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Very Confused
(11 posts)-
vabites
newbite
Joined: Nov '09
Posts: 6
Posted 2 weeks ago
Thu Nov 5 2009 15:27:47
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A friend who had bed bugs came to my house and stayed for a couple of days.. This was mid August. Immediately after that, i started getting bites on me. I thought it was some allergic reaction and kept seeing doctors. This friend one day informed me that he had bed bugs in his house. I panicked and immediately called a PCO to inspect my house. He found a dead bedbug in the guest bedroom. I got the house treated immediately, but kept getting bitten. My wife and kids who were out of town came back and they got bit as well.
After the first treatment, the PCO came back like in one month and we were unable to find any bugs. I searched everywhere. no evidence of bugs, eggs or feacal matter. no traces of blood on the mattress as well. we encased every single mattress, box spring with mattress covers from walmart.
Why am i not seeing anything at all? I dont see any dead bugs, skin castings or anything at all. I called a different PCO (this time a better one). He could not find anything as well. All we see are carpet beetles. This is november already and by now they should have multiplied right? After putting on the encasements, for the past 7 days, we have been bite free. In addition to the mattress covers, we put in the bed bug interceptors to the bed posts. We dont see any bugs in there.
I was planning on getting a heat treatment but how will i know if it is succesful if i dont see anything myself?
I am planning on getting a K-9 Inspection, but they said they cant do it because my house is recently sprayed and i have to wait for 1 month before the K-9 can come.
Meanwhile we are all getting mad at house. Any comments/suggestions are highly appreciated.
Also the Heat treatment is going to cost 7000 dollars for my town home for all 3 levels . I still want to do it as it gives me a peace of mind. Can someone suggest what i can do?
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spideyjg
oldtimer
Joined: Jul '08
Posts: 1,405
Posted 2 weeks ago
Thu Nov 5 2009 15:38:22
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Eliminate the carpet beetles and then reassess the situation.
The hairs of the CB larvae can cause skin reactions.
If encasing the bedding stopped the reactions it is possible you trapped the cause. Ensure those encasements are intact and the frames cannot tear them.
Jim
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after a whole 10 days of repreive from bites, today my daughter had some. This is freaking me out. I guess my only option now is to get the heat treatment. My kids are too young, so we are having great difficulty maitaining the strict requirements of cleaning. The kids dont understand. so they take everything and throw everywhere..
Question is will the heat treatment solve my problem? I am willing to pay 7000 dollars. They give a guarantee for one month after that. It looks like the PCO knows what they are doing. they are treating with heat in hotels and hospitals.
My concern is, we are having great difficulty finding any bugs at all. How will i know if the heat treatment worked? only if i am not getting bitten? This whole thing is making me very miserable. Any help is appreciated.
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Hi,
As frustrating as it may seem the correct thing to do is confirm the presence of bed bugs and then consider treatment options.
Your case this will either require a good PCO who specialises in bed bugs and is capable of finding even the smallest signs (there are a few of us out there) or through the use of K9 scent detection or through monitoring technologies.
It is not unusual for people post bed bug exposure to become sensitive to other pests such as the hairs of larval carpet beetles which can give the impression of the infestation being persistent. It is also unfortunately true that the intense cleaning associated with bed bugs and carpet beetles can actually increase the carpet beetle hair response as they become more mobile through the static pockets that are left when using an electric vacuum cleaner, to avoid this spray a light mist of boiled then cooled water over the carpeted areas after you have vacuumed to neutralize any static pockets.
Unless you confirm what is going on before further treatments or thermal remediation then you are not likely to know when the issue is resolved and it can become a very expensive experiment.
I am also not sure that all dog handlers follow the 1 month after treatment before they will return rule although a week or two would certainly be a good period to allow the first treatment to be effective.
Hope that help.
David Cain
Bed Bugs Limited -
David
Thanks. My wife is saying the same, that we need a K9 inspection before we can go for the treatment.
Unfortunately, we had a chemical treatment around the 23rd of last month. so we have to wait until the 23rd of this month before the k-9's can come because of the health concerns of the dogs.It breaks my heart to see the kids suffering because of this. I wish the bugs whereever they are just hurt me and leave my kids alone.
I believe what my daughter has are beg bites, because there are 3 in a row. (breakfast, lunch and dinner) .However I will follow your advice and try to reduce the static pockets and see if it makes a difference.
I cannot say enough about the support you are providing me. Your responses are quick and it provides great moral support to me. The help provided here is greatly appreciated. After and If my ordeal is ever over, i will try and contribute to this website in anyway i can.
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Vabites I know how you feel..It hurts to see your child suffer with bites and scaring. This whole bb ordeal has drove me crazy because my 6yr old son is involved. I seemed to have stayed strong during the times that I had to throw away our belongings, but I broke down every time I seen bites on my son. There were many times where he had to stay elsewhere because the bites had gotten so bad. The only advice I can offer you is to stay strong...I can say it has been sometime since we have seen any bites or bbs. Im definintly not celebrating yet...Im just in the wait n see period. Although I have flipped out quite a few times, I can say that I know we will make it out.
Stay strong and good luck to you and your family =) -
buggyinsocal
oldtimer
Joined: Jun '08
Posts: 1,130
Posted 1 week ago
Mon Nov 9 2009 15:22:11
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I just want to second what David and Spideyjg said above.
We have a lot of anecdotal evidence that exposure to bed bugs often makes peoples' skin more reactive to things. We have plenty of evidence that carpet beetles can cause "bite like" reactions that anyone short of a experienced dermatologist couldn't tell apart from an insect bite.
If you're finding carpet beetles, it's entirely possible that the bites you and your children are experiencing are from the beetles, not bed bugs.
If that's the case, it would break my heart to see you spend that much on thermal treatment. If you didn't need it. We also know that thermal treatment might not get rid of, for example, lingering carpet beetle hairs, and then you might think thermal failed, and that would also be terrible.
Finding a PCO who knows how to thoroughly inspect or getting a good dog/handler team (note: good dog/handler teams should follow up on any positive "hit" from the dog by having the handler him or herself visually inspect to confirm bugs) might help you narrow down exactly what the problem is.
I'm a big fan of thermal, since it solved my bed bug problem in one go, but it was the first treatment I used when I had clear visual confirmation. It did damage to a number of items in my home. I was fine with that because I just wanted to bugs gone and couldn't stomach the thought of being bait for them for weeks. So although I don't have kids, I know how I felt about me being used as bait, and I can imagine that feeling that your kids are suffering that way must be much, much worse.
Even knowing all that, I would definitely suggest confirming bed bugs for sure before going with thermal. I know it feels like it's a cure all, but if you do have bed bugs, you need to figure out where they are coming from. Thermal is great when done properly and in the proper situation, but, for example, if you were reintroducing bugs from work or day care or somewhere else, had thermal, reintroduced bugs after the guarantee was up, and then were back at square 1, that would be even more awful as you would likely have fewer financial resources to fight the infestation the second time around.
Frustrating as it is, getting to the bottom of the source of the problem isn't a luxury; it's a vital part of most successful treatment plans.
Hang in there.
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I should have mentioned. i thought i did in my first mail. we did see one live bug in the guest bedroom and one in the couch. we threw away the couch immediately. this was about 2 weeks back and that too after the first chemical treatment.
In anycase, i will wait for the K9 inspection to see the result. If i have to i will move the kids and wife to a bug free hotel for a few days.
Thank you again.
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vabites
newbite
Joined: Nov '09
Posts: 6
Posted 1 week ago
Thu Nov 12 2009 16:52:41
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Today morning, i saw a bed bug crawling along the door in my bathroom. This is the first time we saw a live one crawling on our doors. Looks like it is getting bad.
I have scheduled for a dog visit for 24th November atleast to see how bad it is. And based on the verdict a heat treatment.
The PCO says heat treatment is 90% sure of removing everything in the house. the 10% is still nagging me. Also they say, they get the dog the next day to make sure we are in the clear. But if the dog alerts they do a traditional treatment for the area the dog alerts. Is this a common practice?
I dont know what to think of it. I have 2more weeks to survive before the dog can come. Should i wait for it or just go ahead and do the heat treatment? Its a 3 level home. so not sure where they are and where they aren't.
Can someone please tell me heat treatment will rid me of this nightmare ?
Thanks
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From what I've read on this site, thermal is your best bet. If you can afford it, don't hesitate. Don't wait. If you can find it, read up on ABALLEN'S thermal threads. I think there were two. She struggled, but finally won.
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Thanks
I live in a townhome. Heating the house will not cause the bedbugs to scatter and go to some one else's house right ?
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