I'm angry and mortified!!

I never thought in a million years that I'd be saying "I have bed bugs!"

Yep! It's true!

For weeks and weeks I've had a hive-like rash on my arms that has been insanely itchy that not even Benadryl helps with the itch.  It started around the middle of September last year about when the construction in my building started and around the time I returned to work. It literally, without a word of exageration, appeared over night. I went to bed one night and woke up with a really itchy hive the next morning and have been itching ever since.

It started with one hive on the baby finger of my left hand. I'm prone to hives so I didn't think anything about it.  I have "Dermatographism" which means I have ultra sensitive skin which causes me to get hive welts when I scratch my skin. Which leads to more itching because of the hive welts. Benadryl usually helps.

However, it wasn't helping this time. And the hives weren't welt-like. They were individual round ones, and quite large.

As the days turned to weeks it got worse and worse and instead of one arm, it was on both. After 2 or 3 weeks of non stop itching, one of the doctors at work gave me a prescription for hydrocortisone cream, which helped a little, but not much.  Three or 4 weeks later the rash was still persisting. 

I thought it might be an allergy to medicaion (I started on Metformin and Crestor, and the pharmacy filled my blood pressure medication with the brand name Nifedipine instead of the generic), so I had stopped taking them, just in case it was my medications.  The rash didn't go away.

I finally managed to get to my family doctor and he was stumped. He gave me a different steroid cream with a fungacide in it because I was sure I'd given myself a fungal infection from scratching my skin raw.

I know I'm allergic to dust mites, so I spent 2 days doing a huge cleaning including vacuuming my mattress. I had slacked off over the previous 5 months with vacuuming because I had been off work with serious depression. And I know when I don't vacuum at least twice a week my asthma acts up. My asthma wasn't bothering me but I figured the mites could be the cause of the rash too.

After I washed my entire bed ensemble including duvet cover and mattress pad, and vacuumed my bed, I stopped itching for a couple weeks and the rash cleared up.  But it came back about a month ago.

Today I got home from work to a notice under my door about bed bugs and how to get rid of them and how to prepare for extermination.

I absolutely freaked!!!!

I went and looked at my bed more closely and sure enough there are signs of bed bugs at the head of the bed where it sits against the wall: along the mattress base where it sits on the box spring. I have dark sheets, so I didn't see the tiny rust spots on the sheets which are tell tale signs. And when I vacuumed my bed, I only vacuumed the mattress top and the sides of the mattress, not paying attention to cracks and crevices at the bottom of the mattress seam.

So all along I've been a buffet for freaking bed bugs!

It seems the guy living next door on the other side of the wall where my bed is, reported having bed bugs. Guess when he moved in? Yep! You've got it! September!  I have no idea why he waited so long.  The caretaker showed him, me and another tenant on my floor a newly renovated apartment that they have set up as a showing one.  He didn't mention anything to the caretakers that day.

I'm so darn mad!!!

I'm in the middle of packing to move next week, to a newly renovated 2 bedroom apartment at the other end of the hallway.

Now, they expect me to have everything out of the drawers, moved 2 feet from the wall, everything I own vacuumed and/or washed in 120 degree temperature water and packed up in tightly sealed black bags so they don't become recontaminated, PLUS packing! 

I have boxes everywhere in the living room.  These bugs hide everywhere from what this notice says.  How do they expect to do a proper job fumigating, or whatever they do, when I have stuff packed in boxes!!! The bugs could potentially have gotten into the boxes through the closed edges! Meaning I'll be bringing them with me!!!

And to top it off I can't have my cats in the apartment while this is being done. I don't have anyone that can take them, so I called the vet to see if I can board them there for the day. They said I can board them for the day, but I have to have them treated for "fleas". Not sure what that has to do with bed bugs, but whatever. They need a place to go.

I don't drive, so I have to take them in by taxi at 7:30 am. Still using the taxi I have to come back home with the carriers, have the driver wait while I bring the carriers up stairs to be fumigated, and then go to work... during rush hour. Taxi bill about $40.00. 

Then after work I have to come home, pick up the carriers and go to the vets to pick up the kids and because it's rush hour again and hard to get a taxi, I'll have to have him wait and then bring me home. Again probably close to $30.00.

This vet visit is going to cost me $75.00 for 3 flea baths, 30 dollars for 2 kennels, and whatever the cost of their "special cleaning process" of the kennels afterwards.

And on Saturday while I should be home packing, I'll be at the laundr-o-mat washing everything I own including things that are clean and hanging in my closet.

From everything I've read, bed bugs are nearly impossible to get rid of.  The fact that my bed is infested sickens me. Now I have to go and buy a new bed! I just got that bed 2 years ago and it cost me $1,800.00!!!  The PITA is that apartment insurance doesn't cover bed bug infestations, so this is all on me!!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoochNNoodles 

Oh my gosh!  What a mess!  I'm so sorry you don't have anyone who can help out!!

I'm too mortified and embarrassed to even ask my friends or family for help with this!!!  I'm a very clean person, but bed begs have a stigma that comes with them. Even the cleanest of homes can have them.  Anyway, my brother can be quite the jerk at times, and if he ever knew that I have bed bugs, I'd never hear the end of it. It's sad to say, but it's so true.  So I'm on my own with this.

I packed 4 large boxes this evening. I packed up the stuff from my dresser. It's a huge one with 12 drawers (like this only with another row of 4 drawers). I only had 2 or 3 in use with clothing, socks and underwear. A few had some purses. One had some sheets and the bed skirt to my bed ensemble.  The end tables had books and was mostly used for storage.  When I emptied out the drawers I inspected everything carefully and looked into the drawers. I didn't see evidence of any bugs. 

And I packed up all of my food: canned goods, spices, dry goods. The only food not packed is what is inside my fridge and deep freezer. I figure I'll live on Lean Cuisines until I get moved.  This way I don't have to worry about dishes.

Tomorrow when I get home I'm going to pack up my linen/storage closet. Putting the linen into black trash bags for the laundry.  And I'll pack up my coats.  I'm not going to get them dry cleaned. My coat closet is quite far from where my bed is, so I'm hedging a bet that my coat closet is "bug free".  So far as my bedroom closet goes, I guess I'll have to put all of the clothing in there into trash bags and tie them up well and take it all to the laundr-o-mat on Saturday and what can't be washed, take to the dry cleaners. 

They say you can put stuff into black trash bags and freeze them in a deep freezer for 2 weeks instead of washing things.  But my deep freezer is full.   I don't understand the "2 week" rule. Frozen is frozen. What is the difference between frozen for a day or two and frozen for 2 weeks!? I might do this for the dry clean stuff.

I'm not unpacking any of my packed boxes.  All of the boxes I've packed are in the living room. My bedroom is the next room, but my bed sits on the bed across that room, against the common wall of the next apartment.  And from what I've read about bed bugs this evening, everything indicates that they don't like to travel during the day, and are mostly active at night in the dark (I'm so sleeping with my lights on!!!) and they like to stay close to their dinner (me!!)!!

I have to ask for some time off work on Friday. I'm going to tell them that they are fumigating my building for cockroaches! Less stigma attached to those!! And that I have to get my cats to the vets for the day.  I need to get them there early, by 7:30 am (I start work at 8 am), and I have to pick them up by 5:30 pm, but I typically don't get home until around 5 pm or even a bit later. And I have to come home first and pick up the cat carriers before I go to the vets. It would be better if I boarded them overnight and picked them up on Saturday, but that is even more expense that I can't really afford right now.

Anyway, I'm going to go to bed. Not sure I'll be sleeping much knowing that I'm sharing my bed with a bunch of insects!

Quote:

Originally Posted by blueorchid 

I am so sorry you are having to go through this! I also have dermatographism and scratching is no joke. Would you consider throwing away your pillows and bed covers? Is there something you could use to treat your bed mattress so you don't have to throw it away?

No way am I taking that mattress and box spring with me! I have the willies just thinking about it!

I'm not throwing out my sheets or duvet cover. I can wash those things in hot water and dry them on high. I already tossed the feather duvet, and will be throwing out the feather pillows. Not at all happy about that!  The duvet and pillows are high end and I lucked out on an in store special where I got 50% off the price. Still more expensive than buying at Walmart though.

According to the information I was given, it states that they will be ripping the gauze from the bottom of the love seat and my box spring! To me that is damage. But my insurance won't cover it.

However, I'm going to go after the agency for reimbursement of my expenses. I doubt they will pay though. According to the Residential-Tenancies Branch, "If the tenants have to get rid of personal property because of the bed bugs and it can be shown it was the result of the landlord's negligence in treating the problem, the landlord may be responsible for the tenant's financial loss."  There is no negligence. They are treating the problem.  But I'm going to try anyway!

$1,800.00 bed

$   250.00 duvet

$    35.00 pillows x 4

$   200.00 pet boarding/treatment (approx)

$    ?????  Laundry costs

Embarrassment = Immeasurable!

I'm so not a happy camper!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Draco 

I would clean everything and take as few items with you as possible. The bugs can be very tiny and can travel far. They not only live in your bed, but in your computer, books, anything

I wish I didn't have to take anything with me to my new apartment! However, I'm not wealthy so I can't just toss stuff and buy everything new. I have no choice but to take my stuff with me.

I'm going out next week to buy a new bed and have it delivered on the 4th the day I move.  When the movers come (the agency's people), I'll have them cart out the mattress and box spring that I have now, to the dumpster.  Not sure about the loveseat. But then again it's almost all black, so I wouldn't see the bugs or signs of them anyway. So I think I might be couchless for a couple weeks in the new place until I can buy another one.

What a way to start off 2012! I was hoping it would be better than last year. It's not shaping up to be.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SwampWitch 

For bed bugs try: Listerine for washing them off of your body, Windex for household cleaning wherever feasible (well ventilated and used in small amounts, but it kills them not the eggs so you have to repeat), borax or diatomaceous earth on floors (kills them), and steam clean (also kills them), steam clean else everything a lot. Good luck. Listerine (original gold one) works great for head lice, too - found this out thanks to teen sleepovers. You have to be persistent but you can get rid of them. Steam works and is non-toxic.

 

 

Thanks for the tip about Windex! I'll definitely use it. 

I just ordered a steam cleaner from airmiles! I had just enough (4 left over). It says it's "commercial grade", so it better do the job!

http://www.allbrands.com/products/abp21566.html

A total waste of my air miles because ordinarily I have no use for a steamer. But at least it's not costing me money out of my pocket.  I ordered today so it will be shipped by Thursday or Friday and I should have it by the end of next week or early the week after.  I'm so steam cleaning everything when I move, just in case!

I'm not concerned about the floors. I'm moving and they are going to be ripped up anyway.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jennyranson 

As apartment buildings have become more heated and also because of climate change, bedbugs are much more common than they were 50 years ago. And like headlice, they actually prefer a clean environment. So there is actually no shame in having them. In some cities they are almost endemic in apartment blocks. I have had a message this week from my tenant in London to say there are bedbugs in my apartment there, so I am having to change the mattress on her bed and get the Council (who are the ultimate freeholders of the building) in to fumigate. It is a pain, but it happens. I hope you get your problems sorted out quickly.

I'm still mortified and no one outside this forum is going to know about it!  Because bed bugs are so easily "transported" around, and it only takes getting one to infest your place, there is a horrid stigma attached to it.

There is a bed bug registry for my city. I don't know if it's government run or not, but tenants and landlords can go and post about bed bug problems in their buildings. Of course it is mostly tenants posting, but I did read a couple submissions from a landlord stating that there were 2 apartments in a particular building a couple of years ago that had bugs, and they treated as soon as they found out and the building has been bug free since. 

That registry site has a number of upscale apartment buildings listed.  I noticed also that there were 2 submissions for my building. One in 2010 for the 4th floor and one in 2009 on the 6th floor, both on the East side of the building (the side that has just been newly rennovated). I was somewhat surprised to see some very nice condo buildings in upper middle class areas listed. So I know I shouldn't feel ashamed, but I do. And I know if my brother ever found out, he would somehow find a way to blame me and would never stop mentioning it or telling everyone about it, or making fun of me. That's just the kind of guy he is unfortunately. So while I can talk to him about some things, I know him well enough to keep some things to myself.

I hardly slept last night.  I think I got about 3 hours. I kept waking up thinking I felt something crawling on me. The horror of it is that I probably did!!

I decided today that I'm going to take a family sick day on Friday. I'm so physically worn out from packing and lugging boxes around. Because I am only moving to the end of the hallway, I didn't plan to pack up everything. I planned on using a grocery cart to take things over and put them right away. But now I have to pack everything! I don't know what kind of chemicals are used for bed bugs, but I don't want it all over my food and stuff, so it's all being packed up.

With what they want me to do in preparation for Friday morning, plus all that freaking laundry, that I need to get done so I don't bring anything back into the apartment after it's treated, there is no way I can do it all. So I plan on staying up into the middle of the night on Friday. Then I can take the cats to the vet, come back home, grab the laundry bags and spend the day in the laundr-o-mat, go home and then go and pick up the cats.  It will be less stressful for me, and cheaper too because I won't be spending $70.00 in taxi fare.

I called the agency today to ask how much the penthous apartments were going to be. I found out that they were also being renovated.

The manager asked me if I got the notice, and I told her that I did and also told her that the timing sucks because I have packed boxes everywhere and that I'm not in the physical health to move stuff from the walls and up end my mattress and box spring and that the packing on it's own is causing me near crippling back pain. 

Get this!  She told me that I should open all of the boxes.  I told her that I cannot do that because they are all sealed and stacked up, and that I don't see any evidence (like I do on my mattress), that there are bugs in the living room, where the boxes are.  All of the evidence of the bugs is at the head of my bed, and a bit at the sides at the head, and a bit on one side near the foot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aeevr 

I don't think getting rid of your mattress and bedding is a good solution. 

 

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/emergingdiseases/mattress_fact_sheet_275417_7.pdf

 

 

I REALLY feel for you, though.

I don't plan on putting a new box spring and mattress in this apartment.  I'm moving to the other side of the building on February 4th. I plan on purchasing a bed this week and having it delivered to the new apartment on the 4th.  And on the 4th when the movers are moving my stuff over to the new apartment, I'm going to have them take the bug bed down to the dumpster.  I already planned on slashing up the mattress so that others wouldn't take it back inside. With my luck it would be someone moving in next door to me!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nebula 

Sorry it's a rough time for you.

 

Bed bugs, like lice actually prefer clean environments. People with clean hair get lice, not those with dirty hair. Go figure

 

Is there anyone at your church (if you go) that could help? or just a family member or friend?

I'm too mortified to tell anyone about this. Certainly not my friends or family. 

Well, I've done all that I can.  I haven't done everything they asked. I'm so physically depleted and in pain that I can hardly walk today.  My bedroom closet is not empty, nor is my linen/storage closet in the hall. And I haven't been able to do my over the toilet shelving, or the cupboards under the sinks.

Getting the cats into the carriers was a feat in itself!  I closed the bedroom door so that they had one less room to run into. 

Katie, the one I thought would be the most difficult was actually the easiest.  I put the carrier into the bathroom on it's end. Used the laser pointer and she ran right into the bathroom. I closed the door, and while she was busing watching the light in the tub, scruffed her and put her into the carrier. Not even a meow.

Spencer is a smart one. He studies things and picks up on the situation quickly.  His favourite toy is "Da Bird" but he wasn't having any part of it. I managed to get him when he was hiding in a kitchen cupboard.

And then there is Abby.  She doesn't like to be picked up unless it is on her terms. I thought she would come over and snuggle with me like she does every morning and that I'd just be able to slip her into the carrier.  That's what usually happens.  But today, she saw what poor Spencer and Katie went through, and Spencer's howling and growling wasn't giving Abby any confidence.  So she was the most difficult.  I ended up cornering her at the bedroom door. However, picking her up is not easy. She's large, squishable soft and goes limp like she has no bones.  The poor girl ended upside down with me holdering her back legs near my head!!!! Yikes! I envisioned getting my face torn up with bunny kicking, so I tried to turn her around without letting her go. In the process my chest got scratched up and Abby was so afraid that she peed on herself and me.  I got her into the carrier though.

I feel so badly!

The kittens in the carrier together were so afraid that they were fighting! I wanted to get one out and put it into a duffle bag, but I didn't dare open the carrier door. I tied talking soothingly to them, and tapping the carrier while telling them "no!"  They eventually settled down.  Abby cried all the way to the vets.

I asked them to sedate them MILDLY for the trip back. Apparently the vet is going to call me and talk to me about that. 

Anyway, off to pack up my bedding and gather my laundry supplies. I am spending the next 6 hours at a laundry mat because I can't return to the apartment for 6 hours.

I pick up the kids at around 4:30pm.

After that I'm collapsing on the couch for the rest of the evening and night.  My bed will be up-ended and I can't put it back together until I vacuum it all, and I just don't have the energy left to do it today. I'll do it tomorrow.

OMG! I'm so freaking mad I could spit nails!!!!

I got the letter of notification for spraying on Tuesday. I was given basically 3 evenings to get my apartment prepared for today!!!

I've been packing for weeks and between that and working, I'm phsycially sick and in such horrid pain that I can barely function. I stayed up until past 3am working on getting things packed up.

I  did what I could. There were some things that I couldn't get done, such as the the bedroom closet, the linen closet and a couple of cabinets.  But I figured that they could at least do what they could.

They guy came today and took one look at my apartment and all the boxes I have around, and the fact that I haven't been able to empty the above places, or pull my furniture away from the wall or up-end my bed, and said he wasn't going to treat my apartment! 

Turns out the guy next door who reported the problem wasn't ready either.

And get this! He told me that even if I didn't have all the boxes around and  had managed to get everything done except moving the furniture away from the walls and up-ending the bed, he wouldn't have treated because the furniture hadn't been moved!!!  I told him that I can't move the furniture or up-end the bed myself and that I had no one to help me do that. And he told me that that's my problem. He was a rude SOB!  I was so mad that I closed the door in his face while he was still talking! And called the agency to tell them what happened.

I called the vet to stop them from "flea treating" my cats, but they had already done 2 and working on the 3rd.  So my poor babies ended up being traumatized for nothing. And I'm out of pocket whatever the vet bill is.
 

My cats are home. According to the manager she said the cats were little angels and did really well with the bath and dryer.

Abby didn't want to get into the carrier.  She meatloafed at the back of the kennel just staring at the girl. Then I said "Abby! Abby!" and she shot into the carrier!  LOL SHe talked to me all the way home.  Or should I say, scolded me! hehe

I have to take them back on Tuesday. But they said that I wouldn't have to redo the flea bath, just the boarding and no special kennel precautions. So at least that will be cheaper.  Today cost me $113.00, for absolutely nothing!

The property manager came by this morning. They are sending someone to help me tomorrow.  And I found out from one of the construction guys that the guy next door to me who reported the bug problem refused to open his door this morning when the exterminator arrived.  The caretaker had to come up and use her pass key (she was allowed because he had been given ample notice that access to his apartment was needed).  Apparently he had done nothing to prepare.  So I'm assuming they are having people go in and do it.