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Trying to understand...
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WorriedInCali
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Joined: Jul '11
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Posted 1 year ago
Mon Sep 12 2011 20:34:12
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Can someone please help me understand how some people (that have posted on these forums) can have bed bugs for say anywhere from 2 months up to a year and not know it? Is it really possible to have them for that long and not see any signs?
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jrbtnyc
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Posted 1 year ago
Mon Sep 12 2011 21:14:07
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The key would be, in my non-expert opinion, that some people absolutely do not react whatsoever. So then, the bugs can feed at will and then the rest of the time do their specialties, what they've adapted to do over the eons, and that is, hide hide hide and breed breed breed. So the population can build up to fearsome levels before enough of the bugs are overflowing so they become obvious enough that finally someone notices. Maybe it's finally some visitor who notices, because they do react to bites. It's not very pleasant to contemplate what a residence might look like by that stage. Some of the professionals here on bedbugger.com can surely tell a tale or six about that.
Brrr
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buggyinsocal
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Posted 1 year ago
Tue Sep 13 2011 1:28:40
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I am more than 90% sure that I picked up bed bugs at one of two hotel stays in March of 2008. I didn't discover that I had bed bugs until mid June of 2008.
So I am one of those people who had them for at least a month and more like two before I realized what was going on.
It's entirely possible to have bed bugs that long and not realize it.
As others have pointed out, some people don't react to the bites. If your skin doesn't react, it's possible.
My skin did, but I have a cat. The bites coincided with the time of year when my cat was more likely to get fleas. I assumed fleas or mosquitos getting in through a screen she'd clawed holes in.
In addition, I was traveling a lot, so I wasn't changing my sheets as often as I would otherwise have been. I suspect this means that they were relatively undisturbed. Since my cat sleeps on my bed, I suspect she was feeding them while I was away. (poor thing.)
Three and a half years ago, I'm not sure that the general public was as aware of the emerging bed bug epidemic the way we are now.
If people have very cluttered places (which mine was at the time and to a certain extent, though less so, still is), remember that bed bugs are masters of stealth. Early, small infestations involve only a few bugs hiding away in places where they're unlikely to be detected while feeding.
I had them for that long without "seeing" any signs because I didn't know to be looking for signs. In retrospect, there were signs, but I wasn't aware that I ought to be looking for those signs; I was still looking for fleas and mosquitos.
Once I looked, I found those signs, all right.
That said, with increased awareness, we've seen a dramatic rise in false alarm cases. Just because you have bites of a mysterious origin doesn't mean you have bed bugs.
If there are bed bugs in your residence, within a few months there will be detectable signs. However, it might take a professional to find those signs.
So there are two questions there:
Can people get bed bugs and not notice for months? If they're non-reactors or they don't know to look for bed bugs, absolutely.
Can people have bed bugs for months and not have any signs that bed bugs are there?
Chances are no. In some very rare cases (persistent, recurring infestations in an adjacent unit in a multi-unit building with migrating bugs coming by to feed and then going back to the other place? possibly, but statistically VERY unlikely), it's possible, but it's just not as common as reading the boards might make you think.
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nycyn
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Posted 1 year ago
Tue Sep 13 2011 1:40:25
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The stories I've heard along those lines concerned elderly people. But that's just me.
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WorriedInCali
newbite
Joined: Jul '11
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Posted 1 year ago
Tue Sep 13 2011 16:50:43
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Thanks for the insight. Buggyinsocal, thanks again. I'm hoping for my situation then, at this point, I don't have BBs?
It's now been 10 weeks since I've been home following exposure. I gutted my bedroom out and cleaned it like a madwoman. It's been pretty spotless. No clutter. Bedding has been minimized with a light blanket and white sheets. I've been doing my own little inspections and have not seen anything suspicious.
I know I react to the bites (I still have the scars from when I was first bitten). I know my mother and sister also react to bites (they were all exposed from the same hotel and reacted), and when they came out to visit me last month, there were no signs that they were bit either.
I have not had a reaction to that of the BB bite that I had back at the ending of June, except until last week when I was bit by a bug I was worried could be a BB because of the way I reacted to it. But I really don't beleive it was a BB that bit me. I think it was a bug that got on me while I was sitting outside because the bite occured minutes after I came back in the house. It bit me in a sensitive area (my boob). I actually have the bug that bit me and the more I look at it the more I don't think it's a BB. I can't seem to get a good maco shot to post. It's really dark and more elongated. The head bobbles out a bit more. Didn't really look like the freshly fed BB pictures that I've seen online.
And if it were a BB, wouldn't I have been getting bitten like that all along?
Anyway, I'm rambling...Thanks for listening
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oldtimer
Joined: Apr '07
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Posted 1 year ago
Tue Sep 13 2011 17:37:03
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Hi,
It varies both from person to person and case to case. I have seen plenty of cases where people have experienced bites and not investigated or realised for weeks and months what the problem was. I also meet people who just wake up one day responding and have had the problem for weeks or months.
I have also seen some massive out of control infestations lasting years where people still had not realised there was an issue.
Sadly I have to confirm that most of the world has long since forgotten my simple mantra that we spend on average 180 a month sleeping in our beds, don't they deserve the respect of 30 minutes to properly clean and inspect it. This is something you see and hear about in the old text's and it appears to have been dropped from general society back in the 50's and 60's as we all started to get "busy".
I personally take each case as I see it on its own merits but I will confess I am tougher with those who need tough love and lessons in what cleaning of a bed is all about. I find the best motivation is often a caution and the threat of a stern Paddington bear stare. The other day I even had one person say "I am glad you answered the phone, you boss is scary and tells me off for not cleaning well enough" I could feel the redness of her face when it dawned on her who was on the phone.
Having bedbugs has nothing to do with dirt of poor hygiene, it cant they are an exposure pest, they know nothing about your home when they come home with you. However being organised, methodical, having attention to detail and a healthy supply of elbow grease goes a long way to resolving a problem if one occurs.
David Cain
Bed Bugs Limited -
WorriedInCali
newbite
Joined: Jul '11
Posts: 29offline
Posted 1 year ago
Tue Sep 13 2011 17:47:53
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"I have also seen some massive out of control infestations lasting years where people still had not realised there was an issue."
Are you serious? Oh god! Am I ever going to be able to relax?!
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oldtimer
Joined: Apr '07
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Posted 1 year ago
Tue Sep 13 2011 18:25:23
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WorriedInCali - 19 minutes ago »
"I have also seen some massive out of control infestations lasting years where people still had not realised there was an issue."
Are you serious? Oh god! Am I ever going to be able to relax?!Sadly yes but that is what comes of specialising in bedbugs, you have a tendency to have to deal with the occasional building based issue which can be the result of one super infestation which requires a special kind of love and attention.
Sadly that is often communication through the block of the issue and why it needs to be addressed and yet 100% co-operation is such a difficult goal to achieve.
The chances are low that you will ever encounter anything like this in "normal" life but to deny that they are out there is to deny the understanding as to why mass communication, awareness and early detection are now the only battlelines we are likley to get medium term wins from. I have said that as the basis since about 2003 but the timing of it is getting to what feels like a tipping point, there is definitely such a thing as too much work in my line and its rather busy.
The great news is that if you chat and communicate with your neighbours about bedbugs and the key facts you can radically reduce the risk of ever finding yourself in the situation of being the neighbour of such an infestation to almost zero. You never know as twee as it may sound you may find another human being on the other side of the wall please to at least know another name.
Its all deep posting tonight but there we go.
David
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WorriedInCali
newbite
Joined: Jul '11
Posts: 29offline
Posted 1 year ago
Tue Sep 13 2011 18:38:53
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Oh, but what if I live in a house?
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oldtimer
Joined: Apr '07
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Posted 1 year ago
Tue Sep 13 2011 19:19:52
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WorriedInCali - 37 minutes ago »
Oh, but what if I live in a house?Then you have fewer neighbours to worry about if its a row house, few still if semi detached and least if you are a detached property. See trailer parks and stand alone homes finally have something in common an equally lower risk of bedbugs.
If you ask me about what to do with your housemates rooms I will know its a wind up as I cant believe you don't speak to them.
David
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WorriedInCali
newbite
Joined: Jul '11
Posts: 29offline
Posted 1 year ago
Tue Sep 13 2011 20:29:10
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"See trailer parks and stand alone homes finally have something in common an equally lower risk of bedbugs."
Haha! Well, that's the funniest thing I've heard all day!
Yes, it is a stand alone home. I have two housemates, both live upstairs. I'm in the room downstairs. Yes, of course we've talked about it, and they haven't seen anything suspicious going on and haven't noticed any bites. They don't think we have them. They also haven't ever knowingly been "victimized" by these little creatures, so they haven't been lurking on this site and forums like I've been either. Good thing or bad thing, I don't know anymore!
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