Hello Everyone,
First, I want to say thank you to everyone who posts/maintains/contribute to this website. I have learnt a lot here. Learnt more than I need to of course.
I would love to hear an opinion from the community on my story and would appreciate any feedback.
Early infestation/sporadic cases are complicated and there is a lot of help for later stages of infestation or even preventing infestations after treatments but not a lot for possible mild cases. Here is the shorter version with the key facts.
1. I had a few string of visitors who stayed with me. About 2 weeks after the last visitor I woke up with specific bites. (3 on my abdomen, 1 neck, 7 on lower back and middle of my back). The doctor confirmed they are bites but as you all know we cannot conclude anything further. I know I'm setting it up like this but it may or may note be related to visitors.
2. I looked all over my room a day later and I found nothing in my mattresses (2). I had a wooden frame/mattress box with steel legs and found nothing major there other than the fact there were some black stains but was hard to tell if it was the wood itself or dried feces. There was one moment where I thought something might have jumped out as I was vacuuming the wooden frame but it was hard to tell. 1 night I saw a spider eating 2 very small things on the ceiling.
3. 3 days later I decided to throw away the mattress and most of the items in the room in a careful manner. I saw white squishy things on my desk at that time thought it could be eggs but did not think to take pictures. I was not fully educated yet. I threw it all away after cleaning to not spread it to other people.
4. Exterminator came about 1 week after this (after the bites) and spent only 10 minutes and ruled things out. He was looking for a big infestation I supposed and I was not convinced because I knew more about bed bugs from reading online than him at this point. I am a student and this is the only company the apartment uses. I then did my own search and it was a really vague moment but I think I saw 2 dead adult bed bugs and a dead nymph under my carpet on a nail bed (my carpet was not attached to the wooden floor and was in really bad shape). There was a lot of glue under the carpet and the wooden floor and they probably got stuck. I squished them without thinking of getting a picture because my heart was racing and then the next day the apartment mounted the carpet fully to the wooden floor and there were missing, ripped carpets on the edges especially that were filled in and all seamed together. I know I didn't imaging them but I will always wonder. There were open crevices all over. We sealed the crevices and now the carpet is fully intact and no parts of the carpet can be peeled. I checked between 2am-5am for a week or so around my room/bed. I checked outlets, fire alarms and all the stuff hanging on the wall.
5. I threw away the wooden mattress box and bought a simple steel frame for now. I put tapes and inspectors all over. This could have delayed/slowed down the bugs as I have learnt from the website.
I was told to spray some hotshot carpet spray for bedbugs/fleas around the edges and I did that.
6. I lost around 15 pounds, lost my mind and seeing a therapist now. -- side note. I picked up severe anxiety and I'm fixating on this problem though I have several other problems in my life now. I'm not even supposed to be on this website but I cannot help it. I like to have control over everything and this is outside my control now.
7. No sign for 3.5 weeks meaning nothing fishy/red flags or even bites. Caught a few other insects in glue traps that were set (moths, flies, spiders). It takes a long time to convince myself the spiders (small ones) have nothing to do with bed bugs. Again I think I pushed them away for a while with the cleaning etc and I told myself they are still there.
8. 3.5 weeks later I caught a bug I posted here which was ID'd as a spider in a glue trap under my bed leg and 2 days later I had 1 single bite. 1 day after I have 3 small bites on my lower back. These bites were not the same as the other bites but again does not mean much. Itches sometimes but not like the other initial bites.
http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/bb-id-needed-caught-in-trap
9. Still no signs of anything. I would see stains (food/my birds seed)/black very slight streaks or lots of black lint on my sheets but I am sure there are not feces or anything bb related. I found 1 black ink like stain on the mattress cover but it did not smear so don't think it's feces either plus it was just 1 random dot in the center of the mattress.
10. I wash my sheets, my bird's cage and his stuff, my clothes 2 times a week. I spend a lot of time and money on this. I vacuum every 2 days and clean the vacuum cleaner fully after every time. I take my clothes in bags etc.. I do all the things people have recommended. I vacuum the edges and check the covered mattress carefully. The pillows I wash as well and has a "bedbug proof" cover too.Closet seems ok and didn't see any red flags.
11. Last few days after I work out or shower before bed and in bed I get extremely itchy and feel something is there on me. I went to workout by the lake and that induced more itchiness and I went to bed with a bite or 2 that formed right after the walk. I have petechiae now too and that induces more anxiety. Last 2 nights I looked around 3am-5am and did not find anything. It could be the heat (>85-90deg) or the anxiety/stress could be inducing this feeling/reactions.
I know I have to play the waiting game end of the day. Any feedback, any suggestions will be really helpful. Did i miss anything? I feel like I'm looking correctly and looking for the correct things. The nymphs seem to be so small so maybe if there are only 2-3 then how am I expected to find them? If the bites keep popping up after a month then I was thinking of getting a dog to come out. I cannot think of anything else.