Sidebar: Bites

Clare, I told Mary about this but I had yet to post about here - my whole biting saga. A few months ago I woke up with 4 bites on my back. Alarming, yes. They were all in one area. I did a cursory check for fleas (found none) and bed bugs (couldn’t detect any) and then because I didn’t get bit anymore, forgot all about it. Fast forward to Thursday, two weeks ago. Again, I woke up with a number of bites, clustered in one area around my waistline. Was troubled. Again checked the animals for fleas. I didn’t really think it was fleas. I have lived in flea infested houses and usually you get bites on your feet, ankles and calves. Plus, if there are enough fleas to bite you, you see them jumping. I also didn’t think it was bed bugs. I’ve tried many times in the dead of night to surprise potential bed bugs by jumping out of bed and turning on the lights - nothing. Also, bed bugs leave behind little bloody spots on your mattress, like when you roll over and crush them.

My sister was coming to visit the next day. I was up late cleaning and washing sheets. By the time I got to bed, it was so late that I didn’t feel like putting on the sheets so I just slept on the featherbed, which lays on top of the mattress. I woke up with what must have been 30+ bites. And like the others, they itched like a MF. They were large, like a mosquito bite, but itched like a flea bite. After Julie arrived, I descended into full blown neurotism (I know this isn’t a word). after doing quite a bit of research, I think I’m getting bit by some sort of biting mite. And really, reading about bed bugs/mites/allergens is just like reading about some mystery condition on webmd.com. It can really freak you out. Most alarming of which was the following: a typical used mattress can contain anywhere from between 100,000 to 10 million mites or that after just two years, 10% of the weight of your pillow can be comprised of dead mites. Lovely, isn’t it?

First things first, we threw away the featherbed, which I have had for years now. Who knows what was living in there. I found it interesting that I got the most bites when I slept directly on it. Then I washed all the sheets and blankets in the hottest water possible. I sprayed an anti-dust mite spray on the mattress and sprinkled a powder all over the carpet in my room. Not sure I’ll use this again as it smelled quite toxic. Finally, I went to Bed Bath and Beyond and bought new pillows with anti-allergen / anti-dust mite covers. I also bought an anti-allergen / anti-dust mite mattress encasement, which was kind of expensive. But it seemed worth it, that is until I slept on it. Sweet Jesus that thing was hot. It had a slightly plastic feel to it. And I guess, because it was waterproof (not sure why it has to be waterproof, but they all are) there was no way for sweat to pass through. I woke up in the middle of the night to sweaty sheets and I was hot! It was not ideal. The mattress encasement went back the next day. And I decided, that maybe I was being a little neurotic with the mattress cover. Maybe it wasn’t really necessary.

But then I got bitten the other night. Just once, but still, it was a bite. And then there was another last night. And so I purchased another mattress encasement. Hopefully this one will not be hot. And right, it’s still neurotic to go to these lengths when most people would not, but bed bugs are getting more and more common these days and they are harder than hell to get rid of once you get them. So I figure protecting the mattress and pillows isn’t that bad an idea. At least I’ve isolated the issue, meaning, I know the biting things aren’t in my bed. I can’t wait to get rid of my carpet. Hate carpet.