Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Tales of Bed Bug Woe
My Poor Daughter Needs Help
(3 posts)-
suzhappy
newbite
Joined: Jul '09
Posts: 1
Posted 4 months ago
Fri Jul 24 2009 8:01:45
#
Login to Send PM
My 32 year old daughter has been suffering for almost 2 months with horrible itchy oozing sores all over her body. She's seen 2 medical Dr's, gone to the E.R. anf then a dermatologist. She has more creams and pills than a pharmacy and nothing has helped and she has more sores every day. She works at a major retail store and has to wear long sleeves and pants just to go to work even though a few of the sores are on her face. She has been diagnosed with, ringworm, scabies, dermatitais, Lyme Disease, hives, stress sores, and she's still breaking out with more sores evry day that is driving her crazy with the itching. Looking at the picturs on your site I'm thinking they may be bed bugs. She has 3 young children in the house who have no sores so far. Could she have them and not the children? And what is the safest treatment?
-
buggyinsocal
oldtimer
Joined: Jun '08
Posts: 1,130
Posted 4 months ago
Fri Jul 24 2009 10:14:42
#
Login to Send PM
The first step is to find a good pest control professional where your daughter lives to find out whether there are bed bugs, another pest, or no evidence of pests causing the itchy oozing sores. Your description of her sores doesn't sound to me like bed bug bites. My bed bug bites were like really, really itchy mosquito bites. But they didn't ooze.
It certainly could be bed bugs as peoples' skin reacts differently. But it could also be carpet beetles or something not related to bugs.
Finding a PCO who has experience with bed bugs and will take the time to do a thorough inspection would be a good way to rule out bed bugs and similar pests.
It is true that bed bugs affect some people and not others. That is to say, some people get bitten but don't react to the bites. We've heard plenty of stories of a couple who sleep in the same bed, one of whom gets eaten alive, another of whom gets bitten but shows no response. So it's possible that your daughter is getting bitten and either her children aren't or the kids don't react.
However, it's also possible that the sores have another cause.
My advice, to rule out bed bugs, is to hire a PCO to come in an inspect. A PCO who knows bed bugs should be able to tell you whether they are there or not, and whether there's another pest that might also cause those kinds of skin reactions.
If you do confirm bed bugs, there are several treatment options, but not all of them may be available where you are. And everyone defines "safe" differently.
1. Chemical treatment. A pest control pro comes in and through a variety of means places substances in the home to kill the bugs. There are no chemical pesticides with a 100% kill rate of bed bug eggs, and bed bugs are esp. resistant to residual pesticides (the kind that continue to kill bugs days, weeks, or months after they have been applied.) Chemical treatment normally requires two or more visits from the PCO to rid a home of bed bugs. The sufferer must continue to sleep in the bed in order to lure the bed bugs from their hiding place in order to get them to cross the chemicals or substances that will ultimately kill the bugs. Most PCOs will use some chemicals. Many may also use mechanical methods like physically removing bugs with a vacuum or heat by applying dry steam (which doesn't cause mold problems, unlike most reasonably priced steamers available to consumers) to kill the bugs and their eggs. Some use dusts that break down the bugs' exoskeletons. This is by far the most common treatment since it is the least expensive and most universally available. However, it also requires extensive preparation as all fabric items must be laundered in hot water and dried until very dry or hot (or dry cleaned) and placed in plastic bags to eliminate bugs from those items. In addition, furniture may need to be moved around in order to give PCOs access to put chemicals and substances where they need to go.
2. Vikane. Vikane is the trademarked name of sulfuryl flouride, a gas that is used to kill bugs like termites (and now bed bugs) by fumigating a structure. The gas is highly toxic, but people are never in the structure when it's used. It can only be used on single family structures, not apartments. The residents must be out of the premises for the days during treatment. The structure is enclosed in a big tent, the fumigant is pumped in, and the gas is allowed to work over a day or two. Then all the gas must be removed before anyone can go back into the structure.
Vikane does require specific prep, and it cannot be used if the temperatures drop too low. Vikane cannot penetrate plastic, so in order for Vikane to work, any items that are enclosed in plastic must be opened up, or you run the risk of a stray couple of bugs or eggs starting the problem all over again. And it's not cheap largely because of the labor costs. It requires a team of PCOs to come out, set up the tent, inject the gas, monitor for leaks, then come back after the gas has done its work and remove the tent after getting rid of the gas. It's more commonly available throughout the southern United States than the north because drywood termites are a bigger problem, and that's what Vikane is most frequently used for (although for bed bugs, three times the concentration of the gas used for termites is needed). But unlike chemical, it will generally (if done properly) take care of the problem in one treatment. Increasingly, places where Vikane isn't available in the US for structural fumigation, companies that will treat the contents of a moving truck with it are. That can be a good option if moving from an infested apartment to one that isn't if you want to really decrease the chances of taking bugs with you.
Vikane is not available in Canada and may also not be an option in other countries.
3. Thermal. Professional pest control folks bring in big giant heaters and take the temperature inside a structure up to 140 degrees F for several hours. They raise the temps at a very particular speed so that the bed bugs don't just crawl away from the lethal heat. Thermal, unlike Vikane, can be used on individual apartments within a multi-unit structure, but if bugs are in adjacent units, the treated unit may be reinfested. This method doesn't rely on as many chemicals (if any) as other methods, but some items must be removed prior to treatment (CDs, DVDs, candles, VHS tapes, etc.), so if you have a lot of those kinds of items, you'll have to figure out how to treat those. Even with experienced PCOs the heat may damage some items even if you've done all the prep the PCO requires. All electronics must be unplugged before treatment or they may be damaged. I'm not sure if flat screen televisions and computer monitors can be in the home for treatment.
Like Vikane, this one isn't widely available. It's more available in the desert southwest where it's used as an alternative to termites (and Vancouver, which is I think the only thermal provider in Canada right now) and a few cities that have major bed bug epidemics (Boston, NYC, maybe Chicago and Cincinnati . . .). It's also expensive, again because of labor. I had three PCOs at my apartment, two of whom were there from 8 to 4. The other was only there for an hour or two.
Like Vikane, if done properly, it will get rid of your problem with one treatment. It does have a higher potential to damage belongings than other approaches, but it's the only treatment for apartments that can get rid of bugs in one treatment (if done properly).
I know that's a lot of information. And it may all be moot if your daughter doesn't have bed bugs. But the more you know about how bb are treated, the easier it will be for you to evaluate whether the PCO you're paying to do an inspection knows his or her stuff when it comes to bed bugs.
If you haven't read the FAQs at the main site, you might spend some time reading those, as there's a lot of good information there.
I hope that helps, and if you do find out whether bed bugs are or are not the source of your daughter's issues, I, for one, would appreciate it if you came back by and let us know what the outcome was. The more information we get here from people about what causes bite like responses or not, the better we get at giving specific advice to other new people about what's likely to be causing their problems.
-
sunshine1583
newbite
Joined: Jul '09
Posts: 26
Posted 3 months ago
Sun Jul 26 2009 9:30:42
#
Login to Send PM
My bites are like little blisters that pop and then leave pot marks. I also went through many doctor's appt. w/o being properly diagnoised. I finally found an adult bb on my library book, and began to search myself. Have your daughter inspect her bed and couch very carefully with a flashlight. It took my boyfriend and I hours to finally find the bugs hiding in our bed. Good luck.
Reply
You must log in to post.
