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Invisible Biting Bugs at Night
Everyone wants to have a nice, peaceful sleep at night. But you cannot sleep if you have to fight off tiny creatures throughout the night. Not being able to see them makes it even worse. Nightmarish. Waking up in the night wondering, "What the hell are these?"
We've all had such unfortunate moments. If you have not experienced such yet, lucky you. Sometimes having to live with the tiny creatures is beyond our control. It just happens. Sometimes we can connect dots and know how, when and why it happened. Sometimes we don't know much except longing that one sweet day we will look forward to getting into bed and not having a war with biters at night.
We should also consider the fact that there might not be bugs afterall. Some allergies cause itching and might feel like crawling biters beneath your skin. Could be an allergy towards cold or a certain fabric. Whatever it is, don't dare try living with it, seek professional help because you will naturally scratch and too much scratching will eventually land you into yet another skin condition.
Below are the probable creatures keeping you awake at night.
Bedbugs
Bedbugs are usually the first culprits. They run very fast. As soon as you switch on the light the bedbugs would have already taken cover. But bedbugs are not invisible. They are just fast. Also, take time and look into your sheets. You will see some red spots. Bedbug blood. You turned in your bed and smashed a bug after it had scavenged on you. A red spot while you are definitely not bleeding is a sign that your bed is infested with bedbugs. If you ever see a single bedbug crawling aimlessly on your bed just start assembling your combat gear. Seeing bedbugs, even just one, means that they are congested wherever they are hiding and some are looking for better places to hide. They breed very fast. Tackle them before they take over your house.
There are all kinds of home remedies from pouring parrafin on the bed, boiling the beddings, people will try anything while desperate. Some moved out of their homes or even left or burnt all their furniture. Those aren't long term remedies. It only takes one bedbug hiding in your sleeves for a whole generation to erupt. Well, maybe you should jump ship while naked just to be sure that you do not have any bedbugs on you, ha!
Anyway, the best and most effective methods of killing bedbugs involve getting some pesticides that will also kill the larvae in cracks. Boiling the beddings is a bad idea because it only ends up damaging the fabrics. It's not unusual to see bedbugs crawling on the same fabric that you boiled. We should also note that bedbugs are not caused by dirt. Any household, no matter how clean, can be invaded by bedbugs. Cleaning will not prevent future invasions. Cleaning regularly will also not keep the bedbugs away and if it does, it will only be coincidental. Bedbugs are simply not caused by dirt.
Fleas
These tiny creatures will be a nightmare not just at night but throughout the day. They jump from host to host. They bite very hard. It gets very itchy. You will end up treating wounds if you do not curb this menace while it is at its earliest stages.
Just like bedbugs, fleas breed very fast. Do you have a furry friend in your house? That's the first step. If you have chicken or cats or a dog, get them dusted with the right pesticide as recommended by the pharmacist or vet. After that, dust the whole house. Getting rid of fleas is not as difficult as getting rid of bedbugs. As soon as they inhale the powder, the fleas will vanish.
Mosquitoes
If you are being bitten by creatures that you cannot see then they are probably flying off as soon as you try to scratch that itch. Mosquitos are not just biters but also vectors of serious diseases such as Malaria which is very common in some parts of Asia and Africa.
The bite leaves a bump and you might wake up to bumps all over your face. Mosquitoes can be kept away with insecticides. They breed in bushes and stagnant water and hence you should clear the bushes and keep the water moving. Sleeping in nets also helps, especially for persons who are out on a camping adventure.
Mites
There are very many types of mites, including dust mites which exist in millions in the air we breathe - but they do not bite. They might cause allergies. You will probably sneeze a lot if they are too many or you may have more serious ashmatic reactions but that's about it. There's no day a dust mite will ever bite you.
The mite biting you could be the mite that causes scabies, commonly known as the itch mite. It burrows in the skin. The itch is often worse at night.You are distracted during the day so you probably don't notice. But if you bask in the sun your blood vessels enlarge and hence the mites move more beneath your skin. If you are the only one in your household complaining about being bitten, then you probably have the mites in your skin. Scabies.
Scabies is not caused by dirt. It is stigmatised because people imagine that it is caused by poor hygiene, which is false. Anyone can be a scabies patient. It is highly contagious. The mites can spread from one host to the next, cleanliness notwithstanding, and they are not limited to human beings only.
You will not know if you are suffering from scabies until several weeks later when the itching starts. You need to seek medical attention when it is in its earliest stages because the more it progresses the harder it gets to treat it. Treating scabies involves applying special prescribed lotion (the most common being Benzyl Benzoate as a component) on your body and it will be gone within a few days. Some people swear by aloe vera gel, sometimes in its natural form. It is important to note that scabies will not disappear until it is treated.
Lice
Just like mites, the itching might be worse at night since you were distracted during the day. They are very tiny creatures and will lay their eggs, nits, on your hair or clothes. The nits on your scalp will seem like dandruff. But if you are keen, you will also feel the grown lice crawling. We feel itchy when they bite us because we react to its saliva.
Tackling lice depends on the type of louse. If it's the pubic louse, shaving "down there", bathing regularly and cleaning undergarments will do the trick. If its the body louse, cleaning clothes and beddings might be all you have to do. For the hair lice, you may need to get the right medication over the counter, then shave the hair or comb out the nits. Mites and Lice can be eliminated by the same medication.
Lice breed very fast. They are contagious and anyone can have lice no matter how clean we have been.
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