Bed bug paranoia!!

[gratefulheart]

I am a very anxious and paranoid person with a massive overthinking approach to life so am often conscious I could be catastrophising.

help me see this clearly!

just got home from two nights city break in a hotel. Did a bed bug check on arrival, no signs anywhere mattress pillows bed frames crack etc , checked again day two, nothing.

on packing up today I saw one adult bug in corner crevice of walls opposite beds. Sent kids down to the reception and did another bed check, nothing more evidence of eggs, larvae, skins, blood nothing.

I have one bite on my knee that was a bit mosquito like. Nothing else kids both fine.

talk me down. I’m freaking out that we are now all infested and I have just infested my home by stepping back in.

unpacked the suitcases in kitchen on floor and washing and tumble drying everything. Steam cleaned with hand held steamer all items that can go on machine… bags and cases books etc.

my son just went straight to his room and hasn’t come out and I’m now freaking out he has taken bugs. I’ve not told the kids my panic as they are also naturally anxious.

help!!!!!

Most infestations start with just one or two bugs hitching a ride. At this stage there would just be those one or two bugs and a few eggs, so difficult to spot. It's worth waiting a couple more weeks if you can cope with that, and just keep an eye out for signs - black dots, shed casings, blood smears, bites - as well as live bugs and eggs. If you think you spot any signs, or at the end of two weeks you're still worried, then call a pest control company to come and check.

Try not to turn your house upside down. If you've been unlucky and brought them home they'll be easier to find if you let them settle down in one place. Check around the seams and buttons on the underside of your mattress, all the nooks and crannies in your bed frame, behind your headboard, underneath the drawers in your bedside table etc. They like to hang out together in tight little crevices and prefer the undersides of things, generally within 3-4 ft of where your head is when you sleep. You could use the interceptor traps to increase the chances of finding any that are there but they won't prevent an infestation if they're already in the bedframe. You don't need to check every day, the population will not be growing fast at this stage. A couple of times a week is more than enough.

You can apply CimeXa now which should kill anything before it get established. Watch some youtube videos on how to apply it as it's very easy to overdo and, although it's not toxic in the same way as chemical pesticides, it is a lung irritant if it gets airborne. You only need the thinnest film of dust, just visible when the light catches it - we found it easiest to apply with a wide, soft paintbrush. You don't have to apply it everywhere, as long as they have to walk through it to get to you. We dusted a continuous 3" band around the bed where the sheet tucks in so whether they were coming from under the mattress or climbing the bed legs from somewhere else, they had to walk through it to get on top of the sheet. It sticks to them by static and sucks all the moisure out of them over a day or two, and they take it back to their hangout and share it with their mates, who all die too.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ROCKWELL-CXID032-CimeXa-Insecticide-Rockwell/dp/B0085HRWI8

The most important thing over the next couple of weeks is to look after your mental health. Bedbugs can induce severe anxiety in the most emotionally robust of people but it's important to remember that's the only big health risk they carry. They don't spread diseases and the bites are itchy but they're just insect bites. So make time to do whatever things help you de-stress, and get out and about as much as you can.

Last Christmas I convinced myself that we had bedbugs. It was all consuming and ruined a whole week of Christmas fun. I was like you and not eating, not sleeping and extremely anxious about it all. In the end we called a pest control company who came out and did a very thorough check and found nothing. I realise now that the way I was behaving was not rational but I completely spiralled and couldn’t move on until I got the professionals involved. I guess we all have our different worries but I would suggest once you are over this episode OP you might benefit from some CBT to manage your anxiety. It helped for me x