Comments on: FAQ: Why am I being bitten and my housemate / partner / friend isn’t?

By: bigbadbugs

bigbadbugs — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:44:06 +0000

RE: why am I being bitten, but my partner isn’t?
I’m female, and my son and I are being bitten.
My partner on the other hand isn’t, he is actually on warfarin which means its probably extra good luck he isn’t being bitten or we really would have bloodspots on the sheets!
He has no sign of bites on his body, I presume it would be possible to see something even if there is no reaction.
Also, I have, ever-so-slightly raised cholesteral levels so I wondered if the BB think I’m extra tasty.
We have a big problem here in that, before I got BB I heard the neighbours down the street have them, so I believe they’ve got to us through the buildings. Literally blocks of flats are infested and it has occured to me that most people probably haven’t noticed them and are refusing the treatments/aren’t in at home and don’t want to make the effort to be home for a treatment they don’t think they need.

By: This is making me itch all over...

This is making me itch all over... — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:55:10 +0000

OKay somebody in our apartment complex had pest control come in because they got bed bugs yesterday we were informed that somebody had them in there unit and now we have to have an inspection and we may have to have all the units debugged that are in this complex. I got bite by something and maybe I am just parinode of this whole thing but I had 3 bites other then from being outside. I had 1 on my thigh yesterday now I have 2 more but I looked through our bed and nothing and my son and husband aren’t bitten, then again maybe it’s all in my head because I did check our bed and we dont travel to hotels and motels or anything like that so I know we didnt bring them in and our matress is about 5 months old and my sons crib is a year old now.
is this all in my head….I really hope we dont have any bugs because the thought of it makes me itch like crazy….

By: nobugsonme

nobugsonme — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 03:31:32 +0000

HI Julia– Yes, it could be that you picked them up somewhere and brought them home in a bag.

They may also have walked in from a neighbor’s home if you have an attached home (apartment, flat, attached house, etc.)

Not being allergic is very common, but keep in mind bites CAN take a while to appear. You may possibly have been bitten outside the home and should carefully consider the possibility. Bites can take up to 9 days to appear, we’re told, though many people probably react within a day or so.

Please come to the forums if you need support: http://bedbugger.com/forum/

By: Julia

Julia — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:48:05 +0000

“Duffle bag,” sorry.

By: Julia

Julia — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:47:20 +0000

I think I might have introduced bed bugs into my house using my gym duffle ba as a vehicle. I am coverd in papules, like some sort of urticaria. But my husband, who sleeps in the very same bed, has no bites and no rash whatsoever. Is it possible that only I could be allergic to their bite? I have an appointment with an allergologist tomorrow. I have checked my mattress (I have the European kind, without boxspring) and I have not seen any, but I have a rattan bed frame, so good luck inspecting that! Thank you…

By: nobugsonme

nobugsonme — Sun, 25 May 2008 19:57:39 +0000

Hi Jazzy,

It is quite possible you or someone who comes to your home is reintroducing them. It is also possible a neighbor has them and they’re being reintroduced that way.

Another possibility is that you may have had some bed bugs all along (in smaller numbers). It is possible that you are not reacting to the odd bite, but when bitten in greater force, suffer a noticeable allergic reaction.

If you retreat, PCOs generally do a repeat treatment within 2 weeks. Single treatments do not generally work. Most cases need 3+ treatments, and if people are treated just once, it is not unusual for bed bugs to bounce back in a short time.

Moving is very tricky. Many have tried and failed. Some have succeeded. You have to decide if it is possible to get proper treatment for yourself as well as having neighbors inspected and treated if need be. If not, moving may be a good idea. Don’t assume you will not bring some bed bugs, however. Some people arrange to move while the old apt. is being treated, and to have one treatment in the new place (to kill the odd bed bug brought along for the ride).

Also, if you do send your laundry out, you must take it in sealed bags (such as XL ziplocs) and make sure the laundry service understands the bags must be emptied into the machines and washed and dried on hot, before being placed into new sealed bags. If they do not fully understand the issues involved, they may infest their shop, other customers, and reinfest your clean wash.

Good luck!

If you have further questions or comments, please post them on the forums:

http://bedbugger.com/forum

By: Jazzy

Jazzy — Sat, 24 May 2008 15:22:30 +0000

I first started getting bitten in December 2007. Bed bugs were the last thing on my mind as I truly thought they were fictional, like in that nursery rhyme “don’t let the bed bugs bite”. I kept getting bitten and my boyfriend wasn’t, but we were both concerned. I thought it was a spider so we tore the bedroom apart, piece by piece. We got to the box spring and as soon as we turned it up on it’s side, bed bugs began to pop out of it. We rushed it down to the dumpster and one or two popped out on the way down the stairs We called our landlord immediately the next day and an exterminator visit was scheduled. We had to cover up ALL of our electronics in plastic (We each have a computer and lots of electronic music equipment so this was not an easy task) and we had to bag up ALL of our clothes, towels, sheets, etc and seal them in plastic so they could all be washed in hot water. Not good as I have a lot of clothes and some were to be ruined by being washed in hot water Our landlord refused to help at all besides sending an exterminator. It cost us a lot of money in quarters to wash everything, at least two days to box everything up, move it out of our bedroom and get ready for the bug guy to come. It was awful, but we did it. Two months after the treatment, I started getting bit again and again, my boyfriend was not getting bit. We reported it to our landlord (come to find out this very dirty woman had moved in behind us months ago and we probably got them from her) and we had to go through the process all over again in February. As time went on, I thought the horrible bites were a thing of the past and just a week ago, I started getting bitten again. The exterminator then came and checked our entire apartment and couldn’t find any signs of bugs, but offered to spray anyway (at the cost of the apt complex). So, we did it all again a couple days ago. I just got done brushing my teeth and I found another bite on my pinky finger! So I got on line to try to learn more and I found this site. I’m looking to buy a house right now and I am SO afraid of taking these disgusting little blood suckers with me. I’m about to abandon all of my furniture, seal up all of my clothes and take them to a laundry service and have them all done for me when I leave and just start over. Do you think this will work? I also recently found out that my ex-dirty neighbor may have not been the problem but it could have been somebody bringing them into my house who is still bringing them into my house. I am very panicky about the whole situation and I’m ready to ban all my friends from coming over until they have an exterminator check out their living situation. I don’t know what else to do, this is awful. The exterminator even said it’s very odd that after the treatment in February that I wouldn’t get bitten again until May unless they were re-introduced into the environment. I’m freaking out and don’t know what to do!

By: nobugsonme

nobugsonme — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 09:29:04 +0000

Never,
I responded to your other comment. This is a common complaint, unfortunately. You need a PCO (exterminator). Read the FAQs–your landlord may be responsible to pay. Find out if neighbors are infested, as that affects the situation if s/he is not (in many parts of Canada as per our FAQ on landlords and tenants). Come to the forums if you need support. Blue button at top right.

By: NeverSleep

NeverSleep — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 08:45:26 +0000

I woke up 3 weeks ago with a bug on my arm… I was horrified, and immediately thought “bed bugs.” I showed my husband and he was unimpressed so we ended up throwing out the mattress and sleeping on the couches for two weeks until we could afford a new one (which we haven’t even taken the plastic off of yet). We’re both students so we havent had the time or resources to properly clean our house out and do laundry, and we certainly can’t afford an exterminator.

Now I wake up every day with bites, and the seem to become more frequent as hte day wear on (ie – i notice more around 5pm then I did when I got up at 10). My husband doesn’t get ANYTHING. I went to the doctor and he ruled out scabies, and pretty much anything other than bugbites.

WHY’!?!>! I’m starting to hate brining it up, as i generally get the eye roll and sigh and “well what do you want to do about it then?” and “I can’t sleep with the light on”

terrible,

By: nobugsonme

nobugsonme — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 23:37:29 +0000

Becky–I am going to reply to you in the forums (Click “Get Advice” on the top menu and go to the forums!)

Everyone else–please help us keep the posts and FAQs on topic: if a conversation gets away from the topic of the post, let’s take it to the forums. The advantage to all of us is you can easily find all the previous conversations you were involved in in the forums (via your profile) and you can also search by tags. On the blog, if the comments get off topic, it’s harder to find the relevant ones if you ever want to revisit them. Newcomers often don’t know this policy so please help me out by directing them to the forums. Thanks!