Diagnosis

If you suspect that you're being bitten by bedbugs, immediately inspect your home for the insects. Thoroughly examine crevices in walls, mattresses and furniture. You may need to perform your inspection at night when bedbugs are active.

Look for these signs:

• Dark specks. Typically found along mattress seams, these specks are bedbug excrement.
• Empty exoskeletons. Bedbugs molt five times before becoming adults. These empty skins are pale yellow.
• Rusty or reddish stains. You may find small smears of blood on your bed sheets where you accidentally crushed a bedbug.