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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

...to be freaked out I could have bedbugs?

69 replies

userofthiswebsite · 07/03/2018 22:17

I keep getting bitten on the face. This has been going on a long time now. Normally it will just be say a couple, sometimes on the cheek area or sometimes on the hairline. Though recently I got lots of bites all in one go, on one cheek and then a week later on the other cheek.
I've not noticed bites anywhere else on my body.
So I am a bit worried I have bed bugs. I have looked at the mattress (white/cream coloured all over) to look for bugs and not seen any. I've looked on the seams of the mattress and I've looked at the bed sheet (white) to see if there are any black-red smudges or dots and can't see anything. I also lifted up the mattress and couldn't see anything. I've not been away or travelled for a good few years and I live alone.
But I don't know where all these horrid bites are coming from. My only other suspicion is that we have a common bin room with 5 large Biffa bins where all the flats chuck their rubbish and I go down twice a week to take down the rubbish and wonder if I could be being bitten by anything 'hanging out' in there... I'm outside for an hour a day walking but just in the street so that's not an immediate suspicion.

I'm due to see a dermatologist shortly (for another matter) but will raise this at the same time but does anyone have any words of wisdom. When my colleague suggested bedbugs I've been feeling quite sick at the thought of it as I know they are a nightmare.

OP posts:
toocool4cats · 10/03/2018 23:24

Unlikely to be bed bugs as you would definitely see the buggers with the thorough searching you have been doing

Grammar · 12/03/2018 07:19

Y
Tammy, thank you. That is exactly what my advice would be to her. Thank you.
Ok. I'm sure this isn't bedbugs, see ok whose other half is a pest control worker.
This doesn't sound like bed bugs.
My DD got the typical bites in lines on her wrists and legs not her face. They are intensely itchy ( to the point, where, I spoke to a pest controller here, it can make you suicidal.
Again, good luck. I'm sure you don't have them. X

Grammar · 12/03/2018 07:20

Not 'ok' I meant 'pp'

Nannewnannew · 12/03/2018 07:35

I think, like previous poster, that this sounds like acne rosacea. Perhaps have a look at Dr Google! There are creams you can get that are very effective, such as Dermalex Rosacea cream. They are quite expensive, about £15 but well worth it! Good luck!

Sahara123 · 12/03/2018 07:35

I’ve had bedbugs, red bites all over my arms and legs mostly, with a few on my torso. Not particularly itchy, didn’t notice anything while I was there , in a hotel abroad. They appeared the day I got home. Do you share your bed with anyone as they would be covered too . Doesn’t sound like bed bugs.

Original poster
userofthiswebsite · 12/03/2018 19:09

Thanks everyone, however, I'm now more concerned as I found 3 bites on the centre of my back this morning which are in a line. Don't know when they arrived as was just checking myself over carefully because of this.
I'm going to try and upload some pictures of my face and back this evening. Am genuinely worrying about this. I found something that I thought was a bed bug shell/casting on the chest of drawer this morning.
Just got back home and put it under a microscope (a very useful present received as a child which I've kept) and I don't think it's a shell /casting but I can feel I'm getting paranoid and don't want to start inspecting every dot or mark or whatnot here or there which COULD indicate bed bugs.

OP posts:
Original poster
userofthiswebsite · 12/03/2018 19:11

Sahara123 - nope just me. I live alone/am single. It's times like these when you're worrying about stuff that I really wish I didn't.

OP posts:
Original poster
userofthiswebsite · 12/03/2018 22:13

Uploading a picture of a bite on the chin that came up yesterday or day before.
The bite mark is about the same as I'd say sticking the tip of a biro into the skin and then around it there is a thick circle/band of skin where it's gone whiter than the surrounding skin - I understand this is white blood cells going to the area. It's a bit red as I was poking it trying to see it as clearly as possible. Sorry the photo is not the best, my phone was struggling to focus up close.

...to be freaked out I could have bedbugs?
OP posts:
Original poster
userofthiswebsite · 12/03/2018 22:19

And here is a pic of all the bites all over my face, you can see patches on both sides of my mouth on the cheek and then around the hairline.

(I've tried to anonymise it a bit, not that successfully perhaps.)

OP posts:
AColdComfort · 12/03/2018 22:25

User they really look like pimples / spots to me?

RebeccaCloud9 · 12/03/2018 22:34

Why DO you think it's bed bugs?

I've experienced them in Australia (Don't know if they're worse over there?) They were clearly visible walking all over the mattress and they left little blood spots from the bites on the sheets. The spots were all over in lines from my toes upwards (Don't actually remember any on my face at all) and were horrendously, horrifically itchy to the point that it was all consuming and unbearable. My friend (shared room) had exactly the same type of bites and reaction to them.

The bites lasted for about 2 weeks I think.

BunloafAndCrumpets · 12/03/2018 22:51

Have you seen a GP? Looks like acne to me too from that photo.

1stMrsF · 12/03/2018 23:01

I was convinced we had bedbugs in a rental house - bites in a line etc. But no other signs and then I discovered a stagnant puddle full of mosquito larvae in the garden. I plugged in a mosquito killer thingy and the bites disappeared. Not saying yours is the same thing but I do think that once something like bed bugs gets into your head it's hard to think of anything else! Hopefully the dermatologist will know what it is?

UnRavellingFast · 12/03/2018 23:18

with bed bugs you need to wash your stuff at 60 or over. Also sunlight on the bed or whatever seems to bring them out. I rented out a house that got them and when I brought a blind I'd removed from the house and threw it onto the ground outside, in the sunshine, the buggers all came marching out. Get rentokill in if you are concerned, better earlier than later.

blueskypink · 12/03/2018 23:34

Honestly op - if I saw you in the street I would assume some sort of acne.

From what people say it doesn't sound like bed bugs and, if you're in the uk surely there aren't any gnats/mozzies around at the moment?

We get bitten to death in the summer by gnats from next door's pond. Rarely on the face though. And yours don't look like those to me. How long til your dermatologist appointment?

Could you try an experiment tonight and maybe slather your face with cream and wear a skimpy nighty - if it is bed bugs might discourage them from biting your face and encourage them to bite elsewhere.

I understand that your imagination will be running riot. I mentioned earlier that ds had big, itchy bite like lumps on his thighs a while back and I was convinced we had bed bugs. I scrutinised his mattress and had nightmares about them. Turned out to be folliculitis but I could have sworn they were bites. Where you see a hole in the centre of each lump, could that be where you've unconsciously rubbed and taken the top off?

Original poster
userofthiswebsite · 13/03/2018 07:48

My appointment is tomorrow morning with derm.

Honestly, I'd think acne too if it was a stranger, but I can see the dot int he middle where the fangs(?) go in and I don't think spots/acne etc have that.

Plus the 3 bites in a line I found on my back.

My understanding is that bbs like to bite in lines and clusters. On the right of my cheek, I don't know how well you can tell from the photo, but I had 5 bites in a straight row, like literally they had used a ruler they were so straight and a bunch of them on the other side of my mouth,

This isn't all in one go, to be clear. The second lot turned up on the other side of mouth about a week or ten days later. It makes it harder to see where new bites are coming up when there is still so many old bites healing and the skin is so red and discoloured.

I really appreciate everyone's input so far.

1stMrsF - you are oh so right... It is obsessing me at the moment. I really hope the derm can shed some light.

Got to shower and get ready for work now and going to check for any new bites... what fun of a morning..

OP posts:
blueskypink · 13/03/2018 08:12

Glad you might get some answers soon then op - I'm sure your dermatologist will be able to confirm what they are.

Original poster
userofthiswebsite · 14/03/2018 20:15

Update for anyone following....

Went to my derm appt this morning as planned but the consultant was very dismissive and said I'd been scratching myself(!!) and that she couldn't really talk about it as the appointment slot only allowed her to talk about 1 matter and I had to choose which one I wanted to talk about (had been referred to derm for something else)...Not impressed at all. There was a nurse in the room sitting in on the appt who was a bit more forthcoming and she said I'd be more like to find the bites on my limbs if it were bed bugs. I may not be a health care professional but I can tell what's scratches and what's bites for goodness sake.

Was at the GP to get another prescription of something I'd run out to this afternoon, ran the same photos past her and she agreed straight away they were bites.

OP posts:
blueskypink · 14/03/2018 23:30

What a shame that your dermatologist wouldn't give you more time. I saw one for years (bad acne) and he was wonderful. Surely a dermatologist should be taking a holistic approach - conditions can be linked and they all have a psychological impact.

I wish I could suggest something- this is awful for you, especially when you don't know the cause. Do the bites always appear at the same time of day - after you've been in bed all night?

Kitchenbound · 15/03/2018 00:18

Book a pest controller and blitz your house. At this point it might be bbs it might be something else and if your gp is saying its a bite just hot wash all your bedding and get a pest controller.

pinga · 15/03/2018 00:48

Hello userofthiswebsite
I think I have exactly the same problem as you! Ive also been wondering if its bedbugs but also have no evidence to suggest that. Ive got two kids but Im the only one with bites.
They are on my chin, neck and tbh mostly in my hair at the nape of my neck - not awfully itchy in the way that insect bites usually are for me (I suffer terribly whenever I meet with a cat or dog who has fleas and in the summer generally) They arent annoyingly itchy just a bit tickly really.

But definately annoying and odd. Whatever is causing yours I think is the same issue for me. Its quite reassuring to know Im not alone!

Original poster
userofthiswebsite · 17/03/2018 16:54

pinga
No, def you are not alone!
I don't even notice when I've got bitten until I might rub my face with my hand absent mindedly and feel the skin is raised.
What to do eh...?
On the one hand, I've been bitten on the face for ages and I mean like a good 2 or 3 years even but the last 2 or 3 weeks was super bad with the amount of face bites I got, so on the one hand I think surely if I'd been infested that long I'd have seen evidence of it by now but on the other hand paranoia reigns and sleep is elusive at the mo. I'm just going to keep watching what happens in terms of new bites coming up.
It does sound like you have something similar albeit slightly different location. How long have you had this thing going on?

OP posts:
Pinga · 18/03/2018 01:18

About 4-6months maybe?

The ones on the back of my head (in my hair) feel like insect bites. The ones on my chin, not so much, more like ingrowing hairs maybe.
No idea. I also have (now I think of it) weird itchy spots at the top of my back, on my neck and just below my neckline.

pallisers · 18/03/2018 02:07

but the consultant was very dismissive and said I'd been scratching myself(!!) and that she couldn't really talk about it as the appointment slot only allowed her to talk about 1 matter and I had to choose which one I wanted to talk about (had been referred to derm for something else)

This is insane. How does she know that matter 1 isn't actually related to matter 2 and treating matter 1 might require knowing something about matter 2? I don't care what matter 1 is, the fact that you have bite marks regularly appearing along your face/jaw has to be relevant to any other dermatological issue (unless it is a follow-up on a veruca - is that it OP?).

OP, if I were you I would google New York and Bed bugs - I think you will find a trove of information.

Also is it possible you are allergic to something?

blueskypink · 18/03/2018 02:38

I've been bitten on the face for ages and I mean like a good 2 or 3 years even

So have you never - in 2 or 3 years - stayed anywhere else? Been on holiday/visited family/stayed over with a friend? If you have, and you've continued to get new lumps then that shows they aren't bites. And, of course, if you haven't then that shows there's either something biting you at home or something there you're allergic to.

Do they appear at random times or certain times of the day?