Horrible rash from unlikely source

Hi all. I wanted to share with you my experiences with a rash I'd been having. It's gone now, but it had been going on for a few months. I get these itchy red bumps mainly on my right arm and side, but sometimes it would be elsewhere on my body. I would try eliminating different things like nuts or bananas and it would seem like it would work for a day - the itching wasn't as bad. But then it would all come back. Some days were worse than others. There would be blood streaks on my sheet I assumed from me itching the scabs off. But I also noticed little black marks on my sheets and pillowcases too - I thought it was from the washing machine or dryer.

Well, about two weeks ago I read an article in the paper titled "Think your bed is cozy? You're not alone"

(here's the link: http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/35260894.html?elr=KArksUUUU )

Now try not to get all grossed out and start itching - but it turns out my rash was due to an allergic reaction to bed bug bites! I told my husband about the article and he said 'No! We don't have bed bugs!' But the next morning he tore apart the bed and it was infested with them (our bed sat on the floor too because our daughter sleeps with us and it's closer to the floor if she falls out while sleeping) - and they were in the base boards and carpet too!

My husband and daughter didn't get bitten as much and I read that the bed bugs prefer women which seemed to be true in my case. So after he sprayed some stuff on the wall and carpet and wrapped up the bed, my rash started to go away.

Now we are breaking our lease and moving to a different apartment complex (the one we are in is infested with them I found out after talking with the neighbors and the bug guy), but we are throwing out a lot of our things (bed, dressers, couch, etc.) because we do not ever want to go through that again. In reading some of the bed bug forums I found out that they can get into pretty much anything and survive for a year without a blood meal - which is why we'd rather throw our stuff away.

The good thing is that I'm looking at this as a fresh new beginning and I'm thankful that my little one is young enough that she won't be traumatize knowing she was sleeping with bugs.

Anyway, I wanted to share that in case it might help somebody else. Hopefully it won't help anybody though (hopefully nobody has bed bugs). Puts a new meaning to 'sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite.'