Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Bed bug bites, skin, etc.
how long does it take to go from reacting to not reacting to bed bug bites?
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itchyonmyrtle
newbite
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 6
Posted 2 months ago
Sat Sep 5 2009 17:54:23
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First, I've had a bed bug infestation before and all the bites itched like mad.
A month ago I started getting bit, two or three nights a week. The bites would itch but within a half hour would stop and just be red. The last time I was bit was four days ago and didn't itch at all. I'm afraid that I'm going to stop reacting and will just think that I'm in the clear. I'm already checking my bed every morning for anything resembling cast skins, fecal matter. A new mattress encasement's on order. I know it's insane, but I would rather react and know I was being bit than not.
Are 10 bites enough to build up a resistance?
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buggyinsocal
oldtimer
Joined: Jun '08
Posts: 1,130
Posted 2 months ago
Sat Sep 5 2009 18:56:47
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I don't think the majority of people develop a resistance to reacting. I mean, I can't recall anyone here reporting that. (That's not to say it's not possible, or that it's not possible I've forgotten. That does suggest to me, however, that such a response is more an outlier than a common response.)
I had bed bugs March 2008 through June 2008. The responses I had to the bites were really unlike anything else.
I had thermal treatment. My bugs went away.
In August 2008 I went to see a movie at a theater I don't normally go to (it was a documentary that was playing in very limited release, so I drove over 20 miles to see it on the big screen). I woke up the next morning with what acted for all the world like bed bug bites.
My apartment was still under warranty from the thermal treatment in June, so I called the company and had the PCO out to inspect. We found nothing. No new bites appeared.
My best guess is that the movie theater had bed bugs. I was still so freaked out at the time that there really wasn't any other change in my routine that might have explained where the bugs came from except for the movie theater.
That's a very long way of saying that my own personal experience is that once I started reacting to bed bug bites, being reintroduced to bed bugs later resulted in the exactly same reaction to the bites as I'd first had.
From what you've described, I would be looking for some other cause of your bites/skin reactions. It could be a different pest like carpet beetles or fleas.
And everyone is different.
I know the level of anxiety that bed bugs cause. And I completely sympathize with your fear that they're back. And it would probably be wise to be extra careful and mindful on your usual inspections of your bedding and such. But if I were going to lay down a bet, I would be on the bites you've got now being from something other than a bed bug before I would bet on your reaction to bed bug bites having changed.
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miked366
newbite
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 5
Posted 2 months ago
Sat Sep 5 2009 19:43:53
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No two people are alike. After my seven to eight months of this, the one thing I have realized is that I am pretty sure of my bite time effect and it is delayed. Amazing and probably a week.
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lil_bit_obsessed
senior member
Joined: Dec '07
Posts: 495
Posted 2 months ago
Sun Sep 6 2009 13:22:51
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my initial reaction time was delayed by a few days as well. and i was always worried that i would stop reacting, or just react differently, and not know if the bugs were still there. but looking back, i now know that when the really obvious bites stopped, it was because the bugs were gone. i would initially react to a bite with big welts, and once those welts were gone so were the bugs. i continued to have flare ups and smaller skin reactions over the following months, but they were just delayed reactions to the bites and to other irritants in the environment (DE and pesticides, for example).
that having been said, i think it is possible for people to have their reactions change over time - but from what i've read it's very rare and usually only happens in circumstances where people have lived with severe infestations for a LONG period of time (read: years). maybe there is a researcher on the site who can confirm this timeline?
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buggyinsocal
oldtimer
Joined: Jun '08
Posts: 1,130
Posted 2 months ago
Sun Sep 6 2009 16:29:16
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Of course, miked336, everyone is different.
But if I'm understanding the OP's question, right, what itchyonmyrtle is asking about isn't how long a delay there is between being bitten and the bite sites reacting in a way that lets you know you've been bitten.
What the OP is asking about is whether someone who at one point in time responded to bites with big, itchy red welts can suddenly stop reacting that way.
It is true that everyone reacts differently. It's also true that some people experience a longer delay between a bite and a reaction than others.
However, I haven't heard any stories at all of someone who used to get big red itchy welts suddenly not reacting to bite within a two month period.
Not to say it couldn't happen.
But the question the original poster wants to know, I suspect, isn't whether it could happen--it's how likely it is to happen.
I have to agree with lil_bit_obsessed on this one. It's possible, but I'm thinking that going from big itchy welts to not so big not so itchy welts as described on this time line? Isn't very likely.
(Skin is often extra reactive after a bout with bed bugs, and the trauma of bed bugs is often great enough that people who've been through a bed bug infestation are super vigilant paying extra attention to any itches at all. I know. I thought razor irritation on my legs was nymph bites--or at least, I was worried that it might be. Even though the best evidence is that nymph bites react just like adult bites. But convincing me of that before I was sure I was bed bug free? Was next to impossible.)
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goin buggy
newbite
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 4
Posted 2 months ago
Sun Sep 6 2009 16:56:46
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Not only does it vary from one person to the next, but it can quickly vary in the same person. My first bite happened 3 weeks ago at the hotel where I was exposed. I got 2 large bites on my neck that itched and burned intensely so much that I had to get up, wet a wash cloth with cold water, wrap it around my neck and return to bed ( I thought they were mosquito bites). Then big bites began itching on my belly. Finally I felt a bug crawling on my back and I jumped out of bed and slept on the sofa in the next room. The next day BBs were confirmed. We followed inadequate instructions and ended up bringing them home. Now, 3 weeks later, I find tiny spots on my body which barely itch. My partner has never felt them at all, nor has any visible bumps even tho she found two bugs on her when she showered at the hotel. The truth is, the bites are hardly noticable for me anymore. But knowing I have bed bugs, and how hard and expensive they are to get rid of, and my terror of transmitting them to others is what is driving me out of my mind.
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goin buggy
newbite
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 4
Posted 2 months ago
Sun Sep 6 2009 17:03:02
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PS: I think the difference in my reaction to bites is due to that the BBs at the hotel were full grown adults filing up on my blood (and injecting their saliva). But the BBs at home are babies hatched from some egg(s) I brought home so they don't drink as much blood or inject as much saliva.
I also have no way to know if the new (few) little bumps I see each day is evidence that I have brought them with me into the other room (when I stopped sleeping or even going into my bedroom) or whether they are the result of delayed reactions as another poster has indicated.
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buggyinsocal
oldtimer
Joined: Jun '08
Posts: 1,130
Posted 2 months ago
Sun Sep 6 2009 17:54:24
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The best science that we currently have actually suggests that bites from young bed bugs (nymphs, instars, whatever you want to call them) are not any different from bites from adults.
The evidence in this case is video of a bite reaction test where a person goes in and has an adult and a nymph placed on the skin. Both the nymph and adult are allowed to feed in order for the person to find out whether he or she reacts.
The bite reaction test video posted here shows that the nymph and adult bites swelled up to the same size.
Intuitively, it would seem to make sense that a nymph would be smaller and inject less of the stuff we react to, but science doesn't seem to back that up.
On the other hand, science does back up the idea that once you've been exposed to bed bugs, your skin tends to be hyperreactive to other irritants.
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itchyonmyrtle
newbite
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 6
Posted 2 months ago
Mon Sep 7 2009 19:28:28
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Many thanks for the information! Especially Buggyinsocial for parsing my incoherent ramblings. I'll be able to sleep easier knowing that it's really, really unlikely that my reaction would have changed in such a sort period of time, or be extremely different from a previous bed bug related reaction. (Like many others, I was one of those people trying everything to stop the itch).
However, if I am unlucky, I would be more than willing to under go medical testing to figure out why I have the opposite reaction trajectory to assist my fellow sufferers. :)
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Infofreak
junior member
Joined: Apr '09
Posts: 74
Posted 2 months ago
Mon Sep 7 2009 23:43:10
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You could also and are more likely to get worse reactions over time and then some bad one like hives , This happened to me
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bbfiend
junior member
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 82
Posted 2 months ago
Tue Sep 8 2009 15:36:54
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my bbs started in july and i had welts, i mean, the queen of all welts. now, 2 months later, i still get them like pancakes! i noticed that if they drink a lot of my blood (this from the latest bite whereby i interrupted the bb's drinking pleasure) and it went on to give me lunch and dinner and then SUPPER! only breakfast was huge. lunch, dinner and supper were small comparably, even though they did get bigger the next day, they are nothing like breakfast.
in the middle of last night, i had hives (i have regular allergies, so hives are very common), but in the heightened state of ridiculous paranoia i'm in, i stayed up to make sure there were hives rather than bites from the bbs.
talk about being fit to be committed.
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buggyinsocal - 1 day ago »
Even though the best evidence is that nymph bites react just like adult bites.I'm not so enamoured with the one study (videoed) being quoted all the time. I've had a couple local PCOs mention that nymphs have left smaller bites, unlike what's often mentioned here. I really think more research should be done in this area. It's too easy to jump scared or brush things off based on one experience.
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