Stressed Out over bb « Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums

Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Reader questions (do not fit into other categories)

Stressed Out over bb

(7 posts)

Tags:

stress

Itchy Bites

newbite
Joined: Jan '09
Posts: 6

Posted 10 months ago
Tue Jan 6 2009 1:03:23
#

Login to Send PM

I need some kind of peace of mind that you can get rid of bed bugs.

I'm guessing ive had bedbugs for about 3-4 months now in my room not knowing what they were.
2 months ago i noticed marks on my valance and thought it was mould. now i have been bitten numerous times i have the pest control coming to do their thing tomorrow. I have had confirmation it is bed bugs.
I have already done all the things you shouldnt, move the bed to different location, spray my room with bug spray as a short term relief, sleep on the couch. my flatmate let of one of those do it yourself insect bombs in her room only.

I have spent a day washing my clothes in normal cycle (cold water) then as the pest controller told me to leave clothes in twist tie bags in sun. i have only done half my washing but put the rest of my clothes in bags in the sun for now.
I am now going back and rewashing in hotwater and leaving to dry in sun on clothes line. I Dont have a dryer at home. Is it essential to use a dryer. It is summer in QLD now and sunny all day long. think i already know the answer to that.

Now the big panic. I am happy to pay the pest control. but my flatmate who owns the unit doesnt believe the bed bugs are in her room as she hasnt been bitten, and hasnt seen any anywhere else in the house. she thinks the pest controllers are scamming to get money, and that her room and her spare mattresss (which i have seen secretions and eggs on) are not infected. this mattress is stored in the garage and dragged to the loungeroom when people stay over.

I can do my part but if the whole place is not done then am i right in assuming that i have just gotten rid of my area before it gets reinfected. I can not seem to get her to understand how important it is to treat the whole house and belongings.
It is really stressing me out and i cant see a way of winning this at the moment.

Thanks

some suggestions please
eatenalivenh

junior member
Joined: Dec '08
Posts: 116

Posted 10 months ago
Tue Jan 6 2009 1:38:39
#

Login to Send PM

I can completely understand your frustrations! Unfortunately some people just don't sem to realize just how difficult it is to get rid of bed bugs. My LL also feels that the PCO would just be taking their $$ and they made me spray myself and will only treat if that does not work, which it wont.

If you have seen signs of bed bugs in your roommates room it is important that their room is also treated. Perhaps you could read some of the posts on this board together so that she can hear the stories of all of us that are struggling with this problem. I would also review all of the FAQ's on the site with her as well. That may hit home to her and she may be willing to treat as well. I realize that she feels the PCO is only after money so I don't know if she will listen to what they have to say perhaps the PCO can point out the infestation in her room in detail to her and if they can find a live bed bug that may help sway her a bit.

I would hate to see you spend your money on treating your room only to get re infested because hers is not treated as well

Best of luck to you!
NightmareTown

newbite
Joined: Jan '09
Posts: 7

Posted 10 months ago
Tue Jan 6 2009 6:56:27
#

Login to Send PM

This may sound harsh or extreme- or impossible, but is there any way you can have your stuff treated, and then move? i imagine that would be a last resort, but bed bugs are a terrible thing to have to live with, and live with knowing you could be spreading them to your friends and family when they visit, or vice versa.

i am sorry that your flatmate is being so stubborn. i am dealing with a similar situation with my ex, who has them, and i am the only one with enough money to treat them, and i am choosing to in order to prevent the spread to our entire friend circle, since 7 friends live on the same floor, and we all frequent the same pub that has many old couches waiting to be infested if the problem isn't fixed.

he is battling the idea of even telling the across the hall roommates, let alone having them inspected and treated.

hopefully the stubborn people we both know will come to terms and accept what they need to do.

good luck.
buggyinsocal

oldtimer
Joined: Jun '08
Posts: 1,130

Posted 10 months ago
Tue Jan 6 2009 11:30:49
#

Login to Send PM

A few things to keep in mind.

First, I want to assure you that the fact that you made some mistakes (sleeping elsewhere, etc.) does not doom you to a life with bed bugs for years. I'm pretty sure that there were at least three months between my infestation and my realizing I had the bugs. I had definitely taken to sleeping elsewhere, not because of the bugs but because I have insomnia and will sleep wherever I can. So I'd had the bugs for at least two months (I travel a lot, so I wasn't home for that whole time) before I realized what was going on.

I managed to get rid of the bugs in one treatment despite that fact, and despite the fact that I live in an apartment in a multi-unit building.

Everyone's experience varies. True, other people have horror stories that go on for months or years, but there are a lot of factors that go into that. Do not despair just yet. I know that's easy to say and hard to do, but you won't know for a bit yet how long this will take. Almost everyone can eventually get rid of bed bugs.

As for laundry, have you read the FAQs on the main website? There are some that will really help you out. Either washing in hot water or drying until the clothes reach a specified temp (113? 130? Farenheit. I'm sorry that I'm a typical American and pretty spectacularly sucktastic at converting to Celsius. The FAQ has more details.)

The short version is that you're probably a lot more certain of ridding fabric items of bugs by using a dryer. If you can't wash items on high/ at very hot temps, you can place dry, clean items into a dryer and run the dryer long enough to get the items hot enough to kill bugs and eggs. Once they've been decontaminated, you want to put them into clean, air tight bags that have not been used to transport the clothes/linens before treatment. (Large ziplocks work very well for this.) Washing in cold water might kill the bugs, and it will in some cases, but it's not as foolproof a method as heat, as the FAQs explain.

If you look at the way that heat is used, putting items in the sun is not a guaranteed method of ridding you of bed bugs. Trust me. I live in sunny Southern California, and my infestation happened in the summer. I was very tempted to just drive my car out to the desert, where air temps regularly reach 120 degrees F in the summer and hope that would work, but the pros here have convinced me that no one can count on that to work. In other words, if it makes you feel better to put items outside to dry inthe sun or put items in bags in the sun, by all means, go ahed. But none of us would probably rely on that as a foolproof way to rid you of the bugs. All it takes is one egg in one spot or one bug that crawls into the one cool spot inside a fabric item to escape the full temp to reinfest you. If I were you, I would find a laundromat with a dryer, pain in the posterior thought that is.

As for your roommate, be aware that as many of 70% of the population do not react to bites. It's possible that your roommate is being bitten and doesn't react. You might consider sending her to the main site here, as opposed to the forums. While there are professional bug treatment folks here, most of us are not pros. Most of us have no way to gain financially from the advice we hand out. We don't get kickbacks from PCOs. David in the UK I think also has a website designed to give people who know nothing about bed bugs some general info. I would focus on trying to get your roommate to educate herself from someone other than the pro who will treat your place. I understand a general skepticism that pros might tell you that you have to have pro treatment, but in this case, that's really not what's going on. You might be able to convince her of that if you can convince her that she might be being bitten and not react (whether those 70% numbers are true or not, we know that a lot of people do not react) and point her to places that detail the problems of bed bugs when those places are not written by people who are seeking to earn a living at treating them.

Hang in there. I know it's hard not to jump to the most dire conclusions, but infestations can be treated successfully. Let us know how things go with your flatmate, and I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. Read the FAQs if you haven't, as they have a lot of info about specific kill temps for bed bugs when it comes to laundry and such. I think you'll find them helpful and feel much better when you have more specifics to help you sort out what the best approach is.
Itchy Bites

newbite
Joined: Jan '09
Posts: 6

Posted 10 months ago
Thu Jan 8 2009 3:03:57
#

Login to Send PM

Thank you for words of support and advice. PCO guy has come out and sprayed my room and mattress (kept in seperate area)
I put base on lawn and am throwing out. He sprayed chemical and steam cleaned mattress.

PCO offered me some peace of mind although im interested to see if anyone else knows if this is true.

He told me to go buy Lawn grub destroyer concentrate because it has the chemical 'chlorpyrifos' in it. i went and got it made a strong mix and painted it around my room and mattress. Apparently it will kill the adults but not the eggs.

He said there are few different chemicals which people can buy and mix to use to help treat but because they are not labelled and branded bed bug chemical they can not be used by a PCO.

I dont expect it to fix things but like anyone will try anything if it will help in the slightest.

Also after the PCO follow up - 6 days from initial treatment - if i wish to steam clean myself it seem pretty straight forward for the mattress. but how do you steam the room edges or is it best left to keep hiring a PCO.

Because the bugs have been present for 3-4months i am expecting to have to do an ongoing treatment.

thanks again.
Infofreak

junior member
Joined: Apr '09
Posts: 74

Posted 2 months ago
Thu Aug 27 2009 20:38:29
#

Login to Send PM

15 minutes is not an inspection at all, I been looking for almost 9 months and never saw one but I had them,
never_again

junior member
Joined: Aug '09
Posts: 44

Posted 2 months ago
Fri Aug 28 2009 3:27:17
#

Login to Send PM

I'm glad if you managed to get your roommate into it... denial usually comes with stubbornness. Unfortunately, if they don't take seriously it can take a lot longer, in general. You've got a PCO, thats good. Keep washing, disinfecting items you can and them sealing them off if you plan to keep them.. something else that could make you feel better and does help is sealing in cracks, access points to your walls (especially the baseboard). Check with your PCO before doing anything you think could disrupt, compare what your PCO is doing with what other PCO's are said to be doing on the boards.