Bedbug bites and antihistamines

Factual Questions
1

My GF seems to have a pretty serious bedbug infestation going on (and I sure hope this means I don’t have one too).

So I’ve been researching the pest, and fortunately there are any number of informative sites out there on the subject as well as a few threads here. Unfortunately they are a bitch and a half to get rid of.

But my current question concerns the allergic reaction to the bites (specifically to the saliva which is the allergen). How does it happen? From my limited knowledge of allergic reactions in general I’m guessing that the saliva causes the body to release histamine.

If this is the case, would taking an oral antihistamine before bed every night (during the extermination process) prevent the bites from becoming those intensely annoying itchy things? (and could the same logic thus be applied to mosquitoes and other similar bug bites?)

2

I can only provide some anecdotal ‘evidence’ here, for what it’s worth.

I don’t get any reaction from bug-bites ( if they bite me at all), and I take 1 gram of vitamin C a day, which is a mild-anti-histamine. However, I am unwilling to stop taking the C to see if I’ll develop bug bites.

My gf refuses to take any vitamins and gets bug bites all over.

3

Wait a minute, your gf has bedbugs and she still is sleeping in that bed?!? :eek:

4

Not sure if your question is directed to me, but yes, My GF really has no other place to go. (I live too far away for her to commute during the week).

I do stay with her on weekends typically, and heck if I’m gonna continue to provide saturday night munchies with my blood to 100s of tiny, ungrateful, bugs.

5

Come on people. No one has anything factual to add??

Is it histamine that causes the itch from bug bites?

6

Yep. Histamine is to blame. Take Clarityn or something, and use a cream to stop the bites itching so much.

Strip all the bedclothes, and put them in a hot (boil) wash, then either tumble-dry on high, or dry in the sun.

The mattress needs to be fumigated, if she can’t do that, hire a steam cleaner (the kind you use for sofas) and blast them with it.

If you haven’t been bitten, even though you’ve been sharing her bed, you’ve probably got a different blood type to her. Once bedbugs develop a taste for one blood group, they don’t eat any others.