Last week I started to get some strange looking splotches on my forehead and scalp. A case of creeping crud? Kris Berg's Martian Death Flu?
I have always had very clear skin so I had no idea where this was coming from. I asked one of my Realtor buddies to take a look and she thought they looked like bug bites. Hmmmm. Interesting. Being the internet dependent do-it-yourself Gen Xer that I am I used Google images to diagnose my splotches. Clearly they were bed bug bites. Looked just like them.
So, we loaded up every piece of bedding and laundry in the house on Saturday evening and took our daughter for her first trip ever to a laundromat. Exciting times for a 3 year old. Quarters to be put in slots, buttons to push, carts to crash around and new people to entertain. She loved it. Somehow the laundromat seems to have frayed my new sheets but that is another issue. I sent Dmitry out for some Benadryl ointment and tablets, because that is what I learned I was supposed to do on Wikipedia.
To learn more about Not having bed bugs, shingles that aren't on your roof and what this all has to do with selling your home, stop on by miOaklandCounty.com.
The bed bug illustration is by mindfuldocumentation.

shingles, bed bugs.... it's a toss up which I'd go for given a choice. Do you get a choice....
I have not Googled shingles (I think when a friend's friend had bed bugs a couple of years ago I did all the internet research necessary on the bed bug topic.) Does that mean you never had chicken pox growing up? Isn't the virus that causes shingles the same one that causes chicken pox? Or does having chicken pox leave the virus in your system? I obviously have done research on the topic in the past...
One of my friends had shingles about ten years ago...she showed me the shingles on her stomach... they did not look like itty bitty bug bites.
Here comes more than you want to know, but you asked.
They did look like bites when they first appeared. Bed bug bites also appear in a line and the shingles appear along a nerve. Now they dont look like bed bites.
I never had chicken pox but I was exposed and had the virus laying dormant inside of me waiting for the perfect moment to scar my otherwise flawless beauty.
So are those of us who had chicken pox are safe? Or could we have it dormant in our systems?
Being the mother of a 3 year old... do people expose their kids to chicken pox these days? To try and get it over with? Or was that mumps? I have a great mumps story... no, no never mind.
I was one of six kids I think we all experienced chicken pox together.... without a lot of planning on my mother's part...
Maureen Francis - If it is bed bugs, don't forget to treat your mattresses and not just the bedding. My hubby worked as an exterminator years ago and bed bugs are rough. Here's wishing for a happy ending!
Maureen McCabe - Now Moms get the chicken pox vaccine for their kids. Wonderful stuff!
I think you're too young for Shingles. But, better check the mattresses and any upholstry in the house. Those critters are pervasive.
Lenn
Nope, they really are shingles. I am too young, and I did not qualify for the medical study on shingles at the hospital because I am too young by a decade!
There are no BED BUGS in my house.
MM, if you have had cp then you can get shingles. It is the same virus and it never leaves your system once you have it. Now they have vaccinations for cp and my daughter has had it.
YUCK! If I were you, I would call someone and have them spray the inside of your house all over. And personally, I wouldn't go to a laundrymat...no telling what you could pick up there....YEEEEEEEEEW such a horrible thing. Wash, wash, wash, spray, spray,spray
How about moving...I know a house for sale!
OK, I am caught! I read your post here and commented before going to your other blog...Shingles...that must hurt. None of my children nor I have ever had chicken pox and I've alwasys wondered if that means we'll never get shingles. Someone once told me that if you don't have a severe case of chicken pox than you are more apt to get shingles so wonder where that leaves us. I understand it's quite painful so take care of yourself. If you need any help with the carnival of Local motion let me know.
These little critters are becoming a huge issue - lots of stuff in the news here, NYC, etc. Ran into the myself years ago living in an apartment. Not much fun. My mother-in-law had shingles once - very painful I understand. I was "fortunate" to have the c pox as a kid.
Jeff
As the world shrinks we in this country are reliving some of the health problems that we thought we had eradicated long ago. Remember the saying, "Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite?" It sure has a new meaning for this generation. But we are seeing more of the old health problems and "varmints" due to others from foreign soils bring the unwanted guest with them. We have to be more vigilant with our "own" health care and house keeping than ever.
Good post.
Roberta "Dove" Lee
Century 21 Olde Tyme, Norco, CA
Sorry about the Shingles, Jay would suggest that you for-sure qualify as Codger-like, in that sense. I'm a little embarrased to admit I didn't see the the lead-in to FIBO vs Realtor sales.
Medford
Maureen,
You really didn't nedd to comment twice, or ARE you more Codger-like than we imagined? I might comment twice frogetting the first comment :)
Medford
Got me again! I'm not on meds, and Carl insists I'm a half-bubble off-center.
Medford