Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite

While I was undergoing radiation, a friend of mine announced to everyone she knew, that through no fault of her own, she had some unwanted house guests, AKA bed bugs.  According to her, it was the most horrible thing she ever encountered in her whole life. Every night, as she was being eaten alive, she thought about ending her life. She even told me that she would rather have cancer, than have to deal with those blood sucking critters who were sharing her bed. She lost me, at, would rather have cancer. 

After she received her PhD. in bed bug studies, through Google University, she became an expert in the field.  She proceeded to warn everyone that unless they got a new mattress, avoided all human contact and literally put everything they own into the freezer for a week, they too, would have their life ruined. Although no one ever saw the evidence of bites (she claimed they were invisible to the human eye) I do believe and even sympathize with her.  She got rid of her mattresses and her landlord  had her house infumigated, but the craziness did not end there.

She would to go into everyone's house  with a piece of cellophane tape, looking for evidence of bed bug eggs.  She convinced a friend to buy a new $2,000 mattress, even though the exterminator told her there was no evidence of the critters in her house.  Because I have allergies, I have everything hygienically sealed to prevent dust mites, so I was pretty much in the clear.  It's a good thing, because fighting this cancer takes up most of my energy.

I am aware that this is becoming a serious issue and of epidemic proportions in New York City, college rooms and hotels.  I know this isn't the joke most late night talk show hosts make it out to be, especially  if you are one of the victims who is involuntarily getting hickeys every night.  But getting a new mattress isn't that difficult a remedy. Better than seven weeks of getting fried.

When you come to think of it, sleeping in a hotel bed, that thousands of people have slept in before you, doing God knows what, is probably right up there with swimming in a cesspool.  Same thing can be said of college dorm beds. 

They say that bed bugs are the new "head lice" and will replace rats and cock roaches as the most unwanted house guests of the decade.  The good news is that mattress sales are thriving.  The annoying commercial, that informs everyone that if their mattress is more than eight years old, they more than likely have bed bugs, is right on. 

Comments

[Sinead]

I seem to have a mite problem more than a bed bug issue. i had to get a pest control company in to spray the house over the last two years. i was about to take it a step hgiher and get the house infumigated, but after reading the comment above i wonder will it be a waste of time and another costly, time consuming problem. is there anyhting out there to clear these once and for all.

Sinead, Ireland