Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Background: I got devoured by mosquitoes on a trip to Mexico in 2009, and the assault on my system was enough to land me in hospital 3 times in a single week. (During the first two visits to different hospitals, my condition was misdiagnosed and I was given the wrong treatments; the third hospital figured out that I had developed an allergy to the mosquitoes). It seems that because I was bitten so many times (over 50 bites), my body went into some sort of shock and ultra-defence mode. As a result, I now have a very heightened sensitivity to all bug bites. With this in mind, I intended to use as many precautions as possible for my recent trip to Hawaii. Here's how I protected myself (I'll discuss Sawyer's Spray in a moment): Step 1: Started taking Vitamin B Complex two weeks before departure. I chose one that had huge %RDA of each type of Vitamin B (I think B12 is the most vital), and always took it in the morning because it can cause really awful nightmares if you take it close to bedtime. Step 2: I sprayed all my holiday clothes with Sawyer's Permethrin Spray. Step 3: Covered all exposed areas with Ben's 30% Deet wipes every day. http://www.amazon.com/Tender-Bens-12-count-Travel-Wipes/dp/B001GAOIME/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1303674359&sr=8-5 Step 4: Always had my "Zap It!" clicker tied to my handbag. I can't find these listed on Amazon US, but they shouldn't set you back more than $8 apiece, and they each have about 10,000 clicks. This was one of my great investments! I definitely recommend getting one. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zap-It-Mosquito-Bite-Relief/dp/B0012GMT0A/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1303674948&sr=8-2 Step 5: I kept some antihistamine tablets handy just in case I felt overwhelmed by itching, but luckily I didn't have to take any. Step 6: I also kept some anti-itch creams at the ready, but the "Zap it!" made them largely unnecessary. ...So, now that you know my 6-phase plan of assault, back to Sawyer's Spray. It's hard to rate this spray on performance because it's impossible to know if the local mosquitos would have bitten through clothing or not. My travel companion got about 4 or 5 times more bites than I did throughout the trip, but all our bites were mostly on exposed areas. I don't think I got a single bite through clothing, though, so perhaps that's a sign of the spray doing its thing! It was easy to use, although my hand was a little tired from the spray action after doing my entire suitcase worth of clothes! I used the entire bottle. Roughly speaking, I had 2 pairs of shin-length pants, 1 pair of shorts, 1 pair of jeans, about 4 spaghetti-strap tops, and about 4 tops/cardigans. I didn't bring too many clothes, but I sprayed them quite a lot - I could probably have made the bottle go a bit further if I was packing more things. What was AMAZING to me was the fact that this noxious-smelling spray dried absolutely, 100% *odourless*. This was a huge concern for me because I'm asthmatic and I'm easily affected by strong smells, so I was thrilled about it. Actually, if anything, my clothes smelled fresher than they did before, as though they had been hanging outside on a spring day! Overall, as I said, it's hard to quantify how effective the spray is because there are too many factors to consider. But I would absolutely use it again, in conjunction with all my other precautions, because I walked away from this mosquito-infested trip with only a handful of bites and lived to tell the tale. I'm giving it 5 stars for value, lack of odour, and the fact that as far as I know, it worked! I'd recommend Sawyer's. Happy Travels!