractive to them, than darker colours (black and/or the more typical 'blue jeans'). Many students laughed at we 'teachers' wearing our white shirts on the Pukaskwa River and Lake Superior, until about the third day of our eight to ten day wilderness trip. And, of course, everyone also knows to avoid perfumed soaps, don't we ?

Carl's post (#15) reminds me when we used to tell younger (lighter) elementary students, to always keep a few stones in your pocket - - - for weght !!

[jen b]

I find that the DEET products, while generally effective, also make me feel awful. So I use a home-brew made of Listerine plus citronella and eucalyptus oil.

Of course the home brew has serious limitations as far as effectiveness goes, so I double up by also wearing bug jackets and head nets when I'm outdoors in biting-insect country. I am able to get away without spraying deet on myself in the summer in Canada with this method.

Inside the trailer, I also burn mosquito coils, which are basically incense against bugs. They do a great job keeping outside insects from wanting to come in, and encouraging those already inside to leave at the next opportunity. Not 100% perfect, but they do help tremendously.

[Glenn Baglo]

Some reading for you about using mosquito coils indoors: https://cameronwebb.wordpress.com/20...aking-us-sick/

[redbarron55]

As to substitutes for DEET, use what you want, but if you are where there are mosquito borne diseases then don't rely on them.
I have a good friend who did missionary work in Micronesia and he was told how good Skin So Soft was as an repellent and his whole family had the joy of Malaria.
Substitutes are OK as long as the real consequences don't matter.