I am so perplexed by these bites/bumps...what the heck is it??

[Anonymous]

This gave me a bed bug scare and I had a bed bug specialist/exterminator inspect all of the upstairs mattresses and places bedbugs hide - he found nothing, no feces or blood stains, no hidden insects - only carpet beetles.
If bed bugs had caused the multiple bites then there would have been a decent infestation and at least some evidence, especially to an expert inspector. So now that that is ruled out, I'm stumped. Basically, I woke up this week out of the blue with bites in a line up my arm, and a huge number of bites clustered on my upper inner thighs, very close to my groin area. They itched madly for 4 nights and are now starting to calm down, which makes me doubt it's scabies (plus my DH doesn't have them, or any bites at all for that matter). They are small red bumps, maybe 20+ on each (inner) thigh. Again, this was out of the blue, I have no history of these bites or any kind of rash. I don't think an allergic reaction to carpet beetles could cause such a rash, and I haven't been outside enough to get chiggers. What the heck is this?? I'm scared to get back in my bed!

[Anonymous]

Go to the doctor. My guess is scabies.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like chiggers.

I don't think you need to be outside that long to get chiggers. You just need to walk over the wrong piece of grass.

[Anonymous]

PP again. Chiggers eventually die which is why you were very itchy at first, but the reaction has subsided. Did the bites look like bad mosquito bites?

[Anonymous]

Have you slept elsewhere within the past few weeks?
There aren't many things other than bedbugs that bite in lines and clusters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP again. Chiggers eventually die which is why you were very itchy at first, but the reaction has subsided. Did the bites look like bad mosquito bites?

They are a bit smaller than mosquito bites, and a bit firmer, which is why I initially thought bed bugs.
If I had scabies, wouldn't I still be itching like crazy? Taking a very hot shower last night helped a lot, and another one this morning -it reduced the redness and swelling, as well as that horrible itch that kept me up several nights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you slept elsewhere within the past few weeks?
There aren't many things other than bedbugs that bite in lines and clusters.

yes, in my mom's guest room on Saturday night, and she also got an exterminator to inspect - he found nothing too.
Bedbugs tend to bite in clusters of three, but this is more like a grouping of lots and lots of little bites, concentrated in one area, rather than the small clusters associated with bed bugs ("breakfast lunch dinner").
I hope my bedbug inspector was right - he was pretty adamant, and I was prepared to pay him $3500 for a heat treatment to get rid of bugs. I'm still paranoid, though!

[Anonymous]

Have the pest inspections again in a few weeks. My first inspection turned up negative, too, but the bedbugs were easier to spot once the population grew a little.

And of course, consider other possible bite causes.

[Anonymous]

I mean other possible skin irritation causes, because as you've pointed out yourself, they might not be bites at all.

But... do get your home re-checked in a few weeks.

[Anonymous]

Fleas? Doesn't your mom have any animals?

Otherwise I'd guess chiggers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have the pest inspections again in a few weeks. My first inspection turned up negative, too, but the bedbugs were easier to spot once the population grew a little.

And of course, consider other possible bite causes.

I thought of that too but the exterminator said that the amount of bites i had would indicate a fairly large infestation that would show signs.
But I will definitely re-check if this continues. That being said, out of the blue i am itchy again. Ugh - does that make scabies more likely?
How the heck would I get that? Not from DH - he has no signs. I do visit a nursing home a couple hours a week but the only physical contact I have is a handshake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fleas? Doesn't your mom have any animals?

Otherwise I'd guess chiggers.

No animals any more, it has been years since she had an indoor cat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have the pest inspections again in a few weeks. My first inspection turned up negative, too, but the bedbugs were easier to spot once the population grew a little.

And of course, consider other possible bite causes.

PP, were you getting a lot of bed bug bites at the time of your inspection that turned up negative? And the inspection found no feces or spots on the mattress?

[Anonymous]

Chiggers.

[Anonymous]

My DD had bites like you describe and when we went to the ped she had to look up in the book what the bites could be. It was either bed bugs or chiggers. It was chiggers, and the bites were clustered and very itchy.