Freaking Out About Bed Bugs

This is why I don't watch the news and pay any attention to the hype that they bring on! Bed bugs have been around forever. If you haven't had them, yet, don't worry so much. Nothing has changed, the news just needed something to get people to watch their show! Unfortunately, news networks get more of an audience with fear/anger (any negative emotion) than they do with "happy" stories, so they tend to highlight and seek stories about fear and blow them out of proportion.

I AM WITH YOU!!!!!!! The idea just freaks me out. I have only stayed in a hotel once in the past forever cuz I don't want to end up with them. Before I went in with my things I checked the beds 100000%. I won't go to the library now cuz supposedly they are in a lot of books. I won't go to the theater. AAAAAAAAH! What I have found though to help keep me calm about it is knowledge is key. I have a relative that unfortunately got them & they grilled the exterminator for info. What we learned is:

They are dormant during the day so just passing someone in the grocery store wont transfer them. They're not like fleas that will jump from person to person. They come out & feed (eeeeeeeiw) at night. Unless you have a major major infestation, they will stay within 10 feet or so of their host. That's why they are in your bed, the carpet around the bed, in the outlets... They don't want to work to eat. Lazy piles of nuthin. If your kids spend the night somewhere that has bedbugs & the little guys wake up to eat, they may camp out in your kids bag, sleeping bag, pillow etc. When the items are brought back home, that's when you get infested. Or, like you said, if the inlaws come & they got them. Once the bugs wake up at night your house just became fair game. You can check for them by looking at the mattress & box spring on the beds. You will rarely see the bug itself because it only feeds at a very specific time at night (just before dawn) and they are pretty tiny. They are not invisible to the naked eye but you have to catch them at just the right time to see them alive. If they die, you may see it's little bug body in the seam of your mattress. Same thing with bed bug poop. You will have little black dots all over the seams of the mattress. The wall too, dresser if you have one, head board... Their bites itch like a mother (from what I understand). They tend to bite in a line & it welts up some. It doesn't hurt at all when they bite cuz they have a numbing something-or-another when they bite.

Still, I know how you feel & God help us if we were to end up with bed bugs! Sorry for being so long winded but I felt better learning some of what I did. Especially that they won't jump from one person to another in line at the grocery store. LOL!

This is the third time today it has been brought up...this morning in the national news, this morning in the garden shop I stopped into and this question. (Yes I did say National News).
They said it cost about $5,000 to clean up once they are caught and the only way any insurance (home or health) will cover any cost is if they are actively harming humans. Some of the suggestions I caught while cleaning up the house:
Wash everything! When you get in from vacation, even if you didn't wear it, wash it in as warm as water as possible.
Bed bug bites will often be in clusters or a line as if the bug was crawling across the skin. It won't have that red area around the outside like a normal bug bit but might have a scab in the middle when you first notice it. They don't itch upon bit like other bug bites.
If you get them, get rid of the mattresses, furniture and carpets. This way you don't miss any in the clean up.

I have to say, I recently freaked myself out as I had a LOT of bug bites on my lower legs (after spending two days sitting at a garage sale and at a bonfire). I couldn't understand how I had gotten bit sooo many times. AHHH! I searched my mattress in the dark at night and didn't find anything. Bug bites are now gone but OMGosh I was so nervous.

stop watching the show's about bed bugs, they are just as common as head lice nasty and no one wants it...but panicing that much is not healthy just take your daily precautions and you should be fine...keep in mind your daughter is watching you, and if you keep panicing about that kind of stuff, she'll eventually start too and will be hard to stop because mommy did it

Please be calm! Getting all excited & scared is not a good way to deal with anything. Did you die from the swine (h1n1) flu? The avian flu prior to that? Media sensationalizes EVERYTHING -- that's how they keep our attention. It's healthy to have a reserved sense of what is going on, and of course to keep your family healthy. But freaking out does not help! It puts you on edge and can't be a good example for your daughter. Try to forget it -- make yourself replace the scared thoughts with something positive. For example, as soon as you start to feel anxious, think "I am a good mom that provides a clean, healthy, loving home for my daughter." Do this EVERY time -- it will calm you.

I am so with you. The thought makes me queezy. Just yesterday, I was in the grocery store, and a man came up to me and asked me if I knew where the bug spray was. I guess I am just one of those people who looks like they would help...where is the canned corn, or the bread, I get asked that in the store a lot! Anyway, the store has just been remodled, so I told him where I thought it might be. Then, he says, "I have bed bugs, do you know what I use to get rid of them?" It took all my strenth not to jump back a few feet. It kind of made me realize that there is probably nothing any of us can do to keep them away, it is getting to be such a problem.

We just got home from vacation a couple of weeks ago, and I keep checking all the beds, and wonder if every bug bit might mean we picked them up in a hotel. Makes me itch just to think about it.

I bet before too long there will be a new word for bed bug phobia in the news, if there is not one already!

M.

Sorry to add anothere EEEEEW to this conversation, but as to the bug bites being all in a row, when that happens, it could also be scabies, another wonderful pest, but they are parasites that actually live under the skin and move in tunnels, leaving what looks like a row of itchy bites. My husband picked these up in the Navy, and brought them home to one of our kids. It was nasty, and if you let it go too long, they can be hard to get rid of too. With this one, the doctor can do a scratch test on the skin to identify them, so you can get it treated. Just wanted to be sure that nobody assumed bed bugs and let scabies get too far a foot becasue of the simualarities. I am so creeped out right now...I am going to go shower again.

Keep an eye out and nip it early. We don't have them and never have. Good luck!

Usually you don't get bed bugs from a grocery store or preschool. Generally contact won't spread them. You usually get them by staying in an infected hotel room. They hijack their way home in your luggage. They really don't travel on people as they are mostly nocturnal. I had them in my college dorm room. Fleas are much easier to get as you can get them walking accross your lawn.

I think you're letting some free-floating anxiety get the best of you. Bugs are just bugs, and we have ways to deal with them. Keep asking yourself, "what's the worst that can happen? then, what? then what?" until you get to resolution. Example: What if we get them? OK, then we call the exterminator. Then what if they aren't all gone? OK, then we call them again. What if we get all bit up? OK, then we put lotion on it and it goes away. What if family brings them? OK, then we call the exterminator again. Do you see how your anxiety is ruling your emotions? There's really no way to absolutely make sure that no one gets them, but you have the ability to handle the situation, so why the anxiety?Give your self more credit. By logically following your fear to the solution, you are showing yourself that you can handle this, and your anxiety level goes down.

I don't think the issue here is as much about the bed bugs as it is about the amount of anxiety you're feeling, which isn't healthy. I agree with the others who stated that the news media heightens our fears because that's how they get ratings (and get people to watch). Yes, bed bugs have been prevalent, but they've been around forever. It does not mean that you'll pick them up spontaneously somewhere and bring them home. One question I have for you: did you panic this way during the swine flu epidemic? The avian flu? West Nile virus? During/after 9/11? If so, then you might be suffering from an anxiety disorder and need help. I know because I can sometimes allow myself to panic and have irrational fears about things over which I have no control. I've had to learn over the years to let go of my anxiety over irrational things and things that I cannot control, and I did that through counseling and group therapy. My mother has dealt with these types of issues for a long time, and they ended up causing her to become severely depressed to the point that we had to put her on extreme treatments to get her to function in just normal, day-to-day life. This type of anxiety not only affects you, but it affects your family. If I'm overreacting to what you've stated, then please, disregard my answer. However, if you recognize some of the symptoms, I hope you're able to seek help and guidance to get you through this time. Good luck!

OMG! When I was 17 my parents moved into a house and they didn't have enough money to buy brand new mattress so they got some used ones BIGGG mistake! Not to long after I started noticing that I was scratching A LOT at night so the next morning I woke up and found tiny red bumps on my arms and legs. The next night I noticed tiny bugs crawling on the walls so me and my mom pulled the mattress away from the wall and what we saw was GROSS! We had a nest of bug beds in the mattress it was horrible and they are very very hard to get rid of!

First off the best way to prevent bed bugs is to NEVER get used mattress IF you do I would cover them in the plastic bed covers the ones that are completely sealed. Bed bugs can't survived in the heat and in closed places.
Second make sure your mattresses are off the floor .... We had them on the floor and that was a big NO NO!
Third you can check for bed bugs along the edges of the mattress because that is where they live.

That is about all I know about bed bugs. I wish you the best because I know how gross and annoying they are!

Turn off the television!