Psychological trauma « Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums

Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Psychological and Health problems caused by bed bugs (besides bites)

Psychological trauma

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HelpMePlz

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Posted 11 months ago
Sun Jun 3 2012 17:24:44
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Been dealing with bed bugs since August of 2011. Three outbreaks. I live in a high rise and it's now apparent they're coming in from somewhere else as I've had several completely bug-free months in between outbreaks. Topic for another board. At any rate, it's been tough on my mental health. Friday night, I had a nightmare that there was one crawling on my sheets and I woke up in a state of utter panic, turned the light on, frantically inspected my sheets, saw a small dark spot that I was convinced was a bed bug...but it wasn't.

This is getting old. Real old.
Nobugsonme

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Posted 11 months ago
Sun Jun 3 2012 21:41:00
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Sorry you've had to deal with this and for so long.

Does your building provide pest control treatment, and how do they manage it? Do they inspect adjacent units? Do they provide multiple follow-ups and how are these spaced?

As for the psychological aspects, a lot of people here have had help from therapists. And in some cases, medication also if the issues warranted. If you have a tendency to depression, anxiety, OCD, etc., bed bugs can make things worse.

And I think a lot of people would develop such issues after having bed bugs for a while. A recent study showed that some people on bed bug forums like this one were showing signs of PTSD; at least one user here was diagnosed with an "acute trauma stress disorder" (acute, apparently because the "post" in PTSD does not fit).

The good news is treatment can help for the psychological issues.

The bed bugs -- if your building is in a chronic state, if you can't move, you might be able to fight for better conditions. In some cases, people have called in the local media. If multiple people have ongoing problems, and are willing to complain, the press can sometimes get attention which might lead to better handling of the problem.
HelpMePlz

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Posted 11 months ago
Thu Jun 7 2012 16:40:25
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Well, my building is finally getting aggressive. I have a good condo association, and what I think is a good management company, but mistakes have been made here. Since I posted, they finally brought in dogs and located the source of the problem and I am very thankful for that. It's a unit adjacent to mine. It is frustrating that it took this long and that I had to go through so much. I think that whenever bed bugs are reported in a condo or apartment building, dogs should be brought in IMMEDIATELY to see if other units are infested. It would have saved me a lot of grief. So I'm feeling some relief, but it concerns me that this neighbor has had them for so long and hasn't properly taken care of them or even reported them. Doesn't give me much hope that he or she will be vigilant in getting rid of them now. However, I'm having a ton of sealing and caulking work done soon...hope this is the end of it. There will be many upcoming PCO visits to mine and surrounding units.
Nobugsonme

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Posted 11 months ago
Thu Jun 7 2012 23:25:41
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Finding the source is a huge development. I am not a lawyer but the condo association or management probably has some legal recourse in terms of enforcing cooperation with treatment. This has come up in other places. At the end of the day, most people will likely cooperate rather than get pushed out.