My Bed Bug Story

by Breanna
(Michigan)

I am 15 and have always been loved by bugs sonce i was little. I recently painted my room, took apart my bed ect. I had put a mattress cover on my bed when I started waking up with bites all over my arms and legs and even on my neck and shoulders.

I called a doctor and she said I might be allergic to something and to come in for a blood test. i have not done that yet. i woke up this morning at 3 a.m to a pinch on my foot. i woke up and i turned on my lamp to discover a bug crawling on my pillow. I grabbed a cup of water and put it in there so it would die and i could save it for the doctors and Orkin man. i ended up stripping my sheets off and found a few more. and I also found the stains they leave.

I started crying because I knew we had a problem. I waited for my mom to wake up at 4 a.m and told her what I found. i took my mattress and box spring off and found a few plus lots of eggs snuggled in my head board. I killed them and put the eggs in the cup of water so they would not be able to hatch. As i was vacuuming the bed i found another plus eggs on my footboard. I killed them all and continued vacuuming. Once I did that I took apart my bed to discover a male bed bug and saved him in the cup of water.

Me and my mom started checking my mattress and it was fine. I checked the box spring and lifted up the tag and found nothing but a bunch of eggs and adult bed bugs. Me and my mom threw the box spring in the trash assuming there was nothing we could do. I have examined every piece of my bed and am currently washing everything in hot water so it kill them. I vacuumed my whole room and have not seen any as of yet. I still have to inspect some more of my furniture in my room and inspect my moms room.

I do not bother isolating them because they can go a long time without feeding. We are calling the Orkin man today to have him come out and help us with this problem before it gets out of control and we have to throw away more furniture.

If you recently used a blanket of pillow on the couch, go check it. If you used anything on a recliner, go check. I have yet to do so and I will soon. This is no joke when it comes to bed bugs. They can destroy your life especially when you know you have been sleeping with them for the past couple of months. They are a pain in the butt and I hope you are not allergic to them. My bites are about quarter size and become inflamed the moment I itch them.

Editor Comment: Treating Bed Bugs in Your Bedroom

Hi Breanna,

Thank you for sharing your bed bug story. As I'm sure the exterminator has told you, it is very difficult to get rid of bed bugs. Even professionals require three separate treatments to 1) reduce the size of the population and then 2) to eliminate it.

The good news is that you did the right thing by bringing on a professional. A professional can inspect all of the rooms in your home, and depending on the size of the infestation, recommend a treatment plan. Exterminators have many tools to use including insecticides, mechanical methods such as vacuuming, freezing, and heat.

Exterminators often use more than one method including one method to "knock down" the population, and then another to kill any insects or eggs they might have missed.

Best of luck and let us know how you finally treated the problem.