I believe you can see bedbugs. Maybe these are chigger bites. This site might help you pin it down.

Maybe it is an alergic reaction rather than bites?

Here is a link that might be useful: Bite ID

Do you have pets?

Could be fleas.

Def. not fleas (knock on wood!). I'm terribly allergic to them.

Graywings - you know I kinda thought chiggers too only because I remember in bootcamp that they kept warning us about chiggers and that they liked to burrow into skin around our boot bands. I keep finding the concentration of bites around the waistbands of my underwear, jammies and the elastic band of my built in bra of my jammie top.

Thanks for that link BTW. I think that tomorrow on my day off I'm just going to rip the rm. apart, vacuum, vacuum, vacuum, dust, mop and buy zippered mattress covers for both my mattress and box spring to be on the safe side. Nothing in, nothing out.

latex allergy?

Squirrel,
I stopped dressing in latex in the 90's when I finally outgrew my club yrs :O)!

spiders?

What squirrel was getting at, I believe, is that there is possibly latex in the elastic bands and possibly the mattress.

Is your mattress encased in vinyl? I do this as soon as I get a new mattress. Dust mites get inside pillows and mattresses. I got bit by an ant the other day and the area swelled up. I took an antihistamine right away.

Good luck.

lol, not sure what that means! But, I was thinking the elastic bands and even the foam mattress content itself : )

Ooops, sorry - TMI! Ha ha - I'm an idiot (and was also just joking. Sort of :O)! PB - thanks for clearing that up because I was also thinking at the time, well I had my tubes tied w/ the last baby so... Like I said - an idiot!

We've had the mattress for 3yrs now and I'm vaguely recalling getting bit like this last yr. at around the same time. I could also be remebering incorrectly as this itching is driving me insane!

Threegrad, I have a waterproof cover on it but that's it at this time.

You'll know if you get a chigger bite. The itch from a bite lasts for days! It's the most miserable itch there is outside poison ivy. But chiggers are in grass.

If you think it could be bed bugs, you need to up the water temp above 120. 120 isn't very hot, it's what we're supposed to use in case there are small children in the house so they won't get a scald.

You know, it does sound like you have an allergy in the material that is around parts of your skin.

Try sleeping in a gown with no elastic and no undies and see what happens. Or a big tee shirt.

You mention same time last year. With the recent heat it could be exacerbating an allergy.

This may sound weird but spray some Off all over your legs and see if that changes anything. If no bugs bite you with the off, it's not an allergy but real bugs. Also take an antihistamine if you do get bit. That will help with itch.

It's so frustrating when you have to suffer while trying to figure out what is happening.

If you aren't 100% sure they are bites, it could be a detergent allergy. I had a similar problem and discovered I was allergic to one of those all-natural, organic fabric detergents. Seventh Generation, I think. Buy some other detergent (All Free and Clear, or something else with no fragrances but also no plant matter, just plain old-fashioned chemicals, LOL) and rewash your sheets and nightshirt, and see if that helps.

But if they are bites, I don't know.

Sort of OT but re: the OFF!, I got an OFF! clip on fan and so far so good. I ventured outside for a quick walk around the house to dump collected water and I didn't get bit by mosquitoes once! Now it was only a few minutes but in the past I could figure on at least 3 or 4 bites before making it down to the yard even doused in bug spray.

So if you get bit by bugs outdoors you may want to consider this gadget. I'm going to test it a little more before buying more for my kids since it seems like it could get pricey, but so far I'm pleased.

If something was biting me I'd spray the beejeezuz out of the room with permethrin.

No ideas to offer but I am so sorry you are suffering. Poor thing.

Red

Hmmm...on your back; you bathe at night... I'm not thinking bed bugs (esp if you don't travel and it's only you with the 'bites')...I'm leaning toward a dermatitis type thing. I had a very similar thing with the top of my feet. Only the top of my feet, and it was what looked like little bug bites. Itched like mad, too.

Dr. said he believes it's an allergic reaction to something, probably my socks. I'm thinking you ought to rule out something in your bathing routine...shampoo or soap? Or even your detergent that could be on your towel. The hot water from the shower may exacerbate the issue that is why you notice it more in bed. And if you're sleeping with even slightly damp skin, it could be worse.

Try changing your routine for a bit, see what happens. Also, check your blankets. Might be a spider in there and it won't be affected by your laundering your sheets. But I'm still leaning toward a skin reaction since your DH has not symptoms.

ttod,
You poooor thing! I feel for you, I really DO understand!

I'm going to tell you a rather long story, and really there IS a point to it.:)
With any luck, maybe it will zero in on your problem or maybe it won't help you but just maybe it will help someone else who's going through this.

Exactly what you describe is what was happening to me three years ago.
At first I too thought chiggers. Then fleas, then mosquitoes then allergies from something I got in to.

Never on my face. The first couple weeks it was only on my torso and a few on my legs, usually the outside thigh area.
Going into the second month I would wake up with the little 'bites' on the outside of my arms then on my outer calf area.
More and more, month after month.
Doctor was baffled. Sent me to a dermatologist who sent me to some uppity-up specialist who asked me how often I bathed as in his words, it looked like it was a case of bad hygiene!

Back to square one.
Every day from the moment I put my feet on the floor until I crawled in bed, I checked, double-checked and then added to my spiral notebook list of things I came in contact with that day.

Another doctor who didn't want me in his office because he feared I was contagious, prescribed a lotion for scabies over the phone.I used it as directed, no results but I did learn it causes cancer. Neat.

A whole year and bottles and bottles of liquid Benadryl and OTC itch creams later, I was again sanitizing the family room.
The fold-out couch was rather heavy so I asked my son to give me a hand moving it.
As my son got behind the couch he asked "Mom, what's this????"
Heck, looked like someone had sprinkled a whole container of tan baby powder on the back of the couch...the part you lean against.

Long story a bit shorter......
The couch was in front of the very large window.
Outside that window, with it's fronds just reaching the window screen the year before....was our Australian Fern Tree.
A bit of Columbo'ing and here's what we figured out.....
The fern would create this really tiny, very fine powdery stuff on the underside of it's fronds....it's spores.
The air would blow those fine particles against and into the screen and onto the couch.

I took my daily nap on that couch!
My face was at the far end of the window, and my head was elevated and resting on a hand towel.

Even though I would vac the couch, those teensy spores from the Australian Fern Tree would just filter back in through the screen as fast as I vac'd.
I never saw that little powdery spore stuff...they are a golden color as Was the print on our couch (notice I say "Was" ?)

I'd take a nap and those spores would stick to my skin. I'd crawl in bed taking the spores into bed with me where they had even more time to embed into my pores.
I took a shower every morning but lie on the couch again and if I didn't nap on the couch, I'd crawl into bed at night where the spores, that I took to bed with me the previous night, were waiting for me.
Hubby never once was bothered by the spores in bed.

DX= terribly allergic to spores from ferns. And of course, ferns of any kind are my very favorite plant life in my back yard.

Moral : A year and a couple thousand dollars later, and arms, torso and legs full of scars today, going nuts changing detergents, clothing manufacturers, sanitizing my home, not touching anything I was not familiar with.......
And it all came down to fern spores that came in through my window screen (Southern Calif----that window remains open all year).

Whatever you have, I really feel for you! I know getting a good night's sleep isn't easy when you are itching and worrying about what is causing those little red 'bites' you're losing even more sleep......it's sooooo frustrating!
Maybe start thinking outside the box.
Wish I would have...would have saved me a lot of time, money and stress!

I hope whatever it is that is eating you, you find out soon.
Please keep us updated!

The little diddy one or both of my parents would chant as they put me to bed when I was a wee little one;

Good Night, Sleep Tight.
Don't let the bedbugs bite!

But if they do
Grab your shoe
And beat them til they're black and blue!

Fascinating story, amity!

Thank you all for your input, ideas and advice.

I slept in lose fitting clothes the past 2 nights and it seems a tiny bit better. This morning DH said my back looks much better. Unfortunately when I showed him my upper you know what he said that didn't look better.

I looked at my bath products - no changes there for about a yr (that was a good call though!).

I sifted through pictures that you posted and found similar 'bites' but after reading Amity's story I wonder if it's not an allergic reaction or some type of contact dermititis. I just assumed that it would look 'rashy' and these look like tiny little pin pricks until I start scratching.

I've been checking the kids and nothing on them. The cats that sleep w/ me aren't scratching out of the ordinary.

I cleaned from top to bottom today removing the mattress and box springs then scrubbing the bedframe. I moved everything out from underneath the bed. I didn't see any bug residue or casings so again, I'm thinking skin thing.

Now that I've calmed down a bit I've realized that despite being an incredibly light sleeper I haven't woken once because I felt something on me or that I was getting bitten. Again leading me back to a skin thing.

Funny - every night my boys and I say the Good Night thing and the past few nights I've kind of mumbled my way through it. Didn't want to 'encourage' anything or make or true!

You say that you bathe at night. You say you haven't changed products, but maybe your products have changed.

I bought 10 bars of Pears Soap some time back, and I had to stop using it because of the affect on my skin in sensitive areas. I'm wondering whether I got a bad batch.

Interesting - I just picked my kids up at my in-laws and my MIL & FIL have the exact same problem! This is even affecting their dogs (not cats though). Exact same area, everything! They said it seems confined to the bedroom only. Their bites/ rash are in the same area on the body too. My FIL tore their bedroom apart yesterday looking for the telltale signs of bugs but found nothing. He bombed yesterday in the bedroom and they have appts. for the dogs at the vets. I'll fill you in on what they find out!

I hope it is not bedbugs as they are very hard to get rid of according to my bug guy ( who was at my house this week due to Carpenter Ant invasion!) A zippered mattress cover does not stop them and he says once you have them, you might as well throw out the bed. But, he said there is a little black box, $4 or so, that you can put on the wall and if you have bedbugs they will get in there and you will know right away. The stories he told me of bedbugs in hotels was making me cringe!!!