On the attack of the bite curse (II)

Attack of the Bite Curse (II) was a film I watched many years ago as a maybe 12 year old.  One of the many bad horror/exploitation films that inspired the love I continue today for the horror genre.  This shot of my naked bitten body is supposed to make you feel like I felt watching that film.  Grossed out, but curious.  And yes, those are stretch marks.  Get over it.

Clearly, this post is not about film, but about another word that starts with the letter F and is something I despise: fleas.  I have lived my entire life in houses with pets and so the flea saga is one that has been ongoing throughout my time on this earth.  So I’ve learnt how to find the signs of fleas and the many useful ways to destroy fleas.  But I still don’t know how to prevent fleas, and more directly, how to prevent fleas from biting me.

I am one of those people who is very attractive to bugs.  I am like the wagu of people meat.  For some people, being tasty is no big deal because they barely notice when they get a bite.  Not me.  I am one of those people who reacts to EVERYTHING.  You’ll know this from reading some of my previous posts.  I have sensitive skin and sensitive insides, and I am a tasty bitch. 

This means that a flea bite results in a large, red welt which stays itchy for days.  So even once I’ve eradicated the fleas, I am a mess for about a week.  I also have skin that doesn’t heal quickly.  So even if I don’t itch, it takes about a week for the welts to go, and then another week or so for traces of the bites to be properly gone.

In this instance of the house having fleas, the fleas pulled some kind of sneak attack.  We never saw any fleas.  I just woke up one morning and looked like something from a horror film.  Over a mere three days I watched as my normally porcelain and somewhat freckled skin turned into an angry red sea of welts.  I had over 50 flea bites, and, as is common with flea bites, most of them were located on one side of my body.  I had bites on my fingers, wrist, upper arm, breast, down my side, on my hip, behind my knee, on my shins, on my thighs, on my ankles, on my toes and even under one foot.  I was not happy.

I defleaed the cats and rabbits and bombed the house.  I vacuumed the house and washed all the clothes.  And I am certain this killed all the fleas.  The problem that remained was – how do I get the itch out of the bite?

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I wrote this first part about a week ago (life has been too busy for writing), and after this amount of time has passed, I hate to say it, but I don’t think the bites are from fleas.  Despite all best efforts to de-flea, the bite curse is still on my flesh, and I am receiving new terror bites every few days.  We have spied no fleas, nor any other insect, nor has anyone else in my home been bitten by anything.

The itch has been making me go bat shit crazy.  I have tried multiple methods to subdue the itch: Antihisan cream, baking soda and hot water, calomine lotion, deodorant (it’s supposed to coat the bite and stop oxygen getting to it and activating the itch), antihistamine tablets, moisturiser and Pinetarsol.   I complained about my bite curse on Facebook and was recommended a large number of other cures, of which I tried several (I couldn’t afford to buy all the things), again, with no success.  And also, being sure after three weeks that it isn’t fleas, I felt helpless to do anything useful to remove my bite curse.

So on Saturday I went to the chemist.  The chemist have these leaflets on all sorts of crappy skin things (scabies, herpes, all that gross shit), so I figured they might be able to help.  It’s weird going up to the counter of a chemist and saying ‘Hey, I’m covered in bites and I’m going mental.  Help.’  But that’s pretty much what I had to do.   I managed to get a trainee, who looked at me like I had leprosy.  Luckily, her supervisor talked her through helping me.  They were as stumped as me.  They gave me some Phenergan (Ngaio’s suggestion from Facebook) to help in the meantime, and told me I needed to see my doctor.

So I am yet to find a resolution to what this issue is.  I am grateful for all the suggestions from friends on Facebook as to what could be causing it, but so far I am unsure that any feel right.

Suggestion 1 – Allergy: I have allergic reactions to stuff all the time, they have never taken the form of random itchy bites all over my body.  An allergy normally results in hives around the area with most direct contact with the allergen.  I haven’t changed any of my cleaning or body cleaning products, and the only environmental change I’ve had is that I’m now working at the Video Ezy one day a week.  But the reaction is not consistent with the times I am there, so I don’t think this is the trigger.

Suggestion 2 – Stress:  Now I know stress makes you react in all sorts of crazy ass ways.  I have an anxiety disorder and IBS.  But again, stress rashes tend to look like hives.  My grossness is not like a rash or hives.  It is large welts, like from a mosquito bite gone bad. 

Suggestion 3 – Bedbugs I wrote this suggestion off initially as hogswash, but the more I  think about it, the more I think it is plausable.  Just before I got the bite curse, we stayed in a hotel for our Civil Union anniversary.  It is possible that we picked up bed bugs in our PJ's there and transported them home.  But I haven’t seen any bedbugs or signs of bedbugs.  Plus who gets bed bugs from a 4 star hotel in New Zealand?

Suggestion 4 – Scabies: It’s not scabies.  Sadly, I have had scabies before.  Scabies are highly contagious, form in the warm, moisty areas of your body and turn into gross sores.  None of this is consistent with my bite curse (thank God!)

Suggestion 5 - Measles or chickenpox:  I would have a fever.  I have no fever therefore no pox.

I am going to go to the doctors on Wednesday to see if they can shed any light to this bite curse.   In the meantime, I’m hot washing all my bed linen, and treating our room as though it is infested with bed bugs (just in case).  Also, I have Phenergan.  I take it.  I pass out.  I’m not itchy because I’m unconscious.  That’s good enough for me.  For now.