I am going to post this here. I would like some support. It is not about dieting at all so if not interested please read no further.
I have bedbugs. Sigh. I do not even want to bring this up in therapy group due to the negative conotations. I will tell you I am not a hoarder, DH and I are very clean, and if anyone has lived through this you may not want to make it public and you can always send me a pm. I am just very down about this. I had them about 2 years ago in an apartment building. I got them from the neighbour that lived below me,, they crawled through the heating vents. I was getting bitten for months. Everyone told me no way they are bed bugs,, they are mosquito bites. My DH never shows signs of being bitten. So we had two sprays and they were gone.
If anyone knows anything about this, then you know the cost and how much work this is. You have to vacuum daily and throw the bag out each time. You have to wash and dry all clothing, sheets, towels etc. YOu have to live out of plastic bags for a month at least. You end up doing laundry everyday. You search all books etc. You toss stuff out. I bought bed bug covers for two pillows today and it cost me $50. I had a mattress cover already. I just bought a new bed from Sleep Country two months ago.
So I have only lived in this new building for 2 months and I have bedbugs. Second time in 2 years. I have no idea where they came from. A neighbour could have them and not report them to managment. I do not know how anyone on a low income or who is elderly or disabled could even cope. It is so much physical work. And so costly to get rid of. We are not even having to pay for the spraying as they building manager does that. So in theory some people may have them and may not know or not report it for whatever reason. Or maybe one hijacked me or DH somewhere. I do not know.
We even bought a new steamer and steamed the rugs. We had to buy tons of bins the first time so still have those. DH and I spent over $1,000 2 years ago on this. We had to buy covers, etc. bins, so many garbage bags, washing everything at the laundramat etc. Crazy.
Not to mention the mental distress over this. I am getting bites and search and search and see no bugs.
So in two weeks we get spray number two. I hope that will be all clear.
Thanks to those of you who read this far even if you do not respond.
I only have one experience with bed bugs, thank god. It was back in 2007 and I had moved from FL to VA. I made the drive with my ex-boyfriend (we were dating at the time) and I didn't have a home set up to move into, so we stayed at a hotel in the town I was moving to for the first week. Me, being pretty cheap when it comes to certain things, opted to stay at the Days Inn. It was a small college town and I guess football season was in full swing, so rooms were expensive and hard to come by. When I saw the Days Inn right off the main road, close to my new job location, and it was only gonna cost me $85 a night, I hopped on it. The first morning I woke up, I was itching on my neck and shoulders, but thought nothing of it. Later that day, I started showing what looked like a cross of mosquito bites and blisters. I saw some little black bugs on the mattress, but I've never seen bed bugs (I didn't even know it was a real thing up till then), so all I saw were bugs and I wanted to change rooms. My ex went to the front desk and told them this, but they brushed us off and said they had no other available rooms. I didn't think anything too serious, so we ended up staying the rest of the week.
I found an apartment and moved my stuff in that weekend. I remember looking at myself in the mirror and seeing all these blisters and red bumps literally covering my entire neck and arms. I thought I had caught the pox or something. I started looking up my symptoms on the internet, and realized it was bed bugs. Then I read up on them and found out they can travel in your luggage and infest your home. I was freaked out. Fortunately, I never found them in that apartment. It was a horrendous situation, though. I felt dirty. Those marks on me were so embarrassing. I started a new job covered in bed bug bites! I had to try to hide it under my clothes and put make up on my neck. Funny enough, my ex maybe had one bite mark on him, but they feasted on me. Suffice it to say, that was the last time I stayed at a budget hotel and I avoid all Days Inns and their affiliates like the plague.
I can only imagine what you're going through. I remember being so paranoid I had brought them back to my brand new apartment. Can you guys get your place tented or something? Is there a way to kill them all off in one swoop? Now you got me worried 'cause I live in an apartment again and didn't know they could travel through vents!
Last edited by Lakilaulea; 11-01-2012 at 03:04 PM.
How awful! They are everywhere nowadays. It's NOT anything you did or didn't do. One of my friends basicly had to move out of her house, through out most of her belongings and smog the house. And she is a very clean and tidy person. Having bed bugs does not mean anything other than you are extremely unlucky in this situation. They are rampant and it's turning into a huge problem. They can live for months in between "feedings" and that is one reason they are so hard to get rid of. I'm so sorry!!!
I haven't had them thank God, but I watched a show where they sealed the house somehow and a company came in and heated the house. I don't remember how hot it had to be and for how long but the bugs literally roasted to death along with the eggs/babies. It was on a show called infested on animal planet. I know they are a huge pain in the tush, and boy do I feel for you. It isn't just cheap motels that can have them, some of the ritziest places have them as well.
Good luck on getting rid of them, I really hope the second treatment works.
Gah, now I am itchy, mosquitoes! Fleas! Bed bugs! Head lice! I wonder what purpose these pests serve.
Edited to add: I just looked they used panels to heat the rooms to 130 degrees but I couldn't watch to see how long. It is on a show called verminators as well.
I don't think its anything to be embarrassed about. The bedbug population has just exploded in the last few years in the United States for a few reasons - resistant to chemicals, regulating strong chemicals that work, etc.
I don't know how good those sprays really are. I know the heat treatment works but is outrageously expensive. I'm glad the landlord is picking up the tab and I hope it works.
I don't know if there's any way for you to move to a single family home or not, but it sounds like living in multi unit places anymore are just not working. You can't control your neighbors
I'm terrified of picking them up somewhere..even when traveling I'm worried they'll hitch a ride on my suitcase while running through the airport trolleys.
I did a lot of bedbug research this past year, because I was convinced that I had picked up one from a hotel I stayed in with my sister. I was sure I had picked one up and brought it home (I still think I did).
For several months, every three weeks or so I would get a bite or two or three, usually three (in the triangle pattern of three bites that is stereotypical of bedbug bits).
Hubby was convinced it was spider or misquito bites. and that it couldn't be bed bugs because he wasn't being bitten (but apparently many people have absolutely no inflammatory reaction from the bites. They don't feel them and don't get a rash of any kind).
So maybe hubby was getting bitten and didn't notice. All I know is that they were itchier than any bug bite I'd ever had, and they got very, very dark red.
We were extremely lucky that our bedbug (if that's what it was) apparently has moved on to bloodier pastures (either to one of the neihbors or to bed-bug heaven), as I havent had a bite in six months and after all the research I did, I feel like we dodged an extremely itchy bullet.
You definitely don't have to be an untidy person to get bed bugs. Sure hoarders often get them, but not necessarily because they're hoarders, but because the more places they have to hide, the harder it is to get rid of them (and many of the mental problems that can come with hoarding makes it unlikely for the hoarders to try very hard), which is why hoarders are associated with vermin of various types. It's harder to find and exterminate vermin in a hoarding situation, but anyone can get vermin (of most types).
In graduate school, the graduate apartments (owned by the college) were so cockroach infested that the apartment had to be sprayed virtually every month. It got to the point that I kept my dishes, silverware, glasses and all my pantry food in the refrigerator, so I could be reasonably sure cockroaches hadn't crawled on any of it. I'd wash my pots and pans before and after cooking.
I had a pet rat, and I used to tell friends that I'd bought the rat to eat the cockroaches (I was tempted to let him loose in the apartment at night to do so, but I figured he'd either be poisoned by the poisons in the symptoms of the poison-eating cockroaches, or by the poison the cockroaches hadn't eaten).
Don't be embarassed about it! As Vex said, bed bugs became a real problem in the last few years. EVERYBODY can have some
I sympathize though. I never had to go through that , but one of my close friend did and it looks like a real pain in the ***. I can totally understand you being exausted.
Is the manager of the building know the situation? Maybe some other appartments have some too. To make sure all the building is clear from them could be cool, you wouldn't need to spend all this money because of someone else lack of sense of responsability
That sucks so badly, I'm sorry! I haven't had an infestation, myself, but like lots of other insects it isn't actually a failure of the homeowner that results in population booms - it doesn't make you or your house dirty. I hope you find a solution that is less time consuming and expensive
Well, a few months ago, I found a scorpion resting in the folds of my night gown and another on the ceiling. I don't think anyone will ever visit us again. Apparently scorpion infestations are expensive and difficult to get rid of, too. I have only seen those two in the house, and apparently the type that lives in our area are not terribly dangerous, but, yuck anyway.
We also have big fuzzy tarantulas and red, stinging ants.
Like others have stated on here, I read that there has been a big increase in the bed bug population. I am sorry they chose you to move in with.
Just for entertainment, maybe you should try to figure out how many extra calories you are using in you eradication efforts.
Many years ago...when I was single (just celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary) my roommate and I moved into an old house that had been turned into a 4 plex. One of the other tennants had bed bugs and didn't report it. Shortly after moving in I started to get bites. With in 6 weeks I looked like I had the Queen Mother case of the chicken pox. It was AWFUL! We had the apartment smogged and steamed several times. I was super sensative to the bites. My mother is a germ-o-phobe and wouldn't let me come stay with her for fear I would bring them into her home. After 5 months of living there the place was condemmed. We didn't have much for furniture (fresh out of high school) my roommate and I literally left with little more than the clothes on our backs. It was awful.
Maybe I could send you some of the brown recluse spiders my house is infested with. They might eat some of the bedbugs. I have lived in this house for about 10 years and it has been crawling with them since day one. Sprays don't seem to kill them either. I swear if the termites, spiders and ants all moved out my house would collapse.
Maybe I could send you some of the brown recluse spiders my house is infested with. They might eat some of the bedbugs. I have lived in this house for about 10 years and it has been crawling with them since day one. Sprays don't seem to kill them either. I swear if the termites, spiders and ants all moved out my house would collapse.
This literally made me LOL when I read it! We had cane spiders in my childhood home. Not poisonous, but big hairy things that could jump something unbelievable and no amount of spray would kill them. We also had giant flying cockroaches. They were EVERYWHERE in my hometown, you could have the cleanest house and it didn't matter. Just thinking of those cockroaches are making my skin crawl.... I would MUCH rather have a bed bug crawling on my leg than one of those roaches!
As others stated, it's nothing to be embarassed about. Just like anyone can get lice, anyone can get bed bugs, and they are awful!
Thankfully we're mostly pest free, we have a dog but no ticks or fleas. He was a rescue and had lots of ticks from a farm he was at. OMG I was paranoid for EVER that they'd get off him and on our kids. I had that dog deticked and dipped probably three times before I really relaxed.
Now we just deal with an occassional regular black roach or wolf spider (ACK!). I lived in an apartment once that was infested with brown German Cockroaches which are freaking hard to get rid of (not quite like bed bugs though) and also travel from home to home in suitcases. I had my bed in the middle of the room because I was afraid they'd crawl up the wall. I lost a lot of sleep and only made it a month before I had to move. Ugh! Bugs!
Not for the faint of heart
