Nothing annoys more than that little buzzing noise you hear of a mosquito flying around your bedroom late at night. Well, one thing does - the itch of a bite. So, how do you go about stopping it?

To figure out how to stop the itching, it first helps to understand why an itching sensation develops. Surprisingly, you will not "itch" the first time you are bitten by a mosquito. This is because the mosquito injects saliva and anti-coagulants into your skin to facilitate the feeding process. Your body will not react to these on the first bite. On subsequent ones, it will with a red bump appearing and the itching sensation.

The actual reaction is due to a slight histamine allergy response. In nearly everyone, this allergy response is revealed by the simple itching sensation. In a small minority of people, however, a bite can produce a major allergic response with anaphylactic shock being a serious problem. With anaphylactic shock, the throat will actually close up cutting off air flow and resulting in possible death. Obviously, this is a worse case scenario, but it does happen.

So, how do we stop the itching sensation? Well, the key is to introduce something that counters the allergic reaction sensation. There are topical treatments you can buy at any drugstore. Personally, I've found they don't really seem to work all that well. This is why I look to other solutions.

I once spent a month in Costa Rica. Costa Rica is hot and muggy, perfect mosquito country. Although I used All Terrain mosquito repellent with no problems, I often missed places when applying it to my regret. I had bites behind my ears and so on. The best solution I found for killing the itching sensation was...toothpaste! I'm not sure why it works, but it does.

If you are at home, a second solution that also works can be found in your kitchen. Vinegar! Just dab a bit on the bite or bites if you are so lucky to have multiple ones. It will sting for a second and then stop itching.

In truth, there are many other ways to battle the itch of a mosquito bite. The key is not to itch it and apply something that will counter the allergic reaction. People have reported everything from Preparation H to ammonia to ice cubes as being effective. It doesn't really matter so much as you stop that itch.