# Are these bug bites? Any way to tell? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 23, 2014, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-bug-bites-any-way-to-tell/693876 "2014-07-23T20:54:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-bug-bites-any-way-to-tell/693876/1 "2014-07-23T20:54:52Z")
The past two days, I’ve woken up with raised itchy spots on my skin. Yesterday, a couple were large, but they seem to be more numerous and mostly smaller today. I can’t see anything that looks like a mark or skin break in them (there are two tiny spots of blood n my arms, but just one, and the itchy bumps are much more). They’re mostly on my arms, though there were similar spots on my legs yesterday. There is a specific spot on my arm that “grows” these spots during the summer with some regularity, but these are far from that spot. I’ve searched my mattress for signs of bedbugs, but can’t find any (I’ve sat in public places and public transit, but haven’t stayed in a hotel for a long time). Trouble is, I can’t tell whether these are bug bites to begin with. I assume there are other possible causes, but I haven’t experienced anything like this in my memory. Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-bug-bites-any-way-to-tell/693876/2 "2014-07-23T21:39:15Z")
Are the bumps along a straight line? If so they could be bedbug bites. I don’t think any other allergic reactions would have a straight line, at least I don’t think so. [![](https://www.bed-bugs-handbook.com/image-files/bedbugbiterows.jpg) ](https://www.bed-bugs-handbook.com/image-files/bedbugbiterows.jpg) I had something similar last week, I had a lot of itchy bumps on my legs. At first I thought it was bug bites but I think it was just an allergic reaction to something a massage therapist used (some gel she put on my legs). After a few days it went away. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-bug-bites-any-way-to-tell/693876/3 "2014-07-23T21:52:34Z")
No, they’re relatively scattered, and I’ve read that the straight line thing isn’t a hard and fast rule anyway. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-bug-bites-any-way-to-tell/693876/4 "2014-07-23T22:00:34Z")
Try taking some Benadryl before you go to bed, and rub some hydrocortisone creme over the area where you usually break out. If it doesn’t happen when you do this (or is greatly reduced), and does happen when you don’t, and it’s pretty regular (don’t base a conclusion on just one morning without spots-- try it for several nights, then try a night without it), you can be pretty sure you are allergic to something. You may not have changed any soaps or detergents, but your detergents may have changed their formulas. If you come to suspect an allergy, try hypoallergenic detergent for your sheets and whatever you sleep in, and double rinse everything when you wash. Also, don’t use dryer sheets; yes, you will have static, but that’s the way it is. If you don’t think it’s allergies, you could try sleeping on your couch for one night, but with sheets and blankets laundered in whatever you regularly use, and see what happens. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-bug-bites-any-way-to-tell/693876/5 "2014-07-23T22:32:15Z")
How old are you? I just got a cal from a 65-year old friend who asked me the same question a few days ago. He is hospitalized with Shingles. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-bug-bites-any-way-to-tell/693876/6 "2014-07-23T22:42:14Z")
Significantly less than 65, and I’ve never had chicken pox (was vaccinated against it in late teens). ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-bug-bites-any-way-to-tell/693876/7 "2014-07-23T22:56:21Z")
Poison oak or poison ivy? I get a poison oak rash a few times a year from brush that grows near where I walk my dog. Mine typically looks somewhat like [this.](http://gudhealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/poison-oak-rash-pictures-3.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-bug-bites-any-way-to-tell/693876/8 "2014-07-23T23:13:27Z")
> [@leftfield6](#): > > Poison oak or poison ivy? > > I get a poison oak rash a few times a year from brush that grows near where I walk my dog. Mine typically looks somewhat like [this.](http://gudhealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/poison-oak-rash-pictures-3.jpg) OP, do you have a dog, or an indoor/outdoor cat? if there is poison ivy anywhere around, the pets can get the oil (urushiol, the thing that causes the rash from poison ivy, oak, and sumac) on their fur and transfer it to the bedclothes. If you are mildly sensitive to it, it could be causing the break out that you see in the morning, that then goes away-- if you were very sensitive, it wouldn’t go away in just a few hours. I’ve known several people whose pets were bringing it into the house, so it can be pretty insidious. I once couldn’t figure out where I was coming into contact with poison ivy (and I react really badly), until I realized that I was parking my car next to some, and whenever the maintenance people mowed the grass, they were blowing some of it toward my car, and I was getting it on my clothes from brushing against the car, or my legs if I was in shorts. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-bug-bites-any-way-to-tell/693876/9 "2014-07-23T23:27:40Z")
I don’t have a pet, and the linked picture looks different from what I’ve got (though it does look similar to other itchy blisters I get, usually on my hands and feet, that I don’t think have anything to do with poison X). ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-bug-bites-any-way-to-tell/693876/10 "2014-07-23T23:29:42Z")
Hmmm, then I have no idea. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-bug-bites-any-way-to-tell/693876/12 "2016-06-03T12:44:55Z")
> [@tcf628](#): > > It’s true that they often appear in a straight line but you are right that this is not always the case. Everyone shows bed bug bites differently. Until you catch a live bug (which is difficult) or find evidence such as a [discarded casing, fecal stains, or blood spots](http://www.pest-control.info/#!do-i-have-bedbugs/c1wk9), it’s tough to tell for certain. > > You could install some [bedbug interceptors](http://www.pest-control.info/#!diy-bed-post-interceptors/lwbf0) on the bed posts to try and capture some. I’m sure he’s figured out what it was in the two years since he posted the OP. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-bug-bites-any-way-to-tell/693876/13 "2016-06-03T12:59:56Z")
Can bedbugs become zombies? ---
**Author:** ![pidgeon92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/50afbb/32.png) [@pidgeon92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pidgeon92)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-bug-bites-any-way-to-tell/693876/14 "2016-06-03T13:34:58Z")
I get heat rashes when it starts to get warm out in the late spring/early summer. Mostly on my hands but sometimes in my elbows and on my legs. It tends to go away after a few weeks. They’re tiny dots, and they itch. They just started up again for me a couple of weeks ago when we started hitting the 70s with high humidity. The raised dots are almost gone now, but there is still some itching. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-bug-bites-any-way-to-tell/693876/15 "2016-06-03T14:42:24Z")
Raised by a spammer. Closed.