The Itch Nobody Can Scratch
Several years ago my wife and I discovered we had bed bugs. We were early twenties and had gotten married only nine months before. I started getting bitten about a month before we discovered the infestation. My wife was never bitten during the course of the infestation. We later learned that this is not uncommon with bed bugs.<p>Now the relation to the story about Morgellons. Bed bug bites can be extremely itchy and cause large welts on some people (not everyone as it is an allergic reaction). This was true in my case. The welts tended to be about the side of a silver dollar and last for about a week before subsiding.<p>We had contracted the bed bugs at a house party we had attended where I had gotten a few bites. We assume they were mosquito bites and didn't think another thing about them. About 2 weeks after that I started getting bites while I was sleeping. Never having been exposed to bed bugs I first assumed mosquito bites or perhaps spider bites. Neither of these cases turned out to be true.<p>After two more weeks I began to feel very crazy for lack of a better word. The itching from the bites was driving me wild and we could not figure out what was biting me. (The infestation was never a large one, most likely it started from a single insect). I went to the student health clinic (we were graduate students at the time). They concluded bug bites but we were not sure because we could not find any bugs!<p>I made an appointment with a private dermatologist. Now, before I got in to see him we did more research. We did turn up bed bugs as a possibility and we looked but not throughly enough and found nothing. (It turns out they are very very good at hiding). The research turned up all kinds of crazy things like the Morgellons disease and various mite related infestations, such as Bird Mites. Having a bird we became alarmed at that particular possibility as bird mites are tiny and very difficult to get rid of.<p>The internet research made my psychological condition rapidly deteriorate. I worried constantly about the different possibilities. It effect my ability to do research. It affected my ability to properly TA. I was becoming psychotic in my search for the causing the itching that would not cease.<p>Finally, I got the private dermatologist. He suggested bed bugs and told us to search again. This time, the infestation had grown and we found them. It was such a relief to know the cause.<p>However, the cure is neither fast nor simple nor cheap for bed bugs. Insecticides are ineffective as they only eat mammalian blood and the most effect insecticides these days need to be ingested by the organism. The most effect thing is physical removal of the insects, their eggs, and their larva. The eggs and larva are tiny and it takes very careful searching to find and clean them all.<p>We spent every night for months search with magnifying glasses and powerful flash lights while washing and drying our bedding (heat treatment (or cold) is the only sure fire solution to bed bugs). It took many months but eventually we found them all and with the help the pest man's insecticides prevented the infestation from growing out of control. Needless to say we moved and bought a new bed when our lease was up!<p>Even today years later, I still fear unexplained itching. It think that for me, I could have developed a psychosis where I believe I am being bitting by invisible bugs if we had not found the infestation. It took a long time for my mental state to recover and if it had gone on for 6, 12 months of unexplained bites and itching I may have become very unstable. Itching is very difficult to deal with.<p>I hope that someone can help these people find an effective way for them individually to deal with the itching even if for some it is only in their minds.