Doctors in the UK are quite clueless about this. I am now an expert.

I suspect tropical rat mite as the culprit.

What you need to know
-lives in your environment, bed, carpet, sheets, fabric, but actually anywhere.
-more active at night
-crawling
-distinct “pin prick” bites when at high levels.
-is actually contagious but to a very low degree. Some people seem to be totally non susceptible. Yet others will react and itch near me (I assume either from mites floating through air or their “fecal matter”.
-I know 3 people who developed it in proximity to me.

How to treat.

-treat as scabies but more so.
-use permethrin cream, malathion and eurax regularly. FULL BODY application. every 2 days or so, or daily. You will need to use more than a few times.
-treating body is USELESS if you do not treat your environment.
-go on ebay and order a miticide. Do some research. I use lambda cyhalothrin. Mix to dilution and SPRAY EVERYWHERE IN YOUR HOME and mattress. Leave for a few hours while it dries.
-Repeat the spray at least weekly, hoovering BEFORE a new spray.
-Continue topical body application.
-Change your sheets as often as you have energy on max temp as close to boiling as possible.
-same with clothes. Tumble dry high temperature. If you cannot tumble dry, spray them all, leave them to dry for a day or two then wash. You don’t really want the lambda on your skin though it is not known to be carcinogenic or tetrogenic or to have very bad effects even when force-fed to mouse for 40 days. There is published research if you care to look up the toxicity profile.
-I also bought a flea spray from a pet shop which also helps to spray on all surfaces (NOT FOOD SURFACES CLEARLY).
-procure some IVERMECTIN if you are able to find out how. I use an online pharmacy based in India which has proven very reliable. Take correct dose, every few days at the start.
-a hot bath with diluted hydrogen perxode (found in laundry whitener) gets them off you.

You cant do half measures. It may improve for a little while but the population will simply regrow if you do not tackle this directly and with force.

They are not visible to the human eye. Whether they are able to live in skin as well as on it and in in environment I cannot say.

This is a living hell to contend with but when you KNOW YOUR ENEMY you can defeat it as above.
Be persistent. Be wary of doctors who are completely clueless as to the nature of this and will most likely dismiss your concerns.

Don’t waste time with “natural” remedies – tea tree oil does get them off you but doesn’t kill them, at least to no degree compared with actual insecticides, which will persist and kill mites for weeks (necessary).

This said taking garlic tablets does make you less attractive to them. I would recommend taking a quite high dose as you do all the above. First few applications of permethrin cream tends to produce a reaction. It angers the mites and makes them move. If you don’t do whole body and leave it on they will simply relocate.

I wish someone had told me all this 8 years ago. Not everyone reading this will have the same as me. I rules out many other things first, including simply depression (though it certainly has led to it).

Be aware also that with scabies (and this is similar), itch can persist for some weeks even after they are dead. This may be the case with these mites, though I cannot be certain.

Do the above, and it will need to be for a good couple of months and you are likely to see an improvement. If you don;t, its highly unlikely to be any sort of insect problem as not much will survive that onslaught. Don’t get distracted by other “fibre” based theories. Fibres and lint exist EVERYWHERE. I was taken in by conspiracy until I realized this is basically just a stupid mite infestation, which appears to be getting more common in humans, and is not yet properly recognized by most doctors. Best of luck. It can be treated and taken logically is not even that hard work.

Lisa, I had my 1-year old baby bitten by bed bugs in the fancy new apartment building we were living at that time. I just hope you hear me.. this is absolutely NOT something you want to live with or try to ‘treat’ when you have a baby, period. Here is how it is: if you live in the house that has couple of units – check with the other unit and if they DO have the same problem – MOVE OUT as soon as you can, if they DON’T have the same problem – skip to step #2 of my suggestion please. If you live in relatively large apartment building:

Step #1 : MOVE OUT as soon as you can (tell landlord bed bugs as a cause and that you will put their address on bedbug registry if they will give you any troubles with early termination fees and such). The reason is – landlords 99.9% of time are NOT educated about the right way of #1 inspecting (which should ONLY be done with certified dogs) and #2 with effective way of treating this problem.

Step #2: I guarantee you, you will save your SANITY and MONEY by just having a quality dog inspection to determine where exactly in your apartment and furniture bed bugs are (in my NJ area runs $250 and up). Get rid of those pieces of your belongings IF they are not washable (also if you don’t want to throw your mattresses or if they are expansive ones – clean them the best you can and place special protective covers sold in Bed Bath and Beyond and many online stores) AND rewash ALL of your washable belongings AND just get the hell out of there..

Now, 2 years later after the bed bug encounter in our perfectly beautiful apartments, and having to deal with management, and treating the unit, and throwing my hard earned furniture and stuff at the end, and having to move twice: first temporary to our parents’ house (to be ABLE to sleep) and than finally to our first home that we bought, AND even after that having to deal with constant anxiety and depression and obsess after every single mosquito bite on mine or my baby’s body..

I just hope you read this and take care of yourself first and your sanity before your baby arrives. Love, Oksana.

Again, thank you for all the useful information.

I keep thinking… I am smarter and stronger and bigger than them, I will win in the end. But I’ve not and am doubting that I ever will. I had been getting red marks, hives and weird bumps for about a month… I went to the doctor for my diabetes related stuff, and asked him about what to do for the hives, he asked me what ‘new things’ I’d been using (new detergents, etc.) and I told him nothing… he prescribed me Prednisone (a steroid). I’m sure the hives would have gone away if I’d taken it, but I chose to use Benadryl instead.

Two months later I went back for refills and did not mention anything about itching or hives, and was wearing a short sleeve shirt. He looked at my arms and asked me what was wrong with them. I had gotten so used to having red marks all over me in various patterns that I didn’t consider it abnormal anymore. He prescribed me more Prednisone, but I still refuse to take it.

A month later, I went to sleep and remembered I needed to text my friend, got up, turned the light on, and was sitting on the edge of my bed texting my friend… I kept thinking that one of my long hairs had gotten loose from my bun, because I felt a slight tickling on my back, but was busy and ignored it… then I felt a bite. I instinctively ran my hand over the bit area, and saw something fly off…

I went to look on the carpet, where I thought it had landed, and found what I know now is a bedbug shell! at the time, it looked like a dead weird shaped baby roach. I wasn’t pleased, but know that roaches do not bite, so decided to look in the opposite direction, in case I was wrong in the direction that said biting insect might have flown off my hand… which was my pillow… I found bugs crawling on it, I lifted the pillow, they were on the mattress, I lifted the mattress, they were everywhere!

I can’t tell you the horror I felt. I bagged one, looked it up online, saw that it was a bedbug. My revulsion and resentment and frustration and paranoia have not ended since. I have had ‘exterminators’ come out, paid half my paycheck (which isn’t much since I’m on SSI) to have them come… they sprayed a bit around the edges of my carpet and that’s it.

I’m currently filing a complaint against them with the Better Business Bureau, but that will not help *me*, just, hopefully, other people in the future. I got rid of the bed I was sleeping on. When I moved my furniture away from the walls for the pesticide people to spray, my desk broke. When my desk broke, my monitor fell off and shattered. Two days later, I finally ventured into my bedroom and found 3 crawling on my walls – no need for bed bug traps now.

I’ve not slept in a bed in 2 months now. I’m SO tired. I’m SO creeped out. I think they are crawling on me all the time, even though I know that usually (although, sometimes, they *are*) they aren’t. I’ve set off so many bombs in my room… the next day, I’ll find one crawling on my ceiling or wall. I don’t have any money to do this anymore, even if I wasn’t so tired.

I am going to try these suggestions on this site and the bedbug dust, but to be honest, at this point, I feel hopeless. They live for over a year without feeding? By the time they die, I’ll be in an insane asylum.

I wish you all much better luck than I have had.

I now spend my 3 am’s fighting the creatures by hand…yes by hand! My anger at the little creatures overcomes my disgust. I now need to rid my home of beds, couches, chairs and my carpet. I have no faith that this will rid me of the problem.

I now minimize my children’s visits to others homes and rarely allow others to visit ours. I have become slightly paranoid and dread one of my friends will crawl across my shoulder while I am out in public. If you don’t have them, yet, count your blessings. They are back and still spreading!

Good luck to those that have them and to those that don’t.