A few days after moving in, though, I started noticing odd, itchy bumps appearing on my skin—mostly on my legs and back. I hadn’t changed my hygiene routine, was using the same shampoo, and showering regularly, so I began to suspect that something in the apartment might be causing it.
Before I could afford a visit to the doctor, I turned to the internet to figure out what might be behind the itching. Everything I read seemed to point to bed bugs. The apartment was quite old, and the mattress had clearly been there for years. Even so, when I examined it closely, I couldn’t find any obvious signs of infestation. Still, I took precautions: I left the mattress out on the balcony in direct sunlight for an entire day and layered several bed covers before sleeping on it again. Unfortunately, the situation didn’t improve, and I had no choice but to continue sleeping there for the rest of the week.
According to the NHS, bed bugs are tiny insects that typically live in furniture or bedding. Although their bites aren’t dangerous to health, they can be extremely itchy and uncomfortable.