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3 treatments and now a new bite - Why won't these things just DIE??
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mam417
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Posted 1 year ago
Thu Oct 27 2011 19:37:03
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Every time I post, I feel compelled to apologize. I try NOT to post because I feel like a wimp and a whiner and a big complainer, and, frankly, it's really boring. But noone in my life really wants to hear about it anymore. I really wish I didn't have to hear about it anymore either.
I had my third treatment last week. Transport and Bedlam only, despite my specific request that they treat this like it was the first treatment, due to the continued high incidence of bites (they had used this same stuff, but also added Gentrol, which I really wanted again because from what I read it only has a 30 day residual, and my first treatment was four weeks ago). Since the third treatment, which was last Wednesday, I had suspicious sensations on my skin, but no bites. Until today. About 1/2 - 45 min after I showered, I noticed a bite - in the middle of my freaking back. ????
I swear - I SWEAR - I'm trying to remain calm. I have yet another PCO (my THIRD) coming with the dog to check my landlord's part of the house tomorrow. ("Oh, just as a precaution, can we have the dog check?" I wanted to strangle him.) I'm extremely annoyed about this, because I have absolutely NO money. He conveniently ignored my question when I asked if he was having a problem. And he had NO intention of getting an inspection done on his own. Can you believe? As if it could just wait, no big deal. Moron. They can't even inspect my apartment due to the recent treatment, but I just want to make sure there aren't any bbs up there, because it will just continue to be a nightmare of infest and re-infest and re-infest again. In fact, that may already be what is happening - because it's been SIX months. SIX. I have been precluded from checking up there up till now, and I want to take advantage of it.
Why is there a bite in the middle of my back (which would normally be UNDER my shirt)? Why aren't all the stupid dumb bb's dead?? Why didn't the PCO use Gentrol again last time? Why can't I get rid of these things? I have dried, pack-tited, re-dried and re-pack-tited everything I even THINK of wearing. At first l thought maybe the bb was in the clothes I put on. I took them off and bagged them immediately, because (prob mind over matter) I started feeling as if things were crawling on me. I was two seconds away from throwing out every thing I own. (If I had the money to replace it, it would all be in the garbage right now.) Yet one more panic attack ensued. And then, I remembered what some blessed soul said to me on another one of my ridiculous posts "you could throw everything away and still have bugs." And the likelihood of them being in clothes that I have dried beyond recognition is very slight, intellectually I am cognizant of that.
So - WTF is going on??? (And I apologize, Nobugs, if "wtf" is an abrogation of the profanity rules....)
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VictoryIsMine
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Posted 1 year ago
Fri Oct 28 2011 0:10:06
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Vent away. We all know how you feel. Sorry you (we, in fact) are going through that. I am completely against GMOs and all, but if they came up with something GM that we could take to keep BBs away, I'd drink it by the gallon.
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sholmes
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Joined: Oct '11
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Posted 1 year ago
Fri Oct 28 2011 23:33:07
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VictoryIsMine - 23 hours ago »
Vent away. We all know how you feel. Sorry you (we, in fact) are going through that. I am completely against GMOs and all, but if they came up with something GM that we could take to keep BBs away, I'd drink it by the gallon.So pretty nasty thing you are goings through but my moms neighbor has been treated 4 times in the last 2 months. She is getting out of her lease and moving. She practically moved out every time a treatment had to be done because of the heat, she moved.its horrible to think that she is moving/running away so her kids don't have to suffer
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VictoryIsMine
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Posted 1 year ago
Sat Oct 29 2011 2:42:27
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Ugh. These creatures are die-hards. It's funny I got my packtite today, and looked for a video on YouTube to find out how to use it properly. One of the videos that popped was showing a little jar of bed bugs that were put inside a PackTite to show how they died. It's crazy; even at those very high temperatures you can see some of the adults running around trying to escape........quite active for a very long time! You'd think they'd just sort of faint and die and the maintenance of 120 for a while was mainly for a good margin of safety. Well, while I'm sure that too is the case, it seems it's also because some of them just can hold up it quite a while.
I'm in a similar situation: been fighting them for a while, and can't wait 'til this is all over. In my apartment it seems I'm getting now no bites (or very few, if any--delayed reactions make it hard to tell with accuracy), but it seems they made their way into my car and workplace (back when I had no clue what was causing my bad skin reactions). The fight is till on.
Keep your battle and hang in there; as they say, this too shall pass.
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mam417
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Posted 1 year ago
Sat Oct 29 2011 23:22:51
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So pretty nasty thing you are goings through but my moms neighbor has been treated 4 times in the last 2 months. She is getting out of her lease and moving. She practically moved out every time a treatment had to be done because of the heat, she moved.its horrible to think that she is moving/running away so her kids don't have to suffer
sholmes, I'm so sorry for your mom's neighbor, and with children, omg I can't even imagine. Everytime I read on here about someone going through this nightmare who has babies or toddlers -or worse TEENAGERS! - I cringe and really come close to tears (I'm SO emotional lately...) I was exhausted beyond the point of being able to string two letters together to form a word, and I live alone! I wish I wasn't so frightened/petrified/psychotic about bbs, because I would really like to help people with kids prepare....but I'd be too busy having a panic attack to really be of much use. But, is this in an apartment building? I hope your mom is ok, and has been inspected. And I do NOT blame her neighbor for moving. I just keep wondering what will happen when we can't move away from the problem because the problem is everywhere? Sorry, these things make my thoughts very very dark...good luck to your mom's neighbor, and to your mom and you as well, for a future bb-free existence.
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mam417
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Posted 1 year ago
Sat Oct 29 2011 23:50:46
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I messed up the quote function (above), so I won't try again, but VictoryisMine, first, I'm sorry that you are also going through this, and I completely totally 100% agree with your sentiments in terms of GMO...I"d drink it, bath in it, use it as a cologne....I am SO not kidding. I'm happy to hear you got your Packtite. Mine is about to just burn out, I've been using it so much. I obvi have too many clothes, and have to give a bunch of stuff away, but I can't do that if there's even the slightest possibility of there being a bb in them. So that thing is getting a workout. I have to say, I could NEVER watch the video with bbs crawling around in it. It would give me (more) nightmares. I even have a hard time seeing the cartoon-like drawings on the blog here. I know, I know, that's completely whacked, but I've never been one for scary movies, or any horror stuff whatsoever, and that's what these hideous beasts remind me of - a freaking horror movie that runs continuously. I will avoid looking at them at all costs.
I'm so sorry you're going through this for so long. I, too, infested a car, but if was very old anyway and not worth the $500 it would have taken to have it fumigated, so I just junked it. I told the guy 100 times "do NOT sit in it, it's infested". Poor guy, he was very nice about it, but you could tell he was repulsed. As for work, I have no idea. I am crazed and completely ocd about making sure that I am clean clean clean when I leave the house - but since I was reinfested and have no idea how the hell that happened, it's impossible to know whether they were at work and I brought them home, or I brought them to work, or what the heck happened. SO frustrating.
I'm so glad at least you think you're not getting bit in your apartment. I hope that means you're getting some sleep, at least. I'm sure you could use it. Like I said above, dealing with these things has just been exhausting for me. I wish you the very best of luck in totally getting rid of them as soon as possible and never having to deal with them again!
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VictoryIsMine
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Posted 1 year ago
Sun Oct 30 2011 5:57:36
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Thank you for being so supportive, mam417.
I'm sorry you're going through this, as well.
Funny, I'm not one for scary movies either, and am generally quite impressionable when it comes to disgusting stuff, but in this case I get an eery satisfaction in watching them die. Whenever I see a red spot in my sheets that tells me one burst after feeding, I wish I'd witnessed it.
$500 to get your car fumigated? Huh. What kind of treatment, if I may ask? And in what state? I'm in CA and I just got a quote over the phone the other day and they said the minimum is $1300, for a Vikane treatment. They go by sizes of what's being treated, and according to the lady on the phone (it was Isotech) that's the price for the smallest truck, so she suggested just packing a trailer and doing it along with my car, since it would be the same cost. I wish I could afford it. My issue then would just be figuring out how not to reinfest my car and home, since I know for a fact they're in my office. I think I might have brought them in when I was still clueless on what was going on with me--I was even checking online for scabies and all sorts of other things. Which, in a way, was kind of good, because that's the only reason I could tell it was a BB when I finally saw one (otherwise I would have thought it was a baby roach.)
Good luck to you, as well. Hope these creatures die and give you much needed peace and relief.
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mam417
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Posted 1 year ago
Sun Oct 30 2011 22:42:34
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VIM, I just happened across your post about your clueless landlord. You did the best thing moving out. That is ridiciulous. This is just NOT a DIY job. In fact, in many situations (like mine apparently) even the "experts" can't get it right. Anyway, as to my car treatment, I had two choices, both $500.00. I could have gotten the car heated or Vikaned (aka "gassed"). I'm in NJ/NY. Frankly, I'm really surprised that it's more in CA than here. The Vikane price would have been the same for a U-Haul box truck, actually, which was wierd, but that's the way it is. And the heat price would have been $800.00 for a large car, but I have this tiny little 1995 Civic (yep, not kidding), so I negotiated the price down to $500.00. That completely sucks that they would gouge you like that - $1300??!!! They should be ashamed of themselves, and (since I kinda live angry these days) I'm this close to contacting them and telling them! I'm so sorry that not only do you have to endure the dumb stupid bbs, but a moron of a landlord, and greedy fumigators. It makes me SO angry. People going through this are already suffering, and this only makes it worse.
You may have already posted this, but does your work know about the bbs? If so, have they treated? It's so important, as I'm sure you now know, to get it as early as possible. Not that I think it would be easy to tell your work something like this - stigma and misinformation abound with these horrible beasts, and I imagine it would be a very very hard thing to do.
As for not reinfesting your house if you have them at work, a few things. First, are you sure they're at work? You might be able to put some passive monitors around to see if you can catch any. David Cain is so amazing helping people figure out the best placement (among other things), and if you posted a picture of your office space here and asked him, I'm sure he'd give you his opinion on it. If you're sure, there's a few things I've read and been told, because I, too, was dealing with them at some of my worksites. In one post, a woman asked how her husband could avoid taking them home from the hospital he worked at. Killer Queen's opinion was that the best way was to not bring the problem home in the first place. That is, change at work, and wear those clothes only there. If that's possible, it's a great idea. If that's not possible, I had this discussion with David Cain, who has said he's never brought them home despite the numerous exposures he's had. If I understood him correctly, immediately upon entering, he steps into a very smooth-sided plastic box, carefully disrobes, and then deals with the clothing in the way you normally would infested garments - I immediately place in zip lock and packtite or throw in the dryer, as is appropriate to the item of clothing. I keep meaning to contact him to find out how you treat the plastic box, but keep forgetting. I'm sure if you either create a post or PM them directly, either KQ or DC will elucidate on these strategies. (And I'm certain the boys will correct me in no uncertain terms should I have erred in any of what I've said...lol....) I would definitely search here to see if you can find their thoughts on the topic, or those of other PCO's who have spoken on the topic, but whose names I can't recall at the moment.
I hope my ramblings make some sense and have been even a little helpful to you. Sorry if I've messed up any of this, and I urge you to research what I've said to make sure I haven't steered you wrong. Please keep us updated on your progress. I wish you the best.
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VictoryIsMine
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Posted 1 year ago
Mon Oct 31 2011 3:41:22
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Thanks for the tips, mam417!
Yes, I think I have them at work. I am going to shop around some more, maybe I can find somewhere or some way more affordable to treat my car. I'll be moving out as soon as I'm able to finish treating all my remaining belongings, figure out logistics, etc. My concern I guess would be, if I'm able to treat my car, and my work is still infested, how could I possibly avoid a reinfestation (I can't really undress and change at work, nor bring my Packtite there). Pricey tag for the high risk. Also a pricey tag to keep on being bitten for that long if I know they're there. We'll see.
I did tell at work. Not everyone. Just 2 people, one a friend, and my boss--who happens to also be the one in charge of maintenance of facilities. She told our Pest Control Co., who comes once a month for regular spraying, so they showed up last Friday and added a BB spray to their regular routine. I don't know that it will do anything, but I have to at least keep hopes up.
Yours were not ramblings and yes, they were helpful. I'll keep researching and looking into pricing and options. That's all we can, and well, must do; keep fighting.
Wish you the best to you, as well. Keep us posted.
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mam417
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Joined: Nov '10
Posts: 86offline
Posted 1 year ago
Thu Nov 3 2011 8:42:14
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Victoryismine, I'm glad what I said was helpful. I wish you the best of luck in locating a more affordable alternative to treat your car, and I sincerely hope your work PCO is able to resolve the bb situation there. It is so frustrating and difficult to fight this battle on so many fronts, I know that first hand. Please let us know what ultimately happens.
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