If you've spent any time outside this year, I'm sure that you have had the wonderful pleasure of certain little visitors in the form of mosquitos. They are so bad this year, and if you're like me, the second you go outside, you've turned into mosquito food! Little Buggers! You see, my blood type is O+ and I am a magnet for them and attract them like a Mom to a glass of wine at the end of a long day! They are out for vengeance this year. and I am their main target, which means I spend less time outside and I'm not a fan of that.

While visiting the beach this year, my family made their way to the local ice cream shop and proceeded to eat our ice cream outside as we had two kids under the age of 10 with us and there was no way we were riding in the car without there being an ice cream accident. So as we proceeded to eat outside, we realized that we weren't the only ones having a snack that night, lol. Mosquitos had joined us and were about to ruin our evening. 

Now, I bruise and scar easily, so I was trying my best to shoo them away from me and my niece, but it was to no avail. We were "eaten alive" and were about to suffer several days of welts and horrific itchiness. I don't know why, but beach mosquito's bite hurt worse than normal ones! We purchased different types of bite relief creams, but nothing took the burn or itch away and we spent the rest of our vacation scratching our poor skin. When I got back to Oklahoma I had a package waiting for me and it was from Boiron, they had sent me Arnicare Gel and Calendula Gel, and I couldn't wait to try it!

If you're not familiar with Boiron, they are a world leader in Homeopathic Medicines, which include so many products for various illnesses and other things. I have used many of their products in the past and I have had great results, so I was excited to hopefully have something that could help with the mosquito bites and also help with the pain that I still have from time to time after breaking my foot earlier this year. 

Arnicare Gel:

Active Ingredients include:

Arnica Montana

Inactive Ingredients include: 

Alcohol

Carbomer

Purified Water

Sodium Hydroxide

Calendula Gel:

Active Ingredients:

Calendula Officinalis

Inactive ingredients:

• Alcohol
• Caprylyl glycol
• Carbomer
• Dimethicone copolyol
• EDTA disodium
• Purified water
• Sodium hydroxide
• Sorbic acid
• 1,2-hexanediol

For me, I also suffer from pretty bad eczema and I was hoping that the Calendula Gel would help to take the itch from it away. I have been having pretty bad flare-ups over the last year and a half and was wanting to find a more natural way to deal with the itch and even the pain that can be associated with it. After receiving it in the mail, I quickly unboxed it to try on a rather itchy patch that just won't go away! The gel is not your typical-thick gel, it's more on the thinner side, but I really like that about it. It was easy to spread on my skin and had an instant cooling effect. After a few minutes the itch started to subside and I didn't have the urge to scratch it for the rest of the afternoon. My itching seems to intensify at night, so I did have to reapply before heading to bed, but I didn't wake up in the middle of the night scratching myself like I normally do. As for using it with bug bites, I was greatly impressed at how well it took the sting and itch out almost instantly. It also kept me from having large welts, since I normally scar from them, I was very pleased!




I've also been dealing with some pretty bad neck pain in addition to my usual foot pain. I don't know if it's from how I'm sleeping or from the PPE I wear at work, but my neck on the right side has been aching for over a week, and I don't have full range of my neck. While I wait for a Chiropractic appointment, I decided that it would be a great time to try out the Arnicare Gel since it is meant to aid in pain relief. This lightweight, non greasy gel was easy to apply, by adding a small amount to the affected area and rubbing it in, I began to feel slight relief in a matter of minutes. After about 30 minutes, I was starting to feel like I could move my neck a bit better without having nearly as much pain or it taking as much effort. Now, my pain didn't completely go away after using the Arnicare Gel, but it did help ease a lot of the discomfort that I was in.

The Arnicare Gel also helps my foot on days when it rains or the atmospheric pressure drops, causing my ankle and foot to throb. I keep it with me in my purse, along with the Calendula Gel so I can always have it close by. I really am impressed with how well and how quickly both of these gels worked for me. Just know that your experience may differ as we all respond differently to things. These are great to keep with you on a daily basis and are even better to have on hand when you're headed to the pool, camping, or any outdoor activity, plus as we get older, and our bones start to ache, the Arnicare Gel might really come in handy!