This is my own personal bed bug nightmare. I rented a summerhouse with my family in Long Island, New York, that turned out to be infested with bed bugs. We wondered what the strange welts we all had on our bodies were after spending just the first Saturday night there. A week later we returned to the house to spend our second night there and I awoke with over 78 bites on my face and body that worsened with every passing hour. My children and husband also had suffered some very large, painful red welts that looked unlike anything we had ever seen.
While thinking about what it could possibly be that was causing these strange welts, I went to make the bed and saw a sesame-colored bug on the floor next to the bed. I gently picked it up with a tissue and it exploded with red blood. I got chills down my back and my hands and started to tremble. A terrible thought popped into my mind. I peeled back the mattress cover, confirming my worst suspicions. There were numerous bed bugs in all stages of development: egg sacs, babies, blood-stains and black line-like streaks underneath the mattress cover and in the creases of the mattress itself. Some bed bugs were even lurking in the creases of the dust ruffle and hiding in crevices along the moldings and curtains. I made the horrific positive identification of a bed bug infestation.
I could not believe this was happening to my family. It only got worse with every passing hour as it turned out I am allergic to bed bugs; I had no idea as I have never had any allergies to anything. I was rushed to the emergency room with a severe allergic reaction and was treated. All of the doctors, nurses, and staff just stared at me. Nobody wanted to come near me after they understood it was bed bugs and some actually backed away.
We returned to our apartment in New York City where it took me over a month to recover enough to be able to go outside. My bites got much worse before getting better and I could barely walk or move my arms. My eyes swelled shut as I had numerous bites on my eyelids and all over my entire face. I felt like a social leper. Nobody wanted to visit, we were not invited anywhere, people canceled plans with us. Some people just couldn't deal with the reality that this could happen to them. It was understandable as bed bugs are very contagious and spread so easily and I felt so sad for my young children as it was very hard for them to understand why their friends did not want to visit with them or have play-dates.
I am extremely happy we did not end up transferring the bed bugs to our apartment in New York City. Now, of course, I use Bed bugLogic Protection and Treatment Spray all over our home on a regular basis to ensure that if there are any stray bed bugs hitchhiking in our belongings we brought back with us, they would not survive. To this day we are bed bug-free. We never returned to the bed bug infested rental house, as my doctors and old-fashioned common sense advised against it. Now every time we travel we take Bed bugLogic Protection and Treatment Spray with us and inspect our living environment thoroughly, even if it is just for one night.
