Can two people sleep in a bed, but only one get bitten by bed bugs?
A visitor going by the name Worried wanted to know if two people can sleep in a bed, but only one get bitten by bed bugs? Here is her comment and the answer follows.
Two people sleeping in same bed but only one bitten by bed bugs. The woman is being bitten but he thinks she is going crazy.
The middle of January I woke up to intense itching on my back so I asked my husband to scratch it for me, which he did! So I asked him was anything there and he told it was 3 bumps. Still I paid it no mind, my daughter came in my room and I asked her to look at my back because it still was itching and she did! Yet she said something different then her father, she said “it look like something bit you, and they tore you up!” I told her maybe it was my bra because it seemed that it had been poking me in that exact spot. She insisted that it looked like angry bites.
8 days later I had 2 on my leg and 1 on my finger. They weren’t together. Still I didn’t know what to think.The end of January I woke up with 1 on my toe and it was then that I thought something was going on. That was my first time getting on the net reading about bedbugs.
Now I have been bitten by bedbugs before over a friends house when I was 11 they tore me up. I slept wit my clothes on and when I tell you they hadn’t left a single part of my uncovered skin unbitten except my face I won’t be telling a lie put it like that. Still I remember details, that when I told the people whose house it was that I was bitten; they looked at me as if I was lying! Then the other kid who was a guest and shared the bed with me, said “nothing bite me.” I felt bad and I told my mom when I got home who confirmed that yes it was bedbugs bites.
I disregarded the bed bugs because I hadn’t been bitten like I was as a child. The pictures that I did take a look @ seem to be the same pattern as the ones I had when I was a child. It was til the middle of February I woke up with another bite on my finger that I flipped out came back on the internet and really started to consider the option of bedbugs because it became clear to me that something might be feeding off of me.
I told my husband and daughter it could be bedbugs but my husband said he would of been bit too. Which made sense before because he doesn’t have sensitive skin that breaks out very easily. Still I began to ask Google specific questions one of which was: can two people share the same bed and only 1 person be bitten by bedbugs!” To my surprise it was plenty of stories that said HECK YEAH!
With This evidence I was able to convince my husband to do a search. He explained that he to knew what bed bugs look like and the same information I read online he told me the something. He got his handy flashlight and searched the seems of the mattress. Check the opposite side of it, checked the box spring lift it up and checked the bottom of i said he was looking for blood smears, eggs, cast off! We found nothing! We checked the baseboard on my side of the bed, nothing!!
At this time I decided to remove the dust ruffle from the box spring and everything was ok… until 12 days later when I awoke to 2 painful new bites @2:23 in the morning. I was laying next to my charging cell phone. These bites burned so bad it woke me up and I had only been sleep for a hour. I believe it just happened! My arm swelled up so bad that it looked as if it was pregnant! I couldn’t stop rubbing it or itching it. When I did fall asleep after our second inspection it burned like fire in my sleep. It actually felt warm/hot to the touch.
Our second inspection turned up nothing and this time I had my husband removed that thin cloth part on the box spring and look in. It was as clean as a whistle. I also had him check the sofa and open the cloth underneath that. Still he found nothing. Not to mention we have 3 dogs and a daughter who has never been bitten.
I started cleaning with alcohol and bleach every night and not sleeping-til the morning. Tomorrow will make two weeks that I haven’t been bit. My 3 dogs r constantly under furniture and never act as if they seen any bugs or was ever bit. I’m worried but don’t know what to think. We’ve been living in this apartment for 5 years. All This furniture was new i haven’t entertained any guests since my mother died. Can this be bed bugs or am I crazy? I need help, I’m so sleepy!!
Answer: Yes, two people can be sleeping in the same bed and only one receive the bites, or, one has a reaction while the other does not which gives the appearance of no bites. There are many testimonials where couples describe the same problem, found nothing for a long time, then discovered they had bed bugs!
The key here is finding them, best thing you can do is buy a mattress encasement, use climb up blockers or make your own (see my bed bug dust page for a picture and instructions. Also, set up a bed bug trap using dry ice or Alka-Seltzer and see what you catch, it might not be bug bugs at all!
Popular comments on being bitten while the other is not
ashley::
Im freaking out! i woke up about a month ago with a red mark on my neck which looked like a bite, and the past few weeks ive woken up with them on my arms and legs they look like mosquito bites and itchy! so i got to thinking could it be bed bugs? my dad says im crazy its not….so i moved my room around today and found a pretty good sized bug on the seam of my matress freaked out and killed it searched more and didnt find anymore… ive googled everything there is and im not sure what to do we live in an apartment and my dad hasnt been bit what do i do? :(
carolyn::
I thought I was the only one going crazy. I am in the same situation as you all. My husband and I live in an apartment complex and we have not had an exterminator here for almost 1 year. I try and keep my house as clean as I can. I stay awake at night and keep dressed because I am getting bit all the time, as soon as I lay down at night in 10 min I am up scratching the entire night.
I have soaked in an oatmeal bath which has helped a bit. I live for caladryl, which I slather on me like lotion.
Can I insist that my landlord come in and exterminate? My husband has never got bit, but he has had bugs crawl on him. I am so freaked out and very tired. I need help
JM::
Why is it that I get bedbug bites a lot and other people don’t even if we are in the same places together?
Letoya::
I have been experiencing the same problem and although my landlord had the orkin man come and exterminate I’m still getting bit… I’m going crazy because not only do i sleep in long sleeves and long pants and socks I’m still freaking out even when I don’t get bit. I’m all scarred up from scratching and now I have a nasty rash on my arms, neck and face. the other day I woke up with a mass of bites on my neck but no bugs. then just last night i caught one crawling on my blanket. I put it in a ziplock bag for my landlord to see because he doesn’t want to compensate me for all the furniture and mattresses Ive had to throw out due to the pesty, blood suckers and now I want to move but that also means I cant take anything with me for fear of transporting them. Can someone please Help and tell me what to do? I’m afraid that my grandchildren will be next so I don’t even let them visit.
Bed Bug Girl::
Response: Phill, bed bugs don’t attached themselves like this, if they are disturbed, they get out of there, and they only feed for minutes, not days!
Pest Peeved::
I am on this site right now because I am just as confused and covered in bites like everyone else I have been reading about. My problem started when I bought a pretty nice leather couch from a kid that was desperate for money. I started noticing big, red, itchy bites, some of which were in a pattern and some just by themselves. I have two flea free indoor cats and figured they may have gotten fleas somehow, so I put a treatment on them and flea sprayed and powdered the bed rooms.
I have tile in the rest of the house so I figured the bites would stop. My boyfriend has stayed over and I asked him if he woke up to any bites. He said no, so I thought it had to be fleas and I handled the problem. Wrong….I keep randomly getting them since I bought the couch a month ago and today I noticed my son has huge red welts all over his back with visible puncture holes in the middle of the bites. This is when I ended up here investigating what bites, bugs and symptoms look and sound like.
I am convinced that I bought an infested couch and now with the help of my cats spreading it to the bedrooms, have a bed bug problem. I am so angry and frustrated that I don’t know what to do with myself. I am just glad there are some solutions I can try. I have not seen any bugs on my cats or anywhere else so far but I think If I trash the couch and start diligently cleaning now that I can catch it early enough before it really spreads.
Take my advice and never buy a mattress or furniture from a random person, no matter how good of a deal you think you’re getting. Even then it seems anyone can be victim of this crappy situation. I am immediately taking action and hope to see results soon. Until next time…wish me luck.
phill collins::
Horror in hesperia!
I’ve been off and on again with my girl friend the last few years. a couple months ago we hooked back up. I’ve notice numerous bugs and bites since. Right after the first couple visits i noticed a wart looking thing in the middle of my chest.. well a couple months go buy and this alien looking form is getting ‘huge’. so i dosed it with alcohol and 2 days later it pops off !! … to make matters worse she starts freaking out as I’m inspecting covers blankets etc. after visit here all is confirmed . I’ll tell her and she wont believe me then after evidence from here, she’s gonna bite me worse that a bed bug
…..any bed bug coaches out there have an easy way to break it to her?
bitten and confused in Apple Valley
Exhausted::
Ok I am having a similar situation. I have had these strange little red dots (started on my legs and then to top of one of my feet). I have had them for months. At first I thought it was fleas from my dog who is a big baby and was sleeping with me. I had her treated and decided not to let her sleep with me anymore to try and resolve the problem. It doesnt itch unless its really healing then i scratch but other than that it doesnt bother me. I have went to 5 different specialists…with 5 different diagnosis. My family doctor said it was flea bites, 1st dermatologist said psoriasis, second said nerve rash, 4th said scabies-yea that made me feel awesome! Ugh! 5th had mentioned the bed bugs. This all started about 6 months ago and to this day i have not found not one bug so I am not entirely sure what to do here. I am tired of having to cover up and feel disgusting :( I am up all night long for days thinking about it. My husband nor my daughter have been bitten. I really need some help here trying to figure this out!!! I honestly believe all these doctors just used google to try and treat me. Any other info is greately appreciated
Visiting Mumbai::
I am so tired and unable to sleep thanks to the bedbugs in our Mumbai home. We are expats living in an apartment which my husband moved into whilst I was still in our home country. The apartment was already partly furnished and even though I told him I wanted new beds, he decided the ones that were here were in good condition and didn’t bother replacing them with new ones.
The couches are a rusty red and orange colour and the linen was crimson so who would have thought bed bugs would be here. I arrived a couple of months later and noticed my husband had some rash looking areas on parts of his body: his upper arms and back. I asked him about them and he claimed he had been bitten by mosquitos when working in southern India earlier that month. I thought nothing of it as he said they weren’t bothering him. 5 days later I began to get what looked and felt like mosquito bites too, except a lot worse than my husbands. Some areas showed single spots and others seemed to have a few bites in a row.
Each day seemed to get worse and I was perplexed because I had taken so much care to make sure no mosquitos were in our room at night, yet each morning seemed to bring me more bites. I started to wonder if I had hives or had caught some kind of tropical bacterial thing. Then it happened. I was sitting in my pjs one morning and I looked down to find a small creature crawling on them. I jumped and flicked it to the floor. I tried to squash it with a piece of cardboard. I thought it was a tic. I’ve never seen a bed bug or a tic. It looked so awful, like a tiny cockroach or strange flatish scaly creature. It was red.
I started searching the web and found it was a bed bug. I moved out of the bedroom and into the lounge room. I put my yoga mat on the couch and covered it with a fresh clean towel and a double sheet which had just been washed. I wrapped myself in it and tried to sleep. When I awoke I had even more bites than before. I am so upset by this I can no longer sleep. I am so tired.
To make matters worse, I detest insecticides because of the poisonous content. I’m very sensitive to poisons and often get asthma and chest pain when I’m near any insect sprays. I don’t know what to do. I can’t sleep. I’m so afraid I will end up taking them home to my bedroom in Australia when I leave in 2 weeks. My husband doesn’t seem to understand the severity of the situation. He’s sleeping soundly with them as I type!
I read somewhere that a combination of Clove Oil; Peppermint Oil and Tea Tree oil can deter them. I’ve sprinkled two of them (all I could source in Mumbai) all over the couch but I don’t think it’s really going to stop them. Ugh! These creatures are the worst!!
Bite Me!::
I knew it I knew it! I have been getting bitten and no one else in my house (four others) I’m thinking its the hormones in my sweat that’s attracting them to me only. I’m 49 and have gone through “the Change”.
I have even did an experiment. I let my son sleep in the same bed I am getting bit in. (the bed has been treated several times with Alcohol, Steam,and bedbug spray. He did NOT get bit ! so early morning I tell him move over and I went to sleep. I GOT BIT!.
NOW WHAT???!
jennie::
Several months ago my daughter was waking up with bites and due to the fact that we sleep together, I didn’t believe we had bed bugs. I saw no sign of evidence nothing on my sheet or matress. The house management sent a bed bug inspector they did find two on the wall socket, three treatments were done, everything washed.
My daughter is still getting bit but no one else in the house is getting bit and no sign again of bed bugs. The inspectors came back found no signs of bed bugs, everywhere she sleeps she wakes up with bites. she is depressed and driving me crazy. I have a granddaughter that sleeps with me and never got bitten. it’s only her, she is a nanny and I’m trying to let her know it could be at the house where she is a nanny, the owner say they have no bed bugs and the kids have no bites. I’m sending her to a dermatologist today and see what she says. This situation is stressing me out. she sleeps in the same bed with her boyfriend too and no in the house has any bites…I don’t know what to anymore.
unfriendly feast::
It’s a relief to finally read up on some similar stories that I can relate too. I too felt as if I was simply going crazy being the only one that these little critters chewed to pieces. I’m not proud of the fact that I can say Thank You to you for posting this story because I’m thrilled I’m not alone with the “ITS BED BUGS>>>I KNOW IT !!!!!” state of mind. Just because I’m not proud of that doesn’t mean that I won’t say it THANKS for sharing