Bedbug Hell

Quick update.

2008-08-05T13:48:00.000-07:00

So just wanted to write that I'm still officially in the clear.

I feel pain for anyone reading this now, because it means you must be in the same situation or know someone who is.

I've moved on to other worries at this point and am happy to be able to fret about my job while lying on my couch in pj's or laying in bed -- and not worried about bedbugs in either of those places. It was the worst time of my life, and even when things get bad now, I remember back to those days and remind myself it could be worse.

Yes, I went through hell and back. Yes, I threw out almost everything. I was lucky enough to save a few possessions, but not many. I still worry about it when I see mattresses being thrown out in the alley. And yes, I did have to move. Too many landlords/property managers think they know the proper course of action to treat these things, and they just DON'T. One treatment? Ha! Ha! My sides are splitting.

You will get through this. It will suck and it will be hard work. But you will do it. Best of luck, mystery readers.

So far, no news.

2008-02-21T13:53:00.000-08:00

I hate to even post this because I'm so afraid of jinxing myself. But so far things are uneventful, which is a good thing. I still have nightmares about bedbugs but haven't noticed any for-sure signs.

44 more days until I can say I'm for sure in the clear.

Moved In

2008-02-11T06:45:00.000-08:00

Finally got moved in to my new place yesterday . . . threw out a couple more things I was wary of (my old air mattress, comforters, etc). Bought a new air mattress and some of those wire storage things for a temporary place to put my clothes.

The manager preemptively sprayed my new place just in case, and I've been spraying some of my things as well. So far so good, no bug bites yesterday or last night. But that's just day one. I have 54 more days until I can truly declare myself to be in the clear.

At least now I know I'm in a place that didn't have bedbugs to begin with, so I won't be getting them from neighbors or anyone else.

The week living with Ean was easier than I thought it would be -- we got along quite well, actually. His birthday is tomorrow and I still have no idea what to give him. Hmmmm. If only Vegas trips were a little less expensive.

Minimalism

2008-01-24T11:09:00.001-08:00

Well, I found my apartment, finally. Have been slowly, over the past two weeks, moving things between work and home.

I'm too terrified to have cardboard in my apartment for fear of transporting bbs, so instead I pack uninfested things (such as dishes, glassware, cleaning supplies, toiletries, etc) into a big plastic bin and tote that into work, where I pack those things into cardboard boxes. The boxes will then stay in my kiln room until I move them into the new place. Slowly.

I threw out more furniture over the weekend, finally tossed my nightstand, armchair, and coffee table. I also dismantled and pitched my bookcase. All I have left to pitch is my mattress and bed frame, which I need help doing.

So here is what I'm down to as far as bringing to the new place:
-Clothes (cleaned/bagged)
-Toiletries (almost zero risk of being infested, what bedbug would hang out on a bottle of contact lens solution?)
-Kitchen stuff (again, almost zero risk, not many crevices on plates or glasses for bugs to hide in)
-Electronics
-Dining room set

I am the most scared of the last two. The electronics particularly, because at least with the dining room set, I can wash it all down with Murphy's Oil soap and re-assemble it with caulk in my new place. But I can't exactly take my tv apart and wash all the little pieces.

Anyway, this is the game plan -- I am having a pest control person come treat my new place before I move in. They will also be doing a follow-up two weeks later. I ordered some of my own insecticides from doyourownpestcontrol.com -- both Suspend SC and Demand and a sprayer. Also need a respirator, now that I think about it. I plan on doing the perimeters of the new place as well as my new bed/frame when I get it. I am no longer fucking around.

I don't know if this thing on my back is a bite or not but I have to play it safe and assume it is. Even so, why would I get bitten after 6 weeks with no bites? It has to b e coming from the neighbor, which only further reinforces for me that I need to move. No one should have to live in an uncertain situation like that.

I could absolutely kill my neighbor for bringing the bugs in and LIVING with them for so long, though. What a jerk to not do any research on bedbugs.

At least my furniture scheme in the new place will be nice and clean and minimal. What do I need with all that crap lying around anyway? I certainly needed a reason to get rid of all those knick-nacks I couldn't bear tossing because they were sentimental to me. Now they're just sentimental in a bad way, like I look at it and think "a bedbug would really like to live in this."

It is time to go back to normal.

Apartment shopping and bedbug treatments

2008-01-14T12:08:00.000-08:00

Well, I did my apartment shopping today. The one I was REALLY interested in had to be rescheduled for tomorrow, so I can't make my decision until then. But I really really liked the apartment I looked at next to Cheesman. It's super mid-century modern, has these awesome glass partitions and a TON of storage space. If the one tomorrow is nicer, I'll take it, but I'll have to be super convinced, because it's about $60 more per month. But it is more in the heart of Capitol Hill too, which means easy walking access to lots of different places.
Anyway, the apartment near Cheesman is really sunny (all southern exposure), has a decent-sized kitchen with a DISHWASHER (oh luxury of luxuries . . . I'll never take a dishwasher for granted again), really clean, just a really nice place. There were some sketchy characters on the street hanging out outside of another building, but it's not like there wouldn't be sketchy characters on Capitol Hill either. Also has central A/C which isn't a big deal now but would be wonderful come summertime.

As far as the bedbug treatments today, Orkin came in and spread contact killers along the connections of ALL apartments, and did full treatments on four of them. Saw lots of mattresses and pillows in the dumpster today. I hope that these treatments work -- I don't want anyone else to have to go through bedbugs. And the management here truly is wonderful, it's just that when it's time to move on, it's time to move on.

Anyway, we'll see if Orkin was competent today or not . . . if I see more bedbugs creeping into my place I'll be super pissed. I'm in the midst of writing a moving notice to my landlord right now . . . I'm not technically giving 30 days, which is not so good, but he knows how much money I've spent on bedbug treatments, and how my bedroom ceiling has been leaking for over a week now (effectively displacing me semipermanently into the living room on an air mattress) and is sympathetic towards that. So hopefully he'll say that moving out in two weeks is okay and not make me have to pay for any of February.

Otherwise just hanging out today, listening to politics and wondering about Diebold.

Oooh, shady apartments!

2008-01-13T09:44:00.000-08:00

No, I haven't looked at any yet today (although I need to get moving here, have an appointment to see one at noon). But I was doing some research on bedbugs and ran across this document.

It is a document from the building's housing association which basically says that there is an ongoing bedbug problem in the building and if some people refuse treatment, it is at their own risk.

Well, I looked at this place back in December and it did seem way too good to be true -- it was a lovely 2 bedroom apartment with a balcony, dishwasher, fireplace, etc, and on Capitol Hill . . . for $600/month. Having worked as a leasing agent during my college years, I did learn a thing or two about finding apartments and leases and if it seems too good to be true, you need to start asking what's wrong with it. Landlords aren't stupid and if there was truly nothing wrong with that apartment, it would easily go for $900 at the lowest.

So I took it upon myself to enter it into the bedbug registry, which is a great site that EVERYONE should use if they happen to get bedbugs. I know, landlords won't like it, but wouldn't you rather someone let YOU know that their apartment has bedbugs before you unwittingly moved into it?

I like to hope the apartment in question had resolved the bedbug problem months ago but my intuition says if it's going for that cheap, they're probably there in full force.

eatment."

Day one of blogging, week 12 of hell

2008-01-12T18:03:00.000-08:00

I have been dealing with bedbugs for three months now.

THREE MONTHS.

I live in an apartment in Denver, and initially discovered my problem on October 16th, 2007, my 25th birthday. Some birthday, huh?

I immediately contacted my apartment manager and he had a pest control operator (PCO) out that same week. It was through Orkin, and they did a multipronged approach which included steaming, chemicals, and thermal (heating up my apartment to kill bedbugs and eggs). The PCO supposedly inspected all surrounding apartments (will later reveal that this was false, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves here). I agreed to split the cost with my landlord since the PCO did not find any other apartments with bedbugs.

I am now out $200.

I bought a mattress and box spring encasement to try and save my bed.

I am now out $350.

I purchased an ungodly amount of extra large ziploc bags, laundry detergent, and quarters to do laundry.

I am now out $450.

I tell all of my coworkers that it is likely our students are bringing them into school. Indeed, many students do seem to have bedbug bites and admit to having them at home. People at work start to worry and take precautions. This is a good thing. We do not want bedbugs to become an epidemic at school.

The bites ceased for about seven weeks. I thought I was in the clear. Hooray! I was lucky!

Not so much. I started getting bitten again. My bed was isolated at this point -- not touching walls, in metal bowls with oil, encased in special covers. I am using new pillows and blankets which are washed twice per week. And the worst day came on my mother's birthday (what's up with birthdays being terrible days for bug discovery?) when my boyfriend was over and a bedbug was brazenly crawling across the arm of my couch towards us.

Newly freaked out, I cut apart my couch and toss it. I also throw out my box spring (the vinyl cover was discovered to be torn). I purchase some white plasticized wooden slats to put under my mattress now. I purchase an air mattress so I have something to rest on in my living room. I order some Drione dust and a duster.

I am now out $1150.

My apartment manager calls Orkin back after I tell him about the bug I found. Orkin comes and treats my apartment for the second time. Bites dwindle.

After New Year's, I come home one day after grocery shopping to discover a note posted on my door (and all other apartment doors). It says that bedbugs have been found in another apartment and now ALL apartments will be inspected. I am horrified that despite all of my shoe-baking, obsessive laundry and furniture-tossing, I have still managed to spread these horrible insects to someone else. I am too ashamed to even look anyone in the eye in my apartment building.

The inspection passes and I find out that they found bedbugs in two additional apartments -- the one that reported them, and one that did NOT report them (the apartment diagonal from me -- one floor down and one apartment over). Note that this apartment was not one of the neighboring apartments during the initial inspection.
Anyway, the inspector found SIXTY bedbugs on that person's mattress alone. SIXTY BEDBUGS ON THE MATTRESS ALONE. Do you have any idea how many bedbugs that is? That doesn't even take into account how many there must be in the box spring, couch, and everywhere else in that unit. It is also worth noting that this person set off multiple bug bombs to try and eradicate the problem.

Bug bombs only serve to disperse bedbugs and should NEVER be used.

Now I am angry for the following reasons:

I am a poor teacher and had to dispose of most of my more costly possessions because of bedbugs.
This person likely had the problem before me and said NOTHING to the apartment management, letting ME incur the costs of ineffective pest control treatments.
This person did not do even basic research online which clearly says to never use bug bombs for bedbugs.
I had been telling my friends and colleagues I likely got them from a student at school. Now I seem like a liar, and this hurts my professional credibility.
I have had to suffer through living like an insane person for three months now, when this problem could likely have been taken care of months ago.

Now the apartment management is having Orkin come out and treat the affected units, plus two neighboring units. It should be noted that ALL neighboring units should be treated, plus our communal laundry/storage room. This is not happening despite my efforts to educate the management. And I am now out over $1000 for this.

I am planning on moving within the next month. I absolutely hate the idea of spreading bedbugs to someone else but plan on hiring a more competent PCO to treat my furnishings and the new place. If the apartment management is so hell-bent on saving a few bucks at the risk of having a building-wide infestation, I'd like to leave before that happens.

It is worth noting that I have not been bitten in about a month now, which is good, but I fear the risk of infestation too much. I no longer feel safe in my own apartment. I cannot focus at work because the quality of my sleep is so poor that I am averaging about 4 hours of sleep per night. My boyfriend does not deal with stress well and is helpful when it comes to DOING things, but not a great listener. My mother also manages to say exactly the wrong thing when it comes to bedbugs. No one can ever truly understand this unless they have been through this, and if you are reading this, maybe YOU understand. It is terribly isolating.

I like to think that the Drione dust has been keeping new bugs from surviving long upon entering my apartment. I plan on using it in my new apartment as well. (Please, if you use Drione yourself, wear a dust mask and don't over-apply it, be careful to not use it on your mattress or other places your skin contacts).

I will attempt to keep this updated as things progress. It is mostly for my sanity, not having very many outlets for this pent-up bedbug rage. But also to maybe help others. I owe lots of credit to Bedbugger.com for helping me keep my sanity and offering great bedbug advice.

Expect a new update around Monday, which is when Orkin returns to treat affected apartments, and when I go apartment shopping.