What are the signs and symptoms of bed bug bites?
Bed bugs can be met nearly all around the world. Moreover, you can come across them not only in dirty poor places, but in rich spots as well. The most difficult thing is to spot them at all. That’s why you should pay attention not to searching for bed bugs themselves, but to spots, that they leave.
The most eye-catching aspect is appearance of bed bugs bites. Some people, though, can confuse bed bugs bites with other insects. To avoid such mistakes, here is a quick guide about how to identify bed bug bites and to check if you have them or not.
Note, that these are just recommendations, but not a medical guidance. If you are feeling bad, call the doctors immediately. Remember also, that all people have its own kind of reaction to bed bugs bites, so there is no chance, that all of symptoms mentioned below will take place in your personal case.
The below shown images are from Wikipedia but we created few close views to show you the typical signs of bed bug bites.
What are some symptoms of having bed bugs?
Generally, bed bugs bites are red with a darker red spot in the middle of it. They can be itching and this itching can be very unpleasant. Such bites are located in clusters near each other.
These clusters can consist of 3 at minimum or more bites. Some people, though, reported that they didn’t experience any itching so it depends on person. These bites can appear all over the body, but most frequently they appear on unprotected parts of human body, such as hands, legs and neck. But the most frequent place for bed bugs to bite is probably arms and shoulders. If you have noticed any bites on your arms and shoulders, then the chance of them belonging to bed bugs is high, because other insects, such as fleas tend to bite around ankles.
The other symptom is sleepless nights. Sometimes, people can’t even understand what the problem is, but they start to experience problems with sleeping, and the reason for that is bed bugs. You just start to itch yourself, without even paying any attention to that, and can’t fall asleep as a result.
One more symptom is bloody signs on your bed. Once a person is a host to bed bugs and he feeds them with himself, bloody signs on a bed appear.
If you feel musty odor, this is also a symptom of having bed bugs at your place. Bed bugs release pheromones, which smell unpleasantly, and if there is a big amount of bed bugs, the smell can be very strong to human’s nose.
What are the symptoms of bed bug bites?
Except of bed bugs bites appear on a human’s body, they can also bring some unpleasant and even painful feelings. If you are feeling burning painful sensations, it might be good to inspect the place where this sensation occurs.
The most common spots are your neck, face, hands, and shoulders. Also, you can find bed bugs bites on your legs as well. But itching and burning sensations are not the only feelings that you can experience from bed bugs bites. There can be popular eruptions around inflamed parts of a body.
Some of other symptoms which can take place if you were bitten are difficulty breathing, fever, blisters, swollen tongue, irregular heartbeat and feeling flu-like. Though, these symptoms usually take place if the immune system of a person is not so strong, or he is allergic. An ordinary person would unlikely experience such symptoms.
Remember, that if you were bitten, your skin’s surface was damaged, which increase a chance of getting different infections. It can’t be predicted that you are not going to fall ill, so in case of finding bed bugs bites on yourself, take actions immediately. These infections are impetigo, cellulitis and eczematoid dermatitis, for example.
Also, due to constant itching and problems with sleeping a person can experience some sort of anxiety, general fatigue and other psychological problems that are similar to depressive condition.
How long for bed bug symptoms to appear?
Mostly the symptoms take place exactly after the bite, but there can be some exceptions. The point is that right after the bite, the wound is so tiny, that they’re almost invisible by naked human’s eye. Then in some time they become bigger and, in some cases, they can appear only in one or two weeks (the bed bugs bite itself).
The bite itself usually appears between 2 days and 2 weeks after a person was bitten. But they can develop in time. If you are not doing anything with them, they will resolve in around a week or two, probably.
Note, that bed bugs can’t leave a permanent mark on your body. Though, if you are going to scratch a bed bug bite, there is a higher chance of scarring. Also, the chance of getting of different infections is increasing. If you can’t resist itching, use flat parts of your fingertips, rather than fingernails. If such, it is unlikely you’ll break your skin. Remember to rub gently as well.
Can bed bugs cause allergy symptoms?
They definitely can. Especially if a person is allergic, there is a high chance that his reaction to bed bugs bites will be more severe, rather than the reaction of an ordinary person. Note, that some people are allergic to bed bugs themselves. The amount of such people is around 20% from overall world population.
Also, bed bugs bites are a well-known risk factor to different deadly diseases such as hepatitis B, for example. Remember that it is always better to take yourself in a hand of a professional, and let him to make diagnosis.
If you want to ease your symptoms, such as itching or discomfort, you can use a special bed bug bite allergy treatment. Though, it might help only if you have mild symptoms, if there is something more sever, you should consider going to a doctor. Never choose a self-treatment rather than a professional advice.
