Fuck Bedbugs

[GoryBlizzard]

You've probably heard the saying "Don't let the bedbugs bite" on multiple occasions in your life.

Easier said than done.

Just recently, my apartment has experienced a major bedbug invasion and the result is that my skin has never looked worse. My subtenants are also feeling the pain and I will continue to assist in any way possible.

I'm no stranger to mosquito bites. Every summer, mosquitoes have made me miserable. When they're close by and you're asleep, you'll know--they make a distinct buzzing sound. They've been conspicuously absent lately, only to replaced by bedbugs, which I consider to be far worse. Surprisingly until very recently, even considering where I live, no bedbug has ever even touched me. And as you're about to see, they've made me look miserable.

I have a comprehensive action plan that includes thorough hot washing of all washable clothing, spraying as much permethrin as possible on all bedding and furniture (as well as elsewhere), and calling in an exterminator. Which is sadly all I can do for now.

Don't tell me not to scratch. I will. I know I shouldn't, but the urge is so strong that I can't resist it. And I feel terrible about it. Those scratches have turned into big red bumps, some surrounded by petechiae, some bloody with scabs, and others infected with pus. I've applied a plentiful amount of Neosporin for the time being, but I have no cures at my immediate disposal and only little band-aids.

If you have any experience in dealing with bedbugs, I'd like to hear more about it and if I hear a worthwhile idea, I'll use it.

So far, this is just a small taste of what I look like right now, and I expect recovery to take a while.

[Avery]

Stop sleeping there

[Tony-DarkGrave]

lube yourself with neosporin and udder cream if you can get it, that should reduce irratation and promote healing. and yeah a exterminator is what you need, also if you dont want to throw away mattresses and furniture ask the exterminator to bomb it.

here's a website for bedbugs and all you need to know.

[NeonSpider]

Well it won't totally eliminate your problem, but if you see any of these things around, leave them alone. They kill bedbugs, along with other stuff you most likely also don't want.

Most people get scared of these things and kill them. Don't do that.

[Bit]

Pic related.

[GoryBlizzard]

At 6/27/15 01:40 AM, Bit wrote: Pic related.

There might actually be a ring of truth there because I have a new neighbor that just came in straight from India. He brought his kids and wife with him, and I wouldn't be surprised if the bedbugs also came from him. And I just learned what his name was today and I couldn't believe it: Muhammad Ali.

[PussyShark]

At 6/27/15 01:53 AM, GoryBlizzard wrote:

At 6/27/15 01:40 AM, Bit wrote: Pic related.

Muhammad Ali

get him to beat the crap out of those bedbugs

[NeonSpider]

At 6/27/15 01:58 AM, yurgenburgen wrote: who will fix these bedbugs

Get your bedbugs spayed and neutered today!

[WahyaRanger2]

The joys of big city living?

[Dre]

The only way to kill them is with extreme temperatures. They are extremely resilient insects and can easily withstand conventional control methods. Hot washing clothing will kill any bugs or eggs on the clothes, but you still have to deal with the bugs and eggs everywhere else. Chemical poisons won't stop them. They might slow them down, but it's only temporary. I would strongly recommend using liquid nitrogen to treat the infested areas. If you freeze them they will die.

[BepsiWay]

About 3 months ago bed bugs infested my bed, and I lived with it for about a month. It was so fucking miserable. Finally got an exterminator, had to leave for 4 hours. When we came back we had to go through and put everything in the dryer for 30 minutes each, because heat kills bedbug. I think the stuff the exterminator used was some kind of residual thing that would stick around and keep killing newly hatched bed bugs.

But yeah man it was the most miserable time of my life. And the scratching drove me insane I ended up crying one night because of how itchy I was.

I feel your pain. The faster you get an exterminator in the better. Where I live it cost about $150, but we're tenants so the landlord paid for that.

[GoryBlizzard]

The soonest I can get an exterminator in is on Monday, for free, on my landlord's tab. I simply can't afford to hire a private one myself right now and neither can my subtenants. I imagine exposing them to extreme temperatures and having us leave for several hours will be part of their action plan. I just want to make their jobs as easy as possible.

Also, for the couple of you just fucking around, these can't possibly be anything other than bedbug bites and you can be sure I've seen a lot around. Here's a particularly annoying and infected area, but these bites are all over. My arms, my thighs, my legs, my feet, my chest, even my dick. Fuck sake.

[GoryBlizzard]

Speaking of the rent, it really is too damn high. I'm paying a lot for this apartment I've been in for a long time.

In a place with far cheaper rent, I think I'd be a lot less agitated with regards to what I'm going through. Mainly because I could also afford both quicker treatment and the best exterminator I can find.

This is still no joke. Right now I'm making an extra effort not to scratch for the first time since this overwhelming infestation. Oh well. 2 days until Monday.

[vannila-guerilla]

The same thing happened in my old apartment. My old landlord sprayed every room but mine.

Long story short, they all died when I left for 2 weeks on vacation.

[GoryBlizzard]

At 6/27/15 02:12 PM, vannila-guerilla wrote: The same thing happened in my old apartment. My old landlord sprayed every room but mine.

Long story short, they all died when I left for 2 weeks on vacation.

With no intervention?

I'm still going to stick to my original plan. I'd get some supplies but I feel terrible and still can't stop scratching.

[Bit]

At 6/27/15 09:25 AM, FenrisVenti wrote:

At 6/27/15 02:01 AM, PussyShark wrote:

At 6/27/15 01:53 AM, GoryBlizzard wrote:

At 6/27/15 01:40 AM, Bit wrote: Pic related.

Muhammad Ali

get him to beat the crap out of those bedbugs

Then their would bedbug crap all over the place.

I have a feeling that Gory will be perfectly OK with that.

[KevinButtchin]

dang that stinks. ive never had them so im happy but i wish you didnt have them either. peace

[Little-Kinky]

My barracks had a small infestation around the time I first got here. I was unfortunate enough to have them in my room and lucky enough to not have many in my room.

Exterminators nuked one wing of the building, and we replaced all the building's mattresses. It was fun. Totally.

[GoryBlizzard]

At 6/27/15 06:52 PM, Lich wrote: Have you tried hoovering the mattress both sides? It might help a little bit.

I want to. I just lack the strength right now. I'm stuck deep down in an abyss of hopelessness. I don't feel motivated to do anything except claw away at my skin.

[GoryBlizzard]

At 6/27/15 09:12 PM, Quorthon wrote: rub shit on yourself and they will cure

Already shat today. I love shit and it has never caused me any problems. Certainly it had zero to do with what I'm dealing with now.

[GoryBlizzard]

So I suppose that an update is now in order. It's been almost 2 months since I posted this, and my battle against the bedbugs in my apartment is still ongoing. You'd think I would see considerable improvement by now, but I haven't. The problem has spread to other units in my building as well as in nearby buildings. This could potentially be harder to rein in than all forms of metastatic cancer. I can't say for sure that the problem actually started with me. 5 years ago, we had a similar problem but I remained unaffected the whole time.

I'm waging an uphill battle largely because of a recalcitrant property manager. I wanted to get it right the first time by requesting heat treatment and having all cracks and crevices sealed with Diatomaceous earth. My request was denied. My landlord insisted that I have 3 chemical treatments, each spaced 1 week apart. Not only were they completely ineffective as expected, I as well as my subtenants had to bag up about all of our belongings so the exterminator could spray and move around freely. And the problem actually may have been exacerbated.

It was only after the failure of these chemical treatments that my manager agreed to schedule a heat treatment, which required much less intensive preparation. For nearly 5 hours last week, my apartment's temperature was raised to a high of 155 degrees, which is more than enough to kill bedbugs at all stages. When it comes to any form of eradication, you can't really do much better. I'm sure that every single one in my apartment at the time got deservedly killed. However, the cracks and crevices were still unsealed and there was nothing to prevent re-infestation. The clothes I wore on the day of treatment...when I came back, I changed into new ones and heated up the old ones in a dryer. I probably didn't have to, but I'm not a risk-taker and in the end, it was a smart thing to do.

Evidence of re-infestation surfaced last night when I found an early stage bedbug on my desk. I crushed it with my fingers and sealed it in a small sandwich bag. I'll safely assume that it came from directly downstairs, from somewhere in the hallway or directly from the apartment below. I'm not sure.

And you know, just as I was writing this post, I found another bedbug sucking on my left shoulder. It didn't nearly reach adulthood, and was in about its 2nd or 3rd stage of development. I did what I had to do. I crushed it just like I did with the other one and put it in that same small sandwich bag. This can be used as evidence of the ongoing infestation and I'll present it to whoever needs to see it.

I called the pest control company to request a heat treatment with sealing and they refused to do anything without management's approval, except for 2 new and once again, ineffective and invasive chemical treatments. And unless I get those done, I won't be allowed to request anything else. This is just more time wasted.

But I guess it's better than doing nothing at all, right? That's the alternative.

The fact of the matter is that bedbugs don't care if I'm rich, poor, living in filth or in an immaculate mansion. They want human blood and we're all fair game. Especially me. Everyone wants my blood.

In all seriousness, I need help to weigh some further options given what has changed.

Also, deadbugs. All mine.

[1sky1heart]

One short experience with bedbugs makes me feel sympathy for you.

I read that bedbug infestations were at an all time high in major US cities, huge infestations of whole blocks of buildings. The source was eventually discovered: library books. Yup. People like to read in bed and that's how the bedbugs were transferring from one house to another. Libraries started treating books -putting them in ziplock baggies with some sort of chemical (probably permethrin), and along with individual tenants treating individual buildings, the number of infested homes were drastically reduced.
As you say, cracks in wood flooring are a hiding spot. Bedbugs don't like light, so they tend to hide during the day. They can be found along the insides of the bed frame where the mattress rests against the wooden side pieces, or on the wood framework of couches and lounge chairs. That's the sort of place that needs to be sprayed. Strong concentrations of permethrin can be got by pest control companies (21%), more commercial stuff like what you can get at Walmart is usually less than 3% and a waste of money. I'm not sure if bedbugs can build up resistance to chemical sprays like fleas can, but it's repeated spraying that leads to resistance.
Carbamite is another insecticide that is commonly used; toxic to pets. It's sprayed about wet and allowed to dry to a dusty powder that must remain for two weeks as a residual treatment. It's important not to have wet skin when coming in contact with the dust, because a chemical skin burn will result. When cleaning it up after two weeks, it's important to wear a dust mask and gloves; a thorough vacuuming and mop down is sufficient. But all bedding, curtains and upholstery should be laundered or cleaned too. I mention carbamite because some city health departments use it for flea and bedbug infestations.

I would think that if your landlord isn't jumping onto a solution, it might be time to get the city health department onto it. If more than one building on your street is infested, that would indicate a public health problem (and bedbugs are a public health problem). You might reinforce your case to any request for help from the city health department by going around and getting neighbors signatures on a petition asking the city for help. That's what I would do because repeat spraying with whatever your landlord is having used isn't working and the chances of resistance increase with each application.

[GoryBlizzard]

At 8/19/15 05:10 PM, 1sky1heart wrote: I would think that if your landlord isn't jumping onto a solution, it might be time to get the city health department onto it. If more than one building on your street is infested, that would indicate a public health problem (and bedbugs are a public health problem). You might reinforce your case to any request for help from the city health department by going around and getting neighbors signatures on a petition asking the city for help. That's what I would do because repeat spraying with whatever your landlord is having used isn't working and the chances of resistance increase with each application.

I'm leaning towards that direction, but it's not something I take lightly. My building's management seems to be trying in good faith to stop the problem, but also seems to be grossly misinformed, to the point where they believe that cheap, troublesome, chemical-based solutions actually work miraculously, as opposed to the early heat + Diatomaceous earth combo. Anyone involved in property management must become experts at containing bedbugs, but these people lack even basic common sense knowledge. Heat treatment is expensive, but it's far less expensive than the long-term costs. Some of the burden lies with me too. I have to show that I'm cooperating with any recommended chemical treatments that are offered to me, even if I know that they're a complete waste of time and will do more harm than good.

[TheMajormel]

GORY I FEEL YA

when i had bedbugs i tried to minimize the spread of them by throwing away some furniture, and started to sleep in different clothes.

it really sucked ass when i got them, since they were contracted from my cousins, who have a less severe infestation

[BepsiWay]

Damn dude that sounds pretty bad. When I had begbugs it seemed to be contained to my room alone, and I'm not sure what the exterminator's used but I'm pretty sure they used some residual thing so that newly hatched bed bugs would die immediately. It's been 5/6 months now and I haven't had one bite.

I think you might be better off just moving somewhere else. The problem seems too widespread

[Haoie]

Had them before - horrible experience.

Makes you go super paranoid.

[GoryBlizzard]

At 8/20/15 05:16 AM, PyroGreg wrote: Damn dude that sounds pretty bad. When I had begbugs it seemed to be contained to my room alone, and I'm not sure what the exterminator's used but I'm pretty sure they used some residual thing so that newly hatched bed bugs would die immediately. It's been 5/6 months now and I haven't had one bite.

I think you might be better off just moving somewhere else. The problem seems too widespread

They are never just confined to one room. They're very mobile creatures. A lot of people also have no reaction to their bites. Therefore, they could be infested and not know it. My reactions are severe.

No matter how careful you are, nothing will prevent bedbugs from establishing a residence at home or at work. My options are limited here, and there's a huge stigma associated with them. Even my own parents are irrationally afraid to be near me and as a result, I've barely visited them since this whole thing started.

[Tony-DarkGrave]

Gory if you have the equivalent to a housing authority that's like the BBB contact them. Otherwise go to the city health department and seriously get them involved just be like "hey we have a bedbug problem the landlord is trying to do solve the problem but is doing it on the cheap and not solving anything" and ask them to talk to your landlord and give him some proper education on the subject and give him some options on how to solve the situation. Also bring the bedbugs in as evidence when you talk to a case worker and see if you can stay anonymous just in case.

[finicalprickle]

i had bed bugs in my room once, i just taped up some cracks in the wall between the floor and they were gone. wrapping the bed in plastic and doing some steam cleaning could probably help too. Try showering too. Wow

its called commone sense

[ArcadeDominator]

Damn mate! You need to clean your whole apartment or house and get a new bed blanket and pillow. That's so far all the advice I can give.