WTH is biting me?!?

[Laurierace]

Something is biting me in my bed. It has happened four times over the course of about three months. The first two times it was so bad I had to get a course of steroids. Not sure if I am getting used to it or what but they aren’t quite as bad now. It is usually three or four bites in about a two inch square area. Three of the four times it was on my arm, once it was on my thigh. They itch and hurt and get a raised blister. My doctor’s guess is some kind of spider. Hubby did have some little marks on his arm once but they never got blistered so not sure if it is the same thing or not.

I have washed the bedding of course each time including the pillows and comforter. It is a soft sided waterbed that is in a wooden frame with a liner. Nothing is apparent when I pull it back and look inside or underneath. I really don’t want to spray chemicals on my bed but am getting sick of being bitten. Three more today on my upper right arm.

Any idea what it could be and what to do about it?

[Simkie]

Bed bugs?

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/bedbugs/DS00663/DSECTION=symptoms

[Laurierace]

That does seem to be the most obvious choice but you really can’t see any evidence of them at all. I am not saying that isn’t what it is but I can’t see them anywhere.

[Simkie]

Apparently they hide in tiny tiny little cracks and crevices? Wiki has a pic of one hiding in a screw hole in the bed frame: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bed_bug

Maybe you can find an outfit with a bed bug dog to come out and sniff around?

[maunder]

It does sound like spiders. You’ll get several bites within the same area. Ick.

I’d be doing some serious bedding flapping before I got into bed! :lol: Actually, I might do that anyway tonight in sympathy of your plight.

[Gainer]

Sounds like spiders to me as well. I’ve suffered from multiple spider bites in the last couple of years. Since I’m allergic, it means steroids, antibiotics, antihistimines and a lot of discomfort.

Unfortunately there are heavy woods behind my place and the spiders are bad, no matter what I do about them. They always seem to attack at night.

[2DogsFarm]

Any chance you have been taking a high dose of Ibuprofen?

At the advice of a nurse friend, I upped my dosage to 800mg when my bad knee got torqued.

The knee appreciated this, but suddenly I was itching all over in a pattern that resembled the classic bedbug breakfast/lunch/dinner trio.

I freaked :eek: - wondering WhereTheFruitbat I had gotten bedbugs - I had been nowhere for months and noone had used my bed!

Topical hydrocort ointment helped but after a couple weeks of this torture I asked one of the pharmacists I work with and was told high-dose Ibuprofen can affect your liver function which can cause the itching.

[Laurierace]

I have the exterminator coming this afternoon just in case. This has been going on too long. No ibuprofen thankfully, I had facet blocks and feel awesome! High doses of advil gives me lesions in my throat that are more painful than whatever I took the meds for.

[Alagirl]

My first instinct was bed bugs.

had them in the old house. They would get me around the back of my neck and leave welts.

But since we had fleas at the time, too, I bombed the house and all was well.

But the two times a suspected spider bit me, it was quiet painful as well as leaving welts. One time the welt actually felt feverish hot!

[Laurierace]

I just hope the exterminator finds something and can get rid of it. It takes like two weeks for the bites to go away so I am going to be styling on the beach…

[Ridge_Runner]

Do you have any pets? I’ve gotten chigger bites from sleeping with my dogs in the bed. I’ve gotten ticks that way too despite using Advantix drops.

[Laurierace]

Yes, I have cats and dogs. I don’t think they are chiggers though. Hopefully we will know what it is very shortly. The exterminator is coming sometime between 2 and 4. I just hope they find something as I certainly couldn’t.

[kookicat]

Would hanging a mosquito net over the bed help? Least then you’d know if it was something -in- the bed or something from in the room.

Gainer, might help you, too.

[JanM]

I suspect spiders. There are tiny little spiders that are invisible to the naked eye, and if you are allergic to them you get a really bad reaction just like what you described. A friend and her husband had a wooded area they were building a house on, and they were clearing brush and picking up around the place during construction, and she turned up with huge bites that were itchy, swollen and awful to look at. Her dermatologist said that because she was allergic they were big bite marks, and her husband who was apparently also bitten wasn’t allergic, so his marks were tiny and not a problem. She had to get all kinds of shots and treatments also.

I would suspect the spiders are under the bed base, between the bed and wall, and might be in the tiny places inside the bed frame also.

I would drain the mattress, or drain it enough to spray the bed frame under it, let dry, and fill the mattress back up. And have the exterminator concentrate under and behind every part of the bed. And whenever you move brush, mow etc, then come in dump your clothes in the washer, and hit the shower asap, then you might not have another problem with them. I totally hate spiders, and there a lots around here too.

[Laurierace]

There is no way to get under the bed without dismantling it. It is a solid wooden box.

[Laurierace]

[QUOTE=kookicat;6391800]
Would hanging a mosquito net over the bed help? Least then you’d know if it was something -in- the bed or something from in the room.

Gainer, might help you, too.[/QUOTE]

A google search on Gainer brought up some disturbing possibilities but none of which seemed even remotely relevant! Care to explain?

[kookicat]

[QUOTE=Laurierace;6391857]
A google search on Gainer brought up some disturbing possibilities but none of which seemed even remotely relevant! Care to explain?[/QUOTE]

Sorry, I was referring to the poster on here with that name.

[QUOTE=Gainer;6391603]Sounds like spiders to me as well. I’ve suffered from multiple spider bites in the last couple of years. Since I’m allergic, it means steroids, antibiotics, antihistimines and a lot of discomfort.

Unfortunately there are heavy woods behind my place and the spiders are bad, no matter what I do about them. They always seem to attack at night.[/QUOTE]

[Laurierace]

Oh good! I wonder what kind of cookies list I am on now?!

[kookicat]

I seem to have upset you. I’m sorry. It was never my intention to confuse you.

[CHSatwork]

minute pirate bugs? We’re having a problem with them now. Do you have any crops growing around you? We have corn and hay fields around us and this is the first year we’ve had a problem with these bugs. I am bit from head to toe. You can’t see them when they’re babies but they still pack a heck of a bite. When full grown they look like fleas but they fly, they don’t jump and they smoosh like a regular bug. They are driving me crazy.