Bed bugs are taking over

Ok…… deep breath…….we had a bed bug and survived🎉
Went to a hotel near Gatwick about 10 years ago and brought home a hitchhiker.
We thought we’d have to burn the house down but luckily after I’d been bitten quite a lot, not him of course as I am so much sweeter.
I slowly peeled back the sheets and there it was. Readers I squashed it. Hoovered all round the bedroom, luckily we have a wooden bed frame which got the scrubbing of its life. End of problem.
Never put your case on the floor or the bed in the hotel and when you get home never on or under your bed or under any spare bed. Up in the attic or in the shed after hoovering and wiping down.
Bugs like me. When we lived in Nigeria some fly laid its eggs under my chin and mums décolleté. I still remember dad squeezing the little grubs out after they had hatched.

Chestnut

There was a programme on Channel 5 this week about bed bugs. The epidemic really is a thing! And it can be serious if people are thinking about them all the time and it affects their mental health. They start getting anxious and feeling things crawling over them which affects their sleep. Once your mind locks into something it can be difficult to shift, so that must be awful.

Maybe all the more reason not to obsess about them.

The programme will also be on Channel 5 catchup. It makes you realise what an impact they can have.

channel 5 bed bugs 7.30

Just reading this makes me itch 🤣

There was a programme on Channel 5 this week about bed bugs. The epidemic really is a thing! And it can be serious if people are thinking about them all the time and it affects their mental health. They start getting anxious and feeling things crawling over them which affects their sleep. Once your mind locks into something it can be difficult to shift, so that must be awful.

I was speaking to staff in a charity shop and they said they have lost volunteers due to the fear of bedbugs coming in with the donations.

My husband was once in a job that involved working away from home. He was bitten very badly by bed bugs, in a Premier Inn. That was about 10 years ago.

My husband and I got thoroughly bitten after a weekend stay in a very expensive hotel in Vienna. I have never known such itchy bites! Luckily we didn't bring any home with us, although the bedroom was cleaned to within an inch of it's life and the suitcase and all clothing we took with us, including the laundry basket that the clothes were sitting in waiting to be washed, were all immediately thrown away when we realised what had caused the bites. We contacted the hotel and told them what had happened including various photos of our huge number of bites. They responded denying that the room was infested, but did offer us a complimentary return stay -as if!

Chestnut

I agree that toxins are far more dangerous than bed bugs and they are causing all manner of health problems. There is an advert for Zoflora where the woman is dancing around her house with beautiful flowers popping up all around her. This is supposed to be the gorgeous scent from all the Zoflora products she uses. In reality she is poisoning the air with toxic chemicals.

We used to call my Mum the Zoflora Queen. She used it for years and years, long before Mrs Hinch recommended it and the world went mad!

Mum’s house always smelled lovely and germs wouldn’t last a second in there. Zoflora does need to be diluted correctly and Mum always did that. If, as you say, it is toxic, then it never harmed my Mum as she lived to nearly 97. It was used down drains, in sinks and loos, in washing, wiping down surfaces, etc and she must have used it for 60 years. 😉

Oh Chestnut,
You are so right! Everywhere I read, there are mentions of them!!!
I saw a video of them crawling on seats on French public transport a few dats ago, and that set me off itching like crazy. I know that was psychosomatic, but it was driving me round the bend!
Of course they'd come over here, so many people go to and from France daily now. EURGH!!! I'm off.

What about all the rats around the place ? Much more dangerous than bedbugs.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

A lot of people who've never had to deal with this, are making themselves sound 'expert'.
After travel (SW England if you're interested), one bedroom definitely had the critters, with another bedroom maybe. It was more than 4 years ago, but I still automatically check the bed every morning. It cost a fortune replacing mattress & pillows, buying covers for above and other mattress, and having the pest control person in twice, maybe £1000. Probably the 2nd visit wasn't necessary, but we were so neurotic, every itch, every red mark, are they back?
And I'd check DGD when she went home after an overnight stay, in case she'd been bitten or she was taking them back to her house .
Truly I could cry now just thinking about it. An awful time.

I shop at Waitrose so I should be alright on the shopping front.
Now to check out the car.

I have those cotton zipper mattresses protectors on all my beds but like someone said, what’s to stop those critters hiding in the seams of the sheets.. hopefully just people panicking for no good reason 😳🙏been scratching for last few days by reading these posts 😅

Not just dread the visitation of friends or family from the South Rosiesmaw but from Manchester too
www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12611859/Bed-bug-bus-Manchester-tube-leg-France.html

Mass tourism or mass immigration, what's the difference except that the tourists are less likely to be carrying unwanted visitors than the the immigrants, who may have arrived from all manner of unhealthy and unhygienic places
Really?
I’m afraid I feel strongly that that comment is approaching an unacceptable level of prejudice as was the one about rough looking people on the buses

I agree RosiesMaw.

Never mind the danger of bedbugs- the next threat could be from bookworms !

Be afraid - be very afraid!

I agree that toxins are far more dangerous than bed bugs and they are causing all manner of health problems. There is an advert for Zoflora where the woman is dancing around her house with beautiful flowers popping up all around her. This is supposed to be the gorgeous scent from all the Zoflora products she uses. In reality she is poisoning the air with toxic chemicals.

Message withdrawn as it quotes a deleted post.

Nobody wants it as a choice. The point is that bedbugs are already common in every country. What I worry about is the hysteria this kind of story encourages that could lead to measures being taken out of all proportion to the scale of the problem.

One of the commonest places for bed bug infestation is on intensive poultry farms (for meat and eggs) where toxic chemicals are used regulary to control infestations. I don't hear anybody panicking about these chemicals which are already in the food chain, toxic in watercourses and to acquatic life. Piperonyl butoxide, commonly combined with pyrethrum to boost the latter’s effectiveness, is both carcinogenic and linked to developmental disorders in children.

Whenever something like this happens, a big chemical company will see a commercial opportunity to sell more of a product. That product will be an insecticide that people will start spraying on their beds and soft furnishings as a preventative measure. They’ll opt for absorbing toxins through their skin and airways rather than risk the small chance of encountering a harmless bed bug.

Well to my knowledge in over 70 years I have never lived alongside any bugs except when the children had head lice and they were swiftly dealt with. The cat had a tick once. So it's not something I would accept as a choice.

The voice of calm reason. James Logan, professor of medical entomology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

One thing you learn through studying these creatures is that we live in a bug’s world: we’ll never get rid of them all. There is much you can do to avoid bringing them home with you, but we have no choice but to live – occasionally – alongside them.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/11/french-bedbugs-britain-insects

RosiesMaw

Caravansera

I agree. One bug spotted on a man's trouser leg on the Tube extrapolated into London is crawling with them.

My point exactly.

But it isn't just one bug! So your 'point' is invalid.