Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Detection / Identification of bed bugs
Bed bugs during the day? In your clothes?
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Dave2009
newbite
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 2
Posted 1 month ago
Tue Sep 29 2009 15:56:40
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Ok, so I’m about 90% certain I have bed bugs. I haven’t seen them but the bites seem to match up. Over the last 6 months or so, about 2 times a week I wake up with a few red, itchy bumps that are about ½ inch in diameter. The red bumps go away after 5 to 15 minutes and the itching goes away as well.
So those are the bites I get in the morning. However, for the last 3 months or so I’ve noticed bites I get during the day while at work. I usually get them on my arms above the elbow or on my legs above the knee. They do not seem to leave any any kind of mark like the ones I get in the morning. The itching usually only lasts 5 minutes and the frequency is about once an hour.
Is it possible the bed bugs are hiding in my clothes and biting me while I’m at work? Is there some kind of “aftershock” with the bites in the morning? Like I get bit at 5:00 AM and it starts to itch again at 10:00 AM? What is the best way to find out what is biting me? Should I see a dermatologist? I mean it’s not even leaving red bumps, so I wouldn’t even know what to show him…
Thanks
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buggyinsocal
oldtimer
Joined: Jun '08
Posts: 1,130
Posted 1 month ago
Tue Sep 29 2009 16:50:29
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My experience with bed bug bites is that once a person begins reacting, the bites are much itchier than other types of insect bites.
Keep in mind that plenty of other insects and chemicals can cause bites or bite like skin reactions. I wouldn't jump to the bed bug conclusion until you've ruled out carpet beetles and fleas at both your home and your workplace.
Dermatologists with experience dealing with bug bites can look at a bite and tell whether a certain class of bug has bitten you, but no doc can conclusively identify the precise species of bug from looking at a bite.
From your description, however, it could also be an allergic reaction to a new soap, detergent, or other chemical on your bedding as easily as bug bites or bite like skin responses from carpet beetles.
I'd read up on ways to rule out carpet beetles and fleas first, and if you don't find any evidence of those, get a PCO with bed bug experience in to inspect your home. If you don't find anything there, I might think about ways to rule various pests at work out next.
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arielh85
newbite
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 17
Posted 1 month ago
Tue Sep 29 2009 17:00:22
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I wonder if people ever become *more* immune to the bites over time? The worst bites I got were in the first couple days, but now the new ones are smaller, itch less, and disappear faster.
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1aweekinlouKY
newbite
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 5
Posted 1 month ago
Tue Sep 29 2009 17:13:37
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[quote]
arielh85 - 11 minutes ago »
I wonder if people ever become *more* immune to the bites over time? The worst bites I got were in the first couple days, but now the new ones are smaller, itch less, and disappear faster.It is my experience after being bitten for 6 months around my ankles that if you continue to get bitten in the same area, the itch is much worse and severe than if you get bitten on your arms or other parts. For me, it seems that their favorite bitting site results in much more inflamation and itch than if they bite me on the arms - where they did not "feast".
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buggyinsocal
oldtimer
Joined: Jun '08
Posts: 1,130
Posted 1 month ago
Thu Oct 1 2009 10:00:33
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I can't tell you what the scientific data says about a particular person becoming less reactive over time.
I can tell you this.
I had a confirmed case of bed bugs. I was made so anxious by it that even after thermal treatment which got rid of them in one go, I spent months obsessing over every single itch I felt.
I was convinced that the smaller less itchy bites had to be from nymphs because I reasoned that nymphs were smaller and injected less whatever bed bugs inject--right up until I saw video of a person doing a bite reaction test at an entomologist's office. (In a bite reaction test, bed bugs from a colony are removed from the captive colony and placed in a controlled fashion on the testee. The person being tested was bitten by an adult and a nymph. The video then showed the skin response. Nymph and adult bites looked exactly the same size.) Now, again, I'm sure there's a variation in reaction, but seeing that? Made me think about other explanations for my other itch responses. Byt carefully tracking when the itching happened I quickly discovered that the itching behind my right knee was a reaction to the stubble growing in after I shaved, since the itching broke out reliably a certain number of days after I shaved my legs. (I have always had terribly sensitive skin, so this isn't really a surprise to me.)
My point is that a bed bug scare will often leave people worrying about bed bugs at every turn, even when there are a number of other possible answers. In some cases, those itchy responses are bed bugs. But in a lot, they aren't.
You can worry yourself into a corner over what is and isn't bed bugs, which is why learning to inspect effectively for tell tale signs is so important.
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Having to feed around 200 bed bugs every other month for the last 11 months my reactions have been the same on day one as they are today. I usually feed them in groups of 15-30, the only time my reaction changed is when I tried to let around 1000 feed at once. Lesson learned the area (size of a baseball) blistered bad and now I have a scare that will remind me of this mistake forever.
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is it normal for the bites to flare up at the same time every day? i sleep during the day and work at night, but around 4am-10am every day i itch like crazy and am covered in welts. in the afternoon, im fine, and instead of welts i have flat, pink discolorations that don't itch.
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meremortal
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Joined: Oct '09
Posts: 41
Posted 2 weeks ago
Wed Nov 4 2009 11:19:37
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arielh85 - 1 month ago »
I wonder if people ever become *more* immune to the bites over time? The worst bites I got were in the first couple days, but now the new ones are smaller, itch less, and disappear faster.My experience is the same as yours...less swelling, less itchy, but the little "puncture hole" that's left behind is about the same size and takes awhile to stop bleeding, then clear fluid comes out. Ick...I hate these things!
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