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New article today at MSNBC that captures the emotional costs of bed bugs

1. 

   buggyinsocal
   

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   Posted 1 year ago
   Fri Oct 7 2011 11:45:52
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   I know that for a lot of people the hardest part of bed bugs isn't the very costly process of treating them--hard as that is. It's the emotional toll that comes from battling the bugs and not knowing when they're gone or if they're really gone.

   I've been kind of waiting for there to be an article in mainstream media that really captures those issues, and this article posted today over at MSNBC is one of the best ones I've seen so far.

   I think people who haven't been through a bed bug scare don't understand why I gave up wearing certain nail polish colors and also gave up eating flax seeds for a few years after my bed bug infestation. But I had this one nail polish color that, I learned the hard way, was the same color as adult bed bugs.

   There were some very comical for other people moments when some of it would flake off while I was in the shower or on the couch, and I'd find the flake and my adrenaline would spike while I was convinced they were back, until I picked the flake up and realized it was nail polish.

   I love Panera, but their whole grain baguettes have flax seeds, and one too many times, I ripped the bread apart, and my lizard brain went "OMG BED BUG! RUN AWA Y NOW! NIGHTMARE ALL OVER AGAIN!" before I got myself back from DEFCON 1 and realized it was just a flax seed.

   More than three years later, I would buy bed bug colored nail polish, and I'm back to eating flax seeds, but it took a lot longer than I would have thought to get there.

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   mam417
   

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   Posted 1 year ago
   Fri Oct 7 2011 17:02:57
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   Thanks so much for pointing out this article, buggy. I was a little scared to hear the "bug buster" say that she "didn't put her luggage on the floor" at hotels...as if that would keep them out! And some of the comments, especially the ones telling you how you could "get rid of them with DE...it's easy and inexpensive", well, yikes! However, I am happy that someone is calling attention to this. I'm in the midst of a six month ordeal that has yet to be resolved, and, as I've written elsewhere, my friends - friends, mind you - started telling me that I was "overreacting" and that I was "imagining things", and other really "friendly" words of wisdom. Unless you've had them, I realize you can't understand the horror and the paranoia that comes along with it. I had to laugh (thanks for that!) at your comments about the nail polish and flax seeds. I've taken to swatting pieces of lint and other assorted miscellaneous tiny flecks on my clothing, furniture and personal items, and being absolutely paralyzed by a piece of (something dark) I found in my tub. I long for the days of innocence pre-bb when I didn't fear going to work (or to NYC period), riding on public transportation, having people over or going over someone's house. I know it's going to be a very, very, very long time before I can do any of those things without fear. Three years? I pray it's ONLY three years...

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   AshamedandScratching
   

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   Posted 1 year ago
   Fri Oct 7 2011 17:48:41
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   Right now, I'm covered in hives and filled with anxiety.

   Over what is probably a pimple.

   This article is timely and what I will point to next time someone tells me I moved away from the problem and I try to explain that no matter the precautions the risk exist until it recedes.

   AND IT SUCKS.

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