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Freaking out

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Started 3 months ago by BittenandStressed
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BittenandStressed

newbite
Joined: Aug '09
Posts: 9

Posted 3 months ago
Tue Aug 11 2009 19:18:32
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I suspect I may have bedbugs and I'm freaking out.

About a month and a half ago I ended up with a bunch of bites. At first, I thought they were mosquito bites as I'd been out in a marsh the day before, but they were all localized in clusters along one hip, and it seemed pretty unlikely that I'd end up with 19 mosquito bites in a bunch and very few anywhere else. I kind of figured that maybe a spider had dropped into my bed & I'd rolled over on it and it bit me, and I didn't really think any more of it.

Then, a few days ago I ended up with more bites. I have about six clustered on my other hip, one on each knee, two on my left hand and eight on my right forearm. They're all bright red, massively swollen and insanely itchy. I went to the doctor who suggested antihistamine cream but didn't really have any ideas about identifying the bites (I asked specifically about bedbugs but he admitted that he'd never seen a bedbug bite before.)

I don't know if I have bedbugs or not... I've got a lot of clutter in my house which I'm working to clear away, and I haven't seen a single bug or any indication of bugs, though I have dark sheets and just started looking for signs of them in the last two days.

I know they're not flea bites, as the cats are fine and I'm not reacting in the same way as I have to fleas, and just the clustering and intermittent nature of the bites makes me think bedbugs, though I'm desperately hoping it's something else that would be easier to treat.

The information on this site has been really helpful, and I know I'm not alone, but I'm still severely freaked out, and the idea that I might have bedbugs in my house is completely overwhelming and causing me a huge amount of stress. I can't help but imagine them everywhere and I'm paranoid that they're in my car or that I've transferred them to my workplace, and the more I think of it the more overwhelming and impossible the whole thing feels.

I just feel like I'm on the cusp of a breakdown, because I'm covered in these nasty bites, I don't know for sure what the problem is and haven't been able to find any evidence to confirm it, my paranoia about spreading it around the house and to other locations is growing by the minute and if it is bedbugs, getting rid of them seems so complex, expensive and time consuming.

Money & time are two things I do not have to spare right now.

I'm in the middle of a divorce, still sharing a house with my ex and I was hoping to move out and back home in the next three weeks. Now I'm panicking about the possibility of transferring them back to my mother's house, of having to leave my ex with a bug infested house that he can't afford to get dealt with professionally and how to deal with all my stuff.

I was planning to get rid of a lot of my personal possessions anyway, but now I'm wondering, do I have to just throw out everything in the house that I'm not going to keep, instead of selling/giving away like I was planning to? Is there a way for me to disinfect my masses of books or do I have to throw those out too? Should I assume that they're everywhere in the house (assuming bedbugs is even what I have) when I'm the only one who has been bitten, or can I focus on treating just my room? I have these horrible visions in my head of them just being everywhere and swarming all over the place from every piece of furniture and from behind every electrical plate and baseboard. How likely is it that they might hitch a ride on a cat and spread around the house? There's no way for me to keep the cats out of my space as there's no door. Is there a good way to isolate my bed when I'm sleeping on an air mattress on the floor? I definitely can't afford to start buying bed frames or anything like that. If they're not hitching a ride on me or the cats, how likely is it for them to spread from one floor of the house to another?

The more I think about it, the worse and more certain the problem gets in my head, and I feel just completely unequipped to deal with it, emotionally, financially and time-wise. I guess I just need some reassurance and some help calming down. I know I need to deal with my clutter, which I'm working on and then I guess I'll look at figuring out how to afford a PCO to confirm the problem and deal with it (yes, no? Is there something else I can/should be doing while I deal with the clutter?) And then, if it's not bedbugs (or at least if none can be found) I'm left dealing with these mysterious and awful bites. :(

Thanks for listening to my rant. I'm just so distressed by all of this and I don't feel comfortable talking about it to any of my friends... I don't need to deal with the social stigma around it on top of my personal stress. I have no fresh bites after last night and who knows, maybe I won't get bitten again at all while I still live here, but this is all I've been able to think about since yesterday.
buggyinsocal

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Joined: Jun '08
Posts: 1,130

Posted 3 months ago
Tue Aug 11 2009 23:11:15
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I'm sorry to hear that you suspect bed bugs at a time when you've got a lot of other emotionally stressful stuff on your plate.

I would actually--hard though it might be--put off decluttering until after the PCO has been in to inspect. If you have clutter like I have clutter, the idea of letting a stranger in to inspect for bed bugs before you've had a chance to neaten up is off putting. But bed bugs are less likely to migrate from one place to another if you don't disturb them.

And you may not have bed bugs. Carpet beetles (which are badly named since they don't only live in carpet) can cause bed bug bite like responses in people.

If you aren't comfortable or confident in your ability to inspect and confirm one way or the other, which most people aren't until they've had an expert over their shoulder saying yep or nope, then getting a PCO who knows bed bugs in to inspect before you do anything else is the best option.

If you have bed bugs, and you get rid of the infestation, you may not have to throw anything at all away, which would let you carry on with your plan for what to do with your stuff.

Don't worry about the cats spreading the bugs. Bed bugs aren't like fleas or ticks. They don't live on their host. (If they did the buggers would be easier to confirm.) They prefer human meals to other mammals. (I think they may have fed on my cat while I was away, but maybe not. They seemed to attack me when I got back like they were starving.)

Anyway, we know they prefer human meals.

We also know that bed bugs prefer to live close to their meals but not out in the open. So chances are that the way the bugs behave would dramatically minimize the chances of the cats spreading them.

Hope some of that helps. Hang in there. I know it doesn't feel like it now, but when I first arrived here completely freaked out, people who'd been around longer than I had told me that it absolutely would get better. I didn't see how that was possible, but they were right. It did. It took a while, but it absolutely got better.
sisterfaith

junior member
Joined: Jul '09
Posts: 48

Posted 3 months ago
Wed Aug 12 2009 1:21:39
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hi BittenandStressed.
I've only found out recently I had bed bugs, and like probably everyone on this amazing site, I freaked out at the idea also. I had to DO something. I have a box spring/mattress metal frame bed, which I tore apart and cleaned with 91 proof rubbing alcohol. I got a spritzer bottle & wiped the surfaces and sprayed in any cracks. I washed the floors with Murphy's Oil Soap (diluted). I've read about some people using double stick masking tape. Since your mattress is on the floor, you might run some tape all around as a barrier. I'd make it a two strips wide. I think it's supposed to trap them.

I don't know if any of this will help you, it helped me. Once I had a cleaned/safe area to sleep, I felt in control. Try and keep things in perspective...they are small...you are big and strong! Bugsy is right...it will get better. You have a lot on your plate, take it one step...one day... at a time.

Until it's confirmed that it's bed bugs, don't worry about the clutter. If you find out it is bb, it's a lot of cleanup, but anything put in airtight bags can be dealt with in the future. Don't be hasty about throwing things out. A hot dryer, a steam cleaner and a hairdryer will kill any bug on them.

Me and my cat wish you well!
BittenandStressed

newbite
Joined: Aug '09
Posts: 9

Posted 3 months ago
Wed Aug 12 2009 10:40:44
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Thank you so much. I emailed a PCO last night to get some more information on what the cost would be and whether or not they are the right people to come in and inspect. Hopefully they'll get back to me some time today, though I'm really at a loss as to how any of this will get paid for.

I guess I need to figure out something fast though... I certainly don't want to leave it for long if it is bedbugs and I don't want to have to leave the clutter, as it needs to be dealt with in my preparation to move.

I'm hoping it's something like carpet beetles or... anything but bedbugs to be honest.

Is it typical to only be bitten twice in 6 weeks if you have an infestation?

Is there anything I can do to ensure that my books are bedbug free before I get an inspector in? I was poised to take about 5 big boxes of them to the used book store, but now I'm afraid to. If I visually inspect the books and the boxes and don't see any of the signs of bedbugs does that mean they're free of infestation and I can sell them, or could they still be some how infested? I would never, ever want to give someone else bedbugs inadvertently.
buggyinsocal

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Joined: Jun '08
Posts: 1,130

Posted 3 months ago
Wed Aug 12 2009 10:59:38
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Everyone's response to bites is a little different, so it's hard to say anything much conclusive about them. A lot of people don't respond to bites at first, and some don't really seem to respond at all. So it's possible if you're not a strong reactor that you've been bitten more times than that and not noticed (although I would guess that's unlikely).

Bed bugs prefer to feed every few days. If you had a substantial population of them, you would probably (assuming that your bites flare up and you're not a non-reactor) have more bites than that in that period of time with any size of an infestation.

The problem with inspection is that eggs and nymphs are very small and not dark colored. They're as small as the tiny letters on say, a dime. Inspecting a lot of books for that--or even for unfed adults flat enough to hide between a baseboard and a wall is time consuming and not as reliable as you might think given the possibility of fatigue. If you want to be 100% sure that the books are bug free, you're better off waiting until after an inspection by a PCO. Inspections won't be nearly as expensive as treatment. And early inspection can mean fewer overall treatment costs (fewer treatments, for example).

Some people have been treating books in Packtites, but the upfront price for a Packtite is going to see high for someone without a confirmed infestation (around $300 before shipping), and that's a big expense to lay out if you're not even sure you have the bugs.

There are also ways of treating books with DDVP strips, but it's a slightly off label usage of a pesticide, one of the last organophosphate pesticides labeled for use in the US, so I wouldn't suggest it unless you've got a confirmed infestation, which you don't. (And if you decide to look into it against my advice, make darned sure that you're using the DDVP strips outside and in airtight containers that can't be opened by, say, a cat chewing on the plastic bag.)

I appreciate your desire not to spread the bugs to others. As someone who picked them up unknowingly in a hotel (probably), I wish there were more people like you. However, the problem with bed bugs is how much uncertainty there is around them--do I have them for sure? where are they? now that I've been treated, are they gone?. The nature of the bugs is that they generate a lot of uncertainty.

From what you've said here, I'm not sure you have them. But I'm also not sure you don't. I think figuring out the answer to that a little more conclusively would really help you make the best plan for going forward. Whether you choose to do that through using passive monitors like Climb-up Interceptions, professional visual inspection, or a good dog/handler team is up to you, but I'd say that that's definitely your next step since two bites in six weeks leans to not having them to me.
BittenandStressed

newbite
Joined: Aug '09
Posts: 9

Posted 3 months ago
Wed Aug 12 2009 11:34:45
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Well, two sets of bites in 6 weeks - a total of about 40 bites, but thank you. I know it's not conclusive but it is slightly reassuring to know that that kind of interval between being bitten is not typical (and I've been reacting very badly to the bites I do have, so if I had been bitten between this set and the first set, I'm sure I would have been aware of it - all the bites I have are extremely itchy and swollen, to the point where my entire forearm was puffed up.)

I'll hold off on doing anything with the books for the moment and see how soon I can get an inspector in.

I was thinking about dusting with DE but I think I'll hold off on that till I get an inspector in to check things over. I don't feel confident inspecting myself, I don't have a bed frame so I'm not sure how effective passive monitoring would be and I'd just be paranoid forever that I missed an infestation if I didn't find anything or that my efforts caused them to spread.