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Unwanted Guests: Bed bugs
There was a very interesting story on bed bugs in last weeks' WebMD Newsletter. Although I had done a bit of research on bedbugs in the past I was reminded that they actually feed off of human blood, not unlike a tick, and we never wake during the process. But when we do get up we have a small bite. This can be confusing with fleas, if you have pets in the bed. Again this is all just one more reason to change your sheets every week and keep the bedroom clean.
The article recommends the following steps for identifying the culprit:
I am actually starting to itch right now.
But here is the worst part of it. If you happen to be a traveler you can actually bring these hitch-hikers home with you from a nasty hotel. And in some cases a not-so-nasty hotel.
If you are now totally freaked out by the subject here are some steps you can take to try not to get anything else taken out of you on your next road trip:
If you find something, ask for another room. Or another hotel. Yeish!
Related Topics: Prescription for a Healthy Home, Can a Mattress Improve Your Health?
Technorati Tags: bedbugs, bites, travel
The article recommends the following steps for identifying the culprit:
- Search the bedroom. Look in folds and creases in mattresses and box springs, pleats of curtains, behind loose wallpaper, in spaces of wicker furniture, behind cove molding, and in corners of drawers. You may notice dark-brown or reddish fecal spots on bed linens, mattresses, or walls near the bed.- OK this is just nasty.
- When you find an insect, compare it with a good reference image, such as the one on the Harvard School of Public Health web site, or place it in a plastic bag or pill bottle, and take it to an entomologist at an extension agency for identification.
- Make a positive identification before going to the expense of hiring a licensed pest control operator. "In many markets, it costs several hundred dollars to treat a one-room apartment, and don't be shocked at spending a grand or more to treat a single-family house,"
I am actually starting to itch right now.
But here is the worst part of it. If you happen to be a traveler you can actually bring these hitch-hikers home with you from a nasty hotel. And in some cases a not-so-nasty hotel.
If you are now totally freaked out by the subject here are some steps you can take to try not to get anything else taken out of you on your next road trip:
- Set your suitcase off the floor on the luggage holder
- Leave it zipped unless taking something out or putting it in
- Inspect the bed. Pull back the covers, the sheets, and mattress pad and look for telltale signs -- the dark spots left by bed bug feces.
If you find something, ask for another room. Or another hotel. Yeish!
Related Topics: Prescription for a Healthy Home, Can a Mattress Improve Your Health?
Technorati Tags: bedbugs, bites, travel
135 Comments:
can you change your diet to make you less yummy to the bed bugs? I am the only person in a family home of 5 that is being biten and I wonder what makes me so tasty to them and what I can eat that would stop that.
Anonymous--this situation is not uncommon. Some people aren't bitten. Many more, I'd guess, are bitten but do not have an allergic reaction to the bites. This is probably the case in your family. I doubt there's anything you can eat to make your blood less appealing. (One theory is they are more likely to bite people with slightly lower body temperatures--I'm not sure if that's true.)
what if you just lie down and start itching but you inspect the bed but there's nothing and it still itches
Geez Louise! I just saw these critters in my oldest son's sheets. He came in first complaining about breaking out in a rash again. I asked him when was the last time he changed his sheets and he said about 2 or may 3 weeks. TEENAGERS! Anyhow, he went to change them and started yelling MOM! There they were huddled in the creases of his fitted sheet! We freaked and itched all over with no bugs in site. It was psyc right? Well, since he is the oldest of 5 kids, shares the room with a brother, his room is frequented by the other siblings for gaming, laying on the floor, just chillin, etc. Should I assume we are infested in all bed in the house? Do we need to bomb our 2400 sq. ft home? If so, don't think we can afford it right now. Any recommendations? Do we need to throw out the beds and mattresses today? If it's confined just to his room, bombing may be more affordable there! Any over the counter stuff out there that works well. Anybody out there?
#1: Try eating fresh garlic (uncooked) daily. This works incredibly well with fleas, so I'd imagine that it would work with bedbugs too.
Can you get rid of them yourself and without a proffesional?
This is good to know, but sickening!!! i hate bugs and the site of them, especially big cockroaches and many others. I get red weps on my arms, but they don't itch and sometimes they appear at school...am i a Bed Bug Motel or what!?! I wonder what the red weps and bumps on my arms come from. Hmmm...
where can i find out more information about bed bugs that includes descriptions of the bite and any other details?
What does a bed bug bite look like? For about the past week I have been getting random bites that are red with a white head, like a fire ant bite. I know they aren't fire ants because there are none where I live. I usually notice them first thing in the morning. Please HELP
they don't bother me much, is it allright if I just live with bed bugs? None of my family is allergic,
Well i first noticed snall red bumps after a day at my boyfriend's apartment (the typical college student). After I stormed in with my cleaning materials (and unclogged the vacuum) i did the most thorough cleaning job of that apartment the boys have ever seen. After that both my boyfriend and I noticed that they were gone. To prevent itching i just take an anti-histime and go on my day. I also went and cleaned my room as to stop any cross-contamination that may have happened. and by a good cleaning job i mean moving furnature, vacuuming under and on it. washing sheets/clothes in hot water and so forth. Good luck!
my daughter and I are both covered on our leggs and arms with red bites that look like sores, that are not very big. Is there a method to treating bed bug bites. or will they go away once the infestaion is gone?
My boyfriend may have bed bugs but he claims that he's never been bit but low and behold, every time I stay at his house I end up with at least ten new bites!!! Could it be something else?
I am covered from my chest down to my legs with red bites that look like sores, that are not very big. can this be anything but bed bugs? Is there a method to treating bed bug bites, or will they go away once the infestaion is gone?
gateley said... i have bites that are itchy on my leg and red. is that bed bugs???
I have red bites on my legs that are small and in thin lines. Does anyone know why they would bite in straight lines?
Those of you who need more information should check out http://bedbugger.com/faqs
about a year ago this time I started getting itchy spots all over my body. I live in a college dorm so I wasn't sure what it could be. It started out small, and quickly spread and festered. After about three trips to the doctor on campus, telling me it was just a rash, I then went to my normal doctor. First he diagnosed it as a rash and gave me a shot and some cream. When that didnt work he said, "Well it must be scabbes." Well great, so he gave me another cream that was the worst torture i've ever been through. I stayed up all night from the itching and had bumps from head to toe. I tried everything, sealing my clothes in trashbags, washing my sheets, even in Adams flea and tick shampoo but to no avail. I went back one more time because now I seemed to only have itchy bumps on my legs, and this time he gave me a cream for a fungus. Now, this actually seemed to help until I think I was "re-exposed." Because they just got worse again. So after all that I just gave up seeing the doctor, I still have itchy spots pop up from time to time and usually have redbumps, but they aren't as bad as they were last year. Anyways, my point is there could be several other causes aside from bed bugs. I dont think that's what mine was because I never found any traces of them. So, just a word of advice there could be something else going on.
I've started to itch for moret than 2 weeks now, but I don't seem to see any critters on my balkets. I already looked and washed my covers, but I'm still itching all over. What can it be?
Dear anonymous,
Here's a link to our symptom checker, which could offer you some information about your itching.
my 17mon old son has red bumps from head to toe. he has seen a dermatoligest more then once they cant figure itout are there any photos any one can post of eaither the bumps thay have or a bed bug.
I DONT KNOW IF IT WAS BED BUGS OR A SPIDER that bit me in 5 parts of my legs 4 of them are red and itchy but the other one..is super swollen ,red, and itchy! but i dont have no symptoms of dizziness or any muscle pain...its only the bites that are swollen and itch alot! what should i do ..put some calamine lotion ,go to the doctor, or just let it heel by itself?
I have read so much info, and do not see any type of bugs in my bed. I recently bombed my apartment, my animals are no longer scratching, and I am the only one being bitten. They say you cannot tell what kind of bug it is by the bite, but I do not beleive that because of the way the bites are showing up. every morning, I wake up to find around ten new bites, usually around the ankles, but just finished a 3 hour nap and woke up with five on one hip cheek and four on the other, this time thru clothing, which has usually deflected them. they are way smaller than a mosquito bite,and show up either next to each other in a line or within a 1 inch area. Please help? I don't know what to do, and I am now getting scars from hundreds of times of being bitten no matter if I clean my bedroom every day?
nikkosarah@yahoo.com
i have these red spots that are about the size of a nickle or quarter and thet itch really bad what are they?!?!?!
Anonymous,
The only way to know what your red spots are is to have them examined in person by a health professional. In the meantime you can use this article on skin rashes for some ideas on how to relieve the itching.
Yikes, I woke up in time to see the bed bugs (like just now). I sat up, turned around and saw plenty of them. I was freaking out! I told my mom about this rash thing, and we though it was allergies, so I took allergy medication. Now I have a rash for a week and a half now, like red bumps around my legs. Is there another way to get rid of them that is not so expensive?
I don't know what's going on either! Last week I woke up with some pain in my upper thigh and I noticed little red bumps. Since then, I get sharp pains, and it is very tender. The red bumps have turned into dark, red spots, and looks like a bug just munched a path down my leg. I can even see what looks like "pincer punctures". It really hurts and sometimes sends a jolt of pain through my leg. What can I do?
i suspect my children and i were bitten recently during a vacation home rental - one son's bite turned into a staph infection and he spend a week in the hospital my other son got a rash and appeared to be fine and i have 2 or 3 marks that have faded in color but are still noticeable .but now we all feel very tired and have chills and fever and sometimes sore throat so I'm not sure if it was bed bug bites any advice ? our pediatrician thinks I'm crazy
So I recently found an apartment that I like and want to move into, but apparently there was a bed bug infestation when the previous tenant lived there. That person has moved out and all of his furniture is out as well. The apartment was then professionally treated. However, I'm still worried that the bed bugs could come back. Any advice? I really want to move into the apartment but don't want to deal with bed bugs at all.
i have special "bed bugs" that only live in the nose,throat,and ears.i heard this was a very rare occurance.one other person who had them went to U.T.M.B hospital in Galveston,Texas.he was given medicines to rid him of them.i sleep in a clean environment;but,still get them.the only thing that gets rid of them is green tea.after drinking hot green tea for an hour,i spit out bugs and eggs.they appear similar to ants;except they have long stingers[1/3 their total body length in size]and oval shaped bodies similar to a wasp.
I've been living with bed bugs for about 5 weeks now. I was preparing to move when i noticed i had them, and with soo many boxes cluttering my room and still a couple weeks till i can get out of this place ive taken to sleeping on the couch to avoid the infestation, which may or may not be working.. i still notice bites but not nearly as many as i got on my bed. I have been activly hunting the ones in my room using a can of raid the natural selection bottle said to kill using natural pesticides used in nature. seems to kill them on contact, but then u have a bed coverd in raid your sleeping on. somehow im not convinced there are no alternatives to calling in an expensive extermination squad, but i have had little luck in finding alternative remedies. As far as the bites, they look exactly like mosquito bites... infact i thought i was getting eaten by those flying pests at first. but when u scratch the bits they tend to swell into bigger bumps. also ive heard they like to bite in streight lines.
Any names of PRODUCTS THAT ACTUALLY WORK????
One word: VACUUM! It's cheap (everyone has one) and it works! I used to have a problem with bed bugs biting me at night---I was itching so much I could hardly sleep. Then I saw on Oprah that the cheapest, most effective way to rid yourself of those night time feeders is to vacuum EVERYTHING! Not just your carpets, rugs, and drapes. But most importantly, vacuum your mattress, sofas, and any pillows that are not washable using the attachments of your vacuum cleaner thoroughly every couple of weeks. Combined with washing your linens in hot water (with bleach) you should be able to manually remove those bed bugs just as good as (if not better than) a professional.
The absolute best treatment, and most affordable would be to call Terminix. Why??
1) They give unlimited re-treatments for an entire year! Bed bugs do not go away in one treatment.
2) Other companies like Orkin will want to tent your house, and fumigate. This is very expensive, and overkill!! It also costs THOUSANDS of dollars. Terminix uses a much lower cost treatment that does the same job, but costs a LOT less. They can even give you a payment plan!
3) The pesticides you can buy at walmart or home depot aren't anywhere close to the professional strength stuff. Bedbugs laugh at these chemicals. You need a special license and training to use the stuff professional companies like Terminix uses.
4) Fumigation only kills the larva and adult bugs. It will not kill the eggs. Bedbugs can live up to 6 months without feeding, and eggs can take 3 to 4 months to hatch. Again, there is no "magic wand", one time treatment out there.
5) Some professional companies will want to come to your home to inspect before giving you a price. Terminix can give you a quote right over the phone. Be prepared to pay about $500-750. Again, this for an entire 365 days of unlimited treatments!
I thought my husband and I had bed bugs since we share a bed and both have red mosquito bite like bumps.
It turns out that we have hot tub folliculitis. We bought a new hot tub and was too excited to wait to get in it until we bought chlorine so we went for it! Three days later bumps bumps bumps! There is a bacteria that grew from the lack of chlorine. It infected our hair folicules. This is great news compared to the possibility of having bed bugs. The bumps should go away on their own or with an antibiotic. So maybe you have misdiagnosed your self if you too have been in a hot tub lately!!
Definetly some people are allergic to the bites & some are not. That's why some people can go on forever & not even know they have bed bugs. The critters get around a lot easier than you think. I am a school teacher and we had an "unexpected visiter" join us by hitching a ride in a student's textbook. They are very, very, very hard to get rid of. I had a very minor problem about 2 years ago (I found & killed 3 bugs). I am certain they were coming in thru the walls from my neighbors who were dealing with a total infestation. CAULK! that is the key word. Plug up all wholes, cracks & crevices in floors & walls. Even so I still found another 3 in random locations thru-out my apt, i.e the bathroom, over the last 3 years. Granted they were 1/2 dead but as a species they appear to be very resilient to most efforts to irraticate them.
Thanks so much for your hot tub folliculitis comment. I had been searching for hours for the cause of my chicken pox-like rash. It began 72 hours after swimming in an indoor hotel hot tub that looked slightly greenish compared to the regular indoor pool water. I won't do that again.
Bed bugs are a very troublesome and psychologically burdening problem. I was getting bitten in my bed, so I moved to the couch in the living room in the middle of the night. I woke up at about 4 in the morning and had bugs on me and on my blanket. I was absolutely frantic, went into the bathroom and had bites all over my arms. I thought I was going to go crazy or something! Later, we found infestations of bed bugs in the matress, in the cracks of the flooring, in the bathroom, in the couch, behind picture frames on the wall, and more! You really have to call an exterminator for this problem because you will not be able to get all bed bugs by just spraying and vacuuming. We tried using bed bug spray, bug bombs, and more. One person cannot do a thorough job by themselves, without professional materials...get on the phone with an exterminator asap before bed bugs really start to affect your life.
I agree with using Terminex. An inspector came to evaluate my infestation. I would not commit that day. I immediately threw out my mattress and boxspring and my brother sprayed my entire room with something from Home Depot. I didn't feel that was enough and was about to call Terminex to come but the inspector followed up with me. They came that day to spray. He also suggested I throw out my carpet as I was going to replace it anyway. I also had all cracks and crevices sealed with silicone as he suggested. Two weeks later I had Terminex come back and spray. I had all non-washable clothes dry cleaned and washed everything else in hot water. I bagged everything I don't wear in XXX-large zip lock bags. I put my bedroom furniture in the garage. It's cold here on Long Island, NY. I also vacum,vacum,vacum the whole house regularly. I've also ordered a dry-steamer as a back-up to the extermination. The high heat will kill the bugs instantly and more importantly the eggs. It can be costly, however, I want to get rid of these bugs for good.
I want to thank you for your hot tub folliculitis comment, too. I could not for the life of me figure out what these tiny bumps are that are all around my ankles. They started itching yesterday and I was in a hot tub at the local rec center two days before that. I am so relieved that I don't have any bugs in my bed, especially since I couldn't find any! Thanks so much!
Hartz 2 in 1 flea and tick spray works on contact.
You'll still need to check regularly for the little buggers and re-treat your mattress if necessary. You really cannot see the ery young ones with the naked eye so it's hard to get them all with the 1st treatment.
i had bed bugs a few years back and none of the other members of my family were bitten only me. the exterminator told me that they prefer woman who have gone through puberty and menstruate. something about the scent we give off
My boyfriend lived in an apartment that was infested with bedbugs. His landlord called an exterminator who did his apt 3 times. He moved out and we put everything but his bucket of shoes in a shed and now he is infested again. These bugs are very tough to get rid of. We are now trying a powder bought over the internet that you vacuum up. Cover your mattress in plastic covers that helps.
I hate those nasty little pieces of crap!!! They feasted on me for several months until one day I was wearing light pink PJ's and I spotted one of them. Soon I realized that there were about 5 of them coming down to get me. It was the most disgusting thing ever!!! I bought gas bombs and toxic liquid for bugs but there are still some of them alive and feasting on my family. This situation is really frustrating because it's really hard to get rid of them once and for all.
Yeah I'm dealing with these things now. They were in my apartment and I had to call an exterminator and throw away my bed and a couch next to my bed. The first 2 nights I was fine then last night I got a couple bites again. We think its from these recliners we got off of craigslist, lots of small cracks and whatnot for them to hide in so we're tossing them too. Be very careful when picking up furniture from Craigslist I guess is the moral of this story.
We had them a year ago and haven't seen any since that time. We think we caught the infestation early. We started noticing them on the couch first. VACUUM! and get rid of any furniture affected. We got lucky. My Dad, who lived through bed bug hey day says nothing kills them. Hire an exterminator, today!!!!!
We had a rash for about three months before we knew it was from bed bugs. The doctor told us we were alergic to something - maybe soap. Anyway, I have been at my mother in-laws for the past 6 months while we have been at war with the bed bugs. We think we may have gotten rid of them. We exterminated but thats only good for 60 days. Bed bugs can live for up to 2 years without feeding. We have taken all our carpet out. They were under the padding. 2300 sq ft. We are laying tile now. Threw out the beds, bed frames, and one dresser so far. Not sure if we are going to throw out the couches yet. We also painted the whole house because they can leave eggs on the walls. We sealed the electical plates on the walls. They get into everything!!! Even alarm clocks by the bed. Books by the bed. I had to take a second on my house. Isurance doesn't cover bugs of any kind. I am claimming a casulty on my taxes. Good luck to all of you in this bed bug war. It's been 6 months now and I think we might win.
You think Bed Bugs are bad?! Another type of Bed Bug/Mexican Bed Bug alias The "KISSING BUG" is seriously deadly... My husband ended up in the ER. at 4:30 am after being bitten due to a very serious-life threatening anaphylactis shock reaction. It happened a week later and he had to give himself an Epinephrine injection before he became unconcious. Two weeks later I had a very severe reaction at 4am and had welts down my groin and axilla, tingling in my face and severe itching of my palms,scalp and bites.
Turns out, NOT to be food allergies but we found 2 Kissing Bugs under our pillows. They are nocturnal and feed on the blood of mammals. Usually,on un-exposed skin they stick their probiscus in without lighting on you. They inject their saliva which has an anestetic -so you do not feel them biting BUT if you are allergic to their saliva you will wake up itching and see bites. In my case it took three times to be bitten more than 8-10 times and the last time I developed anaphylactic symtoms. SCARY!!!!! Thank God for liquid benedryl...They are like dark brown beetles- 1/4 to 1/2 inch long and have wings criss-crossed on their back. Night time around lights outside and can enter in all openings. Will like to bite around your mouth as well due to breath emissions at night. GROSS... We are investigating an exterminater.
Really, it's not that big a deal: you need to go to Target and get plastic mattress bags that zip up, spray everything with any nooks or crannies with a Raid bug-bomb that contains Pyrethium and/or Permethium, wash all the bedclothes in hot water and a good detergent, and stay out of cheap motels. Believe me, this works real well. Can't hurt to re-spray every once in a while, either.
Still thinking about the "little pink pjs." comment...but anyway, Definitely get plastic covers for the bed. Both bed and boxsprings. Good idea for the pillow too because it can reduce mites (allergies). They make them now so they are plastic/rubber on the inside and cloth like on the outside so they don't "crinkle" when you use it on a pillow.
My apartment had bedbugs a year and a half ago. Since it started in the summer, I thought that they were misquito bites. That was until I saw that I was getting bit in places that I would have normally been covered up with clothing. I was the only one in the apartment getting bit. We threw out our bed, sofa, etc. Our apartment management charged every apartment that had them $300 when I feel they should have paid for it considering many of the other buildings were infested too. It took 6 treatments toget rid of them. They reproduce faster than roaches do. To top it all off, my neighbor across the hall has them. If they come over here again, I'm gonna be so mad.
My family has tried bombing the house twice, and using bedbug killing spray.I'v'e been vacuuming to try and suck the little bastards up, but thats not working either! and yet we are still getting bit! I never can see them unless I've just been bitten. I don't want to spend thousands on exterminating, but what else can I do? I've already washed and dried my blankets, sheets pillow, and my entire wardrobe twice, but is there no other option??? God I am so freaked out! I HATE BUGS!!!
I'm 56 years old, and I can still smell that bedbug, that walked acrow my head. Bedbugs have a smell to them. My mother would take all the matteress out side and hit the matteress let the sun kill the bedbugs. I was 11 years old and I hate them. Buy a new matteres and linen and don't look back.
ok folks i have had first hand experenice with these disgusting bugs. we moved into a rented mobile home and we needed furniture so the living room couch looked ok so the landlord offered to clean it we said fine, first mistake. there were bed bugs already living in the couch well they made their way to our bed and our infant sons bed as well. so before long we were waking up with these vile bugs sucking our blood as well as our baby so we had to throw away our beds they bombed our place twice still couldnt get rid of them just becareful in hotels look for brown residue on couchs and beds theirs your first clue the bugs are there these bugs are gross and much harder to get rid of than roaches or ants. i would not wish them on my worst enemy
I have been dealing with bed bugs aka scabbies for almost a year. i read almost all of these comments and thought to myself i have been there.This all started with a rash on my 2 yr old. ER gave him steroids. His finger and toe nails all fell off in a few weeks and had to regrow. Then he had bumps on his feet like blisters all over. Took him to the doctor and all they could say was it was hands foot and mouth. They couldn't give me anything for him they had to take there course. Then he starts getting them on him hands and is itching alot. He is itching all over. I took him to the ER and doctor and all they could tell me is that it was eczema. OMG i have but every itch cream on him and antifungal too. Then me and my husband and my baby and son are all itching like we have chicken pox. These were bites on the inner thighs and arms..and belly. I have treated me and my family 5 or more times and still have read little bumps and blisters on our hands. Oh yeah for some reason I noticed last summer i was at my in laws and when a mosito cant think how to spell that..bit me and left a pimple ...im not sure how all this has started my i know it has turn into scabbies. I have bleached everything several times..and this shit is worst than lice..I have used tubes and tubes of cream from the doctor and sprayed my bed with lice bedding spray.Oh yeah have not found any of those bugs that are in the pic..but I have itched some much in the last year I'm about to go crazy.Oh yeah HOT TUB PEOPLE look up blisters they are from bacterial and virus infection. Good luck all of u..oh yeah see a doctor because its an infection that will not go away. im in oklahoma and i think it is not just here but everywhere. crusted scabbies
I got rid of a minor bed bug infestation at our house. We brought bed bugs home from a $300 per night hotel in NYC. I suspect they were in the roll-away bed the staff brought in for my daughter and the bugs hitched a ride either on her clothes or stuffed animal. For a week or two after we got home, my kids were waking up every day with a fresh row of small, itchy bites on their faces and arms (they looked like flea bites). I found a bed bug by leaving out those special yellow sticky cards plant nurseries use to trap insects for identification purposes. For the next two weeks, I washed all their bedding and pajamas every single day. I read that the bugs often live in cracks of the floors or walls and travel to the bed at night so I moved the beds away from the walls, put the feet of the bed into plastic cups and smeared vaseline on the legs of the beds up three inches from the floor. I vacuumed the floors and mattresses and bed frames every night, making sure to go over every crack and crevice. I threw out one box spring that was old anyway. I steam cleaned the mattresses and rugs once. My kids slept with the light on for those two weeks. I bagged up any stuffed toys and pillows that couldn't be washed and stored them in the basement for an entire year (I read that the bugs can live for a year without eating!) After two weeks, I stopped vacuuming and leaving the light on at night and no more bites appeared. It was a ton of work but it was successful and I didn't have to spray any nasty chemicals. If you are dealing with bed bugs, I truly sympathize. Good luck!
We have had 2 treatments of liquid for the bed bugs, however only one was ever found by the guy doing the treatment. I left on vacation and still got bitten in Mexico, do you think my bites are really bedbugs or some other form of disease or post-stress, does someone know as I still am getting small bites and sometimes bigger ones...
bed bugs are totally gross. i actually had them. to get rid of them, i wrapped my mattresses and box springs in plastic bags and got rid of them. next i treated my room with Mule Team Borax, you can find it in your local grocery store laundry isle. all you have to do is sprinkle it in the corners and into the carpet, do not vaccum for a few days. it dries out blood-suckers killing them. it also works great for getting rid of fleas. by the time pest control came, the bedbugs were gone!
i dont no whats on my hands i think there bed bug bites but they dont iche, there lil red dots, i got like 4 on right hand and like 2 on other hand, and some on other body parts, not a lot though, if some one can help me with this i would really appreciate it thanks
I reacted to bedbugs with a severe case of hives and had to go the the emergency room 5 times in 36 hours, because they wouldn't hospitalize me for hives. Only IV antihistimines helped. it had been a couple months of my trying to figure out what soap i was allergic to. I woke up crying and in pain from the hives and my husband spotted one on the bed. our used box spring was probably the culprit. we wiped down and cleaned everything on that floor and immediately had our exterminator in to spray. he laid down a bug killer that sticks to them as they walk over it. the key was to have everything clean and no clutter when he came cause he had to spray everywhere. spray the laundry area too. bombs won't work. no problems since.
My sister, due to economic necessity has become a home grown expert on dealing with this recently recurring plague. She isn't sure whether she brought home the bedbugs from the Casino Hotel where she works, or if they infiltrated from an empty condo next to hers (she saw many around electrical wall sockets). She has sealed off the wall sockets with duct tape incase that was the source. Her method for dealing with them has been to first, completly dismantle the bed, second, to spray any live creatures with straight Ipsopropal Alcohol, which she keeps in a spray bottle, she uses Insect Bombs which can be bought in any hardware store, discount department store, most of them require 2-4 hours to work. Immediately after bombing, Vacuum everything, mattress, boxspring, headboard - back and front, bedrails, carpeting, floormolding etc. Then steam clean carpeting - with as hot of water as possible. She then put both the boxspring and mattress in plastic bags being careful to completely seal them so that any bugs which may have survived the bombing will not be able to escape the plastic and will eventually die due to lack of available food sources. She has said that vigilance is very important, and it may take more than one bombing to be sure that you've killed all of the live bugs and you must be aware that bombing will not necessarily kill unhatched eggs. You may want to do a second bombing 7 - 10 days after the first bombing. In any case best of luck.
Okay so My family and I went on a tropical vacation to the dominican republic.We stayed at a very beatiful resort and had royal service,which was not cheap..We were bitten by bugs the whole time we were down there..I saw mosquitos all over the room so I assumed the continuous bites were from them.The night before we left to come home, my 8 year old son woke up with 22 bites on the back of his legs.My daughter also had bites but I wasent sure if they were new bites or the bites from before.Both of my kids were sleeping in the pull out couch that was in this hotel..When we got home,I noticed red bites,on myself ,and both my kids..Once again,I asssumed they were old but some of them were really red and had a red cirle surrounding the bites..I washed all my kids clothes when I took them out of the suitcase but I havent washed ours it still on the floor in my bedroom..Im freaking out because Im not sure what it is and I dont know what to do ,if it is in fact bed bugs..as I read all these comments that people have posted,it sounds exactly like this is my problem especially since we were away and just got back and are covered in bites..If anyone knows what to do,please help me..I am really bugging out,literally !!!
i just had some one come to my house for bed bugs... DON"T boom... it makes thme hide and mate... so you will have ten times more...clean and bag what you dont use... bed bags are great to have.. make sure its air tight and on for awhile before you even think of taking it off if ever... sofas must go, so hard to treat..and get bug spray that comes in gallons...open widows when spraying... and wash wash wash ... respray...every two weeks.. spray every where... powders do not work...
SUITCASES NEED TO GO BYE BYE ASAP.. WASH ALL CLOTHS.. CHECK YOUR BEDS..THEY WILL GO 100 PLUS FEET TO FIND THEIR FOOD... THEY LIKE TO HIDE IN WALL BASES AND FLOORING, ANY WHERE DARK AND WARM.. COLD AIR DOES NEED KILL THEM..BUT YOU USUALLY WILL FIND THEM IN PLACES YOU SIT OR SLEEP ALOT.. THEY CAN SMELL US..AND FIND US.. SO ROOMS YOU ARE IN THE MOST IS WHERE THEY ARE..BEST TIME TO LOOK FOR THEM IS AT NIGHT BEFORE DAWN.. IF YOU FIND ONE BE SURE THERE IS ALOT MORE.. IT'S ALOT OF WORK TO DO YOUR SELF...EASIER TO CALL TO GET HELP.. I FOUGHT IT FOR TWO YEARS DOING EVERYTHING I COULD... I SEEMED TO ALWAYS MISS SOMETHING AND BAM THEY ARE RIGHT BACK... NOW I CALLED FOR HELP AND SAID BYE BYE TO MY SOFA... AND BED BAGS AND I HAVE NOT BEEN BITE.. GOING ON TWO WEEKS.. NOW THAY ARE COMING TO SPRAY AGAIN TO MAKE SURE THEY STAY GONE...
Yes!!!! I have a friend whom I spent the night over, the next day as I lay on the couch, I started itching and scratching. The next day or, later that day, I had red whelps on me, that itched like heck. I still have some of the scars and that was a yr ago.
Search: Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth. Find a place that sells it online or in your area. It's the only thing that works. It's such a pleasure to kill these little devils. I consider bedbug bites a major injury, especially to a child. You should dust inside the walls through the switchplates too. I think the Red Cross should help people who have an infestation of the diabolical little monsters, because you may have to throw away every thing you own. We got rid of them once and months later when we moved, we unpacked boxes from the closets that were brought over unopened and bedbugs were still in there and got us again. They hide everywhere. Just get rid of everything you can, seriously. Don't even consider keeping the bed.
i had been getting bitten by something for 2 weeks and tried everything to get rid of these bites when while watching t.v. with the light off i saw one crawling up the blanket after me! they move fast like a spider i grabbed it in my hand and put it in a jar stayed up all nite and looked for what it was on the internet finally identified it showed it to the apartment manager and he moved me free of charge to another apartment and he had that one sprayed two weeks later there was another tenant in there.the bites will heal and go away as soon as you are not getting bitten anymore.- because of this i ask my mom about it -she said her grandma used borax and put the mattressess and carpeting out in the sun she did this every week all summer long and cleaned every bed frame with bleach by hand with a rag and mopped the floors (hard wood)with straight bleach EVERYDAY!and slept with the bed legs in coffee cans filled with water it is a lot of work however the sprays for bugs they had back then were stronger-now they are weaker because they were so toxic and harmful to people-so nothing on the market today is going to kill them effectivly however i do think bleaching everything sunning your mattressess and using alcohol should do a good job and be cheaper than 2000 for a extermintor also i would THINK lice spray for bedding would help somewhat but you can spend lots of money buying can after can of it hope this mite help someone they are awful little bloodsuckers!
We've had bedbugs for at least a year. I also seem to be the only one getting bitten, and I freak out and won't sleep at all if I see one. We've called orkin like 3 times, and they still come back! what do i do??
Shenandoah- Unfortunately, with exterminators no longer using DDT, they are actually quite ill equipped to deal with your bedbugs. Bedbugs are perhaps the most tenacious, difficult pest to remove from a home, they laugh at cockroaches.
You said that you've had them for a year, which is about the lifespan of a bedbug, however they spawn monthly, so you now probably have several generations living with you. However, you say that you're the only one being bitten? I assume you have a bedroom to yourself then? If this is the case, then your infestation isn't too extreme, and you should be able to bring it under control, however it will take alot of work and very, very very thorough inspection.
I can't stress enough how thorough your extermination must be, leave just one bedbug alive, and you can count on seeing them make a comeback. You must remove everything from the walls in the infested room. Bedbugs love to nest behind pictures, paintings, banners, wallscrolls and other wall decorations. It's in your best interest to destroy and dispose of these objects, but if you cannot live without them, seal them in bags for at least a month, usually more to ensure starvation of any bugs. They can go for several weeks without feeding. Anything sealed in a bag must be SEALED, you'd be surprised the little crevices and nooks these bugs can fit into. Completely clean out your closet, and inspect it's contents for the signs of the bugs, their dark brown fecal spots. Leave no shirt, bag, or box unchecked. Your mattress and boxspring are most certainly infected, it's best to destroy them, but you can seal them in special bedbug tarps if you cannot afford a new mattress and boxspring. If your bed has a headboard up against a wall, expect to find them in every little nook and cranny in it. It's best to destroy this headboard and not use another for some time.
Bedbugs are likely hiding in your dresser, and endtable, if you have them. Unfortunately these can have several little nooks and crannies for bedbugs to hide in, and if you keep stuff in your endtable, you may have to destoy some of it. Stuff stored under your bed is likely another hiding place for them, you may have to destroy much of it.
Now that you've got your clothes out of the closet and dresser, wash them on the hottest setting possible, then dry them on the hottest setting possible. Wash them again, and dry them again. You've sealed up your bed and taken down all your decorations, it's time to check where the carpet in your room (if you have carpet) meets the walls. If there's any leeway, you may find bedbugs. Any cracks in the walls or corners should be suspect, and repaired. Spray any bedbugs you see with an insecticide (Check the label of the insecticide to be sure it's effective against bedbugs) and then vacuum them up.
The most important step in your extermination is to vacuum every. single. inch. of. your. room! Even if you don't see bedbugs in that spot, vacuum it! vacuum your walls, your furniture, everything. I hope you have a good vacuum cleaner. Under no conditions should you keep this vacuum bag in the house. Dispose of it immediately.
Your room will look very spartan for a while, refrain from putting anything back up on the walls, and every week, repeat your vacuuming process, resist the temptation to cut corners here!
Now you must be ever vigilant, always on the lookout for bugs. Keep your eyes upward, as surprisingly enough, bedbugs love to traverse ceilings. If you do see another bedbug, guess what? Vacuuming time. One bug means more bugs, so vacuum the whole room again, aside from your regular weekly allover vacuuming. Immediately dispose of any vacuum bag used to vacuum even one bug. Try to avoid putting your bed directly adjacent to a wall, or generally creating any obvious hiding space for them. Eventually you'll learn to recognize these areas easily. If you can, get your hands on some fossil powder, and dust it around the legs of your bed, and other areas you think bugs may be hiding. The powder makes moving very difficult for them, and kills them very slowly and painfully, a little sweet revenge for you. The way it clings to them makes them very easy to detect as well.
Now you understand why the Orkin man is powerless you stop these things, but with vigilance and thoroughness, you can beat 'em.
I hope this helps.
My son has athsma and or the past three m90nths he has been in and out o the doctors ofice with a very itchy rash. I've been told that his condition is due to ezcema and it comes from his allergies associated with his athsma. About three weeks ago,
i started as well. The same but, I have no atshma. Then we began to find brown bugs that when they were stepped on seemed to be full o blood!! So I looked it up and oh what a surprise, we have bed bugs! How can the doctors not have known this.For goodness sake, he even went to a dermatologist!! Many times, he sat on the medical bed, quietly, looking up at even three doctors at a time. It was like, "you got to come see this! What do you think it is?" Poor thing! Tomorrow he has another dermatologist appointment. I told the doctor what it was and now wants to document it and give him a treatment or the severe itching. Now he knows exactly what to give him! After about ten treatments of endless oils, pills, syrups, creams, ointments, ect.!!!
I have bug bites on both sides of my back, about ten each on each side. Not sure what they are. I noticed them getting ready to shower. My friend who is a RN thinks they may be ant bites. They don't itch or anything, but they do hurt. Red filled with puss. Some have heads on them too, like a blackhead. Can't find anything remotely close to what it looks on my back, on the internet anywhere. Any suggestions in case it gets serious?
I'm staying at my husband's grandmothers house and me and my older son are covered from head to toe with itch bites. we take benadryl , use hydrocortisone cream, wash are sheets weekly. we won't stop itching? plus my husband just informed me the box spring is infested.. how can I get rid of these things
I woke up a couple days ago with a HUGE welt-like bug bite on my right arm. Then slowly more and more red dots appeared along the sides of my back/body. They looked kind of like chicken pox, which I have definitely had. I didn't think much of them until last night, when they multiplied and spread down my butt and my legs.. I started thinking they were no longer bug bites, even though they looked extremely similar to red ant bites - red with that white pus head that looks like a pimple. They look like bug bites, regular mosquitos or big pimples.. and only hurt when my clothes, like bra strap, rub against them. They didn't burn or itch, which made me go on WebMD and when I saw the hot tub folliculitis comment, I went straight to the dermatologist. He said without a doubt hot tub folliculitis - I went in on Saturday and Sunday and Sunday is when all this showed up. He gave me a prescription for Keflex and says it should be gone in a week.. Good luck!
Hi I am a victium of these disgusiting bed bugs...i need a way of how to get rid of them....hhow do i treat these bites that i have...and do they like air matresses?
thank you i know most of these uestions u have already answered....
thank you
To get rid of the bites:
I have always been told and it really does work to use "Felds Napa" soap
Just lather it up spread it on your skin when it dries it looks like dried soap on your skin leave it on for a couple of days.. then rinse.. then repeat every couple of days. till they go away it is usually a week or two it depends on the serverty of the bites.
Bug bomb your home once a week.in every room.. Raid is very good for that..Furniture.. you'll have to get new because it's infected meaning you bug bomb it..It's seeded in the furniture.. The furniture keeps the bugs in tact and returning..It's like when you have a cold and you drink milk your generating the flem to staying on a continueous cycle. same with the furniture.So it's best to get rid of everything that you think the fleas could nest in..
Curtains, furniture, beds & carpets..(although the bug bomb.. may help with carpet..not so much with furniture.. Good Luck.
No diet will effect them.. the bugs haven't found the other people in your family yet so they must be still in your room..or wherever you are. just close your door and have world war three with bug bombs. they will spread if you don't,they will do it till they have gotten the whole house..
If they grow and get bigger they become jegger bugs.. which is when they bite you they dig under your skin and lay eggs..You become a walking hotel for them. and then your hospitalized.
Another point when getting new furniture.. wait till you get rid of the bugs otherwise it gets very costly.. Check your pets belly very closely.. they usually start on the belly first.. and then spread.that is where 99 % of the time they begin..
As for Hotels always check on hotels.com to see what their rating system is ..if three stars or lower bring bug bombs..You can get "Felds Napa" soap at any store even hardware stores.. if they don't have it talk to the Mgr and you can request it and they will try to do it because they want your business..making it "consumer friendly.." atmosphere.
Oh one more thing.. when you lather up the soap make sure when you spread it on It goes on your skin thick & white and when it dries it gets hard on your skin.
I hope this will help..
This is a SERIOUS Problem. For the past couple of months I have bug bites all over my ankles and upper legs. I have done extensive research on bed bugs and realized that they do not exist in my bed. I know what they look like, I know where you can find them, I also know that they tend to leave small red drops of blood on your mattress, if there were any. I have changed and washed my sheets more than 4 times in the past month. Even though they do look like little small bright red mosquito bites, I could not find anything around or near my bed. I also noticed that I was getting these bites outside my home, outside of my hometown. I figured that they were mosquito bites because I was getting them everywhere, but on some nights I would not have any bites and they would just appear the next morning. Then one day, a couple of days ago, I found a dried up look alike rolly polly. I have saved it and hope to show it to an entomologist. So AGAIN, I washed my sheets, I washed everything. Last night and the night before I was extremely exhausted and slept for more than 14 hours a day. My body and mind is exhausted. I woke up this morning and saw 2 BIG RASHES on the backside of my knees. I am desperate for answers and am concerned that it is affecting my overall health. I still don’t see any bugs. PLEASE HELP. Contact stephstronl@aol.com. Thank you.
i havent been able to sleep all week, i started itching everywhere and cant figure out what the problem is, i honestly dont see ANY signs of a bite, but it only happens when i get into bed... i tried to turn off my light then catch em, but there's nothing there, i need help, because insomnia + bedbugs or whatever this is = NO SLEEP WHATSOEVER! im desperate here, any help would be much appreciated!
I want to know what a BEDBUG looks like because for the last couple of day i feel something in my bed and it feels like its biteing me like my legs,arms,face,feet,hands,and other parts of my body i have tryed everything like washing my sheets,cleanig the top and bottom of my bed and the feeling does not go away........ :(
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!
How frequently do bed bugs reproduce & do their babies bite too? I got bit, while travelling & staying in a nice hotel. I'm not sure if they hitched a ride home in my suitcase or not, and now I'm totally freaked out about babies being in my home, suitcase, clothing, etc.
I have gotten bites when sleeping in my room so i moved to the couch in the rec. room. The couch is particularly old so it had a rip in it. Earlier this nite i woke up to themn crawling on me. In my room we have bombed it 3 times.Nothing worked it killed the ones on the surface but not the ones residing in the matress (to my knowledge they must be!) also the mattress has raised bumps ( a cause?. My father has yet to call the extiremenaters in over 2 or 3 months of complaining guess ill have to. the ones i found are almost a yellow-y transparent. correct? not sure.
a researcher told me that if you give off more CO2 in your body, the more the bugs are attracted to you because they can smell you meters away.... stop eating onions, some people with hyeracidity were victims of insect bites, not really know why
hi i dont think i have bed bugs but i get these bits on my face it's red and a white tip
i get them when i sleep
I had bed bugs before leaving on a 4 month business trip. We sprayed and sprayed before we left, as well as bagging the mattress. Should they all be dead by now? And, would they be in anything else in the room, like the closet or boxes?
Urge your local lawmakers to lobby the federal govenment to bring back the use of DDT as an insecticide. It was banned in the 1970's in this country and also in other countries who want to do business with us. It is the only effective pesticide against bed bugs and is responsible for eradicating them in our parents/grandparents generation. The bed bugs took a couple of decades to get back up to strength, but now they are back with a vengeance! DDT is harmless when used properly, but hysteria from eco-nuts and the media caused it to be banned. It got a bad reputation because it was overused in the spraying of crops, and that affected wildlife. But there was nothing worng with its use as a pesticide against bugs that carry diseases like mosquitoes. In fact, it is the only 100% effective prevention against malaria which is carried by mosquitoes. Each year, tens of thousands of people die in third world countries because of malaria. When DDT was used in places like Sri Lanka, the death toll from malaria dropped to...zero! Now, all we offer these people are lame mosquito nets for their beds. Please urge your congressional representative to advocate for the return of DDt for limited use.
3 nights ago i relized thses red bumps on my toe and at first i just thought they were blisters untill the itching became unbarrable. then i thought maybe they could be spider bites, but i didn't know of a spider bitting 3 times in a line. then i awoke that night and ran over to my sweetmates room!! the itch was so horrible and nothing could stop it.the more i scratched it the bigger and whiter looking they got. they are in a line going down the side of my big toe. i have been living in my dorm for 3 weeks so why have they just bit me know? i found the only thing to remotly stop the itching was ice. my roommate has not been bitten and if i only have 3 bites do u think this could be a minor problem?? if i wash all my bedding and my roommates, get covers for our beds and pillows, and spray our beds do u think this could take care of the problem? and if not how do i get rid of them if i live in a dorm?? please help i don't want to get these bites again!!
I too found red marks. I eventually saw a bug in my bed, and killed it. After the 4th or 5th one (in a period of a month) I decided to do research. Like an idiot I did not put the two together. It was confirmed ...Bed Bugs. I went to home depot got rid of mattresses sprayed and did what I needed. Still they came around after further research.... I was told proffesionals is the only way to get rid of them. I called around and found not everyone would take on the work. (Even in the pest controll world bed bugs are widely hated) Good thing is, the co. I found promised to return if needed which you must get as even exterminators know there is a chance a second visit will be needed.It cost an arm and a leg, but worse, we had to pack up our whole home and put it in bins. We had to rewash every item of clothing in HOT water not to mention all the linen we got rid of. If there was an easier and certainly a cheaper way out I would have done so. The only good news is....no more bugs!!!! But be aware, we never had alot of them. I think our case was not so bad.(It would have worsened had we not caught it right away).My advice, call around, see who's out there. Oh and be aware. I had one guy offer me the job for 1/2 the price. When he told me what he'd be doing, it was nothing like all of the other pest control places! And absolutely, only get a company who guarantees the work. If they offer to come back in case they need to, go somewhere else! Oh and look to spending close to 400-500 $. Ouch!!!!
i keep on getting the bites along my arms and on my ankles.Left ARM: I have one in between my thumb and index finger, one close to my wrist on my forearm, under neath my arm closer to the elbow, on my biceps [starting from my elbow and going up] have have a single bite, double bite, and then a quadruple bite all in a row. RIGHT ARM: pinky, ring, and index fingers; 1 in between my elbow and my wrist; a double on my shoulder; and 1 on my shoulder blade. LEFT LEG: single above my ankle; and a double at my ankle. They start out looking like small misquito bites and after about a day, the actual bites stay the same size but i gets red around it. sometimes the center bump [the original bite] gets whitish. Are they anything besides bed bugs??
we had bugs in the apartment where we shifted. After trying almost everything, we decided to do targeted killing of bugs. That meant, we would go to sleep making the bugs come out to feed on us, then get up and kill them one by one. We used a steam cleaner to kill the ones hiding in the head board. We did that continuously for more than a week and it worked for the year. Also we wrapped our mattresses using (non-plastic) wraps from Sears. Plastic, I feel, makes the beds heated.
I worked at a shelter and had the experience of bed bugs and was always scared to get them. Well I moved to an apartment after divorce and low and behold I got the bedbugs. Luckily I notice them pretty early so it was that bad but here is what I did to stop them:
1) Threw out my mattress and bed, they are prone to hide in your box spring
2) Bag up every bit of clothing you have in your house and wash ALL of it in HOT water and dry on HOT
3) Steamclean any crack you can think of and your furniture
4) vacumn all the time and ASAP empty the container do not keep it
5) You can buy over the counter spray and spray your home but make sure you get everything
6) Regular bombs will not work
7) Alcohol kills bedbugs so a previtive is to spray around the baseboard with alcohol
8) Steam is the ONLY thing that will kill the eggs
9) Eggs hatch every two weeks and you will need to do a follow up spray every two weeks for about a month to make sure you no longer have them.
i have small bites usually on my legs but most resently covering my entire genital area.. the apartment that i am living in had bed bugs.. so im guessing that what it is.. they are clusters of small red bumbs with a white head almost like a pimple.. are these bed bugs??????????
i also have this problem but I have found that OFF DEEP WOODS MOSQUITOE spray works we treat everything in the house and we spray down every night before bed no more bites, if they can't feed they can't live. and so far it is working it has been a month and i have only seen 2 bedbugs. I treat the whole house every week. try this it works
OK so i MOVED INTO A PLACE, AND HAD NO CLUE THAT BED BUGS WERE EVEN REAL. i THOUGHT IT WAS JUST A NURSERY RHYME. DO NOT MOVE INTO ANY PLACE THAT HAS PREVIOUSLY BEEN A HOTEL OR MOTEL. FOR THE PERSON CONSIDERING MOVING INTO A PLACE THAT THEY HEARD WAS PREVIOUSLY INFESTED.....DO NOT DO IT!!!!!! HONESTLY I HAD TO GET RID OF EVERYTHING I OWNED! I MOVED INTO A PLACE BY ASHLAND AND FOSTER. I ASKED THE OWNER OF THE BUILDING IF THERE HAD EVER BEEN A BUG PROBLEM. HE LIED AND SAID NO. THE PLACE WAS TOTALLY INFESTED WITH BED BUGS. YES THEY BITE IN A STARIGHT LINE. THEIR BITES ARE WAY MORE ITCHY THAN MOSQUITOS. ALWAYS GOOGLE YOUR ADDRESS AND THE NAME OF THE LANDLORD FOR THE PLACE YOUR CONSIDERING MOVING INTO. THEY HIDE IN YOUR CLOTHES, IN THE CARPET, BEHIND PHOTOS ON THE WALL. THEY ;LAY 200 EGGS EVERY 11 DAYS. THEY WILL MOVE THROUGH WALLS FROM ONE ROOM TO ANOTHER. THEY PREFER HUMAN BLOOD TO ANIMALS. THEY ARE HARDER TO GET RID OF THAN COCHROACHES. THEY ARE NOCTURNAL. IT IS SO VERY HARD TO GEWT RID OF THEM ONCE YOU GET THEM. I ACTUALLY POSTED THIS SLUM LORDS NAME AND BUILDING ON YELP. IF INTRESTED, THE CREEP WHO LIED AND KEPT MY SECURITY DEPOSIT AND EVN THOUGH I MOVED OUT LEGALLY THROUGH TENANT RIGHTS, HE STILL PUT AN EVICTION ON MY CREDIT REPORT. J & B MANAGEMENT. ALSO NEVER RENT THROUGH APARTMENT FINDERS. I CALLED THEM TO TELL THEM TO STOP PLACING PEOPLE IN THE BUILDING BECAUSE OF THE INFETATION AND THEY SAID THEY COULDN'T DISCRIMINATE AGAINST THE LANDLORD.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
its true theres two of us in the bed but when i wake up im the one that has been devoure. i had to go to the doctor to see what i can do about the itch it was unbearable. but now i have a new bed and havent had a problem since
My Bed Bug Itch/Rash Regimen
I have twice been a victim of bed bug attacks in two different hotels. Both times I awoke at 4-4:30 am feeling very itchy and bitten. When I am bitten, I break out in severe itching and red rashes where the bugs bite. In both cases, it was more severe on my stomach, legs, arms; pretty much all over.
My regimen to combat the all over swelling, severe itch and uncomfortable feelings are this:
NO. 1 I get out of my bed clothes and shower in hot water and soap all over with a mild soap. I put on fresh clothes.
Both times I was caught off-guard so I had to make a trip to Walmart.
No.2 I buy epsom salts to take another bath to soak in.
I buy anti-allergy tablets like Alka-seltzer or some other non-drowsy allergy product. I cannot take benedryl because it gives me RLS(restless leg syndrone).
I buy a good anti-itch cream to slather over all the itchy places.
No.3 I always keep Thursday Plantation brand Eucalyptus cream or some other brand of Eucalyptus essential oil in my makeup bag.
I will first take the allergy pill, take a long soak in the epsom salt in tepid to mildly hot water, I will towel off lightly with a fresh towel and apply the anti-itch OR the Eucalyptus cream and within an hour, my swelling will have gone down and the itching will cease or will not be so noticeable that I can get comfortable.
No.4 I alert the hotel desk to change my room.
My regimen has worked both times to alleviate my swelling/allergic reactions to bed bugs.
Creams/and essential oils that are also good, that work for me are
comfrey, calendula, and lavender. They may be used directly on the skin or with the lavender essential oil in the bath water when I soak in the epsom salts.
I DO NOT use the epsom salt mixed with lavender or eucalyptus that is found at walmart or other pharmacies; it is too strong and causes burning.
I ONLY use plain epsom salts and I will pour a 1/2 bag into the bath water to soak up to my neck; sometimes even immersing my whole body and srubbing my scalp as well.
I hope this will help all of you to get over the allergic reactions we can have to those nasty bugs.
E.J. Farkas
We had bedbugs off and on for 10 months. After spending well over $1000 with Orkin, we found a powder treatment online that is sprayed using a rose feeder (wear a mask when you apply) Apply it once a week for 4 weeks and thankfully, NO MORE BED BUGS!!!! Its been 5 months! Also, check those hotel rooms by pulling up the sheets and looking at mattress and dont put your suitcase in the bedroom or on the bed at home. BEDBUGS = nasty little monsters!!!! Glad they are finally out of my house.
how do you sleep at night when your relative has bed bugs and yo dont i have been up untill 7 am untill i fall asleep from exhaustion
Try using Boric (Acid) Powder. Dispite the name its only a little more toxic than common table salt and used to be used in many products like mouth wash. It kills roaches, so i would think it works on bed bugs too. And its cheep.
This is my second encounter with bed bugs at my moms house while visiting. Unfortunately I'm the only one bitten, allergic reaction to the bites which yes start out very, very, very itchy then get red then get swollen and after the itch is gone gets very painful. I treated first with benadryl lotion and took tylenol but what really worked was bacitracin(also took benadryl tablets). I treated daily and the bites started getting smaller. Today is day 5 and finally they are tiny with very little itching. The bite site is apparent. They are hard to detect, I just took all the friily blankets and thick comforters off the bed and treated mattress and surrounding area with "Pronto bedbug spray" by Del Pharmaceuticals. After you let them air dry place them in plastic mattress bags which are sold in kmart and walmart for $6 each. I didn't get any more bites. Wash the blankets comforters in hot soapy water.Z
We had them to. We had an exterminator come. They came three times and seem to have gotten rid of them. We also heard that spraying your room and bed with rubbing alcohol works if you can't afford an exterminator. You just have to keep at it until there are no more bugs. (every few days, I'd guess) Also dry everything you can in a hot dryer. Good luck.
In Colorado we have bed bugs called "bat bugs" because they feed off of Bats. We had bats living above the bathroom. We didn't know what they were and didn't recognized bat guana in the window sill. I became very ill from being attacked by them for 4 to 5 months. Once we realized their were bed bugs in the bed we called the exterminators right away. But 1 to 2 months later I discovered what bat guana was and called the exterminators back but not before the bat controllers came and after dark and chased the bats out of the attic and dropped a bomb inside and construction workers sealed up above the bathroom window. The the exterminators came back and exterminated for bed bugs. Very nasty stuff but finally they were gone. It took about 6 months altogether and months after that for me to get well from the allergic reaction I had.
A couple of interesting bedbug facts: they're attracted to body heat, carbon dioxide, and human horomones/pheremones. Which makes us all easy targets when we're sleeping.
Personally, I got them from my ex (what a parting gift!), and had the hardest time getting rid of them. They had completely infested my bed, and I'm talking hundreds of them, before I showed a single bite mark. Some scientists say it can take a while to build up a reaction to the bites. I'm the only one in the house that reacts, and they itch like crazy. If the bites are really itchy, use an afterbite product (or see your doctor). Actually, the product that worked best for me is called "Res-Q". It's an analgesic spray, designed for body waxing, that contains lidocaine. It numbs the area, so you don't feel it as much. I found that if I scratched or rubbed the bites, they didn't heal as fast.
I washed everything I could in hot water, threw out anything I didn't need, and put everything but the bare essentials in garbage bags (doubled up and duct-taped shut) for a long Canadian winter in the garage. After some testing (sleeping in every room of the house with no bites) I determined that my room was the only one infested. Everywhere was treated, obviously, but I focussed my attentions to the source. I vacuumed EVERYTHING and used Raid (couldn't find anything else for bedbugs near me) to spray the rooms, furniture, baseboards... any tiny crack. In my very small room I unloaded 2 whole cans in a day. Trust me, use a respirator when doing this! Then, I vacuumed again. Here's the trick to the vacuuming: Empty The Bag. Take the vacuum outside when you're done, and empty the bag. If they can hide in baseboards, they'll get out of a vacuum. I couldn't find matress covers, so I bought 4 vinyl fitted sheets (2 for mattress, 2 for boxspring), put them on, and duct taped them at the seams. It worked! I leave them on: it's been 2 years, and I'm too scared to take them off.
If you're in Toronto, Canada, still having problems and can't afford an exterminator, contact Toronto Public Health. They should be able to give you some help.
for the past couple of months i have been getting these bites, i believer they are bed bugs. sometimes i get one or two in different spots and other times i get a few of them in one spot. i checked my bed and i dont see any signs or i have not spotted any bugs. please help, i am not sure what it is
Just came back from an overseas trip in a 5-star hotel with a huge bed bug attack on me...
My head (bald spot from forehead to crown) and my nexk (concentrated below my left ear and spotty everywhere else) is covered with hundreds of bites.
I have heard that they are not a health hazard but I have had a fever on and off for 3 days now. Could that be from the massive and crippling attack they wielded on me?
zapote21@gmail.com
what do i need to do in order to remove bed bugs without getting professional help?
We had gotten bedbugs. I made a mistake and bought an infested loveseat from a friend. In all my life, I never knew about bedbugs or what they looked like. So, in our ignorance whenever we saw this funny looking bug, we would kill it and figure that's that. After some months, the pesky critters consumed my whole house due to our lack of knowledge. I had to throw out the wooden stuff such as entertainment center, dressers, end tables, draperies, living room set, all beds and bed frames, ripped out all my carpets, you name it. Our house was completely bare except the kitchen table and chairs (they are metal). We used blowup beds for temporary. I replaced all the curtains, flooring with tiles, replaced new beds with plastic coverings. Then began the task of eradicating them. Used lots and lots of bottles of Clorox Bleach sprayed all over the house, inside all cracks, closets, and crevaces. We still don't have dressers, we use shelves for now and once a week I mop the whole house with soap and bleach. Thrilled to say the bed bug colony is gone at their new home at the local dump along with all my furniture. Every week I turn the couch upside down and spray it with clorox bleach. I clorox clean the house once a week and bugs are gone. I am still fearful of getting any carpeting yet and still see one or two bugs every now and then but not like it was. I keep spraying and hopefully after a year I will buy nice things. This has been the most humbling, costliest endeavor I have ever experienced in all my life. Instead of having a beautiful home with beautiful furnishings I am reduced to looking rather poor. It will take some time to rebuild thanks to those horrible creatures.
Please help! I have tiny bites in random places! Like the top of my knee, ankles, my shin and other weird place for bites to bee. I live in a one bedroom apt. I have already set off a bug bomb, bit no luck. I'm not even sure what it is that is biting me. The bits are tiny and dont turn res til i scratch them. they are driving me crazy!
I live in West New York Nj this whole area is infested with bed bugs. What can be done? people go to the doctors he gives you a cream, but what is really the solution?
Sounds like some people have had some bad experiences. I just had one last week. I was bit in a
Hotel and am horrified.
Check everything before you stay anywhere
I have these bumps all over my entire body. Some of the bumps are like small blisters, than other bumps are just like a hard bump. I itch like crazy. I have been to my family doctor 4 times. He said that it was dermatitis the first time. Than i still had the bumps went back he told me scabies, took the cream and steroid pack still had it went back told me it was a hair folicle infection. Than he told me dermatitis once again. So i decided it was time to go to a dermatologist this past week. She scraped the bumps and she also said it looks like scabies to her, so she gave me 2 different kinds of cream and i still have these itchy bumps. Does anyone know what this could be?
We thought we had ticks coming in from our pets going outside. We found out they were bedbugs. Mom told us to put down Sevin dust (from any popular store like walmart or lowes) on everything. We put it on our mattress and covered it with a blanket, recliners (covered with a blanket)and carpet. Sevin dust is not harmful to pets or people, but we put down blankets over the Sevin dust to sleep or recline anyway. It completely stopped the bedbug problem. They are usually only in one room, according to my mom. It was our bedroom and sitting room. Sevin dust is the same thing we use in our garden to stop bugs. We washed all the linens and covers while sleeping on the blankets that covered the sevin dust. We are not sure where the bugs came from except outside on our wooden porches. They travel on birds and other small mammals and live on wooden porches, grass and places similar to ticks. We did not have to get rid of anything. hope this helps.
how long does it usualy take for a "bite" to heal? i have had little "clusters" of 2-3 on my legs for few months that continue to itch?!?!?
I am battling bed bugs right now! I haven't slept in but about 5 very poor hours in 3 days and I am DELIRIOUS!
We believe we picked them up about 1 month ago during a trip to a casino in CT where we stayed the night. I do suffer from hives, and thought that my welts were just stress related. My husband wasn't suffering at all, so while I did suspect bed bugs, I couldn't find any. I checked under the sheets and in the folds of the mattress, under the edge piping of the mattress...nothing.
Finally, Saturday night my arm was burning & itching during my sleep and I jumped up and AH HA! There was one running away from me. I grabbed it and was able to identify it easily from all the photos I have seen recently on the news and during my own investigation. When hubby got home, we took apart the bed and found 3 more big ones.
We IMMEDIATELY called an exterminator!!! Especially if you are EARLY IN YOUR INFESTATION, best not to play around. We bagged up all the clothes in the room to take to the laundry (HOT WATER, HOT DRYER!) We threw away what we could...some clothes, some slippers, some books (yes, if badly infested, they can hide in books!)
The exterminator came, sprayed the mattress, box spring and baseboards and then layed poison dust over the boxspring and mattress. She also set off a foggger (***I have gotten some info from the internet that says this will have no effect on bedbugs***)
After 4 hours, we returned and put our mattress in a plastic encasement and taped the zipper shut. The exterminator gave us a 90 day guarantee.
That night, I finally tried to sleep in the bed around 7 am, when sure enough, I got bitten on my back by a little tiny bug. The exterminator said they may take 24-48 hours to walk around through the poison dust and die. They will come back if they are spotted again over the next few days.
I slept on my couch last night to try to figure out if they spread to other parts of my house. No new bites (I actually circled my old bites with pen to identify old from NEW)
I can say that I am absolutely psychologically screwed up over this. I don't know when I am going to be able to get a good nights sleep again.
I will check in again to let everyone who is interested know how my fight goes.
If anyone wants more detailed information or help from people who have been through this, check out BedBugger.com.
I Feel you on the sleep! I have been battling bed bugs for about the last two weeks. I picked them up in a hotel when I stopped off to sleep for about 6 hours driving across Louisiana. UGH. DEFINITELY do NOT try to do this yourself. They are so sneaky and hide in the TINIEST of places. It might be expensive, but it literally takes one bite, the bug goes and lays around 200 eggs. In 7 days WHAM, you are infested. Even if you got all but one, the situation could easily be out of control. They start out so tiny, but can become very large. Anyway, I gutted my closet, chest of drawers, and threw away my headboard (that's where most of them were). I didn't care, I just wanted them gone. Fortunately, they weren't in my mattress (I wash and change sheets weekly), but some had gotten in my box springs. I put encasements on both mattress and box springs, had pest control come rip apart my room, and washed everything I owned. Nothing left my room unless it was in plastic so I didn't spread them. I slept on the couch (after they inspected that) for about 5 days. I am happy to say I have been back in bed for about 4 days and am bug bite free. Trust me I wake up about every 30 minutes to check. I just want a normal night sleep!
so i gotta new pull out couch and it sure looks spotless but since ive had it i have couple quarter sized swollen bumps on my leg with a little white center like a zit.. what exactly do the bites look like?
I've had plenty of experience with bed bugs. These things are tricky and damn near impossible to get rid of. They can go for a year without a meal so sealing your matress is useless unless you're going to keep it seeled for a long time. Secondly, bedbugs do like soft surfaces but that doesn't mean they need to be on fabric. They can travel very far for your blood. I have my bed covered in plastic and I use no sheets, I also cover myself from head to toe. I just recently started getting bit again. They got to my chest because the only thing that wasn't covered was my face(I was wearing a hoodie). The bites can be odd looking. They usually have a larger red area surrounding a small red bump. My sister, who has very sensitive skin, is affected much worse by these bites. Her bites end up looking very much like a rash. The bugs secrete a numbing toxin into the area they're feeding off of so you wont feel it when they bite you. The bites vary in severity depending on the sensitivity of the affected area. More sensitive areas are more greatly affected. Also some people are naturally more affected by the toxin the bugs let off. The bites in a line are customary to these bed bugs. The bugts that haven't fed in a while are a clearish yellow and see-through. When they are clear like this there can also be seen a small black dot in its abdomen section. The bugs that have fed, however, are reddish-brown and fatter. Even the full ones are fairly thin though. I find the best way to catch them is with tape. catch them in the tape sticky side together making sort of a laminated bed bug. Then squash them to make sure they're dead. vacuuming alot helps as well. make sure to run the hose attachment along creases in matresses and along the corner moldings on the wall and carpet. The eggs that the bed bug lays are sticky. Once they hatch they need blood within a few days to move onto the next stage of life. From then on they can go for a year without feeding. The fust hatched bugs aren't very fast so besides being hard to see they should be fairly easy to catch. The really tricky ones are the almost fully grown ones. I call them the teenagers. The teenage bed bug is super fast. These are the ones that are really hard to catch. The adult bed bugs can be pretty fat. They get up to about a quarter of an inch but no bigger. I find that these ones are slow esspecially if they've just fed. The only other advice I have to give is to try to keep areas clean and uncluttered, but this only helps a small amount once they've fully infested.
I am now throughly infested. I went to the Dr. 3 times and was given a treatment for scabies. Then they sent me to a dermatologist that looked at the bites on my ankles for 10 seconds, and said "Whatever it was, it seems to be healing now" I had to figure out on my own it was bed bugs. Moronic exterminators have been here three times and they can't find anything. I was home last time they came, and they spent alot of time hunting. They actually told me next time I see one, don't kill it-follow it to see where it goes so we can figure out where they're hiding. It's not gonna do any good to keep coming back and spraying. Oh sure, let em escape to where I can't see so they can lay more eggs? I have caught them in the living room, my room, 2 times when I went to change the toilet paper there was a BB in the cardboard roll on the new roll. Who would ever think to look there? My supervisor made me use ALL my sick days b/c even tho she had no idea what it was either, she was afraid I was contageous. This bitch is 23 with no higher education, much less an MD, and unfortunately the next in rank agreed with her-so there went any plans for a vacation! My F ing landlord actually tried to evict me for having bedbugs b/c my apt is cluttered. I had to get a lawyer to fight him! I was SO relieved when an article came out that said there is no difference between a fancy hotel or small crowded apt. Obviously I've had ALOT of trouble over these little bastards, BESIDES the attractive red marks all over my arms,ankles and feet. At least they haven't bitten me on the face lately-Now THAT was embarrassing, show up at work w what looks like a pimple (tho I am far to old for that) by lunch have what looks like giant hives on my face, then gone in 2 days if I managed not to scratch it. BTW, I got back to work by going to a Dr that wrote me a note that said what ever I had was not contageous, but that Dr. didn't diagnose the bites either!She just agreed it wasn't fair for some dumb ass to decide I was contageous based off her fear of when her little sister had scabies. Today I got some new ideas from this blog and I'm going to try some of them, starting NOW!! Wish me luck!
my grandmother was taking a nap in the middle of the day and woke up to find hundreds of bed bugs on her bed and a few biting her. she immediately took off the bed sheets and put them in a black trash bag and threw them out. she put plastic covers on her matreeses and pillows cleaned the floors with clorox products and has been bed bug free. people in her aprtment complex who went to an exterminater first were unsuccessful the first time. i hope all goes well for those of you with them
HELLO AGAIN!
I posted on April 28, 2008 a few days after discovering I had bed bugs.
Sorry to report that things have not gone well in the 2 1/2 months since. I haven't slept with the lights off, or a blanket on my bed since. I am living like a refugee...hampers of clothes in my kitchen and hallway because I'm afraid to let anything back in my bedroom. I DREAD going to sleep at night.
The exterminator we hired did come back three times and dusted our mattress and sprayed, but it did no good.
They have now spread to my living room couch, and who knows where else. I did finally dust around my couch and carpet in living room with Diatemaceous Earth, but too early to tell if that had any affect because I read it can actually take the bugs up to 17 days to die from that. I also sprayed my carpet and sofa with a pyrethrin spray. I am going to order some DRIONE DUST because I have heard some positive things about it.
I can't believe something like this has totally changed (and really just about ruined) my life so drastically. I'm very unhappy...I hate coming home from work. It's horrible not to feel safe or comfortable in your home...or to not have refuge in your own bed. I used to LOVE sleeping...especially late on the weekends. Now I sleep maybe 3 to 4 hours a night, and jump up a few times a night because I swear I feel something on me. I know I'm rambling, but it is almost 3 in the morning and I have no wish to go up to bed.
I am researching an exterminator who uses CO2 to freeze the little buggers. Apparently, they can safely spray EVERYTHING in your home and it will kill them instantly, including the eggs. I believe it is quite expensive...could be up to $2000 or more. However, at this point, I'd sell a kidney to be rid of them.
I'll report in the future in case I have any success with any of my methods.
Sleepless in Staten Island
SORRY...the above should read: I first posted on April 28, 2009
i've run across a few places online that say a thin coating of food-grade diatomaceous earth kills bed bugs. this may be the only thing that works, especially in an apartment building because it kills them if they walk over a thin layer of it, and other tenants may not be dealing with them well. please note that it is an abrasive substance in powder form that is probably also harmful to your lungs, so it should probably be spread on the floor to get into all crevices (including cracks at edge of floor) and then vacuumed up thoroughly,would a hepa filter keep it out of the air? you can bag all your soft belongings and launder them on hot, then close adn toss used bags and keeped the clean laundry sealed airtight until you've tackled the rest of the home really thoroughly (and maybe beyond that.) sealing your mattress in a plastic bag and washing and inspecting sheets frequently with a q-tip and isopropyl alcohol is probably the next thing to do, for someone with good eyesight...make sure all your furniture has tight seams with no openings and do the same with the alcohol there, and maybe seal it up or keep inspecting every day. i'm told that a hard freeze for a few months is thought to work, but not many of us have that option. you can freeze your pillow, but no one seems to know whether a few hours will do the trick. poison does not always seem to do much good. these things are thought to survive for months or possibly over a year without a meal at certain stages of growth so you really want to be thorough with every thing in your life.
We just had the problem with bed bugs we got some spray and sprayed the whole house washed up all the lines spray all your closets. spray around your baseboards and in every crack also spray the window sills it takes a while to do this but once you do this you should be able to get rid of them also spray your mattress and box spring. you may also have to get rid of the bed if they are in the mattress. i hope this helps.
so right now it is 3:31 a.m!!! and ive come to realize that the reason i dont sleep is because these stupid bed bugs make me anxiouse and ughhh.
i live in and apt building and i used to live in a different apt in this same builing and i rarly saw the bed bugs. almost never. and i was never bitten. but just 2 months ago i moved to a bigger apt. abd in this apt i see bed bugs everynight. ive been bitten twice and my younger sibling have been bitten alot!
because i stay up so late i see them crawling on walls and i kill them. just tonight ive killed like 13! they were all baby bed bugs.
and now im mad cuz i just found out they bite dogs also! which means my dog is being bitten and im scared something could like happen to him. i know theyre in my bottom matress and my dog only likes to sleep under my bed. im thinking of throwing out my bottom matress one of these days.
there really is not point in exterminating since i live in an apt and my neighbor has the bed bugs also. if anything the the owners of the builing should pay to get all apartments exterminated.
blahh stupid vampire bugs!
My boyfriend and I recently stayed in a hotel at Vegas and I was up all night on our last night because I was really sick and I started to notice a bunch of little dark bugs in the bed in the wee hours of the morning like 3,4,5 am. I freaked because I absolutely HATE all bugs, but did not think anything about it because we checked out that morning. Well of course I keep waking up with all of these little red bites all over my body [it is true they do run in straight lines] I'm talking my hands, fingers, arms, shoulders, legs, sides elbows, feet, ankles, neck...you get the picture. And get this I find it incredibly interesting that my boyfriend isn't bit at all. He doesn't itch and neither do our dogs. We haven't even unpacked our suitcases but we threw them downstairs to wash. We stripped our sheets to wash and I am curious to see if the problem improves and vanishes, but after reading the posts above mine I am extremely pessimistic. I'm seriously going to have a panic attack if our house is infected because his bed is new and we have a large house and no money or time!!! :(
(Use Cortisone to help the itch)
Six weeks ago my daughter and I's lives changed forever. I had bug on my arm, killed it. Few days later, another bug - this one I put in tape and showed my neighbor. She said - bed bug - which she has had them off and on for years. I have lived in this apt for 9 years - I used to like it - but not now.I went to do my laundry soon after and in taking off my collector quilt, pulled also the fitted sheet and there were about 7-8 bugs running around. I freaked and pulled it all off and rushed down to the laundry room, alerting another tenant when I got there and I started researching the net. We got an H20 cleaner off E-bay about a week later, because we found that three apartments - my floor - had recently been sprayed for bedbug infestation. Interesting, as mine showed up about then. With the H20 cleaner also came a steamer. We searched the internet and had been using the steam iron, hair dryer, vacuuming the couch, love seat and mattresses prior to the H20 cleaner and were still seeing bugs. Well since then - 6 weeks ago, it's non stop steaming, washing, not sleeping, watching half the night, getting some Chinese chalk, ordering more and living in a state of total stress. Well the landlady heard it through the grapevine and gave me a 2 day notice to get ready for Terminex to come - with the usual instructions - most of which I had done already, except moving nearly out of here with all my stuff (I lived in a 3,600 square foot house before and I am a packrat - so this 900 square foot apartment is PACKED. I also collect dolls which overflow out my closets. So my adjoining dining room (next to my living room) became a storage area and I new the landlady would evict me for so much STUFF. My daughter took off work and we hauled some boxes outside the apartment to the outdoor area by the elevator. We sat for 3 hours waiting for the Terminex guy to come. He was nearly 4 hours late - got here and said "yes" but only in my mattress which does have holes. But, we had bought plastic covers, and have other mattress covers on top - so felt safe. Neither of us had been bitten. However, we had been sleeping on air matresses(sort of) and love seat (till we couldn't take the looking all night) - and have just literally made "seek and destroy" our motto in total rages, screaming at each other for the whole time. So, my first night after the freeze job on my matress - I had to take a sleeping pill to face it (knowing dead bugs - or maybe not dead bugs in there). So here we are the DAY AFTER (Terminex coming back to check in 5 days)and still saw a bug on my couch (dying). We have encased ones we found in tape - and have maybe 30 - like kindof a trophey that we succeeded somehow. I had the steamer going more today. I have refused to return the mounds of boxes (dolls, shoes, clothes) to my room - no trust). I have one of those lights ordered now off E-bay for viewing bugs in things because when this T - guy comes back - I want to prove to him - THEY ARE STILL HERE and I will be addicted to sleeping pills if he doesn't get them all. My daughter and I screamed the two solid days getting ready for him to come and are now exhausted and trying to "be nice" to each other, while the QUEST continues. Lots of luck. Oh, my boyfriend never got bit - last weekend; but you know, that's no conselation - I hate this life. I want peace back.
I am the only one out of three people in my apt who has noticed bites. I first had two that started to itch but then kinda healed. They turned into little round circles. It is about a week later and I have four more. Is it common to start out with such a relative small number of bites? The pictures all show horrible looking series of bites. I saw a nurse practitioner recently who assured me that just a couple of random bites wouldn't signify bed bugs. Now that I have more, I'm scared. I can't find any bugs when I search the room. What should I do?
I am so scared, I can't sleep.None of these posts make me feel any better. We found bugs in our college aged daughters bed 4 days ago. She had been home from college 3 times since it started. She always broke out in a rash, that went away when she went back to school. Didn't worry to much about it till we found the bugs. Have only found them in her room. We pitched the mattress,bagged up all her clothes. Sprayed the entire room, Kept the room sealed- Haven't been back in to check. We have not seen any in any other room- But every piece of lint, gets us excited. Is it possible they could have only been in one room? Any possiblitiy this could be handled without an exterminator? The estimates they gave me were horrendous- Only one offered any kind of guarantee. My husband refuses to use them-says he can do it himself. I am so scared. I don't feel like I can let my 13 year old stay at a friends house. I don't feel like my 2 college age children should come home for fear of infesting their college living quarters or effecting others.
U can kill bed bugs w rave hair spray belive it or not and the ones that don't die imediatly get their legs set up so tight that they eventually die bc they can't move.....altho they can live up to a year without a host and they r hard to get rid of them if u don't have the capability of getting an exterminator
i spent the night at my cousin's new apartment. i slept on the futon with her room mate. i did not have sex with him, but i came home ITCHING like CRAZY. theres a teensy bit of itching on my amrs and legs, but its mostly only on my inner thighs, and my lower butt, and some in my crack. and last ngiht they itched so bad i woke myself up bc i was scratching so hard
Thanks to all of your comments I knew what to tell my daughter when she discovered bed bugs. She had treated for fleas,seen a doctor for allergies, and hives. She was the only one being bitten even though her husband was in the bed,too. She only got relief when she slept on the couch. We are fairly sure her husband brought the bugs home. He is a police officer and goes into some pretty disgusting houses. Bugs everywhere!! Thanks to your info we knew about Terminix's 12 month guaranty. Thanks again!!!
will bleach kill bed bugs
I've been to the doctor and the dermatologist and both of them said I had something called scabies. I really didn't know about this though. I'm going to try this and go back to the doctor and see what they say.
dr oz from tv said use plastic bed bug covers and pillow case covers it seems to work as the bed bugs get trapped inside and cant come out- i saw about 50 of them inside the pillow case cover bu they couldnt get out and bite is- it freaked me out so i just threw the pillow and there plastic cases out and tomorrow im buying 2 new be bug pillow case covers- i havent had any allergic reactions to them but my partner did get a face rash and some swelling he took some benadryl and seems to be doing better- good luck everyone.
A month ago I went to Camp, And I had a "used" bed, that other's sleep on but clean sheets and all. So when i come home i notice bunches of red medium sized bites on my back, They were only on the top part of my left back. Now, that i'm home..I've been REALLY itchy in bed that i dont sleep under the sheet's anymore. I'm getting bitten with little bite's every now and then. I've had problems with bedbugs before, since I move a lot and all. How do I know if they're bed bug's and how can I catch them? after seeing a picture of what they look like, i'm scared to even sleep in my bed anymore!!
You HAVE to have a professional help you AND you can't just leave it up to the professional. You have to have a multi-pronged attack. I'm in the middle of one now.This is what has helped somewhat so far and what we plan to do next:
1- Definitely have the pros help as much as possible.
2- Encase all mattresses, box springs and pillows. If you have lots of mattresses or want to keep the cost down, go to Home Depo or some similar place and buy sheeting plastic (6 mil thickness) and duct tape. (For two twin mattresses, 4 box springs, a king mattress and 5 pillows we used about 800 sq feet of plastic and almost 4 rolls of duct tape). This drastically reduced the number of bites because it keeps bugs that are inside in and the outside ones out. NEVER remove the plastic.
3- We've been using eucalyptus oil mixed with lotion or water on our bodies to repel the bugs and prevent bites. I'm not sure if it's doing anything, tho. The mattress plastic made a much bigger difference...but hey, it can't hurt. You can buy it in the candle aisle of earthy crunchy stores like Whole Foods.
4- Vacuum often.
5- Dry bedclothes in dryer, then wash and dry again. The heat kills them. Do this as often as you can.
6- Caulking. Haven't tried this yet, but that's our next step. I've read this is especially important if you are living in an apartment. Caulk every possible opening.
7- Diatomaceas earth (a rock that crumbles into a powder, has multiple uses) = Our other next step. Thin layer along baseboards, under and around bed, etc. will cause the bugs to dehydrate and die. Only problem is I'm having trouble finding it. Home Depo says they don't have it, try a plant nursery..I've heard pet stores might have it as it is sometimes used for flea removal. I heard it should be fresh water DE, though.
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