Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Bed Bug Success Stories
55 Days Bite Free!
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ritanna3
newbite
Joined: Jul '09
Posts: 8offline
Posted 3 years ago
Tue Sep 15 2009 15:20:40
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Well, 59 actually, but that is the number of days since I last got a bite. Wanted to share some positive news with the forum, b/c I know when my bed bug ordeal first started, I got really hopeless from reading everything on here. Which is understandable b/c of course people with bigger problems will be posting a lot more. Just a couple notes about my experience:
- Randomly got a bite or two every couple weeks beginning in April 09 (later realized that I got these bites on nights that I had been on my couch in the living room pretty late)
- My bites didn't show up until about midday after the night I got them and I reacted really badly (often referred to them as "hot tumors" b/c they swelled up huge and were warm to the touch). At first, I thought I had a spider biting me at work or something since that is when the bites showed up.
-Finally, I was on my couch at like 3pm one afternoon and saw this bug crawling away, after biting me of course. I killed it, and started looking online and realized what it was.
- I immediately informed my landlord, who then told me that a couple people on my floor had them. Gee thanks for the heads up. Turns out some guy bought something used, his infestation got bad and he moved out, dragging his infested mattress throughout the building. Before the PCO came, I killed one more adult on my couch and one nymph. I feel pretty lucky that I was able to randomly catch them, especially during the day!
- PCO came for my first treatment, confirmed that the two bugs I killed and saved on a paper towel were BB's so he knew I had them, but he did not see any evidence of them in his inspection. So I must have had it pretty light.
- I put bedding encasements on and bagged up all the clothes in my dresser and started doing all the washing. I never bagged up the clothes in my closet b/c I have way too many, so I was waiting to see if things got worse before I did it since thus far, I had only seen bugs or gotten bites on my couch in the living room.
- Got bitten about a week after first treatment. PCO came for a second treatment. Haven't seen or gotten any bites since!
- My landlord also brought a dog in to search all the units to make sure everyone who had the bugs were getting treated. The dog couldn't go in units already in treatment (which included mine), but it found 3 additional units which have all been treated. The maintenance guy seems to think that the problem in the building is gone, no one has needed subsequent treatments since earlier in the summer. Several of the people who seem to have had the bad infestations moved out, and new people have now started to move in. The only thing that worries me is if the bugs were hiding in the walls and will come out to bite new people. But I am trying to warn new tenants I see to keep an eye out so they could catch it early, but I want to think positive! During my initial freakout period, I talked to the owner of the PCO company and he said that they were recently successful in getting rid of the problem in a very large apt. building in Chicago, so I want to be confident that the problem could have been eliminated from my building (4 floors with 12 units per floor).
- I am still keeping all the clothes I wash in big ziplocs and haven't brought back out all my pillows or anything, but I am happy that I never had to do my whole closet or all my books and everything. I want to stress that my infestation seemed very light, so this probably wouldn't be a good idea for a lot of people.
- I am still considering DE and caulking, but have been too busy. But I know that sounds like the best thing for me to do to keep the problem out of my apt.Sorry for the long post, but just wanted to give some info. that people may be able to relate to and see that there is hope!
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BugzBGone
junior member
Joined: Aug '09
Posts: 40offline
Posted 3 years ago
Tue Sep 15 2009 15:48:20
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That is wonderful news! Thanks for coming back and sharing the good news. See? There is hope for everyone!
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concernedmom1
newbite
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 9offline
Posted 3 years ago
Tue Sep 15 2009 21:57:55
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ritanna3
I suspect I know your location in Chicago as I think you are in my daughter building perhaps on the 4th floor. She is so busy with her new life there I have been assisting from afar. Her infestation has also been light but difficult to get under control. No bites for more than 4 weeks and one final extermination recently. We are keeping our finger crossed. Your landlord has been a gem in confronting this problem. Good luck! -
frakthebugz
newbite
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 1offline
Posted 3 years ago
Tue Sep 15 2009 22:14:04
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Thank you for posting your success story! Just starting the battle now and it's very encouraging to hear the progress you've had.
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concernedmom1
newbite
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 9offline
Posted 3 years ago
Wed Sep 16 2009 11:35:20
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I was told yesterday by the exterminator that 60% of the cases are resolved with one extermination and one followup for good measure. It is tougher to treat the space though, when the bugs are not clearly evident, in the earlier stages of infestation.
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ritanna3
newbite
Joined: Jul '09
Posts: 8offline
Posted 3 years ago
Fri Mar 26 2010 20:29:59
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Just an update for everyone out there. I am still free from the bed bugs, 8 months! And my lease is finally almost up, so I feel confident moving out of here without bringing them with me. Keep the hope, it is possible to get rid of them!!
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4blossoms
junior member
Joined: Feb '10
Posts: 40offline
Posted 3 years ago
Fri Mar 26 2010 23:22:42
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Congrats on beating your bed bug problem! It's always good to hear stories of bed bug survivors (yeah, these things are psychologically traumatizing enough to consider yourself a "survivor"!). It's great to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and after we do everything that our PCO and knowledgeable forum members say that we can eventually beat the infestation and live bug-free!
I too am in a positive transitional place in the bed bug saga. The PCO made a second visit to my apartment earlier this week and I have been bite free for 2 nights. This might not be saying much but I'm taking things one day at a time and every day that I don't have to go to work with a giant pink tumescent welt on my face is another day closer to victory. Just keep on bagging the clothes, spritzing the apartment with alcohol, washing, drying and decontaminating everything in the oven or PackTite. I believe that one day the nightmare will end and normal life can resume once more...
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