Thank you for sharing. Sorry for your situation.

I would imagine you are also isolated, since your friends and family are probably have you on the "no entry" list.

Oh God it sounds just awful. I know what you mean about not feeling like you're living there and being uncomfortable sleeping there. My apartment had a cockroach infestation and I thought that it was over and done with but one morning I woke up to a particularly large cockroach walking along the wall next to my bed. I was traumatized into pesticide-bombing the apartment and evacuating to my boyfriends place for a week.

Don't you have a bedbug proof cover on your mattress and box spring?

All of my tenants who got the bedbugs were instructed to vacuum their entire suite (including behind and under furniture), wash everything that could withstand heat, and put the covers on their beds. Once that was done, nobody had bites and the bugs were gone within two sprays so long as their infested neighbours did the same. *sighs*

I'm so sorry you had to go through this. It tears me up whenever one of my tenants gets infested. If you are renting, I hope your landlord is helping out, especially if its their fault you get infested versus you bring them home yourself. Good luck and best wishes.

Thanks for sharing your story - so great of you to do this amidst such a trying time! Hang in there!!

Don't forget, if you live in an apartment building, every apartment may need to be treated to get rid of them.

I had a friend who kept getting bed bugs despite many exterminator visits, until she realized the apartment next door was infested and never cleared out.

As for your delicate clothing, I know this is too late for you but as advice to others - find a friend with a freezer that stays below 32 degrees F (Not all home freezers do! You need something like a deep freezer or freezer chest.) Wrap the delicate clothes that can't survive a dryer in airtight bags and leave them frozen for two weeks.

This is also a good tactic to use if you have been traveling recently, if any of your clothes can't be thrown in the wash. But again, it won't work if you try to use a freezer that even occasionally gets above freezing, which a lot of home appliances do to prevent frost buildup.

Ugh how horrible! Though honestly I haven't ever heard of spraying being successful, I think ya usually have to have your place tented to really get rid of them. But best of luck, I hope those buggers are gone for good soon!

Yes, thanks for sharing hard-won knowledge despite being miserable. You're helping a lot of people who you don't even know. Sleeping pills don't work for me, but you might want to consider them for short term use.

My sympathies - you really are having an awful time of it. I hope the bug situation soon resolves and that you are able to go back to living a normal routine.

I feel for you. I lived with Bed bugs for about a year and a half and I know the nightmares that you are facing. The whole cycle is a journey in itself. There is so much involved that you get caught up in the whole other world that no one knows what its like unless they have been there. I lived in a house that got infested with bed bugs. I think it was started because I had traveled out of town and somehow came back with a stowaway. I think we had at least 3 treatments before they did not show up again. It was a lot of money to get that. Anyways, Good luck and keep being as diligent as possible. Keep up the good fight! and Don't give up.

Giant Ziplock storage bags are helpful for sealing away your clean things. If you are still getting bit in 30 days. Ditch the mattress. There will be a good Easter or Memorial Day sale someplace.

If you're still having problems after treatment, have the pest control guy put powdered insecticide in outlets, cable and phone jacks, etc. if he hasn't already. I manage a complex and we couldn't get a handle on them until we figured out they were using the electrical wiring as a highway.

The 1st time I heard an articulate and relateable account of bedbug infestation was on the radio show This American Life a few years ago. Yours was even more articulate... I'm REALLY sad to hear what you're going through. Sadder still, the numbers tell us that bedbugs are on the rise and this is going to be happening to more and more of us.

Oh my goodness... I hadn't realized it was such a horrible process. I had a pretty bad roach problem, i.e. they were living in my microwave/air conditioner and hatching eggs in the LCD screen (disGUSTING) but this sounds waaaaaaay worse. Sending good vibes your way, Sarah!

My husband and I abandoned an apartment about 2 years ago that became infested with bed bugs. We didn't stick around to argue with the landlord about exterminating. He made it clear that he thought it was our responsibility. Our son was less than a year old, and I couldn't stand the though of him being bitten. We cleaned, sprayed with alcohol every day, laundered and bagged everything, and got a bed bug cover for our mattress. The infestation only got worse and after I found bed bugs crawling on the mattress cover we moved out and left all of our furniture on the curb. We even threw away all of the nursery furniture. Anything we wanted to keep had to be able to be dried in the dryer, or put in the freezer for 24 hours, otherwise, it got tossed. It's a horrible situation to be in, and I wish you the best of luck. I still stop to check even a speck of black lint or dirt on the floor. I don't think I'll ever completely recover.

I know that bed bug bites aren't pleasant -- and its hard to sleep knowing they are there. However, mosquitos also suck your blood and leave a welt. Yet, people generally don't freak out as much about mosquitos as they do over bed bugs. Granted, bed bugs are much harder to get rid of, more expensive and spread like crazy so I'm trying to minimize your situation. However, keep that in perspective and you may get a better nights sleep.

One more note, roaches are natural predators to bed bugs. They eat them. However, roaches will go after your food before they resort to eating the bed bugs.

This reminds me of camping with sand flies in New Zealand. Still makes me shiver just thinking about it!!

Oh, you poor thing. This is my worst nightmare. Good luck to you, lady.

Oh Sarah, that's awful I'm SO sorry to hear you're going through this. I thought kids coming home with head lice was bad.

Hope your home is peaceful again soon.

-Alana
http://www.kitschykitten.com

I am so sorry Sarah! This is my nightmare. When I was apt hunting, I found this site, that helps those looking for new rentals to see if their potential rental has ever had issues.

http://bedbugregistry.com/

it is a little buggy (sorry couldn't help it).. but I did get it to work most of the time.

XL ziplocks are the way to go. Store all your "outside" things in one, so that you aren't taking any hitchhikers with you in your car, on transit or to work. Put your purse, shoes and coat into a bag a soon as you enter your house. Only wear clothes out of the house that have gone straight from the dryer and into a ziplock. This will help keep you sane will you wait between hatchings and sprayings. When I had bedbugs my biggest fear was spreading them to friends, family or coworkers. Keep up the good work, be diligent and you can beat those nasty buggers!

I heard of an interesting way to get rid of bedbugs: you tape up all the windows/heat registers/vents in a room, put a block (or 2) of dry ice in the room and then seal up the door. The dry ice is carbon dioxide, as it melts, it will suffocate all the living things in the room. When they're dead, you open up the window and let oxygen back in. Tada.

Ugh, we had bed bugs at our house and now live to tell the tale. It does take a tremendous toll on you- physically and emotionally. We spotted them on the bed/mattress. We immediately took pretty much everything in our bedroom outside (books, furniture, etc) and left it in black garbage bags in the backyard in the sun. We took advantage of the 100+ degree Austin weather last summer to heat it all up. Every piece of fabric in our home went in the laundry and dryer. We either stored the bags outside in the sun or in our very hot cars (once it had been thru the laundry). Luckily we found a reasonably priced exterminator - another had quoted us $900 for a treatment and the landlord wasn't paying. After we moved out of the bedroom and started the cleaning process I had no more bites- I was the test case since they liked me and not my husband, ugh. The exterminator came and went, and we never saw any more signs of them. Oh it was awful, exhausting, a lot of work, I feel you. We are fairly sure we brought them back from our Caribbean honeymoon, but it could have been a trip to Vegas that I took, or even a movie theater. Who knows, they are everywhere these days. But always always check hotel beds!

I went on a vacation to Bolivia and rent a room in a house. it had bed bugs and it was horrible. yep you can't sleep because you are scratching all night long. I finally moved out but I know I must have spread them to the new place I moved because I kept itching even after I moved out. Then 2 months later I went back to the US and slept at a friend's house. Then later she told me she had bed bugs. I had carried them from Bolivia to the US!! I never want to deal with bed bugs again!

Hey, I hope this helps. We had bed buygs in our apartment once and the landlord paid for a service that came with a machine that would heat up our appartment to really high temperatures. We had to take everything plastic things, sprays and all of our lotions, shampoo, etc. anything that could be affected by such high temperatures out of ot he apartment for one day. Apparently, bed bugs don't survive such high temperatures. We didn't have a problem at all after that. Check it out, it might be the solution for you too. I know what you're going through and it reall really s*cks!

Oh Gosh - I have such sympathy! I had to suffer through bedbugs a few years ago and it was completely awful. Reading what you wrote here really hit the nail on the head - you read the blogs on how to fix it, but nothing could have prepared me for how draining the ordeal was!

Ugh, what a miserable time. I went through bed bugs and I didn't want to tell anyone we had them because I felt so gross. Luckily, getting rid of the mattress and cleaning everything on high heat seemed to do the trick. Wishing you good luck!

Although you have sprayed and applied diatomaceous earth to you apartment, be aware that bed bugs are known to climb up to ceiling and drop on their unknowing victims. This may be the case in your situation because you are still being bit even after surrounding yourself with spray and DE.

I hope that you move out.

Yep, I just got out of an infested building myself (and yeah I have gotten rid of nearly everything I own as well). It's going to take me a long time to relax again even though I know I'm someplace safe and that everything I kept is sealed in plastic outside.

Anyone needing a resource should check out: www.bedbugger.com They have amazing forums with professionals who give advice and many many people going through the same situation.

It's just good to read some success stories there and know that you can eventually get through it!

After suffering through an infestation in my apartment, I can seriously say that heat treatment will work a million times better than spraying pesticides. The danger in spraying bedbugs is that they will just move over to a neighboring apartment(s). Bringing in bedbug sniffing dogs that are trained in finding the infestations(s) are key.... finding which units are affected and which aren't. Then heating those units up to a temperature that kills the bugs. Worked about 99% for us. We still find an occasional bug about once every 2 months, but have suffered nary a bite. It's totally different than being eaten alive every night like we were. That being said, we still laundered all of our clothes/linens, invested in a mattress cover, and caulked all of the cracks/crevices in the place. We also spray our mattress every few days with rubbing alcohol. We have been sleeping quite soundly now. Good luck!

Besides something scary health-wise, this is probably my worst fear. I am so sorry! Sounds terrible. I hope you are soon done with this ordeal and can put it behind you. Good luck! xx

So sorry you are going through this, I am a survivor as well. Luckily, I did not have to go to the lengths of using chemicals. My apartment at the time was hardwood and I was working 12 hour night shifts as a nurse. For about a month at least 3 times a week, I scattered diatomaceous earth around the spots the little demons liked to hide before going to work. When I got home I would vacuum EVERYWHERE. I also washed clothes, drapes, and bed linens in HOT water and dried. Yes, there were casualties but it was worth it. Good luck.

Oh....I feel your pain, literally.

We had bb for about 4 + months. It was embarrassing to admit to others, even though it was no fault of ours. :( We used black bags to bake them (laid outside or trapped in cars). Everything else was put in a dryer for 60 mins - high temperature. All thoroughly sanitized items were then put into large rubbermaids, then taped them close to prevent future infestation. We stripped our sleeping area except for the bed (which was thankfully already in an anti-bb case before the infestation). Make sure you get those cases for your pillows as well.

You will start sleeping again, but you will freak out every single time you see a black speck in your house, be it lint, dust, or the like. Good luck! It will get better.

Check out this website. www.affordablebedbugcontrol.org. I had bed bugs for months. Found this company and they were able to help me. Never seen a bed bug since!

I lived in an appartment that became infested with bed bugs. It could have been the sofa brought in from the curb, it could have been something the neighbours who we shared a wall with did, we don't know. My room mate was the worst affected, since his bed was right against that wall. We sprayed and used DE to no avail, since they would just go over to the neighbours until they sprayed, then they would return. Finally the land lord brought in an exterminator. we got rid of mattresses and soft furnishings. in the process, we found a bunch hiding in the frame and underneath my room mate's bed, full of blood, and he squished them, leaving a big blood stain on the carpet. We took everything out of the apartment, everything, washed all our clothing and bedding, and stayed at a friend's place overnight. Thank goodness it worked, I ended up staying in that apartment for another 2 years.

Another vote for the extreme heat treatment solution. I know of a nice little hotel in a big city that couldn't get ahead of the bedbug problem due to new arrivals bringing them in all the time. They did the chemical extermination route with multiple companies, preventive treatments, replaced all beds & soft goods in the rooms and no progress. After having some rooms heat treated and getting real results they bought the *very* expensive equipment to use in house. Now they only have to treat a room once after a new introduction of the pests, the infestation is gone.

Also, the electrical outlets are always a prime hiding spot- including light bulb sockets.

Sniffer beagles are a great way to get the reassurance you need they're really gone, or to alert you that more work needs to be done before moving all your stuff back into an apartment or house.

Oh, the benifits of living at 9,000 feet!!!

just reading this makes me itchy!

A note of caution if buying a new mattress or boxspring. If you have it delivered, make sure the truck doesn't double as the vehicle they use to haul away old, potentially infested beds.

Question - In terms of prevention (rather than cure) does it help to use lighter bedding - say a (washable) futon on a wooden frame rather than a box spring matttress on an upholstered base? Also wood or tile floors - common in south of France where I live and carpets are rarely laid ? Thanks for any tips or reassurance!

Is your pest control company only using pesticides? I'm glad you're seeking professional help --- it's a common mistake for people to try and tackle this on their own -- but I'm a little concerned that it doesn't sound like they're steam treating everything which is THE most effective way to treat, since bed bugs can be resistant to a lot og pesticides, even professional grade.

I had a bedbug scare once a few years back. I kept waking up with welts and I found a dead bedbug looking thing in a bin of clothes. I threw them out in a panic. It turns out they were some weird beetle that looks just like a bedbug and comes out when it rains. http://bugguide.net/node/view/14 Even my sister, the bug freak, was like "you couldn't just WASH the clothes?!" It was a terrible time. Months later, I broke out from head to toe. I was crying myself to sleep. That time, it turned out to be some crazy allergic reaction to ragweed.

I'm so sorry for you and what you are going through, you don't deserve this. I hope you try this heat method that everyone is suggesting.

This sounds awfully horribly terrible! I hope you are bug-free very very soon! Thanks for writing about it!

Horrible. Would something like a tea tree oil on your body help at night? I know lice hate tea tree oil. I'm so sorry that you're having to go through this.

There is a bit of bad information in the comments. I manage buildings and we've had to deal with them on a few occasions. First, someone mentioned a wood frame futon above. No. Use a bed that has a metal frame. There are too many cracks and crevices for a bug to hide in with wood.

Next: NEVER SELF TREAT. All that does is cause them to run. The first time we had them, we did an inspection of surrounding units and found one guy that had taken up all the baseboards and found cans of raid in the apartment. They spread to 3 surrounding units and never left his.

If you use DE, then you may have problems if the company uses a dog for inspection. The DE isn't good for animals. Make sure you advise! If not, thats just mean to a dog.

Push for heat treatment. At one building, we sprayed for the better part of a year...they'd get knocked down, they'd come back. We switched to heat at a pricey $1000 and eliminated them once and for all.

I'd just like to comment on two things. 1: Freezing DOES not work. Bedbugs, like many other types of insects, can survive being frozen. They go dormant and just wake right up again when they thaw. Keep in mind one reason they are so hard to eradicate is that they can live for up to 18 months without food or even air! My neighbor experimented by putting bedbugs in ziplocs and freezing them. He had some that he had frozen solid, SOLID, for four months. He took the ziploc out and put in on the counter and within a half-hour, they were wiggling around in there. Do not freeze.

2. Giant zip-top bags are your friends. Both Ziploc and Hefty make extra-large sizes that you can probably get in hardware store or order online. These will be so helpful. When I was infested, after the initial hot wash & dry (or dry cleaning), I stored about 85% of my clothes in these for the long haul, and just keep rotating through my other clothes, which I also keep in ziploc style bags. These bags are airtight; using regular plastic garbage bags will not work nearly as well. Unfortunately, a bedbug infestation is not a time when you can worry about environmental issues. Plastic is your new best friend until you are through this.

3. & finally, I mentioned this on an earlier post, but get any medical attention you need. If you need some sleeping pills or any help from a physician to get you through this traumatic time, take it. Hopefully it won't be for very long. My deepest sympathies and my sincerest hopes for a quick, quick resolution for you and for everyone currently infested.

Okay, I commented on three, not two!

Another bedbug survivor here - we battled them for almost a full year, and nearly lost our sanity in the process. We did not have a terrible infestation, but 9 chemical treatments, buckets of DE, bedbug covers for all of our bedding and furniture, and over a thousand dollars in laundry did not take care of the problem. We finally folded and got one heat treatment (where they heated our entire unit, with all of our belongings to 150 degrees for 4 hours) and that ended our problem immediately. Heat is the ONLY thing that really kills bedbugs and their eggs - over the long run, it's cheaper and it will save you so much hassle and anguish.

So sorry you're going through this - I feel like I still have PTSD from dealing with it. I can never sleep well in hotels, I freak out every time I get a mosquito bite, and when we finally unpacked our comforter from the giant Ziploc bag it had been stored in (nearly two years after our ordeal), I threw up because it brought back so many painful memories.

Bedbugs are attracted by the CO2 you breath out. That's how they find you. Instead of using yourself as bait, make sure you are bug-free and abandon the room if possible. Instead, use dry ice! It releases CO2 and fools the bugs into thinking there's a living person to bite. Use it anywhere you need bait, including in the middle of ClimbUp traps to catch them. It does cost money, but it definitely beats using yourself as bait!

Like many here, I personally feel for you on this one. Though my experience with bbs was (luckily) very quickly resolved! Literally one day before discovering the bugs in my home I had run into an old hippie friend of my mom's (I'm from SF) who had told me her tale of woe re bbs. I guess that she had suffered for a year with them before stumbling onto using cedar oil to kill them. When I found bugs the next day, I took it as a sign from the heavens that I had run into her, and i called her up. I live in a national park, so fumigating is not an option. Luckily my mom's friend still had a fogger, which you use to fumigate your house and get into all the nooks and crannies. I ordered the oil and borrowed the fogger, and my problem was over within a week. I swear! I didn't even have to throw out my clothes or anything- just fogged directly into the closets! It's a bit pricey to get the fogger and oil, but it's all non-toxic and works like a charm. When you are done, your house smells like your great grandmama's hope chest! Google cedarcide.

One thing I learned researching when we thought we might have bed bugs was they don't transmit diseases to humans.
That is not to say you won't scratch and introduce other infections yourself, but bedbugs themselves are not the culprit.

I agree with the heat treatment. Pay up and get some sleep.

maybe I should submit this to "Good Question". Anybody has a good solution in treating the bite?

You are so brave to post this keep up the good fight. I hope it all ends soon.

I *so* feel for you. I have been dealing with this nightmare for the last month, but only confirmed a week and a half ago that they were bed bugs. My employer is going to be paying for treatment because my co-worker, who I thought I trusted, told our branch office's HR Manager (I am so ashamed and so embarrassed). I understand WHY she told her, but I felt like a criminal when she spoke to me, even though isn't my fault, and I am wondering who I can trust and if the people I thought I could confide in would keep what I confided close. Anyway...

I met with someone on Wednesday morning to get an estimate on treatment, which I was going to have done tomorrow. Now I realize in hindsight that I could NEVER have prepped for this for tomorrow - I have SO MUCH WORK that still has to be done, my laundry hasn't been touched yet, I have to sort it and throw away whatever I don't really care about, just to eliminate some of the clothes. I had a second inspection (with a dog) done yesterday with the company that my employer hired (they're going to have our office inspected as well; I don't THINK I brought anything in there, but I am terrified that I did, in part because I don't want anyone else to have to go through this nightmare, and in part because knowing my luck, I'd have the treatment done and bring them BACK with a second infestation), who told me that it's best that I have three hot steam and vacuum treatments instead of the $1500 instant-kill-freeze treatment, which doesn't always work (and which I've read doesn't always work as well). Saving the $1500 will allow me to buy what I need to protect what I still have at home, which I did a bit of this morning. I have so much prep to do and I am completely on my own so it is all my responsibility.

I am so physically and emotionally exhausted that I can barely stand up, and I'm falling asleep at my desk at work. I was sleeping on the couch for a couple of weeks until I found them in the pillows on the couch as well, so now that I've confirmed what they are, I'm not sleeping at ALL. I'm falling asleep for an hour at a time out of pure exhaustion on my living room floor, with the lights and the TV on, and waking up at 4:00-ish AM after finally falling asleep, sometimes sitting up at my computer - at 2:00 or 2:30 in the morning. I am barely hanging on. I also have Type 1 diabetes and wear an insulin pump and a continuous glucose monitor. I have boxes of supplies in my closet and on the floor in my hallway, that I was told I need to break down and put into plastic containers. This means that I have to go through EVERY box of supplies WITHIN those shipment boxes as well - and I have boxes of test strips from my mail-order pharmacy that have to be stored as well. I am sick I feel physically sick I am so tired.

I haven't cried yet, but I am so very very very close. All I want to do is sleep, but I don't think I'll ever be able to sleep again with any sort of ease or no worry. I'm going to Chicago in a week and a half and I'm terrified of what might be waiting in the hotel room. This has completely consumed me to the point where I cannot think about ANYthing else.

I completely sympathize.

I feel devastated ,emotionally and mentally exhausted by this infestation of bed bugs.
The pest control reckons its the hotel in London i stayed at.
I have been out of my bedroom for 5 nights now . They tell me i have to go back and be live bate.
I don't.know if i can bring myself to do that . Tonight will tell

Not sure whether i can go to work Monday. Will i be mentally fit?
Should i be going to work as i work in a hospital?

Help!! I need advices on what to do please. So I just moved in to our new apartment literally first night here and wala I been bit by a bedbug! Yes bedbug. I saw it running down my arm while breast feeding my 2 month old baby, I tried killing it but I don't know where it went. I looked everywhere but epic fail. What do I do? Should I tell the landlord. I just moved in all I brought were my clothes and dishes and I was bedbug free till tonight. My husbands brother also got bit yet he's in he's room and I'm in mine. Since we don't have beds we sleeping on the floor till we buy bed furniture etc, I can't sleep I'm tired from cleaning and I'm just staring at my 2year old and 2 month old baby scared hoping they don't get bit. What can I do? I saw the apartment before I rented it, the owner changed everything, I mean everything. From flooring to cabinets toilet if u see it looks excellent clean brand new everything so I don't see where the bugs are coming. Should I ask him why he change everything? If there's bedbugs here? I kind off don't wanna bug him because he told me I can pay him deposit in payments so I'm paying 1200 a month and 1200 deposit. To move in I gave 1500 and for three months 1500 and then 1200. What can I do please anyone. If it helps..my apartment is completely empty all I have is clothes and blankets and I washed them before coming to our place, I have a habit when moving to a new place we wash everything,