There are, as I understand it, basically two surefire ways to deal with a bedbug infestation:

1. Liberally soak your entire house with gasoline. Light match. Be sure to drop any clothing you are wearing in the fire before you leave to join a Buddhist monastery.

2. DDT

Good luck either way. I expect that a booming black market in DDT is just around the corner; credit Bill Burroughs and David Cronenberg for unwittingly predicting it.

I blame it all on the Williamsburg hipsters.

they love beds b/c its easier to crawl out at night and feed on their host-- you, of course. but also check the wood-framed pictures above your bed, they love those too.

A colleague stayed at the Paramount and was bitten all over.

Throw your bed out. Get a new bed. Put vaseline on the bed posts to get a good night's sleep. Bed bugs cant get past the vaseline.

You won't know you have them until you get bit. They like any place where they can hide in cracks and crevices, especially wood and fabric. They generally hang around the bed because the ONLY thing they feed on is human blood. They have some sort of sense where they can find the warm-blooded humans that we are, and they come out when they sense a lack of movement. Apparently, just before biting you, they inject some sort of venom that numbs the area so you don't feel the bite, and you won't feel it until you're itching like hell when you awake and notice (usually) a series of little red bumps in an amazingly straight line.

My apartment had them about a year ago. The landlord said they came from another guy's apartment (who knows how he got them), probably when he was disposing of his infested mattress and decided to take it out unwrapped and lean it against the wall opposite the elevator, i.e., right next to my front door.

The exterminator had to come three times over the course of 3-4 months. Luckily, since the last treatment, we haven't had any problems. And strangely enough, they bit the hell out of my girlfriend, but I rarely got bitten at all, even though I was sleeping right next to her. The exterminator actually told me that was common -- that women seem to be bit more often than men.

If you think you have them, you don't necessarily need to throw everything (like your mattress) out (unless you have such a bad infestation that you can actually see them regularly -- they're very stealthlike), but you should wash all your linens and possibly even your clothes. I don't know how much the exterminator cost because my landlord paid for it. The annoying thing is that the poison they spray only kills the bugs, not the eggs, and apparently it can take the eggs up to 15 days to hatch, so for two weeks after the treatment, you may still get bit. If after that period they're still around, you need to do all the washing and exterminating (and leaving your apartment for 4-5 hours, etc.) again. It's a very frustrating process, and it apparently regularly takes more than one treatment. But as I said before, after three treatments, we haven't any had problems, and all this ended about 8 months ago. Hopefully it doesn't come back.

My boyfriend's building in Williamsburg was completely infested. At least half the residents in his building were covered with itchy bites...and I ended up in the hospital with a completely swollen foot from an infection due to scratching the bites. I'm kind of glad to hear that I'm not alone, but if this infestation is citywide then the next apartment might be infested as well. Argh!

Excellent suggestions and thoughts, everyone - thanks!

OK, can somoene post a pic of a bite. I have had VERY small "bites" like ⅓ of the size of a mosquito bite... Mostly on te ankles and insides of the knees and wrists. I thought it might be scabies but the doctor said no! I am at aloss. And the itchiness is driving me mad.

i have just discovered i have bedbugs. I am so disgusted, i cant sleep without fear of being bitten, i have nightmares and anxiety. They dont leave welts on me but they love my boyfriend-we share a bed and his body has been ridden with bites for months. They will live in your couch as well, and travel from apt to apt ( apparently, i believe it) We have had an exterminator come but they are still alive. Gross.

Yesterday I woke up at five a.m. due to some serious itchy spots. I couldn't fall back asleep and noticed six huge mosquito like bite marks on my arms and neck. Initially I thought it was mosquitos....
I was getting ready to sleep tonight and decided to take a peek at the sheets laughing at the old tale of not having the bed bugs bite. As I lay my head down, I notice a small brown spec moving across my pillow. A quick search for bedbugs on a few sites had some pictures and Voila! Wrapped up the sheets, pillows, and other items in plastic bags thinking I had probably contained the little buggers. From the information on here and other sites, it seems like ths will be a long fought battle.
Disgusting? Indeed

I thought I had a serious case of hives. I never suspected anything despite seeing doctors, etc., for my many "hives". I even got a serious case of cellulitis from scratching one. I woke up one night feeling something crawl over my face. I sleepily brushed it off and made a mental note to check my bedding the next morning. Imagine my horror, disgust when I lifted my mattress and saw something I never thought I would see. I was reeling. Sleep, sex, all the lovely things one does in bed-forget it-I haven't slept in ages, and I am now rather hurried with physicall affection-I WANT TO STAY OUT OF BED!!! I am a clean person, live in a decent building in a good neighborhood. I have only confided in my best male friend, my beau and now you all. I am on a mission to rid my home of them, I don't have the money for a professional extermination and dare not tell my landlord-he is not the nicest guy. I won't entertain, nothing till my home is clear of them.

I thought I had a serious case of hives. I never suspected anything despite seeing doctors, etc., for my many "hives". I even got a serious case of cellulitis from scratching one. I woke up one night feeling something crawl over my face. I sleepily brushed it off and made a mental note to check my bedding the next morning. Imagine my horror, disgust when I lifted my mattress and saw something I never thought I would see. I was reeling. Sleep, sex, all the lovely things one does in bed-forget it-I haven't slept in ages, and I am now rather hurried with physicall affection-I WANT TO STAY OUT OF BED!!! I am a clean person, live in a decent building in a good neighborhood. I have only confided in my best male friend, my beau and now you all. I am on a mission to rid my home of them, I don't have the money for a professional extermination and dare not tell my landlord-he is not the nicest guy. I won't entertain, nothing till my home is clear of them.

I was actually lying in bed too grossed out to sleep and found all of your postings. I am completely repulsed by this and never though I was a basketcase before, yet have broken down in tears a number of times in the past week about this. I live in what I thought was a perfectly nice building even though the landlords are highly incompetent, and am definitely a clean person. But apparently for months and months other apartments in the building have been having problems with bed bugs. I learned of this a week after I resigned my lease (which was about two months ago) by reading a note posted by a neighbor about the building being infested. Since then I have officially been infested as well, as I woke up last Sunday to find one crawling across my leg. The exterminator came and sprayed my mattress (where he saw two more) and around the walls. He is in the process of treating the apartment where it actually originated. Is this going to do it? Should I be laundering every article of clothing I own, or only if I continue to see them? I know that everything I've read lately says it doesn't necessarily have to do with being clean, but I can't help but feel like I am dirty or something because they are in my home, my bed, my stuff. Eww, ewww.

I was actually lying in bed too grossed out to sleep and found all of your postings. I am completely repulsed by this and never though I was a basketcase before, yet have broken down in tears a number of times in the past week about this. I live in what I thought was a perfectly nice building even though the landlords are highly incompetent, and am definitely a clean person. But apparently for months and months other apartments in the building have been having problems with bed bugs. I learned of this a week after I resigned my lease (which was about two months ago) by reading a note posted by a neighbor about the building being infested. Since then I have officially been infested as well, as I woke up last Sunday to find one crawling across my leg. The exterminator came and sprayed my mattress (where he saw two more) and around the walls. He is in the process of treating the apartment where it actually originated. Is this going to do it? Should I be laundering every article of clothing I own, or only if I continue to see them? I know that everything I've read lately says it doesn't necessarily have to do with being clean, but I can't help but feel like I am dirty or something because they are in my home, my bed, my stuff. Eww, ewww.

BEDBUGS ARE LITTLE DISGUSTING VAMPIRE MOTHERFUCKERS! This pisses me off so much, i didnt even know bedbugs existed until our apartment became infested with them. Damn dormant creatures have been living with us for around 8 months, but we had no clue what they were until the exterminator came and said that we had bedbugs. I honestly thought it was a joke, who the fuck has heard of bedbugs....anyways we told the landlord who said it wasnt bedbugs and kind of that was that. So we all second guessed ourselves and continued living in a horrible situation,and paying nyc rent which is outrageous even if you dont have bugs crawling around. We were finally able to break our lease and we're moving out in two days. But I'm paranoid that we're going to bring them with us to our new place. I've been reading articles related to bedbugs saying that they can hide out for up to a year, so how the hell are we..or anyone for that matter...supposed to know when we're truly and absolutely done with this disgusting situation? I mean its 3 am and I cant sleep because I just saw one prancing around on my bedframe. This is really an outrage to find so many similar stories. I don't understand how this soon to be epidemic??? is somehow the fault of the tenants occupying the space. We've spent so much money in exterminator fees, throwing out things we've bought that became infected, or even just cleaning bills. Yet we're not being reimburst. This is ludicrus. I wish I had DDT and I'd attack the damn bugs ...of course quickly running away right after so I wouldn't die myself. Oh well, my rant is sadly over... G'night and don't let your bedbugs bite!

I had them and was able to deal with them pretty well. I might still have them, but haven't been bitten for a few months. First, get a spray of some type which says it's for bedbugs. Look around the creases of your mattress. You'll probably find them hanging out there. Spray the shit out of them. Then go order some stuff called drione dust. This stuff sits in cracks in your floor and walls and it's apparently active for a few months. So, if within those months bedbugs stumble onto the dust, they'll die. If your building is infected, you'll probably never be free of them, but you can keep them away and only suffer the occasional bite. Apparently, they're quite smart and once they realize they're not welcome somewhere, move to the next apartment (usually up, since they like warmth.) So, if you keep the dust around and look for them and spray every now and then you can probably keep them at bay.

Can anyone tell me exactly what they look like? I found some in my 17 month old daughters crib and am so upset and freaked out that I can't sleep! I've looked on-line and they don't look exactly like the pictures - these have more bulbous bodies and kind of long heads and they're pretty small, the body the size of a pin head, but bigger when filled with blood - is that what you are all dealing with? Help!!! I can't stand that my baby had them in her bed - I don't think they're in ours yet, but our bed is next to her crib, so...AAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!!

Oh, by the way, I'm in Southern California, so I don't know if that's why the bugs I found look different than the ones pictured at the top of this page. Any other Californians out there?

Angela from California, that definitely sounds like bed bugs- the babies are tiny and hardly recognizable, grownups can be round and flat (when full) or long and thin (when not). And Mars, those do sound like bedbug bites. The telltale sign is if they're in rows of two or three (like tiny vampire bites).

I'm going through this misery right now and so many stories sound uncannily similar to mine; initially thinking it was a rash, hives, or even scabies, and consulting clueless doctors; suffering constant anxiety and fear of sleeping; and the tearful, exhausted fits as a result of emotional trauma and sleep deprivation.

And let's not forget the costs that pile up - even if your landlord pays for the exterminator (mine is, thank god), there's still washing EVERYTHING, which trusts me, costs no less than 100 clams, the cost of other supplies if you're being extra cautious, like at-home pest control and plastic cases for clothing, and the cost of replacing bedding/bed/mattress if you're just too grossed out to keep it.

Oh AND, did I mention the unspeakable itchiness and ugliness of the bites, which even after taking a prescription anti-inflammatory, DON'T SEEM TO HEAL and look repulsive. I don't even want to go out, let alone try and get a date.

As soon as I solved the mystery of my bites(which took me over a month)I stopped sleeping in the bed, but after a few nights of sleeping on the living room floor I got bitten again. One more night of sleeping in an armchair with my feet propped up on the radiator wearing long pants, socks and a sweater and I stopped sleeping at my house altogether. Now I worry about transmitting them to the houses of friends and family whose sofas I crash on.

While it's nice to know I'm not alone, I must say I was feeling a little more encouraged before I read this thread. I've just gone through my first exterminating round (The nice gentleman is coming back in a week to kill the remaining eggs), having vaccumed more thoroughly than I thought possible and washed about 1/2 of my wardrobe and all of my bedding (the other half goes in today). But now that I read this I'm freaking out a little. Doesn't anyone have any happy stories about sucessfully getting rid of bedbugs?

Is there a support group?

I also intend to steam clean the couch and carpet, re-wash clothes as much as necessary, and hire the exterminators regularly (they have a monthly maintenance program, which I'm definitely employing after reading all of these horror stories). I do hope this works and I can start sleeping again.

One practical question - does anyone know what to do about sterilizing down comfortors and pillows? I can't wash them in water, and don't really want to get rid of them if I can avoid it. Will it kill the fuckers if I put them in the dryer on high?

Also, my infestation seems to be in the relatively early stages (though you wouldn't know it from the horrible spots all over my body), The exterminator only found a couple and it's not to the point where I can see them or the bloodstains or smell that nasty smell I've heard about. Does this make it any easier to get rid of them?

I really can't believe that city officials aren't in any hurry to solve this - so what they don't carry diseases - they wreak so much emotional, physical and economic havoc it's almost worse.

Okay, I have to go cry now.

i simply do not no what to do i want out completley i have not slept in my bed scince last week do they ever go away

Yuck!!! These stories are freaking me out. But I must say, this is the first time I've laughed in months. (merely because I feel relieved that I'm not suffering alone.)

My similar story goes like this: About 2 months ago, in my upper east side apartment, I started getting the itchiest, hardest "mosquito bites" (a strange thing in the middle of winter). At the same time, I noticed little blue pen markings on my sheets and pillow cases. Interesting combintation. I later found out my neighbor was also experiencing the same things.

Turns out the mosquitos bites were bed bug bites and the pen markings were trails of bed bug shit. Oh my god...I might vomit right now.... I cant think of anything more repulsing than bugs shitting all over my sheets and sucking out my blood. How on earth I am ever supposed to sleep?

I've taken all of the preventative measures everyone mentioned, as well as hair drying any item of clothing/suitcase I take out of my apartment.

I've read about Enzyme cleaners helping kill these nasty fuckers on some websites. Has anyone tried or heard of this? I bought one online tonight. If it works, I'll let you all know.

After having red "bites", in a series of 2 dots, I thought they were spider bites. Extremely itchy. Manydoctors later..after blood tests, I have found out about "kissing bugs". Nothing to do with bed bugs. Also known as "death bug". If not taken care of, there have been cases of people dying from it. No Shit. Look it up..Kissing bug.....there is no pesticide that will kill it. A good penicillian type salve can help. It scars the parts of the body that are bit. Never fades away. Ugly. They dwell in the mattress and bedclothes, and drapes, etc.

My bedbug Ordeal
It all started when I noticed blood on the bottom fitted sheet.I thought maybe I had cut myself,until one morning,I discovered an ugly bedbug had drawn blood on my hand.After washing and flushing the bug,I went back to the bed and lifted my sheet only to find hundreds of crawly,creepy bedbugs.Horrified and sickened I ran to the bathroom,threw in the sheet and turned on the hot water.The same was done with the rest of the bedding,then it was all laundered.For all of the next week I had a plan in action.I purchased insectisides and sprayed everything throughly.I immediatly got rid of the boxspring,and covered the mattress with a plastic zippered cover.I dreaded going to bed,but was prepared with a flashlight and spray on my nig