Bed bug experts??? Help

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A few weeks ago I noticed itchy spots on my legs and didn't think anything of it however since then I have loads of them everywhere and I am convinced it's bed bugs.

I've spent hours researching what to do and how to find them but can't see anything!!
I have pest control come to spray a treatment all through house on the floors mainly as it's all I could afford.

I have washed bedding several times on 60 including the actual duvet and pillows etc. I took the mattress off and all the slats in my bed, steamed everywhere, steamed mattress, chucked the suitcases from underneath my bed, used a spray on everything, emptied my drawers, bagged everything up to wash. Dusted DE everywhere. Smoke bombed all rooms and left for 20 hours.

I have since had bites and I am exhausted from not sleeping

Has anybody any advise I am going crazy over this????? Im also scared my DD will start getting bites that will terrify me. I cannot afford for professional treatment it's so expensive.

Deeply regretting my one night stay in a hotel in The city it has turned my life upside down!!!!!

HELP

Top tip for identifying fleas ~towelling sports socks. Put them on inside out and hoover. Fleas jumping get stuck in the tiny loops on sock.
years ago we were infested {from a fox family} and bitten to bits. Never saw a single flea until the sock experiment.
We were so worn down by the biting that we even considered moving house 😑

Looking at the bites themselves is a VERY poor indicator of 'what bit you' when it comes to bugs.

Heck, its been in the past, a poor indicator when it came to animal bites (I remember a case of a dogs being blamed for bites inflicted by a human, and had a specialist dog bite expert not been involved, they'd have gotten away with it!).

Back to bugs - what a bite from an insect looks like depends enormously on how YOUR body reacts to that bite - and we're all different. The same mosquito can bite my partner and he gets a tiny red bump, it bites ME and i get a huge red itchy swelling several inches across that blisters and takes days to stop itching and heal. I had one that caused a pressure wound that took WEEKS to stop needing specialist treatment!

Your best bet is to go bug hunting, but fleas would be far more likely than bedbugs.

Look for bedbugs in the creases around the quilting on your mattress or around the cording on the edges. Wet the surface and look for dirt, it will be blackish brown and then goes red (this will be the same for flea dirt too though).

Bedbugs look like flattened brown lentils with legs when fully grown and are almost half a cm long so quite a bit bigger than fleas and they run rather than jump.

Fleas! We are battling them at the moment and it’s horrendous. I’ve lived in the countryside all my life around horses, cattle, dogs and cats and have had my first encounter with fleas in my 46th year.
I am constantly scratching (psychological) and am on high alert trying to spot them. My cats are outdoor and don’t have any as I check daily. The lady that used to live in our house had 13 dogs and the place had to be gutted when she moved out.
Our new best friend,, the Flea Man said they are a nightmare to get rid of as the shells of the eggs are really tough. We are going to start spraying and treating the house before summer next year to preempt the feckers!
It’s a nightmare, you have my sympathies if that what it turns out to be. So sorry for derailing your thread but as you may have guessed I’m a bit 🤪at the moment!

There was a thread about bed bug clearance diy in housekeeping a year or so ago that I was following. They used sellotape and steam to eradicate them - but were able to find where they were, by pulling out the furniture and steam cleaning regularly. I found the thread, but can’t link it...

I have experience of bed bugs after working in a hotel and these spots don't look like bed bug bites . You should have brown spots on seam of mattress or if u flip mattress u will see the brown spots (blood ) on seem under. You would have some sort of evidence by now If it's this bad .

I had PUPPP/PEP when I was pregnant with DS - that didn’t start until a couple of weeks before he was born and was accompanied by livid ‘tiger stripes’ over my abdomen. I believe it is extremely rare in the first trimester but I was initially convinced that we had an insect infestation as it was unbelievably itchy. Have you spoken to a doctor/midwife about it? Mind you, the gp I saw had never seen a case before but gave me antihistamines to take that were safe in pregnancy.

@Aprilx

What has a one night stay in a hotel in the city got to do with it?

It one of the most common ways to transport bed bugs to your home. Bed bugs are not caused by lack of cleanliness in the home. They will hitch a ride anywhere.

Could it be scabies?

I had them years ago so my memory is a bit hazy. But they are bigger than you think - about 5mm I think. They were in my mattress when I moved into a flat and when I examined the mattress closely I found some dead ones. It was grim. I considered this my landlord's problem and he arranged someone to spray with pesticide. I seem to remember it took two treatments - the second to deal with any that hatched since the first spray. But then they were gone forever and I didn't have to steam, burn or throw anything away.

I do remember blood spots on the sheets. Probably when I rolled on one of the fuckers after a good feed.

It was a horrible experience and I send you hugs.

My daughter has just had bed bugs not long after a hotel stay.

Bed bugs are on the rise, so nothing to be ashamed off.

They can be a bugger to get rid of, but I think we've achieved that now. The bugs had set up home in the bed frame of a wooden bunk bed. We:

Pest control came out to spray. (Bit useless because they didn't find the nest. We did later)

Chucked bedding that had been on the bunks and replaced with cheap ones.

Washed all clothing and cuddly toys at 60 degrees.

Put stuff in freezer for a few days if they couldn't be washed.

Bought zipped mattress encasements that cover the whole mattress. This keeps bed bugs going either way - into or out of the mattress.

Bought interceptors which the feet of the bed sits in to stop bugs getting to the bed.

Chucked the bunk bed in the end when we found the nest and replaced with a metal one. This was the thing that really seems to have done the trick. Expensive I know.

Before you do anything though I would check that they are bed bugs. They are surprisingly big. Bigger than an apple pip. They come out at night and are attracted to the people sleeping there. My daughter found them in the bed. Check the bedding at night. They leave their bloody poo behind and usually set up home somewhere in the bed area. Google pictures of them to helps.

We've taken similar precautions with our own house as the grandchildren sleep over regularly.

Hope that helps and huge sympathy.

I know this is an old thread but can someone help me. I washed clothes and left them out on line to dry. They were in basket then waiting to be ironed. While i was ironing one of the shirts this insect fell out. Now im freaking out thinking is it a bed bug?? It was very flat