Naomi::

* Here is what I use for dealing with the intense itching of bedbug bites: household ammonia, straight, on a cotton ball, paper towel or tissue. You have to hold it on the bite for a few minutes, you don’t get instant relief, but after a little while it stops the itching. For me, the itching sometimes doesn’t come back at all, or if it does, it’s not as bad and not until the next day.

I wish I had as good luck getting rid of the bedbugs as getting rid of the itching!

Jmosk::

I don’t know much about bed bugs, but I’ve been getting some suspicious bites on my legs recently that itch a lot. They are usually in little groups, just like bed bug bites are supposed to be. I cant really look for blood stains though, because I have a water bed.

Basically what I want to know is: Can bed bugs live in a water bed? I don’t see why not. It would be easy to squeeze between the bladder and the wooden frame, but I don’t know.

P.S.: once they find a bed, do they wander around or just stay there?

Bug Buffet::

So I was researching spider bites, allergies and whatever else I could come across to try to figure out what I have. That’s when I came across this site and believe I may have gotten bit by bed bugs. This looks like a nightmare!

The first bump was on my knee. We camp a lot so just brushed it off. Now for about 5 days or so I have been noticing more and more by the day. I have at least 30-40 spots on my body (feet, ankles, legs, fingers and even a few spots behind my ears now!). I would have to say they are almost clear with little bubbles (that itch like crazy and when I give in to itching, do sometimes break and leak a clear liquid…no pus). It seems to be just one and gradually get a small cluster in a spot (about 2-6 “bubbles” gathered).

What do you think? My husband works third shift so sleeps during the day and has none of these. My baby (who sleeps in the room next to ours) had a bump/bubble a few weeks ago (again started as one bite and ended up being a little cluster). I had/have no clue what she had, but only one spot. She’s 17 months, but didn’t seem bothered by it. After a week or so it almost got a scab on it and came off. Any ideas? Does it look like I’m in for bed bugs? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!! Good luck to you all too!

Also – I searched my bed and came up with nothing. Not the best at laundry, but did just put new linen and blankets on the bed hoping it would help, but it didn’t.

Since I came down with the bumps, I have gotten a nasty cold (sinus, sore throat, tight chest, terrible headache) and a slight fever comes and goes. Since I submitted the last entry, I was reading more info and these symptoms were present in other things. And even more odd, I have been really stiff! I thought I was just being a wuss, but could this be something? I plan on making a call to the doc, but currently I’m pretty PO’ed at them (they don’t seem to be able to solve anything I talk to them about…how hard is it to diagnose migraines? to tough for my clinic…but they are looking for my $$$$)!!

Anyhoo, anyone else find some of these odd, seemingly unrelated, signs/symptoms? I had taken some allergy medication to help with the cold symptoms and the antihistamine seems to really help with the itching. Bath seemed to itch more during, but felt okay after. Looking forward to others responses…if any.

Jay::

Hello, i learned a lot bout these bugs the hard way because my friend brought in a bed from the garbage. All this time i thought that “don’t let the bed bugs bite” was a joke until some months ago. Now I get these bumps that has a head on it with yellow stuff coming out because he got bit by them so much.

I use to wake up with bites all over my neck, back, legs, and everywhere else. The only way i got rid of them is by kicking one of my friends out with the bed, also i got rid of all furniture because these bugs love to travel. I ended up getting air beds. i don’t know how long bites and itching last because i was getting bit every night, but after everything was gone it took about 3 to 4 days for the itching to stop and 5 to 7 days for the bites to leave.

PLEASE DON’T SCRATCH or you will get those boils and let me tell you, those hurt real bad!

Henry::

Katherine, that is not a bed bug. I unfortunately know almost everything about them and I’ve never seen a bed bug that looks like this.

Katherine::

Hi, My husband and I are being bitten regularly. Our bites are exactly like all of the photos, although for me they are always on the upper leg/lower torso. We have absolutely no evidence, though, in our room. No blood spots, no sightings, nothing. I started the process of dry cleaning, bagging, encasing, etc – everything recommended on all of the bed bug sites – before we call in the professionals, and found the bug below in the folds of our comforter.

Is this a bed bug? It doesn’t look like any of the bed bug pictures, but it’s the only bug we’ve seen. As a description, it is 1/4 inch in length, tan with black around the perimeter of its flat “shell” and another black strip down the center. The shell has little ridges on the lower half, perpendicular to the stripes.

It does not stick at all to sticky tape, and when I pressed on it ever so slightly under the sticky tape, it squished, oozing a grey fluid (no blood), and died. (Note that the back end of the bug is usually just rounded. It looks a bit distorted in this photo from being accidentally squished.)

Any thoughts on what this bug is would be greatly appreciated!!!

Buggkiller::

Hi everyone, I recently saw a report on the news about bed bugs that, ever since, has literally had me feeling like things are crawling on me. I know, I’m a slightly paranoid, but to everyone here with the bed bug problem, I have some suggestions.

1. Wash all linens (including pillows) regularly in HOT water, use chlorine bleach on white sheets and pillows and non-chlorine bleach on colored sheets and dry everything on your dryer’s hottest setting for about an hour. I wash and change my sheets every Saturday.

2. Boric acid! Put boric acid along baseboards in rooms with beds and linen closets. You can put real sticky traps (not double sided tape); I’m talking about the sticky traps meant to trap mice and rats. Put them under beds and in corners, when the bugs fall/walk onto them, they are done. I use them in my basement to trap crickets, but tons of tiny bugs have been caught also. I buy boric acid at Home Depot (approx. $2.00 for a large cylinder) and sticky traps at Wal-mart (approx. $3.00 each).

3. Steam clean and vacuum carpets. You’d be surprised what can live in carpets that are not maintenance regularly. The best vacuums on the market are Dyson and Rainbow (Rainbow vacuums are expensive $1500-$3000), they pick up everything, it’s incredible. I run the vacuum every day.

4. Wash mattresses with bleach solution (1 part bleach/2 parts water) and damp towel or sponge. Don’t drench the mattress, just enough to see the mattress is wet and rub off top soil and dirt.

5. Vacuum mattress with hose attachment. So obviously vacuum before you wash the mattress. lol

6. Put rarely used clothes, linens, pillows, ect in air tight bags, like the space bags sold at Target and Wal-mart. You insert objects and suck the air out with a vacuum flattening the objects which, creating more storage space, killing bugs that might make it into the bags (no air equals no life) and eliminating future bugs from getting in.

7. Seal the bottom of box springs. Box springs come with that thin fabric on the bottom to keep the wood from being exposed. Seal it off completely with strong fabric and a strong adhesive. You might want to treat the wood first if you find the bugs living in there. Since you don’t sleep directly on the box spring you can treat with a house hold pesticide and/or boric acid.

Once you get your home clean and bug free be careful about the places you sleep at outside your home and the people you let sleep at your home.

If everything else fails…

Throw the mattress, box spring, sheets, ect in the dumpster. Hire professionals to clean and buy new stuff.

Good luck to everyone, I hope this helps someone.

Kari::

Help, I need help killing these bed bugs! They won’t die, no matter what we do and how we do it. We have cleaned and we have sprayed, what else can we do? Someone please tell me because I am one of those ones that are allergic to them and look horrible.

Please help…thanks

Sam::

Hi, I’m new here but I believe Lei’s bites look like flea bites. Fleas get everywhere, I know for fact. We moved into a new house and on the first night there had to sleep on the floor, twenty minutes after we went to bed, we were covered in them. They had lain dormant in the carpet, and the vibrations of our feet had hatched the eggs etc.

We self bombed the entire house with the canned bombs, and we continually vacuum up with our kirby vacuum, to get dead fleas eggs etc. I believe the last tenants did not have such good hygiene habits so managed to infest the house with human fleas (there are three types of fleas dog fleas, cat fleas and human fleas, the fleas usually prefer they’re own type (cat fleas like to feed on cats etc, but will still feed on dogs or humans if there choice is limited). Thanks

Sally::

I am a flight attendant and I also got bit by bed bugs in downtown Des Moines Iowa (Fort Des Moines) My bites started to itch the next morning on my wrist and later that day I had many more on my arms. The next day I had bumps on the sides of my knees and they started to ooze. I even had one on the bottom of my nose. I have been to the company clinic and they just say I was bit by an insect. I am seeing my doctor tomorrow and i am curious to see if he can identify these marks (I have pictures to show him too). Also, any legal advice?

Kate::

Couldn’t send photos, because my camera’s broken, but I can describe the bites pretty well. They’re like mosquito bites, only in clusters or rows (I have a nice L shape going on my right foot…), and itched real bad. I picked up a tube of AfterBite at the drugstore today, because that worked for my mosquito bites at a friend’s, and it helped somewhat, though they still itch a bit.

Trouble is, the only bugs I’ve found (and I have found a few of the same kind around the edges of my mattress) look nothing like the pictures of bedbugs. They’re small and oval-shaped, but kind of bristly-looking on the main part of the body.

I spent the weekend at a friend’s in Massachusetts, and the morning after I came back had bites on my feet and lower legs that really itched. The next morning I had more. I have no idea where they could have come from so suddenly, and I still don’t know if they’re really bedbugs or not. Anyone have any suggestions?

Vaughn::

I find comfort in reading that other people are bugged in bed by these quiet little beasts. I grew up in California thinking that bedbugs were an imaginary thing like fairies and the Easter bunny, but last summer I realized they are all too real.

Since then I’ve ripped out all the carpet in my Brooklyn apartment and have spent many days sealing up the cracks and holes along the walls and floors. I have a bedbug graveyard taped to the wall. As for the living that remains, it’s impossible to track them down; it’s like an ant in a library. I just hope they are a curse that’s about to be lifted.

On a scientific note, I have lately encountered a few baseboard dwellers that look a bit like a bedbug, but with a bulby back, more like a spider. Wondering if anyone knows about these guys, dark brown, reddish, but not with the flattened football body like a bedbug. These guys are more bulby and I wonder if these might be bedbug eaters, the good guys, and that’s why I haven’t seen so many bedbugs lately or maybe they’re pregnant bedbugs?

Like life, the mystery abounds…

p.s. stayed in a cheap hotel in fort stockton this summer, and my goodness, the lone star state might have the biggest, baddest bedbugs in the union!

MJ::

It is now 3:30 a.m., and I am awake with fear at the Hampton Inn/Mobile, Alabama. Having checked in yesterday, and arising yesterday morning with no itch or symptoms, I began to itch furiously about 9:30am. I am suffering with horrible allergic reactions to these bites, and thought I only had 2-3 on my arms. However, when returning to the hotel tonight, I noticed them on my chest, and bottom extremities as well.

I don’t see anything on the mattress, but plan on finishing my research, packing up, heading home, and leaving my bags and clothing in the garage upon arrival. I will also plan on washing and drying on high heat any articles of clothing from the trip, including spraying my luggage with a household pesticide.

I can’t believe that these bites are as painful as they are and I didn’t even feel the bite. I am also notifying the front desk of my findings and hope that they’ll investigate and based upon their findings, treat the room for any future, unsuspecting guests.

Lei::

We actually just got back from Vegas now that you mention it, we stayed at Treasure Island. There aren’t any stains on the mattress at all, so this concerns me. To this date, I have not seen one bug! I’ve had the bite marks for about 5-6 days now and for some reason, they begin to itch/swell every time I go outside in cool weather. Hydrocortisone seems to help with the itching.

Lei::

My boyfriend and I have been getting some bites around our ankles during bedtime over the past couple of days. We couldn’t figure out if it was spiders or bedbugs?

I stripped the bed down and looked inch for inch, but unsuccessfully discovered the source. What could it be? You can see the bites in the photo below.

Many thanks!

Lei

Joe::

Help!

I am not quite sure what these bites may be but they seem to be bed bugs. I’ve searched all over and I could not find the bugs or the blood stains mentioned in the article.

I have no idea what type of bites these can be and would appreciate any help.

You can see from the photo of these bites that they hurt and itch!

Cindy::

I am a flight attendant, who was staying at the Crown Plaza in Phoenix. I got bit by bed bugs, as I slept. The affected areas have turned into large water filled blisters/boils. I now have staph infection as a result of these bites.