An insect genocide! I've been having some problems with bug bites lately, so bad that last night I was considering staying in a hotel until an exterminator came and cleansed the house of all that crawl. I'll not sure what these things are but they only come out at night to feed and they are not mosquitoes. I'm having some pretty strong allergic reactions to these bites. When I'm bit, which I don't feel, it starts off as a small bump (or group of bumps) very similar to a mosquito bite. A few hours later in turns red and starts to swell up. By the afternoon it starts to really swell up and the forms into a nasty and huge blister-like thing that leaks. One of the bite locations ended up getting infected (because I was scratching or rubbing it in my sleep), I dealt with the infection and it's starting to heal up now. My first run in with these bugs. This one was itchy but it did not blister as some of the other bites did. A couple days later: Treatment used here was pretty much just lots of rubbing alcohol. The next attack was focused on my lower back. No pictures of this one but it looks pretty much identical to the first attack (it was a little bigger though). I went and grabbed some aloe pants from the yard to relieve some of the itching for this one. The third wave of bites were on my leg. This is the first one that blistered....it is also the one that got infected. This sucker swelled up even worse after infected and was leaking a lot of thick sticky yellow-greenish fluid. There was a hard ball like mass that formed under the skin as well. I pretty much have this infection under control and all of the swelling has went down. That was yesterday, today it is much less red and there is basically no swelling. While I was dealing with that infection I was attacked AGAIN, this time near my underarm. It blistered almost right away and grew in size at a very concerning rate. This grew much larger than this picture shows. Note that all these bites have happened mostly in consecutive nights. My body was not liking it and I could feel my immune system throwing it's hands up and saying "WTF of going on here!?". At this point I figured I was having an allergic reaction to this bug's bite and my body was freaking out because of how frequently these things have been occurring. Went and picked up some antihistamines and popped 4 of them. Morning after taking antihistamines. The larger red ring is how large the swelling had gotten. The antihistamine completely reversed the blistering and swelling and is relieving almost all the itchiness as well. I still have no idea what these things are. I thought they were bed bugs at first. But I've had a run in with them before and it was nothing like this and they had very different bite patterns (bed bugs usually bite in longer lines, not in small tight clusters). Every time I have been bitten it was while I was sleeping on the couch (almost every bite has been on my left side....and I only sleep on that side while on the couch), so today I took the couch outside and cut it open looking for bed bugs and there was absolutely no trace of them. Currently, the entire house is getting thorough scrub down (which was sorely needed), all the useless crap that the x or myself had collected over the years tossed and some old furniture removed from the house. I'm hoping that this takes care of the bug problem, if not the exterminator should be here "next week".
It may be bedbugs. Look in the seams of your mattress, open enough to get a good view. Bedbugs can be picked up anywhere, seats in resturants, busses, used furniture and many other places. Bed bugs are not hard to kill but they are hard to find. If it is bedbugs you will need to wash all clothing in HOT water, rugs, bedding of all kinds. Your whole house needs to be sprayed....there again they are not hard to kill but they are hard to find. I have rental property back in the states and landlords are responsible for insects in the property even though the resident is the one that brings them into the residence. Bedbugs are almost epidemic in US and have been for several years. All the cleaning, washing, spraying must be done at the same time otherwise you will probably miss a couple.
It could also be those small biting ants who like food,we had a problem with them for a while until I got the guys in to spray the building inc the roof space as they were travelling through the Elec lines out into the Elec sockets. They give you huge watery blisters which last a few hours and itch like hell after a while. Anyway if you need a company to visit pm me and will give you contact details. Edited to say if you eat on the couch it sounds like the small ants.
Its possible you are getting an attack of shingles. Google "shingles clusters" images to see. When I had mine, doc told me it was common to only get shingles on one side of the body so if the 'bites' seem to all be on one side of your body that would be another clue.
Tell the SO to sleep outside for a night. Explain to her that you need to do this as a test to make sure this isn't coming from her. Might be a good opportunity for payback for all the crazy beliefs she has likely annoyed you with. Even better would be if there are no attacks that night. Then you can have a discussion about taking her in to get sprayed or to continue sleeping outside.
I would go to Holy Child and have it checked. Something that we think is a minor problem can develop into something worse, if not treated properly. For minor bites from mozzies or ants, I use cane vinegar. Please forgive my warped sense of humour, or am I banned for life.
Prednisone (a corticosteroid) works really good to make this stuff go away. You can get it at any pharmacy. You can google how much to take and how to take it. You usually start at the max dose and taper to nothing over the course of the week to 10 days. I've never had a problem with it other than the blood sugar shoots up, but since it's a prescription drug you should with check the internet, the doctor or the pharmacist.
The bites have stopped and are healed up/fading away. One of the locals that helped clean my house wanted the couch I threw out. I warned that it was a bad idea as it might have bed bugs (or something else) hidden in it...but it was taken despite several warnings.
