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Insect bites? Rash? What? Help!

Discussion in 'General and other signs and symptoms' started by Sasha, Dec 14, 2017.

  1. Sasha

    Sasha Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    3,768
    Location:
    UK
    Back in August, I got a single red bump appear in different places on my right calf, three days running. Then they stopped.

    They were small (2-3 mm) red, raised, circular lumps and they itched. I couldn't see any special features.

    I became aware of them at different times - once in bed, a couple of times on the sofa - and while wearing different clothes - pyjamas, trousers.

    Last week they started up again. One or at most two a day, ankle, calf, thigh.

    I've looked for insects and can't find any. According to the internet, the lumps most resemble flea-bites but I haven't seen any fleas, and don't have pets. And if it's fleas, I can't understand why they've been dormant for four months. I bought a flea-trap and ran it for a few hours last night and am running it now and it hasn't caught anything yet.

    I've inspected the bed and can see no sign of bed bugs.

    Any ideas how to narrow down on what this is?

    I live in England.
     
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  2. Valentijn

    Valentijn Guest

    Messages:
    2,275
    Location:
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    Chiggers (harvest mites) maybe? Little bastards are usually too small to see, at least during their people-munching phase.
     
    Last edited: Dec 14, 2017
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  3. Kalliope

    Kalliope Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Hope you'll figure it out..

    I was once certain that I had been bitten by some insects - had itchy hives but where were the insects? Turned out it was cold hives.. But I think it appears only on skin that's been exposed to cold (for instance sitting on a cold iron-chair outdoors), so it would be a bit odd if it appeared on the calf..
     
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  4. Sasha

    Sasha Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    That's interesting - I didn't realise we even had chiggers in the UK until I just looked it up (they're called 'harvest mites' in England but I'd never heard of them).

    I got bitten by chiggers years ago in the US and remember the bites being bigger and hugely itchy - whereas these are fairly itchy (itchy enough for me to buy hydrocortisone cream) but not wildly so.

    I find the timing odd. I haven't walked across any grass here lately - just pavement!
     
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  5. Yessica

    Yessica Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
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    @Sasha are there no-see-ums where you live?

    I never heard of this. Interesting.

    I hope you find what is causing this or it just stops and doesn't happen anymore.
     
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  6. Sasha

    Sasha Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Location:
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    Great name! We call them 'midges' in the UK and we do get them, but they tend to be in woodland. I haven't encountered them for many years. If it was midges in my home I think I'd have seen them (and that they'd still be biting me!).
     
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  7. Trish

    Trish Moderator Staff Member

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    Location:
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    Have you had any visitors who might have brought fleas in on their clothes? I get similar 'bites' occasionally, and try not to worry about them!
     
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  8. Sasha

    Sasha Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    I do get the occasional visitor and delivery person who comes in, so I suppose it's possible.

    How often do you get your bites?
     
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  9. Trish

    Trish Moderator Staff Member

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    Location:
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    It's pretty random. Maybe on average one a fortnight?? Sometimes a group, then none for ages.
     
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  10. arewenearlythereyet

    arewenearlythereyet Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
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    I get a weird thing...which is little pinpricks on my calves which weep (sorry). It then starts to itch when they dry so if you rub your hand over the skin its like a load of sand comes off. Its like a rash but individual very small discrete weeping pores (not raised or red).

    This is different to the normal periodic itch attacks and itchy skin (I'm painting a lovely picture aren't I?)

    I don't think this is insect bites since their is no raised or red areas?

    Sorry don't know what this is either ...so pretty much no help for your problem @Sasha

    Hope yours clears up
     
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  11. Allele

    Allele Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    maybe it's a lil spider. she'll need to be told to stay in the bathroom and limit her diet to arthropods!
     
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  12. arewenearlythereyet

    arewenearlythereyet Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    is she called Charlotte? Just need to make sure I address her correctly
     
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  13. Valentijn

    Valentijn Guest

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    I get little vesicles from a reaction to a mango oil (presumably urushiol), which is also in poison oak and poison ivy. But some people are more sensitive to smaller amounts, hence most people not reacting to mango even though most react to poison ivy.

    For me it would only hit the transition skin, where thicker palm and sole skin meets thinner normal skin. Basically around the edges of my fingers and feet. It itched like crazy, and if I broke a vesicle, it would ooze and create new vesicles :(
     
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  14. arewenearlythereyet

    arewenearlythereyet Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Oh it's getting very oozy and seepy...and now we have vesicles!

    You know what I think we are all quite ill.

    Sometimes I think bits of me are slowly giving up the ghost...blood, gut, skin, brain, nerves, muscles...looking forward to brittle bones.
     
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  15. Louie41

    Louie41 Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    My first thought, @Sasha, was fungus because they sounded exactly like what my husband gets; but then I realized I'd better check my handy-dandy knitting tool, only to discover that there's a big difference between 2-3 cm and 2-3 mm. That pushed me in the direction of spider bites. I get spider bites now and then even though I never see the spiders. I know they're around because I see their webs when the house hasn't been cleaned for a while.

    Fungus, we've been told, occurs in older skin somewhat randomly. Just think, @arewenearlythereyet, another pleasure to look forward to to go along with the brittle bones.;)
     
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