Health Issues I have bed bugs...need help and condolences!

silva

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I have bed bugs!!!:bag:
About a month ago, I started itching on my hands and feet. Seemed like eczema the first week.
Then my arms and legs itched terribly. Then I saw one! :argh::yuck:
My mattress had them on the piping seam. It was a dark line. When I wiped with a tissue it moved!
I called an exterminator who will come out Monday.

My biggest dilemma is I have 10 cats. He assured me when the chemicals are dried they're not toxic to humans or animals. I forget the name. but not pyretheins (sp?)
That, and the cats had access to my bedroom. Until about month ago, only one cat would come up on my bed, then weirdly, I had multiple visits. I'm so afraid they might have spread them, although I don't have reason to suspect it. I'd been sleeping on the couch for the last three nights, and no longer itch. I've been over everything.
Another problem, is my room is very messy. Clothes are on the floor. A blanket is thrown on the floor that the cats lay on. I have a litter box. It's carpeted. There are boxes of stuff under the bed.
I have no problem getting rid of the mattress after it's been treated. I'm just so scared of spreading them to other places. The pest guy said to vacuum, and then wash the canister and hose with scalding water, but mine is an upright and it seems like there are so many places that I couldn't wash. That, and put everything in the dryer. I tried to bundle the sheets and stuff in plastic bags, saw another one, and freaked out and left. I'm now hoping he can just spray everything, and then I can throw it all out
I'll miss my big pillows most.
Has anyone gone through this?
I'm NOT asking about it being "right" or not. Parasites in my home are not "right".
Any information would be sooo appreciated!:sadnod:

BTW, The only thing I can think of is a bag of clothes from the thrift store I laid out on my bed. I knew better, but I did it anyway. That was just about a month ago!
 
Ugh...thankfully, for me, I've never gone through the.
If you wash all clothing and bedding that you think came in contact with the bugs, and then dry them on high high, twice, it should get rid of them at least on those items. At that point you can bag the clothing/bedding for storage until the infestation is gone. You have my sympathies...good luck!
 
Is there anyone in your area who treats bedbugs with freezing? I've seen that bedbugs are becoming resistant to the chemicals commonly used to treat them, but freezing them is effective. Basically, the exterminator blasts freezing cold air all the places they would spray chemicals, and it just kills them. No chemicals involved.

As far as the clothes, blankets, etc., I would wash everything in HOT water, then dry at the high temperature. That would take care of the bedbugs there.
 
:hug:

It really sucks but you're probably going to end up having to throw everything away and starting over once the pest man does his thing. My dad knows a guy who had them and the things were such a pain in the ***.
 
Thank you all! I'm having such anxiety over this!
I've a nutcase about bugs- and everywhere I look there's a spot that could be a bug, but ends up just a spot, or fuzz.
My sheets, and blanket are a dark red- doesn't help! The mattress pad is covered in spots of red fuzz.
They will be replaced with all white, and the mattress itself covered in a plastic.

I know about washing and drying on high heat, I'm just so paranoid about spreading them. Not only in my own house, but what about the trash?
Should I bag all clothes and stuff to wash, risking them staying in the bag I throw out? Or wait until he sprays?
My house is detached, and they do seem limited to my bed.

I know they prefer humans, but why have my cats been coming on my bed, right where I found them!!!:confused:
They never did that before! I worry they may have hitched a ride on them

I hadn't found a local exterminator to do freezing-- although I say that on a website. The first one I called used high heat. I would've had to get all 10cats, rabbit, turtle, myself and son out for at least 24 hours. It cost a minimum of $1200.00!

It would be over 130F for some hours.

I wonder what garbage handlers, and thrift shops are doing about this?
 
BTW, as much as I've heard about them being hard to kill, they died instantly with alcohol! In fact thats what the pest guy even said I should use in the mean time. :???:

Unless it's the eggs that are hard to kill.

I've moved into a house before that had fleas. Those were a pain to kill!
Luckily we had no animals or kids at the time and just fogged the whole house.
 
Aaargh. I hadn't even thought about them coming in on clothes from a thrift shop. I now suddenly feel itchy - I bought some stuff at Goodwill just Friday, and put it in the laundry chute instead of directly into the washer.

My condolences. I have no words of wisdom, other than that I have heard that food grade diatonaceous earth can be effective against bed bugs. You might want to get some (you can find it on Amazon), and put it into all of the cracks and crevices in your bedroom after the exterminator has been there. It only works as long as it's perfectly dr, so there's no point in putting any down until after the exterminator's stuff has dried. It's safe around animals, as long as you're careful to get the food grade.
 
After reading many reviews, I ordered 10 lbs. of DE from amazon. First I checked what a retailer sold, and it sounded like mostly silicon, it also read organic, not food grade.
I'll certainly let everyone know how this goes!
I'm so dammmmed stressed! I think more about having someone poke around my messy room than having bed bugs!
I watched an episode of Hoarders. Didn't help. I may not be anywhere near as bad, and definitely not a hoarder, but I'm messy enough to be embarrased!
 
Oh no! I can imagine how awful that feels- my flat has carpet beetles and clothes moths and while it's not anywhere near as bad as having bed bugs it really stresses me out. I have a bug phobia especially about slugs, larvae of any kind and beetles and it gets so bad sometimes that I can't sleep for the idea of them crawling on me at night plus obviously the trouble of finding clothes with holes in them all the time. I had a few days without seeing any beetles or larvae (still found 2 moths) then I found a beetle floating dead in my washing up bowl this morning where I had left something to soak.

So I really sympathise!
 
I feel for you! I had them in an apartment complex I lived in once. My apartment wasn't contaminated but another neighbor's was and therefore the whole building had to undergo the whole extermination process. OMG what a huge pain in the *** that was. I had to wash everything then put it all through the dryer on the highest setting. I had to cover and bag up everything in my apartment since they sprayed every little nook & cranny they could. They had to do this 3 times because they wanted to ensure that they got everything. After each spray session there were traces of chemicals they used which I was instructed not to vacuum up for 24 hours, but **** that! There was no way I was going to be inhaling that stuff while and there was no way I would risk my dog getting sick from it either. I vacuumed it all up asap (and still remained bug free).
 
Well, the pest guy came monday, and oh yeah! what a pain!
He told me on the phone to bag and remove everything that was on the floor, which I hadn't done for fear of spreading them. When he called to say he'd be there in half an hour and insisted the floor be clear, I really had to move fast! I had a lot of stuff on the floor, and open boxes under the bed.
I sealed some bags with duck tape that were to be stored, and left the clothes for him spray the outsides of the bags.
I looked at every thing with magnifying specs, and only found two small live ones, on my pillows.
He insisted everything would be killed by drying on high. I had my pillows in the dryer for over an hour.
He sprayed the whole room. Helped my son carry out the mattress and box spring, which were pretty bad anyway (he said they'd fine,-but no!)
He then sprayed the stairs and hallway, and the sectional couch-though I'm not sure why, because that's where I'd been sleeping comfortably for the last few nights.
Everything was soaking wet! Luckily I have a "mud" room where all the cats stayed till morning. He insisted the chemicals were completely safe when dried. They didn't smell.

Anyway, thanks so much for the support! :hug:!
I hope this it is all I need! I'll never be so messy again! In fact I'm buying box spring and mattress wraps, and have white sheets to use.
I also bought diamatious earth. He felt it was too messy, and clogs vacuum filters, but says it does work. What I though funny, was that he was concerned about the dust getting in y0ur lungs! I mean, yes that's a valid point, but from someone who sprays chemicals all day, without a mask?:confused:

I think I'll make a thread in the frugal section about avoiding bed bugs. There is a lot you can do when you think about it. Well, a lot if you have a detached home- apts you'd have to be constently battling them
 
Ugh, what an ordeal! :hug: I hope this gets rid of them!
 
Oh the bed bugs would have found you on the couch, that's why he sprayed it. I read something about people who took to sleeping on the kitchen table to get away from the bed bugs, but they home in on either the body heat or the smell of their prey. These people put up "bridges" of tape from the floor to the top of the table, sticky side up, and found bed bugs stuck to it.

Fingers crossed that they don't come back!
 
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Now I understand why my grandmother, who came from Slovenia, would only tolerate white bedding! As horrible as the itching was, the psycological effects are worse! Every little spot gets scrutinized--boy are there are lot of little spots! :confused: They only way I can segregate normal itches from bug itches is that the bed bug itches NEVER subsided! I guess not everyone experiences it that way. I'm actually glad I do!:p It could have gone on longer.

There are these cup in a cup you can put your bedframe legs in, with diamatomeous earth inside, to both keep them from getting on, and killing them at the same time. I'm not sleeping on a mattress until I get an enclosure for the box spring and mattress.
I'm definitely changing my messy ways too!
 
As against as I am to any kind of bug-killing, this thread is making me itch something awful. I hope it worked and they don't come back to bother you and your pets again.
 
Whenever we get back from staying at a hotel my wife puts all our clothes from the suitcases into a black garbage bag and leaves them out in the sun for a few hours before taking them down to the wash. Same for the suitcases themselves. This is supposed to kill off whatever you may have brought back with you - (with heat I guess..?)

Anyway - just throwing that out there. We have stayed in a lot of New York hotels and have not had any issue with bed bugs - so we're either really lucky or it works.
 
Ugh I know how that is. Every time a tendril of my hair tickles my back or shoulders or neck I think it's a tick crawling on me.

My mind first jumps to an ant, then to a spider, then to my spider (which is the size of a baseball), then to the idea that Gollum definitely has his hand on me and is ready to bite me.