Bed bug bite: symptoms, treatment, consequences

Do you sleep badly, restlessly tossing and constantly staying in a state of half-sleep? And next morning your skin itches, itches and there are strange red spots on it ? Be sure in your apartment unexpected guests - bed bugs. The phenomenon is unpleasant, but, fortunately, is amenable to liquidation. What leaves bug bites (photos)? How to get rid of trouble and cure the rash? You will learn all this from the article below.

What is this bug?

The Bug is a little vampire. The body shape of the blood-sucking insect is oval, the body length is about 8 millimeters. Usually, the value depends on the degree of saturation of the insect. The same factor affects its color. But, as a rule, the color scale of an adult varies from light brown to brown. After a dense dinner, the bug can become burgundy or even black. The average life expectancy of insects is one and a half years, during which they feed not only on the blood of people, but also on animals and birds.

Bite bed bug, a photo of which can be found in any medical encyclopedia, can appear in any person. From an unpleasant neighborhood no one is immune. After all, in our days, the myth that the insects can live only in unsanitary conditions has long been debunked. This is far from the case. In addition, the relationship between insect bites and the ingestion of various infections has not been formally proven. Despite this, bedbugs fine poison our lives, interfering with normal sleep. As a result, the working capacity is disrupted, there is a strong anxiety, anxiety and even depression.

The biting process

Vital activity of parasites is maintained solely by the blood of others. It is not surprising that they settle near the food source, that is, in the home of a person, trying to stay near the bed or directly in bedding. Insects are nocturnal: in the daytime they hide in their favorite shelters: in the cracks of the sofa, behind the wallpaper, under the skirting boards. Closer to 2 o'clock in the morning, bedbugs go hunting. Attacking a victim during the daytime of parasites can only push a very strong sense of hunger. Usually, such a phenomenon is observed in heavily infected premises: here the population of insects is so huge that at night not all the individuals manage to get enough.

Even during a deep sleep you can feel the bite of a bed bug: symptoms - frequent waking up, anxiety and even nightmares. All this is waiting for you at first. While you sleep, insects peacefully dine on your body. With their proboscis they penetrate the skin, reaching up to small capillaries. When puncturing the insect's epidermis, a secret is injected with an analgesic effect, so you do not feel the bite itself. Painful sensations arise only in the case when the skin is "hostile" to the young, in the saliva of which there is no anesthetic substance.

How does the bite look like?

To get enough, insects need to make a few bites. Usually there are three, so doctors jokingly call them "breakfast, lunch and dinner." What does the bed bug look like? The photos presented in any specialized literature demonstrate that this is a slight reddening, in the center of which there is a pronounced scarlet point. The spots form a so-called track, the distance between them can reach as much as 2 centimeters. Bites very itch, itch. It seems to man that he was bitten by mosquitoes. To exclude the presence of buzzing and flying insects, inspect the ceiling. If there are no mosquitoes on it, then this is the work of the hands (or rather, the proboscis) of bed bugs.

Spots in no case can not be combed, even if you are completely unbearable. The fact is that during this process you injure the skin: microscopic wounds are formed. They are not visible to you, but the bedbugs, thanks to their excellent scent, perfectly feel the closeness of blood. Therefore, they begin to attack your body even more actively.

Symptoms

How to distinguish the bite of a bed bug? Symptoms of biting these insects are as follows:

• The appearance of spots in the morning with their complete absence in the evening before falling asleep.
• Multiplicity of bites, the trajectory of which is located along a single line.
• Presence of wounds in open areas of the skin: face, neck, shoulders, legs and hands. Sometimes insects crawl under pajamas, then their trace remains on the stomach and back.
• The spots appear to have a round shape, they are a little swollen.

Traces on the skin after a bite are the body's reaction to the saliva that the insect secretes. Because of this, the stains stay on the skin longer than after any other parasite. Different people will greatly differ in the degree of itching and swelling that accompany the bite of a bed bug - the symptoms manifest themselves individually, depending on the characteristics of the organism. Some have huge cones, others have slightly noticeable pale traces on the skin. Someone discovers them the next morning after the "attack", someone learns about bedbugs only after several months of unpleasant neighbors.

Other signs

How do you know that there is a colony of bloodthirsty insects in your bedroom? First, suspecting something wrong, in the morning, carefully inspect the bedding. Usually after a raid and a meal of insects on the sheets remain pale blood stains. Secondly, move away from the wall a sofa or a bed and examine the plinth. Bedbugs, if they are wound up in the room, leave behind them traces of life: their litters looks like black dots on the surface. No, it's not mud. All the "breasts" are almost the same size and shape.

A few more features have a bed bug bite. Photo of a bloodthirsty insect in an enlarged format indicates the presence of holes on the chest and abdomen of bugs. These are the exits of the so-called odorous glands, which give off a specific smell. Some of the people who encountered trouble say that a crimson amber rises around the room. Others argue that it smells of cognac, while others feel almond notes.

The difference between a bug bite from an allergy

These two phenomena manifest themselves in different ways. Traces of bites of bed bugs differ from allergic reactions primarily by their static nature. The first very long retain form and color, the external signs of others often change rapidly. In addition, the rash from allergies usually spreads over the entire surface of the body, without clear contours and facets. Instead, bug bites are located only on the open areas of the skin along a straight line in the form of a path. Another difference is the state of the epidermis of other family members. If a spouse who sleeps nearby does not have a trace on the skin, most likely you are allergic.

As for the bites of other insects, it is slightly more difficult to distinguish the track of a bug from them. Again, it is worth paying attention to the shape of the spots: after bed bloodsuckers they are clearly delineated, located along a line. Instead, flea bites are chaotic, they usually appear in the lower part of the legs. After contact with the midge, the pain is much stronger, the wound itself is less, in the middle of it there is a clotted blood. Mosquito bites are uneven, in their center there is a small formation in the form of a pimple.

Who bites bugs in the first place?

These insects have favorite victims. On small, fragile and delicate creations, bed bugs usually parasitize: bites in children and young women are observed much more often than in men and representatives of the older generation. This phenomenon is a rational explanation. The fact is that insects, being bloodsuckers, are guided by the smell of blood, feeling it with their first-class scent. The thinner the skin, the more they feel the aroma coming from the person. Due to age-related changes in the body and its physiological characteristics, it is the babies and the fairer sex who have the most subtle epidermis.

Adult men and elderly people are less likely to attack bloodsuckers. They are also less sensitive to bites, so they do not immediately notice that they have become a victim of insects. But the rumors that bugs love people who have a specific blood group, do not correspond to reality. They bite everyone, but the spots appear on the skin in different ways.

Treatment

Measures should be taken as soon as you find the problem. Treatment of bites bedbugs provides for the first use of such medical devices:

1. Taking antihistamines. For example, "Claritin", "Telfast", "Zirtek" are very effective. They will protect you from a severe allergic reaction that may occur after a bite. Some people even have anaphylactic shock, so it's better to protect yourself from the consequences. However, these drugs are third generation drugs, so they can be used for a long period without any side effects.
2. The place of bite should be applied ointment, which will reduce puffiness and relieve itching. Usually, the doctor prescribes a remedy with an anesthetic effect: Acriderm, Afloderm or Psilo-Balm.
3. You can paste on the site of the bite medical drug patch containing painkillers.

All these methods will help you get rid of the unpleasant sensations that have left gluttonous bugs on your skin.

Folk remedies

In addition to traditional medicines, there are other tools that help reduce the negative impact of insects, which are bed bugs. Bites ... How to get rid of them with the help of traditional medicine? Everything is very simple. For these purposes it is necessary to use:

• Garlic: it is rubbed and applied to the wound.
• Pink lotion: it dries the bites.
• Potatoes. It is also ground and evenly distributed on the affected area of the skin.
• Aloe juice, a decoction of chamomile and St. John's wort. These liquids impregnate cotton wool and compress.

Bites of bugs are also helped by plantain leaves and baking soda solution. They are also applied to the spots that remained after the bloodsuckers. In addition, be sure to attach to the wound a piece of ice - it will remove puffiness and swelling. Treat it with alcohol, it will dry the bite and help its rapid healing. All the above methods of traditional medicine will remove the symptoms of itching and scabies for one, maximum two days.

How to defend yourself?

As we see, it is not such a catastrophe for a person to bite a bed bug. Symptoms can be very easily removed with the help of improvised means. It is much harder to protect yourself from the new raids of a bloodthirsty colony. To drive insects out of the apartment, you can go in two ways:

1. Invite to the dwelling a special service that deals with pest control. It's expensive, but effective. Experts spray the room with insecticides, treating every corner and even the smallest crack.
2. Carry out the full treatment yourself. This is a cheap way, which requires maximum effort and time. You need to buy insecticides in the store and spray the apartment in accordance with the instructions.

Remember that drugs for household use are sold in any form. The most effective and convenient to use are concentrated emulsions. They are diluted with water in the correct proportions and applied to the surface with a spray or brush. Also, chemicals are released in the form of aerosols and in the form of powders.

If bedbugs have bitten on vacation ...

Such cases are not uncommon. Ideal - to move to a new apartment. If this is not possible, you need to scare off bedbugs from the bed. First, start off by shaking out all the bedding. Sheets, pillowcases and duvet covers are treated with a steam iron. In the cracks of the sofa, pour boiling water, then vinegar. In a similar way, treat the skirting around the bed. The bed itself as much further away from the wall. To prevent a raid of parasites that hide at the other end of the room, place bowls filled with sunflower oil under the legs of the sofa. Or wrap them with a special adhesive tape. Insects do not know how to jump, so these objects will become insurmountable obstacles for them.

So that you do not suffer new bites after bed bugs, get tansy or wormwood. The smell of plants frightens bloodsuckers. Returning from rest, shake out all things and bags. After stretching them, iron or treat them with a steam generator. These simple procedures will destroy those parasites that have climbed into your luggage. Accordingly, you will protect the apartment from infection by malicious bugs.

What is the danger?

The most terrible consequences of a bed bug bite are strong allergic reactions that cause anaphylactic shock. In the history of medicine there are many such cases. In addition, close contact with insects sometimes provokes the development of skin infections, causes nausea, fainting and flushing-the capillary overflow in the bite area. Victims can complain of difficulty breathing, muscle spasms in the bronchi and strong swelling. But these cases, as a rule, are single.

Basically bugbites are no more terrible than mosquitoes. Insects are not carriers of dangerous infections, so they can not infect you. The only trouble with this neighborhood is an always itchy rash. In addition, people who bite bugs at night do not sleep well. As a result, they have low labor productivity, at the same time - increased nervousness and irritability. Sometimes the bite is festering - in that case you should immediately consult a doctor.