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Need Expert / PCO Advice
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jillionbites
newbite
Joined: Apr '12
Posts: 3offline
Posted 1 year ago
Fri Apr 27 2012 12:36:15
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I will try to keep this short... kidding.
1. I have had "bites" for 2 months on my stomach and inner arms. They do not itch. Sometimes, they are in a cluster, other times just one big white head. I am not acne-prone, either.
2. After 3 weeks of "bites," I paid a company $45 to search my home and tell me the bites were not caused by bedbugs. I wasn't really satisfied with how fast they moved, although they did search my mattress, boxspring, and bedframe very thoroughly. The couch... they breezed by quickly (it's leather), and the baby's crib? They didn't even check.
3. A month later, the saga continues. Random marks on the same areas of my body. I hire another company. THIS MAN WAS LEGIT. I mean, he spent AN HOUR (tiny house, not a lot of stuff either) with a high-powered flashlight on ALL my bedroom furniture, entire home ceiling corners, baseboards, baby crib, changing table, all chairs, carpet, baby books... he was even opening clean blankets in the linen closet. I felt like he REALLY wanted to find something. In a chair that no one has sat in for a year, he thought he MIGHT have found a PIECE of cast skin, and under closer examination, realized it was food. It's a white Pöang chair from Ikea. The seams are really easy to see.He felt really bad for me knowing that he can't do a heat treatment (and he knew I was desperate... I mean, that process here is $2500). He gave me a lot of passive monitors free of change (they are the glue board kind) and his direct cell phone number. It's not like I want them... but I want someone to get rid of whatever it is!!!
So, what did I do already? You better believe I set up Bed Bug Beacons on the bed and couch while out of town for five days. "YOU WENT OUT OF TOWN?!!" Yes. You know what else? I bought a PackTite and cooked my luggage for six hours before leaving and upon returning. I feel so diseased. I do NOT want anyone to feel this way! Everyday, I cook my clothes before leaving the house - and this is really hard to do with a baby, let me tell you.
Oh and the Beacons? Yeah, they were empty. Shocker.
Went to the dermatologist on Monday and paid for a biopsy. Before the cutting and stitching, he says they are arthropod bites. GREAT. I won't know for two weeks. Isn't that awesome?
PCO's, what am I dealing with here? Please help me!
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oldtimer
Joined: Apr '07
Posts: 6,754offline
Posted 1 year ago
Fri Apr 27 2012 13:35:57
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jillionbites - 57 minutes ago »
Went to the dermatologist on Monday and paid for a biopsy. Before the cutting and stitching, he says they are arthropod bites. GREAT. I won't know for two weeks. Isn't that awesome?
PCO's, what am I dealing with here? Please help me!I think its more accurate to report that as skin biopsy shows a puncture would. Of which the cause could be arthropod but it would also be something else.
Can you do me a fav and walk about without shoes and socks for a few days to see if it subsides.
David Cain
Bed Bugs Limited -
jillionbites
newbite
Joined: Apr '12
Posts: 3offline
Posted 1 year ago
Fri Apr 27 2012 14:19:09
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bed-bugscouk - 27 minutes ago »
jillionbites - 57 minutes ago »
Went to the dermatologist on Monday and paid for a biopsy. Before the cutting and stitching, he says they are arthropod bites. GREAT. I won't know for two weeks. Isn't that awesome?
PCO's, what am I dealing with here? Please help me!I think its more accurate to report that as skin biopsy shows a puncture would. Of which the cause could be arthropod but it would also be something else.
Can you do me a fav and walk about without shoes and socks for a few days to see if it subsides.
David Cain
Bed Bugs LimitedDavid,
That's so much for responding. For the most part, I don't wear shoes or socks, but I will do my best to remember not to let my pant legs drag. Two things I did not mention: I am a stay-at-home mama, so I'm home 5 days a week. It's safe to assume this is caused by our home. Also, we live in a single-family home and did not travel anytime near the first occurrence.
Could you rephrase your first sentence? I can't quite tell what you meant. Also, why am I not getting anything on my legs, back, face, or neck? Guuuh. Do you advise I continue this "leaving the house" clothing ritual until the biopsy comes back? Thanks.
Side note - all the static talk does get a girl thinking - I stopped using dryer sheets on my baby's clothes awhile back due to eczema... then a few weeks ago, I stopped using it on EVERYONE'S clothes. You get desperate with baby eczema. It didn't really help her, though. This week, I started using vinegar as fabric softener because I got tired of getting electrocuted
when I fold clothes (still get shocked, just not as bad). Buuuut.... there isn't carpet beetle evidence to be found either.Here's my plan:
No socks in the house
Buy unscented dryer sheets
Get the vents cleaned outI will keep you updated. The biopsy comes back May 8th. Like I said, this doesn't happen everyday. The last "bites" occurred Monday night (right before the Dr's appt conveniently on Tuesday morning). It has rained all week... does the humidity make a difference? I sound more insane every word I type! Haha.
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jillionbites
newbite
Joined: Apr '12
Posts: 3offline
Posted 1 year ago
Thu May 3 2012 14:04:52
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UPDATE
Soooo.... here it goes.
1. I did not get the vents cleaned out yet.
2. I have reintroduced dryer sheets into my home - different ones for baby, but everyone uses them.
3. No socks or shoes in the house (I claimed I don't wear sock in the house... HAHAHA yeah, false. I have to really make a habit to take them off - no one wears shoes in our home, but remembering to take my socks off is new. Haven't forgotten once).
4. In 10 days since the last breakout, on day 5, I got 3 more (7 inches apart on my abdomen). STILL - they do not itch. They hurt. If you look at them up close, it's like a zit on a hair follicle. Benadryl or Neosporin? Neither help.I am a side or stomach sleeper. This has only ever happened on my inner arms and abdomen - right where I hold my baby. If it happens at night, it is always delayed. The stinging sensation is always in the daytime or evening.
David, what were you saying about that dermatology biopsy? I won't know those results until next week.
By the way, all that talk about never seeing a carpet beetle in my life? Found one on the kitchen window sill. When you're looking for bed bugs, you don't search the kitchen. We're cleaning out the cabinets next week. Do you think my dermatologist will be able to say whether it's bedbugs, carpet beetles, or a dust mite reaction? Now, spiders... I've seen a crazy amount of spiders this week - so much so that I had to call Terminix back out for a redo on my quarterly treatment (and NO I WOULD NEVER use them for BB treatment. Guuuh they are awful at anything other than termites).
Oh spiders... You're probably eating the carpet beetles and I am killing you.
Side note - I squished a lightning bug today in my garage. My inner child cried.
I HATE BUGS.
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oldtimer
Joined: Apr '07
Posts: 6,754offline
Posted 1 year ago
Thu May 3 2012 14:36:40
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jillionbites - 13 minutes ago »
David, what were you saying about that dermatology biopsy? I won't know those results until next week.A biopsy can only tell you that something pierced the skin and not what that something was. The only way to get a definitive medical diagnostic would be with an antibody test and the draw backs of that are:
- The technology has not been developed yet
- The flaw int he technology (a lot like DNA testing (which seems to have lost favor) is that it would only ever be able to tell you if you had been bitten by the specifically tested insect in your lifetime from birth to current time. Although that may seem to be an answer it is not accurate enough to pass muster on my watch and never will be
Now to be clear the shoes and socks off thing is not just to test for carpet beetles, it tests for a whole class of issues related to fibers that embed into the skin which are capable of carrying an electrical charge. This is sometimes called cable mites or paper mites and as well as being stopped by grounding yourself (shoes and socks off) it can also be reduced when the humidity of the atmosphere is increased which is why it can also appear to be a seasonal phenomena.
I see this sort of issue all the time and one of the common factors is that they say the pest controller could not find any bedbug signs and yet sprayed anyway. The reality is that the ionic nature of insecticides in solutions will knock out static issues for a few days but they always return. This is often how we find people who have been treated 7+ times and never actually had a pest issue.
Like everything in life its always best to go for the best advice and support that you can afford or that is available to you.
David
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