Update-a-roo
Maybe I will try a weekly update for people who are interested.
I went away over the weekend and it was the first time in months that I didn't feel paranoid about going to sleep at night. For three whole nights I just undressed, went to bed, and slept. No bed inspections, no feeling phantom bugs all over my body, no itching at phantom itches. Just pure, unadulterated sleep. And it was wonderful.
When I got home, I found that the feeling of safety followed me back to my apartment. I do still check the sheets before I go to sleep, but I have not found anything in over three weeks. I've gone from pulling the sheets off the bed and inspecting every fold and crack and lifting the mattress before going to bed to just giving the sheets a glance and maybe pulling the comforter aside to try to catch something unawares. So far, nothing.
I absolutely love my apartment, and it took us months to find it, not to mention a very hefty broker's fee that I could not come up with again. Since it has now been almost six weeks without any bedbug bites, I don't really see a need to try to break the lease and move out. The super has been REALLY wonderful about getting exterminators in for anything, even if I even smelled a bedbug. (I don't know if you can smell bedbugs, but I am sure that if I claimed I could, the super would send the exterminator right over.)
The really great thing is that whatever killed or sent the bedbugs on their way seems to also have had an effect on the roaches. I've only seen one or two since I got home on Monday, and they were little specks of roach. Barely registerable on the radar. I almost feel safe enough to go in the kitchen or bathroom without turning on a light first. At the risk of sounding like George Bush, I think we're making progress here.
Is anyone out there still suffering with these fuckers? Anyone want to share their story? Any way I can help? Drop me a line. I'd love to hear from you.
Here's to vanquishing the enemy.
I went away over the weekend and it was the first time in months that I didn't feel paranoid about going to sleep at night. For three whole nights I just undressed, went to bed, and slept. No bed inspections, no feeling phantom bugs all over my body, no itching at phantom itches. Just pure, unadulterated sleep. And it was wonderful.
When I got home, I found that the feeling of safety followed me back to my apartment. I do still check the sheets before I go to sleep, but I have not found anything in over three weeks. I've gone from pulling the sheets off the bed and inspecting every fold and crack and lifting the mattress before going to bed to just giving the sheets a glance and maybe pulling the comforter aside to try to catch something unawares. So far, nothing.
I absolutely love my apartment, and it took us months to find it, not to mention a very hefty broker's fee that I could not come up with again. Since it has now been almost six weeks without any bedbug bites, I don't really see a need to try to break the lease and move out. The super has been REALLY wonderful about getting exterminators in for anything, even if I even smelled a bedbug. (I don't know if you can smell bedbugs, but I am sure that if I claimed I could, the super would send the exterminator right over.)
The really great thing is that whatever killed or sent the bedbugs on their way seems to also have had an effect on the roaches. I've only seen one or two since I got home on Monday, and they were little specks of roach. Barely registerable on the radar. I almost feel safe enough to go in the kitchen or bathroom without turning on a light first. At the risk of sounding like George Bush, I think we're making progress here.
Is anyone out there still suffering with these fuckers? Anyone want to share their story? Any way I can help? Drop me a line. I'd love to hear from you.
Here's to vanquishing the enemy.
posted by Caitlin at 9:49 AM
11 Comments:
hi
i had a bed bug problem in my old apartment building, and it was the buidling, not anything i did, just like you. the building itself was 100+ years old, and there were bats and chimney swallows on the roof.
my landlord was not AS receptive, but did at least bring an exterminator once.
i had the problem there for a few months and was actually moving out, which was prearranged.
i packed in the most RIDICILIOUS fashion! i bought a steamer and steamed LITERALLY everything i own.
i washed EVERYTHING, 95% of it i either took to a laundromat or my parents house and then put in garbage bags which never entered the bed bug apt. again and the other 5% either got tossed or is in garbage bags here waiting to be washed.
when i was packing, i went through everything ,picture frames, taking the backs off, etc., cds, dvds--taking the little booklets out, etc. everything got steamed a zillion times, including my two futons. i bought zippered mattress and pillow covers.i lined boxes with garbage bags and then taped so no enter or exit avenues existed. i actually wouldnt be surprised if i ruined some stuff steaming it too much, like cds or dvd case.
so now, i am in a new apt. and still petrified. i havent found any while unpacking or anything, and i am being almost as thorough in my unpacking as i did with packing it originally. i did get these 3 little bites/marks on my leg the other night, but they didnt itch and were almost tender to the touch. i dont know, but i am kind of wondering if i worried so much that i worried them into being there, if that makes sense. also, i have seen lots of spiders in my apt. here and these little black bugs, which are not bed bugs, beleive me:)
the morning that i woke up with the marks on my leg, i basically ripped apart my room/stuff, flipped my futon over, looked in baseboards with my handy dandy maglite...basically went thru all the neurotic motions of looking for any evidence, and found none. and i feel like i totally know what to look for.....
i should have probably prefaced this story with the fact that my old apt. building wasnt infested, but they would only spray an affected unit, which only causes them to move, same with any other bug....i maybe actually SAW 5 or 6 in the whole 4-5 month period. there were like maybe 50 units in my buidling and 5 units(scattered all about the building, not like in a row or next to each otehr or anything) were having problems, that is, at least 5 units that were talking/knew what they were. they resemble mosquito bites so much taht i bet a lot of people just think they got bit by mosquitos and move on. so, i am not talking infestation by any means, but it was definitley on its way. so, my methods of taking care of it were excessive, but i just wanted the piece of mind. now, i am just dealing with coming down off the sick "high:; that is, not thinking everything is a bed bug bite and being so paranoid i am not sleeping unitl 2 or 3 am and then waking up every 30 minutes. so, i am kind of in the same boat...i know how hard it is to just let go and return to life as usual......
Hi, Caitlin — my saga continues, although God willing, I may be approaching its end.
Anonymous, it sounds as if you have done extensive work to try to make sure that you didn't get bedbugs in your new apartment. It's quite possible you did more work than you needed to, but I don't know.
The three bites that you received could possibly be bedbug bites, yes, but they could also be spider bites or mosquitoes. Are the three bites in a straight row? That is often a sign of a bedbug bite, as opposed to a bite by another insect. As gruesome as it may sound, the pattern is called the "breakfast/lunch/dinner" pattern; you can Google those words along with the word "bedbug" to see what I mean.
Were I in your shoes, as much as I would be frightened of what they might say, I would suggest that you hire an exterminator and ask him to perform an inspection on your new apartment, for your peace of mind. Here in Chicago, the exterminator I hired performed his inspection for free. If you are catching it early, then you may be able to soundly defeat them at your new apartment. If you put it off and try denying it, you may give them time to entrench themselves in your new apartment and your things.
Did you simply steam your futon? Or is it new to your apartment? The futon may be the source of your problems. I was extremely liberal in throwing things out. My mattress, my boxspring, my cat's bed, my desk chair, my cat's carrier (it had a carpeted bottom), a carpeted cat toy, and many other things found themselves swiftly thrown away lest they be a haven for the bedbugs to stay.
The exterminator, on his second visit to my apartment, found no bedbugs. Despite that, after his spraying, I have seen bedbug corpses that I think are new on the apartment floor. Because of this, I firmly am of a belief that bedbug infestations require professional intervention by exterminators who know how to treat bedbugs and who will employ poisons that will kill bedbugs in your defense. (For example, if the exterminator suggests he simply wants to fumigate the apartment, he most likely does not know how to treat bedbugs specifically.) I would suggest you consider retaining a professional exterminator with bedbug experience.
Finally — and I cannot stress this point more strongly enough, because to me, it was the most alarming part of your post — you are dealing with something that is causing you an extremely high level of stress and anxiety. This obviously has affected your sleeping patterns. I don't know when you need to wake up in the morning, but if you are truly going to bed at 2:00 am or 3:00 am and waking up every 30 minutes, you are never entering REM sleep and you are going to start showing very severe symptoms of sleep deprivation shortly, including degredation of your mental state. Your body and your mind require REM sleep. For your own physical health, you need to either seek counseling (there is no stigma attached to counseling — you are simply adding power tools to your mental toolbelt!) or you need to get either a sleep aid or an anti-anxiety medication prescribed by your doctor. You should consider this as important a health emergency as anything you could physically see on your body.
Lastly, keep in mind that this will end, one way or the other — it may even be done now, but I am urging the above simply for your own peace of mind — and remember that people who have gone through what you have have made it out the other end of the tunnel. Also, it may help to compare your own travails with those greater travails people have to deal with, such as, for example, the Katrina victims. I am taking strength from the tales of those who have gone before me, and I hope that you will as well. There are some links to other bedbug sufferers' blog entries in this entry at my website.
Good luck.
Mike
Thanks to all for sharing! Bedbugs blow the big one, big-time. I hate them all.
That said, I agree with Mike, Anonymous. If you suspect you may still have bedbugs in your apartment, you need to get an exterminator in there as soon as possible. They don't necessarily have to treat the apartment, just inspect it. They are trained for this and they know not only what to look for but specifically WHERE to look. When my exterminators came in, they looked in crevices that I didn't even know EXISTED. They even found a silk hand-embroidered scarf that was stuck behind the drawers in my nightstand that I didn't even know was there. It must have been left there by the previous owner.
Secondly, I also agree with Mike that maybe it's not enough just to steam and wash all of your possessions. You may have to toss a few items in the name of sanity. I too got rid of my mattress and box spring and if it came down to it, I would have also thrown away my antique dresser that has been passed down through my family for generations. Luckily, the exterminator seems to have the situation under control, just as yours would do for you should you decide to go that route.
All that said, I wish you both the best of luck as always! I fucking HATE bedbugs. I think they should all rot in hell forever.
Meanwhile, go take a shot of tequila and calm those nerves. :)
hi, its me annoynmous.
i didnt just steam my futon, i steamed the abso;ute crap out of it, essentially took them apart....they are easy to do that with, and bought mattress covers that zip for them after steaming the mattress itself.my boyfriend helped me with all of it. also , i showed him the bites and he didnt think they wer ebed bug bites, and he obvioulsy has seen my other ones and had ones of his own from sleeping at my old apt with me..... the funniest part about all of this is, i am in therapy!! haha. and i am dealing with it. its totally an axiety disorder which right now is manifesting into this. apparently, i love to worry, and right now have chosen to worry about this.
also, i dont think i stated this the first time, but my skin basically didnt react to the bites igot on my leg in the new place, where as, with a bed bug bite, I KNEW IMMEDIATLEY because it was soooo itchy. i have very sensitive skin, so i reacted very strongly to bed bug bites....but with these it was like no reaction. i noticed them bc i am obsessive about checking for bites and my very dry skin itched, but not hthe actual bites, the bites are either tender to the touch and i cant even feel them if i am just rubbing my hand across my leg....my roomie looked at them, and saw no entry point, and you could always see that on me when i had bed bug bites before.
also, my infestation was very very light originally, to the point the exterminator didnt feel comfortable spraying a second time, not bc he didnt know what to do bc, in my old city they were like he best people to deal with for that, but bc he didnt find it necessary. he knew what he was talking about and suggested i get a steamer for piece of mind, and also mentioned to my building manager in the old apt that i just needed to relax about it, and that looking for signs of them would drive me crazy.
so, basically, i think a lot of htis is my anxiety disorder and me needing to worry about something, it that makes sense to you. i am in a new city, starting a new school, away from my family and boyfriend....so yes, there is more going on here than just bed bugs.
i have anti anxiety medicine, and have had it for years which is now my best friend(but not in a bad way!) also, i work with kids who have phobias, i should probably have one of my bug kids help me!!! the even bigger kick in the pants is that i am going to school to be a psychologist.....
but yea, 3 bites in a row, but they are different sizes, but that is also typical of spider bites. i dont really think its a denial thing, bc i want to nip it in the bug in the slim event there is a problem........ also, i guess its not out of the question that i rubbed up against something funny or am having a reaction to my new roomies dog....
also i should say i slept there for about a week before i nnoticed the marks/bites and then two nights after and havent had any other problems, which i would like to take as an extremely positive sign.
i guess i will go the route for now that if i have another mysterious mark i will get an exterminator in to just take a look.....that sounds okay, right?
i guess i am not entirely convinced that this isnt just hte anxiety disorder taking over with coiencidential unrelated bites/marks(i am hesitant to eve call them bites, especially after my boyfried inspected them) sending me into a spiral......things like bed bugs shouldnt happen to anyone, particularly people with anxiety disorders...haha. bascially, i like to worry about stuff that i dont need to worry about and nothing i do need to worry about. like i will obess about beg bugs and my boyfriend(who is amazingly supportive and patient) instead of thinking about things like shcool, and how i am starting a career in my masters program.
i want someone to tell me that they are gone, but not even an exterminator can guarantee that.
my grandma had them back in teh day, and she told me i went way out of my way to take care of it......
and beleive me, I THREW STUFF OUT LIKE NOBODYS BUSINESS!!!!!!! my desk ,my pillow, lots of clothes...and the exterminator did spray 1x, but like i said he didnt even feel comfortable spraying a second time because it was so small of a problem.i dont even know if infestation is the correct word to use about my old building/old situation.... he only ever found ONE in my apt. also, in the process of moving out, i only found one dead one in an area i hadnt originally ispected.. also, it sounds like the two of your problems were on a much greater scale......
okay, i hope that explains it a little more......thanks. i just needed someone to talk to who had been thru it who wasnt sick of it being the only thing i can talk about....
Hello there, great blog. Here's a new website that talks about Spider Bites, so just drop by the site if you have a chance.
Hey everyone. I happened to find this site, because I can do nothing, but look up bed bug info. I swear my apartment has bed bugs. Here are how events have unfolded for me so far.
Sept. 10th - My girlfriend noticed about 7 bites on my back that we thought were mosquito bites from a cookout the night before.
Sept. 11th-16th - My girlfriend and I would both wake up with new "mosquito" bites. Typically 2-3 each. Also, my girlfriend saw a tv show about bed bugs during this time, so I looked all over our mattress and boxspring and saw absolutely nothing.
Sept. 17th - At 3 am I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. I kept thinking, even though I haven't seen any bed bugs we have all the telltale signs (except the blood marks on the sheets and our bites weren't typically 3 bites in a line...usually one bite in one place and one somewhere else.). So, I got up and with a flashlight began to look all over the mattress and boxspring. Still nothing. I must have looked for an hour with no results. Finally I noticed a tiny brown dot in the crease of the bed skirt. It was a bug. It didn't look flat to me and I am still unsure if it is a bed bug, but it is close enough for me. I found another about 1 foot away from the first in another crease, but no more. I immediately took all of the linens off of the bed and washed them in boiling hot water...5 times. I again searched the mattres and box spring and found nothing. At about 9 am I went out and bought a steamer, allergen covers for my mattress, boxspring, and pillows, vaseline, duct tape, and some of those huge ziploc bags. I began cleaning at about 1pm. I took the bed apart and inspected the mattress and boxspring as well as the cast-iron frame. Nothing. I steamed the hell out of the mattress, box spring and frame. I also looked through and steamed our nighstands. Still nothing.
Sept. 18 - I continue cleaning. I emptied out all furniture in the bedroom and steamed it all. I washed all pillows in boiling hot water. I dried our featherbed and down comforter on high for many many cycles. I steamed the entire carpet and along the baseboards. While steaming, I found a bug that is probably the right size for a bed bug, but I am again uncertain. Aside form that I have found nothing. I ripped the bedroom apart and found nothing.
Do you think it may be possible that bed bugs are not my problem? I am trying to convince my landlord to have an exterminator come and look. Until then, I have put the allergen covers on my mattress, box spring, and pillows, coated the legs of my bed with vaseline and moved the bed away from all furniture. I am pretty sure we will be moving. Even if the exterminator can take care of all the little bastards. Oh, that reminds me, here is another important event in the timeline.
Sept. 7 - Our neighbor came to our apartment for coffee and told my girlfriend that she and her husband had been getting biten by something, but she didn't know what. it was about 3 days after this that I started to get biten.
This neighbor (we live in a 3 family home in Boston, MA, i.e. first floor is one apartment, second floor is another, etc.....we live on the third and the neighbor I am speaking of lives on the second.) has done a lot of nice things for us in the past, but once my girlfriend brought up that we might have bed bugs she completely refused to believe that she could have them. I spoke with her the next day and she was very angry about my girlfriend and I making such a big deal out of something that she was sure was nothing. She told me that there are a lot of things that could be the result of the bites.
Maybe I am just looking for someone to blame, but I find it odd that she was getting biten a few days before us and now she says she is not getting bitten anymore. So, we will likely be moving to get away from the bugs, but also because we don't want to deal with her anymore. I am just paranoid about accidentally taking some of those little bastards with me. I am sure you guys know a lot more about this than me. Do I have to toss all of my furniture? I think I could live with tossing the mattress and boxspring, the couch, and fabric covered chairs, but I can steam clean the wood furniture and be ok, right? Also, I have clothes that will absolutely shrink if I was them in hot water. Will the high heat drying cycle do the trick?
Thanks for any advice you can offer and I agree with everyone...bed bugs fucking suck.
Brad, I highly suggest you post your questions to the Yahoo! bedbug support group, as you'll get the best information possible there.
Hi guys. A quick question for you all... nearly three weeks ago I slept in someone's bed who just that day noticed a few bumps on her body that almost looked like a rash.
In the middle of the night, I woke up with a very itchy shoulder and noticed I had had a few bites on my arm and shoulder. We were sure she had bed bugs.
I left immediately, went home, and over my living room floor took all of my clothes off and carefully put them directly in a sealed garbage bag. I hung up my jeans in my room apart from anything else, because I thought they were safe -- weren't on me during the night -- and I similarly left my sneakers somewhere isolated on my floor. The next day I washed and dried everything in the bag on the hottest setting. A couple of days later I did the jeans, too (hadn't re-worn them) after I realized the stakes were high when it came to bed bugs.
Here's where the question comes in... the second full day, I noticed a few additional bites, like one on my other shoulder, and 3 on my calf. I got scared that the bedbugs did migrate with me to my apartment.
HOWEVER, I've gone more than two weeks without having any bites, so I'm suspecting that those other bites were really from the first night, and maybe just got irritated enough for me to notice them a day later (after rubbing against my work clothes, etc).
Do you think that this is at all possible, or is it likely enough that I have bed bugs that bit me once, that second day, and haven't touched me since? Should I just keep waiting to see if I get any bites? I've looked around all the usual places and don't see any bugs... so I really don't know what else I can do to be certain. Does this meet the threshold of calling an expert to take a look? Or any other course of action?
Thanks a lot!
MNYC
Hi well a couple weeks ago, starting off my regular ruetine for work, a few minuets pass, and i start to feel these little bubble,bouncing,itching,biteing sensation? I felt them everywhere, my legs,my stomach, my arms, ive washed my outfit 100s of times? i dont understand? what could this be? can anyone help? please?
I live in Paris and had bed bugs once in my old apartment which I eradicated with a spray. Now I've moved and they have come back (eggs hidden in the mattress or duvet I guess). I've washed the duvet at 90º but then I saw one crawling on the mattress. What I would like to know is do these things thrive in futons? I've got a genuine Japanese hand made futon all made of cotton wad, I guess it's not treated with preservatives. Must I throw it away (it's 6 years old).
Answer to anonymous above: it could be fleas. Had a rash that sounded like that and the pharmacist said it was 'parquet fleas' and gave me a cream that cleared it up. The bedbug spray seemed to kill the fleas too.
Hi there,
So I'm in need of major help. I moved to Brooklyn about 4 months ago, and started getting mysterious bites about 2 months after the move...just one bite every 2 or 3 weeks, always in a completely different spot. The bites last for weeks, and are very swollen, red and itchy. I was convinced it was bedbugs, even though I had never seen any, so I began treating. I've isolated my bed, covered the mattress and boxspring and duct-taped the zippers, washed everything, spread vaseline and double sided tape around the bed legs, and treated the room with Diatomaceous Earth. For three weeks I had no problems, then was suddenly bitten again. I did the same treatment, washed everything, etc, and have kept my bed isolated, away from walls and furniture, ever since the 1st bite occurred months ago. But now I'm being bitten every nite several times.
My question is, how could I be getting bitten if I've isolated my bed so completely? It doesn't make sense to me...I don't have a wooden bed frame, and have covered, sealed, treated, and washed everything I sleep on several times. Could it be something besides bedbugs? Fleas or mites maybe? How long do bedbug bites typically last? I have still never seen one to date, but at this point you could play connect the dots on my body, and it's driving me crazy. Please advise!
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