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About to have a nervous breakdown! Bed bugs, Spiders, or just my imagination?!
(6 posts)-
I have lived in this apartment for about a month and a couple of weeks, exterminator came twice. I told my land lord that i might have bed bugs or something, They went ahead and called Clark Pest Control to treat my apartment from those wretched bugs, but they said it wasn't bed bugs; they weren't found. But what was found were spiders. I packed a day or two worth of clothing and threw it into the drier (Because I heard heat kills bed bugs) and went to my parents house. They went ahead and treated for spiders. A day or two later I saw spiders in my living room fighting near the corner of my ceiling! (It was like a clear spider and a brown spider fighting! They looked harmless.) and called my landlord to call Clark Pest Control again (This was the 2nd time calling them)
They came yesterday and treated my apartment, and as soon as i came home (My apartment) yesterday and went to sleep I began to have the feeling of being bitten. I tried to disregard it and tried to force myself to sleep (I took some Melatonin 20mg to help me sleep), But i couldn't take it and went to fell asleep on my bedroom floor with my pillow and some other throw blankets I had, and fell asleep.
During this whole epedemic, I have been waking up and randomly getting some bites on my hand, lower stomach, and thigh area (and once in the bottom of my private area!) and also developed some winterskin on my face and chest area (But I'm not getting bit on my face or chest!). My partner too is getting bites, even worse than me and he too developed winterskin after being bitten! But he says it's all in my head. Yet, he too did get bit in his private area once also (Which was weird) When I try squeezing the bite, clear stuff comes out, then blood.
I'm about to go crazy because I'm having many people tell me that it's not bed bugs, and one telling me it's in my head, but yet is getting bit like me! When we go to my parents house we don't get bit, nor are we itchy what so ever.
What do you think it could be? What can I do to resolve this? At night when i get bit i right away grab a flashlight and tried to look and find something, but nothing is there! Almost like I'm being bit by an invisible bug! I just feel like burning this whole apartment along with my belongings and start anew! ugh!
I live in an apartment in the Central valley of California. Quail Lake, Stockton, California to be exact.
Here is an HD picture taken with my phone of my hand where some bites are:
http://i41.tinypic.com/9zsep4.jpg [The boxes are, of course, the bites :P]
I have a pet cat and she has been treated for fleas when the itching began back in my partners house and then it somehow transferred into our apartment.
Sorry for the long story!
Thanks in advance!
--EDIT--
forgot to mention, I had my sister over for the weekend. and she too got bit and on the 2nd day she had about 3 bites on her arm. She slept in the living room.
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Joined: May '11
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Posted 1 year ago
Wed Jan 25 2012 15:18:51
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One thing I want to know is if whether you had a inspection done. Or if you have inspected your mattress, box spring, headboard, coach, chair, etc. If you have not inspected or had your house inspected. It is a safe bet to do so.
Now the pco said it was not bedbugs(probably because of the clear presence of a excess of spiders) Though non the less you need to check every nook and cranny of your house. Now just because you don't see any bedbugs they should be clear signs of them. Such as fecal matter, blood stains/smears, cast skins, eggs etc. If you don't see any of those things in your apartment then you may have bedbugs coming through the wall socket or any place that connects to a adjoined apartment.
Now you can't say if it is bedbugs or not from bites or bumps. Though for me and a lot others it is either a pimple like bump or red circular area. Also be aware that anything can cause bump like reactions and you can also "feel" sensations that seem like bites but is just our skin being irritated. The bumps you have is more scattered like which is not consisted with "Breakfast" "Lunch" "Dinner" which bedbugs tend to follow in the bite pattern when disturbed. Even as I type this now I have this feeling on my arm that something stung me. Looked down and nothing is there. Read up in the resources and information posted on the site. Though from my opinion it is not bedbug related but still needs to be followed up with a thorough inspection.
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**EDIT**I just realized that you said your cat had fleas. That gives even more evidence that it may not be bedbugs. You said you had a spider problem and fleas.. Therefore, you should not be automatically thinking bedbugs.
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DreDay17 - 8 minutes ago »
One thing I want to know is if whether you had a inspection done. Or if you have inspected your mattress, box spring, headboard, coach, chair, etc. If you have not inspected or had your house inspected. It is a safe bet to do so.
Now the pco said it was not bedbugs(probably because of the clear presence of a excess of spiders) Though non the less you need to check every nook and cranny of your house. Now just because you don't see any bedbugs they should be clear signs of them. Such as fecal matter, blood stains/smears, cast skins, eggs etc. If you don't see any of those things in your apartment then you may have bedbugs coming through the wall socket or any place that connects to a adjoined apartment.
Now you can't say if it is bedbugs or not from bites or bumps. Though for me and a lot others it is either a pimple like bump or red circular area. Also be aware that anything can cause bump like reactions and you can also "feel" sensations that seem like bites but is just our skin being irritated. The bumps you have is more scattered like which is not consisted with "Breakfast" "Lunch" "Dinner" which bedbugs tend to follow in the bite pattern when disturbed. Even as I type this now I have this feeling on my arm that something stung me. Looked down and nothing is there. Read up in the resources and information posted on the site. Though from my opinion it is not bedbug related but still needs to be followed up with a thorough inspection.
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**EDIT**
I just realized that you said your cat had fleas. That gives even more evidence that it may not be bedbugs. You said you had a spider problem and fleas.. Therefore, you should not be automatically thinking bedbugs.Thank you for your quick response!
I have done some looking around on the mattress, sheets, box spring, etc, and found nothing of bed bugs, and my partner was saying that if it was bed bugs, we would of seen them already (Seeing that I vacuumed the house/APT, the mattress, and everything thoroughly.) When I was first was looking at the apartment, the lady clearly told me that all of the Apartment rooms are bed bug free. The thing let do in this apartment complex is that they make you sign a paper with check marks. the options are Ants, Fleas, Roaches, Other. They basically come and treat for what you have checked for. I get the feeling like they come, Spray for what you check marked, and leave.
The reason why i right away point to bed bugs is because the only time i get bit or feel the sensation of getting bit and i have to scratch that area is when I am laying in bed ready for sleep. during the day while I'm around and about in my apartment , I don't get bit or having to itch until someone talks about it or i see the red bumps that i got from the night before.
Sorry, English isn't my first language. I didn't mean my cat had fleas, we put flea medication just to confirm that the cat didn't have fleas and was the one to blame
But she didn't have fleas before/after we put the medication on her.The thing is, when i put Vaseline on my dry cracked itchy skin, it eases the irritation to some extent. Then I feel like I'm getting bit after I go lay down in my bed.
I used to go to sleep around 8/9 pm, now I'm going to sleep around 2/3 am and wake up for work at 6am. it's getting out of hand basically!
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Thank you for your quick response!
I have done some looking around on the mattress, sheets, box spring, etc, and found nothing of bed bugs, and my partner was saying that if it was bed bugs, we would of seen them already (Seeing that I vacuumed the house/APT, the mattress, and everything thoroughly.) When I was first was looking at the apartment, the lady clearly told me that all of the Apartment rooms are bed bug free. The thing you have to do in this apartment complex is that they make you sign a paper with check marks. the options are Ants, Fleas, Roaches, Other. They basically come and treat for what you have checked for. I get the feeling like they come, Spray for what you check marked, and leave. I tell the lady that we are getting bit at night and it's like she doesn't write anything down, thus not getting the attention of the "PCO"
They did, however, leave a Non-toxic Monitoring box. http://i42.tinypic.com/2hd6s5w.jpg
The reason why i right away point to bed bugs is because the only time i get bit or feel the sensation of getting bit and i have to scratch that area is when I am laying in bed ready for sleep. during the day while I'm around and about in my apartment , I don't get bit or having to itch until someone talks about it or i see the red bumps that i got from the night before.
Sorry, English isn't my first language. I didn't mean my cat had fleas, we put flea medication just to confirm that the cat didn't have fleas and was the one to blame
But she didn't have fleas before/after we put the medication on her.The thing is, when i put Vaseline on my dry cracked itchy skin, it eases the irritation to some extent. Then I feel like I'm getting bit after I go lay down in my bed.
I used to go to sleep around 8/9 pm, now I'm going to sleep around 2/3 am and wake up for work at 6am. it's getting out of hand basically!
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SemperPruritus
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Joined: Jan '12
Posts: 26offline
Posted 1 year ago
Wed Jan 25 2012 16:38:29
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Just wanted to chime in because my situation is somewhat similar. I've been having ongoing itching issues for a while and my family members have had weird bite-like allergic reactions and I haven't found any evidence of BB infestation, though I've begun to deploy monitors in case I'm missing something.
I will say that you are not the only one who feels a bite-like sensation when there's nothing there, that happens to me frequently and it may be a sensation caused by an allergic reaction which is heightened by stress. When you're lying there in bed worried about parasites coming for you, that combination of factors will be amplified. What is actually causing the allergic reaction is the big question. For better or worse, there are many, many things that could be causing this besides bed bugs.
It is frustrating how poorly understood the correlation between environmental factors and our allergic reactions by the medical community is currently. They tend to just treat the resulting skin reaction or sensation with steroids and salves without really focusing on the causes. This in turn drives some of us into near madness (as described by a poster here about their experiences reading the boards at birdmites.org) because we would rather find the source of the problem than just take a pill. You're not crazy and it's not all in your head. However, the attitude that helps me the most is to try and be as scientific as possible about it.
And also be sure to report back when you figure it out.
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Joined: May '11
Posts: 227offline
Posted 1 year ago
Wed Jan 25 2012 17:31:27
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Again click to read the FAQ's as it will give you tons of info.
Now bumps/bite like symptoms can occur for a variety of reasons. If you inspected you bed and found nothing then I would recommend getting a climbup inspector from usbedbugs.com. It will help to know if any type of bugs are climbing from the floor onto your bed. It may also be a good idea to look into getting a bedbug dog inspection.
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