Insect bites? Rash? What? Help!

Sasha

Sasha

Senior Member (Voting Rights)
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.
 
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..
 
Valentijn said:
Chiggers (harvest mites) maybe? Little bastards are usually too small to see, at least during their people-munching phase.
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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!
 
Yessica said:
@Sasha are there no-see-ums where you live?
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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!).
 
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!
 
Trish said:
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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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?
 
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
 
arewenearlythereyet said:
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).
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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 :(
 
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.
 
Sasha said:
They were small (2-3 mm) red, raised, circular lumps and they itched.
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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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