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Desperate help! New and having a nervous breakdown.
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nervousbreakdown09
newbite
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 9
Posted 2 months ago
Wed Sep 9 2009 15:57:43
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Hello. I have read and read this entire site over and over again. I need help and I need it fast. I am 32 years old and having a serious breakdown. Not just a mental one but a physical one as well. The reason for this is because I am a serious asthmatic who has bites all over my body. Just got back from the doctors where they injected over 17 of my bites with a cortisone steroid-including my stomach. I have been getting these unknown bites since August 17th.
My husband and I went to Colorado on a road trip. I came home and noticed the bites right after. They were on my ankle in a line of five, and on the back of my knee in a row of like 6. None of them ever itched. Didn't think anything of them. I then started getting them regularly. I called an exterminator who surveyed the house and couldnt find a single thing. He did however find tiny blood dots on my white sheets so he said I probably had bed bugs. Shocked, I asked him how I could have gotten those. He explained I could have brought them in etc. He then used the Delta Dust everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE. We took over 30 bags out to the laundry to clean and dry. He put that dust on the bed, couches, cracks, eveywhere. He said since he couldn't find a single bug, we didn't have a big problem and that the dust should have taken care of the problem. I was relieved.
Sadly, two days later, I started getting bites again. A week went by, and the bites continued. So he came out a secong time and this time he used the spray. Again, we moved out and took out 40 bags to the laundry. We wahed and dried everything in 180 degrees. We threw out all the luggage- we did things to the extreme. We also have no carpet in the entire house. All hardwood. He even sprayed the inside of our car.
So here I sit. It's been 5 days since the 2nd spray. We brought all the clean bags in and did not open any of them. They are sitting unopened in the laundry bags still closed tightly. I slept here last night for the first time in a week and I have 4 bites on my stomach. I have no clue if they are brand new but they weren't here yeaterday. I read on here that at times it can take 9 days to show sometimes so it might be old bites??? Also, my husband isn't getting bitten at all.
I need help. What do I do next? Do i need to get a 3rd spray? Should I use a completelty different company? How can a company be spraying for a bug if they aren't sure what it is? If is was bed bugs wouldn't I be able to see one somewhere? On the bed? Dead? After all these treatments? Why aren't these treatments working? We live in a condo and have talked to all neighbors on all sides below and on sides and no one is having problems.
PLEASE HELP! This is costing a fortune and really affecting my health as a I am severe asthmatic. My doctor said that I can't take much more of this. I live in Los Angeles. Thank you for any insight you could give me. Also, we have 3 cats but all were taken out of the home, bathed and are on Advantage. None have fleas and none are itching etc. I am not itching. Thank you.
Wanted to add- At no time has the professional been able to find a single bug in our house or I would be more specific and post pictures. I did go to the dermatologist this morning as I noted and the DR confirmed they are bug bites.
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bbfiend
junior member
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 82
Posted 2 months ago
Wed Sep 9 2009 17:09:34
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I'm sorry to hear that you've joined the group of us who are battling these little vampires. You will probably get more responses soon, especially from some of the experts here.
first of all, know that you are not alone. secondly, keeping your laundry in airtight bags is a good idea. very good. if they are all clean and bagged up, when the PCO comes the next time, you won't need to wash them again. the bags have to be air tight though. my husband and i are living out of ziploc bags now. been doing that for 2 months. we got our bbs from, we suspect, our local movie theater - paid for the movie with money and our blood!
i don't know anything about delta dust, i'm sure the others here will be able to comment on that. my bite reactions are extreme, i'm not asthmatic, but i'm a highly allergic person. my welts are instant and they blow up, largest being 12 inches across. i know it feels like you are losing control, don't panic. you can beat this thing.
besides living in ziploc bags, what we did too, was to patch up, caulk up all the holes/crevices/cracks in walls, floors, even furniture.
i would suggest you read the bbs here, know their habits.
for a while we didn't find any bbs too. the first one caught was an accident, it was hiding in my husband's jeans and came out, trying to get away after biting him. because we work from home, we took on the drastic approach, we stayed up at night, took turns, to watch the other sleep and catch the bugs. we managed to catch quite a few over 2 weeks. actually, after the first treatment, the bugs came out quite ferociously. we caught 5 that night. since they like to feed in the night (though they can also feed in teh day), we would catch up between 3 - 5 am most of the time. we did catch one earlier, at about 1am, we had disturbed its hiding place that morning and it was pretty frantic.
we are not bug free yet, at least i don't think we are. i choose to think there are still some around so that i'm not lulled into a relaxed state, i would rather keep fighting them.
i don't have answers for you, but just want you to know that a lot of people have, are and still are going through what you and your husband are going through. this is a good place to get some mental support as well as information that's very helpful. good luck, keep posting, let us know how you fare.
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nervousbreakdown09
newbite
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 9
Posted 2 months ago
Wed Sep 9 2009 17:56:07
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Thank you so much. I sit here balling my eyes out because I don'y know what to do. We were planning on trying to get pregnant with our first in the next month...that's out the door for the moment. My husband did start calking the cracks. we will see if that helps. I just assumed that professional extermination costing thousands of dollars would end this nightmare, especially since they tell me we have such a small issue. But apparently not. I wish we could stay up watching each other sleep but with our work schedules, there is just no way. Thanks for your support though!
Also, I have heard that once they are on you biting you, that they aren't that fast and that you should be able to see them. I have never been able to see one or find them. IN fact, it's almost like invisible bugs are biting me. This is why I am going MAD. I would almost feel better if I actually saw the bugs. Plus I read that they usually don't travel on clothing. Do they hang out on clothing? As in closets? Aren't they big enough where I would see with the naked eye? From the FAQ section, it seems like yes.??? -
bbfiend
junior member
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 82
Posted 2 months ago
Wed Sep 9 2009 18:22:57
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The bbs are like very light footed, so to speak, it's hard to feel them walking on you. I think it's true that once they fed, they become more sluggish. I did manage to kill those which bit me (once I knew what they were), due to my instantaneous reaction. Some people don't react that quickly, eg. my husband takes 24 hours or so to react.
As to them hitchhiking, I am think that they may, given that we think we got ours from the movie theater about 5 blocks from us. Initially, I thought I was getting bitten by mosquitoes, since I am in the park every day with my dog. I did suspect the bites may be from bbs but we couldn't find it on some of my clothes. Once we caught that first one accidentally, we knew what to look for. As we started bagging our clothes for the first treatment, we caught about 4 or 5, all with our clothes, or clothing fabric containers. Kept all of them as evidence for the PCO. We have a walk-in-closet right by our bedroom, yup, the bugs were there.
The adults, or young adults are easier to see, definitely with naked eyes. The nymphs are almost clear, hard to see them until they've fed blood, they then can be identified due to the blood in them, you'll see red little dots (for lack of a better word) scurrying on your bed. We caught 2 that way, in the middle of the night, after they fed on us. I know we were a little extreme, staying up at night, but I figured that a dead bug is one bug less and if it's a female, many bugs less since a dead bug cannot reproduce.
We also found bbs on a big cardboard box, one night, I got bitten, and started looking, the box was right next to our bed, saw a big fat one on it, killed it and then frantically taping and sealing the ends and edges. We found 2 others, one hiding in the corrugated edge, pretending to blend into the corrugation. The 3rd bb was accidentally taped to its death.
The bbs vary in size, we've caught some that are about the size of flax/sesame seeds (my husband say they look like tick size), and the biggest we've caught is much bigger than a sesame seed, about 4mm. Even my PCO said that was a big one.
You really should get as much info as you can on them, it WILL help you fight the situation. However, take caution, there's also a lot of exaggeration online, a lot of urban legends. If in doubt, post your questions on this forum, people here have been very helpful.
About a week ago, slightly more, I was bitten by one on my couch, after not getting any bites for more than a month. It was hungry, bit me at 11pm, usually, it's much later.
At this point, all our books are sealed up in plastic. our paintings too (and we have a lot since my husband is a painter), we are pretty militant about this whole ordeal. Seal everything up for 2 years or so, starve them to death. I would seal up my dog if i could! :) To protect him that is.. :)
take heart, granted, it's a long fight, but you can win this. just take a lot of patience and discipline.
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spideyjg
oldtimer
Joined: Jul '08
Posts: 1,405
Posted 2 months ago
Wed Sep 9 2009 21:56:17
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nervousbreakdown09 - 5 hours ago »
He then used the Delta Dust everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE. We took over 30 bags out to the laundry to clean and dry. He put that dust on the bed, couches, cracks, eveywhere. He said since he couldn't find a single bug, we didn't have a big problem and that the dust should have taken care of the problem. I was relieved.
.From the Delta-Dust label.......
http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/SPEC/LABELS/deltadust.pdf
DeltaDust is intended for applications with hand or power duster (Actisol® DPA or similar equipment), with a paint brush or by other suitable means, to hiding and runway areas and other places where insects are found.
In living areas, make applications in such a manner as to avoid depositions on exposed surfaces or introducing the materialinto the air.You should never have seen the dust if applied properly.
Get some Climb up monitors and lay some sticky traps around the place and see if you catch anything, take a good pic and post it for ID.
You absolutely need to capture a sample of the insects in the home to know what, if any insect, you are dealing with.
Delta Dust is wicked on pests without pyrethroid resistance bug far less effective on ones that are resistant. In a study it only killed about 90% of BBs after 12 days where other dust products killed them all in 6 days or less.
Jim
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nervousbreakdown09
newbite
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 9
Posted 2 months ago
Wed Sep 9 2009 23:59:32
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Thanks so much!
Jim, we literally had white dust ALL over our house. It took us 4 days to clean it up! I am looking into your suggestions-thank you so much. I know I have to catch one of these things if I am going to get any help. As of now, there is no evidence of bugs except the old blood on the sheets but that was before the 1st dusting. Even the PCO can't find any bugs. Don't know what to do!
Thanks again for any suggestions!
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bbfiend
junior member
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 82
Posted 2 months ago
Thu Sep 10 2009 10:56:00
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Our PCO didn't manage to find any too, in the past 2 months, ours were all caught by us, being overzealously paranoid people we are where these bbs are concerned, but spideyjg is right, ID-ing the bugs correctly is essential.
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nervousbreakdown09
newbite
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 9
Posted 2 months ago
Thu Sep 10 2009 11:18:06
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Last night my husband and I built our own little climb up monitors until the real ones arrive. I put four bowls with talc powder and had our 4 bed metal posts put into the bowls... this morning, nothing. The PCO is coming back out because I didn't have new bites today but I did yesterday. Will keep you updated. Thanks!
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spideyjg
oldtimer
Joined: Jul '08
Posts: 1,405
Posted 2 months ago
Thu Sep 10 2009 11:33:19
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For your homemade monitors, did you put something on the outermost "ring" to allow them to get a foothold and climb into the trap? A little ramp or 2 of masking or duct tape from the floor to the top of the outer lip should do.
The real Climb ups have a fabric on the outside to allow bugs to climb.
Jim
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nervousbreakdown09
newbite
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 9
Posted 2 months ago
Fri Sep 11 2009 15:33:18
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No, we didn't! I was wondering why there were no bugs in there. We had a 2nd company come in yesterday. They did a full survey of the house and said they found 3 dead bed bugs and nothing alive. They even looked under baseboards etc. Not sure if my 2 sprayings are over but we are scheduled for one last spray on Monday so be sure.
He said our problem was small. I don't know what to believe as I still get a bite or 2 every day. But nothing like before. It could be because of all the precasutions I am taking though.
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