Category: misdiagnoses
By nobugsonme on Oct 28, 2007 in NPMA, awareness, bed bug bites, bed bug shells, bed bugs, bedbugs, blood smears, cast shells, consumer warning, eggs, fecal, fecal specks, fecal stains, misdiagnoses, other causes of itching, poop, professional advice, professional pest-control services: reviews, suggestion, signs and symptoms, treatment | 6 Comments
We Bedbuggers know that bed bugs can be very difficult to find, even for trained Pest Control Operators. Time and again, people with bites are told they do not have any “evidence.” Since other conditions and pests can cause similar symptoms, it is of course important that other “signs” are present–but too often, […]
By nobugsonme on Jul 20, 2007 in bed bug bites, bed bug blame game, bed bug refugees, bed bugs, bedbugs, best practices, blame game, connecticut, detection, furniture, hotels, mattresses, misdiagnoses, multi-unit buildings, nevada, new haven, news, public education, spread, tenants, treatment, treatment preparations, usa | 2 Comments
In Reno, they have so few bed bug cases, that the health department called three residents of an apartment complex to tell them their building is infested. (New Yorkers, are you laughing?!)
Unfortunately, as Geralda Miller of the Reno Gazette Journal reports, the advice being given to tenants is not great:
“They’re an indoor critter,” [Jeff […]
By nobugsonme on Mar 22, 2007 in bad ideas, bed bugs, bedbugs, consumer, florida, lice, marcos island, misdiagnoses, misinformation, north carolina, other causes of itching, pesticides, spread, treatment, usa | 4 Comments
I’ve heard reports from various areas that haven’t seen many cases of bed bugs yet that Pest Control Operators often don’t know how to deal with them. We’ve heard this from readers near Yellowstone Park, and in Yorkshire, England. It makes sense of course, but the reasonable response is to do your homework. […]
By nobugsonme on Feb 27, 2007 in bed bugs, bedbugs, california, misdiagnoses, multi-unit buildings, reader questions, treatment, usa | 1 Comment
Reader Edgie wrote me an email which she asked me to post on the blog:
I’m Edgie in San Francisco.
I moved to this apartment last June and learned from a
neighbor that there were bed bug problems. I didn’t know
what a bedbug was, but quickly learned. I also started
getting small bites pretty regularly, not big […]
By nobugsonme on Feb 24, 2007 in bed bugs, bedbugs, health, misdiagnoses | 8 Comments
Many of us went to doctors (both internal medicine specialists and dermatologists) with our bed bug bites and were misdiagnosed. Some people are wrongly told they have scabies and treated for it (as I was, without the doctor having done a simple scraping to diagnose a scabies infestation.) People are sometimes even […]
By nobugsonme on Feb 18, 2007 in bed bugs, bedbugs, delusional parasitosis, information and help, misdiagnoses, other causes of itching, signs and symptoms | 2 Comments
I just updated the most general FAQ: “What are bed bugs? How do I know if I have them? What else could be causing similar symptoms?”
You may notice that I am beginning to remove the comment function from the FAQs, since people are overwhelmingly using them to post tales of bed bug […]
By nobugsonme on Dec 23, 2006 in bed bugs, bedbugs, dust mites, misdiagnoses, misinformation | 0 Comments
This guy is grossed out because he thinks “bed bugs” eat his dead skin cells and discarded hair.
Alas, if only.
By nobugsonme on Dec 20, 2006 in bed bugs, bedbugs, health, information and help, misdiagnoses, news, other causes of itching, signs and symptoms, tales of bed bug woe | 1 Comment
The Johns Hopkins University Gazette (11 September 2006) reports that the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center has come up with a helpful acronym for doctors in diagnosing the source of childrens’ rashes. It highlights features of bed bug bites and other conditions, which many of us adults who suffer from bed bug bites have also […]
By nobugsonme on Dec 4, 2006 in bed bugs, bedbugs, dust mites, florida, misdiagnoses, news, usa | 0 Comments
Oy, Bradenton / Sarasota / Manatee Florida: Bradenton Herald business reporter Robin Roger is steering you wrong. The article “Mattress sweeper prevents the bed bugs’ bite” is about dust mites.
Back in August, there was a local station which covered the NYC City Council hearing on bed bugs and used a photo of a […]
By nobugsonme on Nov 30, 2006 in bed bugs, bedbugs, information and help, misdiagnoses, other causes of itching, signs and symptoms | 0 Comments
The FAQ on this issue has just been updated (including links to info on other possible causes– bird mites, scabies, hot tub folliculitis, and delusory parasitosis). Click here to see it!
Coming soon: shed skin and feces photos, thanks to Lou Sorkin!
By parakeets on Nov 4, 2006 in activism, bed bug disclosure, bed bugs, bed bugs and tenants, bedbugs, government, housing laws, massachusetts, misdiagnoses, multi-unit buildings, treatment | 1 Comment
A friend of mine recently said she was told that her building was being treated for “a new kind of roach.” Then she described the treatment–all the tenants would have to put all their things in plastic bags in the center of the room, the treatment was going to be done 3 times over a […]
By nobugsonme on Oct 22, 2006 in FAQs, bed bugs, bedbugs, delusional parasitosis, information and help, misdiagnoses, other causes of itching, photos, photos of bed bugs | 59 Comments
What bed bugs (or bedbugs) look like depends partly on their life stage and whether they’ve just had a blood meal or not. You need to know that the adults are about the size of an apple seed, and the youngest nymphs can be the size of a speck of dirt. In other […]