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Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Bed Bug Success Stories

Success Stories

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bbugnerves

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Joined: Apr '09
Posts: 2

Posted 7 months ago
Mon Apr 20 2009 22:59:23
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I know that my problems are just beginning, but it would be nice to hear about peoples' success stories. Has anyone had a problem that they caught early and didn't last that long? Or a great PCO who got rid of them quickly? Even if it didn't happen that quickly, it would just be nice to hear if a few good success stories are out there.
bedbugsmakemesad

newbite
Joined: Mar '09
Posts: 28

Posted 7 months ago
Mon Apr 20 2009 23:40:16
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bbugnerves - 2 minutes ago »
I know that my problems are just beginning, but it would be nice to hear about peoples' success stories. Has anyone had a problem that they caught early and didn't last that long? Or a great PCO who got rid of them quickly? Even if it didn't happen that quickly, it would just be nice to hear if a few good success stories are out there.

Well, at the beginning of March, after havin an unexplained rash all over my arms & back for about 6 weeks which I had luck treating or identifying the source I went to my doctor. He looked just about as baffled as I was. He suggested scabies, but I told him that just couldn't be right as it's been a kinda "slow year" (if ya know what I mean ;p hehe). He gave me some cream to put all over my body and told me to wash the sheets I slept on that night the very next day in hot water, which I did and then put them back on my bed. Well, total stripping of the bed must have gotten the real culprits riled up because that very night I felt something move between my head and the pillow.... I reached over turned on the light, and there it was. I'd never seen one before and never really thought they were any more real than unicorns or winning lottery tickets, but sure enough it hit me -- I HAD BED BUGS.

Alarms...alarms! Panic, hysteria, whaddamigunnado? ohmigod, cmon can'tcha help a brother out? lol

Anyway, After a cursory inspection at 2am on a Monday night I realized I had more than a few and that was where the horrid rash had been coming from, so I refused to get back in the bed until they were gone. I stripped buck naked and dropped my clothes on the bedroom floor, then closed the bedroom door tight and duct-taped the air-gap between the door and the floor so the room was sealed off from the rest of the apartment enough that I could try to get some sleep on the couch (disclaimer: moving to the couch is not recomended, but it was either the couch or the bathtub, because my ass wasn't getting back in that bed until those evil little vampiric purveyors of nevernding ITCH were gone.)

The next morning at work I started googling and making calls. Called a few of the well known places Orkin, Terminix first, but I really got the feeling they were a corporate outfit in the business of roaches and termites but whose chemicals could probably be sprayed on bedbugs, too, for $400/room. So, I decided to look for an outfit more specialized. I spoke with Stern about their Cryosite thing, but it sounded gimmicky to me. Then I found bedbugsite.com, home of AAA Superior Pest Control. The owner Jeff Klein returned my call promptly and was patient and kind enough to help me unload all my greatest fears on him (wouldn't you know my ONE phobia in life is bugs? lol Not heights, not public humiliation, not even fire. Bugs. "and now they're in my bed?!?" lol). Jeff explained the service they offer and their techniques and their 90 day guarantee. With that info in my mind along with having visited their very informative website and seen that they truly are bed bug specialists, not just pest control general practitioners. So, I set up my first appointment for 2 days later and got to work prepping.

Here's what I did, in a nutshell:

pre-treatment routine
1- gather up all bedding, sheets, blankets, mattress pad, comforter, duvet, dust ruffle, pillows -- ALL OF IT. Put it in plastic bags (the big Hefty heavy-duty ones work best), tie them up tight and pitch them out to the curb. I brooked no danger of any stragglers or unhatched eggs being hidden in there somewhere, I just tossed it the hell out. Bed bugs are hard to get rid of, you can't sweat the small stuff along the way or you won't win. Toss the bedding, buy new stuff later.
2-bagged up all my clothes into plastic bags then sorted them into "stuff to wash & keep" and "trash". If I hadn't worn it in 5 years, it was trash. Fortunately most of the clothes I wear hang in my closet and as far as I can tell they weren't in my closet, so I simply moved that stuff to a spare closet on the other side of my apt.
3-empty nightstand drawers of all non-essential junk & clutter. 90% of this can be trashed thus again reducing the likelihood you're harboring a fugitive.

At this point, I had my first PCO treatment. They told me after that my infestation was really bad, apparently the bugs had made cozy home of my box spring and since I lazily hadn't cleaned under it or otherwise thought to look under my bed for months they were thriving away down there. Anway, the PCO removed the box spring from my apartment and thoroughly sprayed and dusted the perimeter of my room and the furniture in it.

post treatment routine:
4-buy a vacuum cleaner. This one I debated about because bagged canister vacuum cleaners are not cheap, but in retrospect I think it's probably the best thing I did in the whole process. Vacuum daily. Twice. Vacuum your bed; vacuum your couch; vacuum in your drawers, vacuum behind your nightstands & dressers -- vacuum so much that you know nothing could have escaped your obsessive vacuuming. And then vacuum again. ;)
5-buy a flashlight, a bright one. Every night before bed I literally crawled around inspecting every inch of my hardwood floors in order to see any tiny bugs hidden in the grain. When I was content that the floor was clear, I'd proceed to the walls and even the ceiling (yes, I found one on the ceiling one time).
5-go to Home Depot and get a tube of caulk. It's cheap and it's very easy to apply from the modern tubes it comes in it's a one-stop solution. I caulked every floor-wall joint and every unsealed crevice I could get to. Any bugs in the walls but outside my home won't be able to get back into my room; and any in my home won't be able to get out.

At this point I have my second treatment. The guy shows up just before I have to leave for work, asked him to call and give me a report after, but he didn't. From what I can tell he sprayed the walls in my bedroom with some brownish-yellowish mixture and called it a day. No perimeter of the rest of the house, no removing electrical sockets to spray/dust behind them. But I'm thinking, it's working so far I'll just go with the flow and see how it goes.

After my first treatment, I found approx. 5 live bed bugs and 2 dead ones in the week that followed. After that, for the last 4 weeks I have not to my knowledge seen a single living OR dead bed bug in my home, I have not reacted to a single bite, and my sheets are 100% sparkling white and clear of fecal stains. So, whatever methods AAA Superior used seem to have worked brilliantly, for the moment at least (and if that changes, I got about 60 more days of contractual service).

I'm not using the word "victory" or "win" yet, but I'm feeling very good about this situation which just a few short weeks ago had me questioning my entire life.

Best 2 pieces of advice I can give you from my experience:
#1 Be prepared to do what you have to do. It will be exhausting, it will cost money, and it will take over your life for a while, but just briefly. You'll get it all back once you've won.
#2 Don't get discouraged by expecting the worst. There are a lot of horror stories out there about people who spend YEARS battling bed bugs, and I'm sure they do. But there are way more stories of people who battle them for a month or two and then go on with their lives. Don't bury yourself under a mountain of pessimism. Just remember "this too shall pass". And then get back to vacuuming. ;)
Nobugsonme

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Joined: Mar '07
Posts: 5,547

Posted 7 months ago
Tue Apr 21 2009 0:27:35
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Here are more posts tagged "success stories."
Infofreak

junior member
Joined: Apr '09
Posts: 74

Posted 7 months ago
Tue Apr 21 2009 3:10:00
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bedbugsmakemesad , That is great and I agree 100% with your plan
bedbugsmakemesad

newbite
Joined: Mar '09
Posts: 28

Posted 7 months ago
Tue Apr 21 2009 8:34:53
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Oh, and don't expect to sleep through the night again any time soon. lol

After posting that last night, I proceeded to have bed bug dreams all night and woke up just about every hour on the hour compelled to turn on the lights and check my bed. :\ No more reading this site at night for me. ;)hehe
SleeplessLafayette

newbite
Joined: Mar '09
Posts: 20

Posted 7 months ago
Tue Apr 21 2009 9:58:33
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#2 Don't get discouraged by expecting the worst. There are a lot of horror stories out there about people who spend YEARS battling bed bugs, and I'm sure they do. But there are way more stories of people who battle them for a month or two and then go on with their lives. Don't bury yourself under a mountain of pessimism. Just remember "this too shall pass". And then get back to vacuuming. ;)

We started to get bites when my second daughter was born in Dec. During the first three months of her life, I was battling with her colic. Then when her colic was gone, we found we had bed bugs. I got very depressed and went through many sleepless nights. I need to keep reminding myself of what bedbugsmakemesad said "This too shall pass," just like my daughter's colic.
Emmm

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Joined: Mar '09
Posts: 225

Posted 7 months ago
Tue Apr 21 2009 16:50:29
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bedbugsmakemesad - 8 hours ago »
Oh, and don't expect to sleep through the night again any time soon. lol
After posting that last night, I proceeded to have bed bug dreams all night and woke up just about every hour on the hour compelled to turn on the lights and check my bed. :\ No more reading this site at night for me. ;)hehe

*L* I have to admit not reading this site or the bed bug registry at night helps one maintain sanity. I've dreamt of bed bugs so often, it's ridiculous.

I'm not in the clear yet, though we've had no signs, I finally trashed my bed, and all that's around are questionable spots on me that aren't like my original bites. I can't say I'm a success fully (though my roommate and boyfriend seem to think so). I do have to say that, while there is no good or positive to HAVING bed bugs, the silver linings are endless.

Before we got bugs, all I knew was they're bad, I don't want them. It ranked high on my biggest fears list. Now I've faced down a huge unknown horror, something I didn't think I could do being so naturally paranoid. I've grown a lot as a human being, being forced out of my comfort zone in just about every sense, having to be more resourceful and to rely less on old ways and people. I've reconnected with friends in my effort to grasp normalcy, and it's been wonderful. None of this would have happened (or so quickly) if I hadn't had bed bugs. I'll never be happy they came, but I, personally, am a success in progress as we beat this.

So until you are a success story, and I know it'll seem impossible to imagine in the beginning stages, just know you will find upsides until then. And then you WILL have a success story of your own. :)
bedbugsmakemesad

newbite
Joined: Mar '09
Posts: 28

Posted 7 months ago
Tue Apr 21 2009 18:32:28
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Emmm - 1 hour ago »
I do have to say that, while there is no good or positive to HAVING bed bugs, the silver linings are endless.
Before we got bugs, all I knew was they're bad, I don't want them. It ranked high on my biggest fears list. Now I've faced down a huge unknown horror, something I didn't think I could do being so naturally paranoid. I've grown a lot as a human being, being forced out of my comfort zone in just about every sense, having to be more resourceful and to rely less on old ways and people. I've reconnected with friends in my effort to grasp normalcy, and it's been wonderful. None of this would have happened (or so quickly) if I hadn't had bed bugs. I'll never be happy they came, but I, personally, am a success in progress as we beat this.
So until you are a success story, and I know it'll seem impossible to imagine in the beginning stages, just know you will find upsides until then. And then you WILL have a success story of your own. :)

Totally true, and a very good way of looking at it Emmm. :)

Same for me, I knew next-to-nothing about bed bugs except that if I ever had them I was sure I would have a nervous breakdown. I never thought about it in such terms, but thinking about it now, like you said, it was one of my biggest fears. Facing it down and surviving is good. :)

Also, honestly I felt almost like a weight had been lifted off me by cleaning out and throwing away all my clutter. If I had to find a silver lining in bed bugs, getting back to simplicity by throwing away all the accumulated junk of the last 10 years was actually quite liberating.

But let's not let the positivity get overwhelming here. lol I'll pass on any future bed bug "silver linings" thankyouverymuch. ;)
sunshine

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Joined: Apr '09
Posts: 1

Posted 6 months ago
Sun Apr 26 2009 23:28:28
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Here's my success story... I've been meaning to register and post this for a while, am really grateful that this site was here when I discovered bites and had a million questions along the road to no bugs.

How I got Bedbugs
Last year around this time, I traveled to South America for a week and a half with my boyfriend: we made a lot of stops, stayed in hotels and hostels in both rural and urban areas, and toward the end of our trip, my boyfriend noticed some bites near his ankle. I was immediately paranoid about it, turned over the mattress in the hotel room we happened to be staying in at the time, but found no evidence of bedbugs. Figured the bites must have been due to mosquitoes or sand fleas since we had just spent some time in the Amazon where there are scores of biting insects. I had read that bedbugs were more likely to bite women anyway, and since I didn't notice any bites over the next few days, I disregarded the whole thing (I am the type of person who is bitten by every mosquito within a 5-mile radius and I immediately react to bites with welts, itching, etc).

We took a red-eye flight back to the U.S. and were so exhausted when we arrived at my apt that we dropped our bags and immediately went to sleep in my bed. The next day, I laundered the clothing in my luggage, and carried on with life. (This was a huge and expensive mistake. Even though I had only *suspected* that we may have encountered bedbugs on our trip, I did not take precautions to quarantine our luggage.)

About 3 or 4 days after returning, I woke up with a ton of bites on my legs, stomach and back. Was it a delayed reaction to bites I received on our trip? Were they new bites from bugs who traveled back to my apt in our luggage? Sure a little momentary denial went through my head, but I knew it was bedbugs and didn't attempt to convince myself otherwise. I knew I had to act. I never saw a bug, but I had way too many bites for it to be anything else, and more appeared after the next day. I sealed my luggage in a garbage bag, took a deep breath, and hated life for the next few months.

How I Got Rid of the Bugs
I immediately read everything I could on these forums, got overwhelmed, freaked out, but learned that I had to call a PCO ASAP. I read one or two good recommendations for My Private Exterminator in Brooklyn (they did not have any guarantee policies, but the price was better than others I had read about and I had just spent my savings on the trip I just took) so I called up (I am fairly certain that I had a relatively easy time getting rid of the bugs because I called a PCO immediately). The owner of the company came to my apartment (a 1-br, about 350-400 sq ft) about 2 or 3 days after I first noticed bites.

He had me bag up all of my clothes from the bedroom (but not in my closet which is in the living room away from any furniture and my bedroom) and told me to launder them in hot water and dry them on hot until everything was completely dry (tons of trips to the laundermat! Luckily the stuff hanging in my closet was apparently safe because those items would have required dry cleaning). Then all clothes were stored in plastic bags until the bug ordeal was entirely over. He treated my mattress, encased it, turned my wood bed frame with drawers upside down and sprayed everything thoroughly (even the insides of the drawers), my sofa was treated, all of my shoes were sprayed down, and he went around the entire perimeter of my apt and sprayed (even in the closet, bathroom, kitchen, etc). He was at my place for an hour and a half.

I continued to notice more bites after the first treatment (I was careful to keep my apt very clean, vacuumed a lot etc), and about a week or so after the first treatment, I went to a hardware store and took matters into my own hands. I bought a few canisters of clear silicone caulk and a caulk gun (about $10 or $15 of supplies), and spent a day filling in any and all gaps between the floorboards and wall throughout my entire apt. I went around window frames, door frames, in corners, in drawers, any and every little crevice was filled in with caulk. I didn't leave any spot for the bugs to hide. My life was hell living out of bags, scratching everywhere, new bites every day or every few days, tubes of hydrocortisone, my lucky boyfriend who went on the trip with me did not end up with bedbugs at his apt and he was avoiding my place like the plague, I wanted this to be OVER.

Two weeks after the first PCO treatment came the second treatment (this time it wasn't the company's owner), and the guy went around the perimeter of my bedroom and living room pretty quickly. 2 treatments together cost $300 (this was a year ago).

But I was still seeing a few bites here and there after the second treatment, had a mild/weird rashy skin reaction to the chemicals that were sprayed, then all the new bites I had were getting smaller (but they were still a little itchy so I'm not sure if it was that phantom bite phenomenon or what), but they were still bites! Again, I didn't go into denial, there was no hesitation in calling the PCO to come out for a third time (2 weeks after the second treatment). Another $150 that I couldn't really afford but I was not interested in this horror lasting any longer than it had to.

The PCO acted surprised that I still had bedbugs after 2 treatments (even though I had read on these forums that most people need at least 3), and this time a different guy came who I think was sympathetic to my desperation/exasperation. He did a very thorough spray-down in my bedroom, hit the bed frame again and drawers, sprayed the perimeter of my living room and bedroom and was careful about it.

After a few days, I wasn't seeing any new bites! Waking up each day was stressful, one little bite could ruin the streak, but after 2 weeks of no bites, I was starting to breathe easier (even though I was still careful about keeping all clothes in bags, etc). After 2 bite-free months, I decided to shed the plastic bags for the clothes I use most, kept the rest bagged just in case, god forbid...

But that was it. After about 1.5-2 months of hell and $450, I was bite-free and I've been that way for nearly a year. I still have the luggage I traveled with bagged up, and it's gonna stay bagged up for another 6 months at least, but life has been gloriously normal.

Why I Was Able to Get Rid of the Bugs
1. As soon as I noticed bites, I did not delay in calling a PCO. No denial on my part. I never saw any evidence of bugs aside from the bites I had, nor did the PCO ever find a bedbug dead or alive in my apt. Based on this, I am convinced that I only had a small infestation. Had I waited to call the PCO, it would have probably been astronomically worse.

2. I followed the PCO's instructions to a T. Wash/dry on hot, bag clothes, keep infested luggage bagged for a year and a half, did not sleep in any other spot other than my own bed (so as not to draw the bugs to my sofa or another room as well).

3. I made sure that the PCO treated my apt EVERY 2 WEEKS until I no longer had bites. I did not leave more time between any of the treatments. I just swallowed and spent money I didn't have, and I am so glad I did!

4. I caulked and sealed up all gaps in my apt, leaving the bugs with no place to hide. A cheap project that I think paid off.

5. I read these forums very throughout the whole ordeal, and the advice others supplied was priceless and helpful. Thank you to everyone for sharing your experiences.

Take home lesson: there is hope! You'll get through it, and if you've just started noticing bites, do NOT delay in taking action. Your life will be terrible for a few months, but things will go back to normal as long as you take an active role and don't make bad/sloppy decisions. Do things right the first time, and good luck.

Next time I return from travel, I will be extremely vigilant about putting my luggage under quarantine, what an expensive and horrible ordeal!
buggela

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Joined: Dec '08
Posts: 36

Posted 6 months ago
Mon Apr 27 2009 7:20:47
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Sunshine, You are very lucky that you're PCO agreed to treat with out actually seeing a bug. Most PCO's will NOT treat without proof. I started noticing bites in Aug. Had 3 PCO's check my house and refuse treatment. I finally found a bug in Oct. Been dealing with BB's ever since.