2022-10-31 - 9:40 p.m.

It's Fall- so you know what happens in this season?
The re-emergence of Dust Mites!

CRAP
I am just VERY allergic to them.
It's not that my home is not as clean as others. Swear this house is avg cleanliness. Most people will do stuff like:
Store sweaters on a shelf in the closet where they sit
and then when it gets cold grab one to wear.
I am sure most people would not wash every dang seasonal item of clothing that was in a closet for a while before wearing it.

I however am not most people.
I am HIGHLY Allergic to the typical avg dust mite found in most homes.

Goodness. I was freaking out after being at the Dr. office thinking someone brough fleas there. I was sure to change once I got home and put all those items in the laundry hamper I had worn from head to toe!

So today I came home from work and immediately changed as I had dressed up. I was wearing the closest thing I could find that reminded me of Professor Minerva McGonnagall from Harry Potter, including this really lovely Victorian style fancy lace blouse with a sharp green wool skirt and matching green hat and heels. I looked the part. I had a sorting hat backpack that belongs to my 20 yr old that was very lightly used ( I think never left the house). It is adorable- black velvet and has the mouth and if open the zipper can make the hat talk. So I had fun in costume - my main costume really being the Sorting Hat with the outfit and professor supplemental to the main character. I goofily talked as the Sorting Hat much of the day and it was fun. The hilarious part about this is NOT ONE resident even knew Harry Potter as it is not of their generation! I mean they were delighted with the staff dressed as Sylvester the Cat as they got that ! They loved Sonny and Cher ( they had the best costumes by far!) and the witches. One lady wore and old fashioned bathing suit from the 20s, along with the hat which was super cute.

I had a black velvet jacket over the skirt and blouse that I didn't leave on most of the day as it was just too hot-
but I came home and immediately changed into a sweater and jeans.
DANG
I went into the bathroom and saw these three or four black specks ON MY FACE and was like
"What the hell is that?"

and took a tisue and brushed them off.

I wondered at the time-"Did I somehow get some specs of dirt off the flowers" As I had just brought in the flower arrangements that I carried home from work.

Then I looked closely at the specs on the tissue and thought
"I'll be damned again-
Freaking Dust MITES, or fleas?!"
Black most likely fleas actually- dust mites often tiny and red and

WAIT you can't SEE THEM
and these were black specks

The sweater has a large cowl neck so that really rubbed against my face when I put it on. I thought "Maybe they are dead and won't bother me"

FuCKINg A

I am now revising the damn theory and this is even worse

BED BUGS

HOLY HELL these probably migrated from the box of clothes from NYC from my son which we recently opened and unpacked. NYC is known to be a hot bed for them!

https://www.fantasticpestcontrol.co.uk/bed-bugs/dust-mites-or-bed-bugs-bites/

Cause bed bugs are visible
dust mites NOT
AND

what the fuck

I am SO GLAD I took off the sweater and threw it tightly in a bag and stuck it in the freezer and showered and put all THOSE clothes worn from head to toe in the hamper.

AND then as the kids were out-
YES BOTh OF THEM
I stripped their beds to put their linens in the laundry and put new sheets on their beds and ran the vacume in their rooms.

DAMN those little red spots that I was seeing on my skin after the itchy outbreak of being bitten emerged on my stomach after wearing the sweater and yes they look the same as last year.
YUP the article calls them welts- tiny little red dots which if you look closely are like tiny lines.

IT had to be bed bugs.
What perplexes me is that I bought bed bug detectors and put them in my room when I had the problem last year ( or was it the year before? Maybe even more? I swear it was after I traveled to NyC to see my son's show.
That explains why there were NO FREAKING EXTRA LINENS in the place
the awful AirBNB that we stayed at! The owner HAD to know there was an issue so removed every damn thing except the sheets and blanket on the one darn bed.

It took me SO LONG to get rid of them in my bedroom after I had the issue in my home!
I think I am not scott free and my closet may be suspect. Reading the articles found no wonder it was such a battle to get rid of them as I thought it was mites and thought Dicidious earth would work- BUT it turns out that does not work for bed bugs.
I am thankfully not at all itchy now after showering and changing but damn-
if there are some in one sweater that means the closet is suspect and those buggers are hard to be rid of. I mean there are not only in ONE clothing item!

I was thinking- Not everyone is allergic. I wonder if there was ever a known problem at my son's NYC apt? OR did they have them and not know? OR did they come from the moving truck OR
Not his stuff moved here at all-
was it a lingering visitor from my NYC trip a few years ago??
So many possibilities-

But found this- HA HA BED BUG ATTORNEYS! OF COURSE
Hell some would sue the Air BNB! ( HA)
Only 20% of folks allergic to bed bugs.
https://whitneyfirm.com/what-causes-different-reactions-to-bed-bug-bites/

So before I took the shower, because my bathroom is off limits, I went in the downstairs bathroom and took off the sweater and did a sorta sponge bath with hot water on top half of body. There was a lotion in that bathroom so I lathered that on-
and it was the strange thing discovered LAST YEAR
That when put on lotion it definately KILLS the buggers
drowns them
or coats them with the oil
but there is a reaction where they DEFINATELY BITE MORE at first
and then there are the red tiny dots- and then the freaking black specks APPEAR and you can wipe with a tissue and SEE the little buggers. Its the freakiest thing.

But that lotion made me know I was not CRAZY When I had that continued itchiness.

DANG no wonder I had such trouble-

I used Dicideous earth-
It is not effective against bed bugs.

file:///C:/Users/Blake%20Consulting/OneDrive/Desktop/choosing-an-insecticide-for-bed-bugs.pdf

I had bought traps that are suppose to catch them and you can SEE Them in them. I never saw ANY in those bed bug detectors ! That is what is so weird. I had bought the HOT SHOT spray which is supposed be for fleas and bed bugs but never put it off in my bedroom.
I did put it off in the ATTIC- as it also would kill dust mites so I figured it would not hurt to put if off there as there were clothes in storage up there.
I did not like the idea of spreading insecticide in our living spaces so did not use the foggers bought except in the attic. Since it is not a living space everyone is in but used solely for storage I figured low risk to use chemicals there.
I think the # 1 defense really is cleaning and vacuming.

I feel like the fact the itchy problem went away over time was due to dusting, washing everything I could and vacuming regularly.

I will load up any clothes from the sweater pile that are washable and take them to the laudromat on the next run.
Just a HUGE pain in the ass. My one teen got home and was good about me having cleaned her room (despite not liking me in there! I really just changed sheets and let loose the robot so not that instrusive! I don't touch any stuff of my kids but the bed sheets! (Carefully remove whatever is on the bed and carefully try to put it back in the same place! I did shake out the blankets in the hall so I could then run the robo vacume in the hall to pick up anything that fell off the blankets that were not being washed. The other young adult over a friends. It was nice to see that kid get all dressed for halloween ( as some character I don't know- either gaming or TV show? No clue... but the kid looked good! A good outfit with bandages on arms and one eye. SO I am letting loose the vacume in that kids' room again. I did not touch anything in the room but there are a couple areas of the floor actually not cluttered like most ( I think the kid started to pick up the room but did not have energy to get too far- doing a little at a time. The kid did move some storage drawers into the room and organized some clothes. It is just a big job and a few parts started but it will take a long time to get it done- that is the rearranging of that room and organizing the clothing into the drawers that store under the bed. The big base frames which hold the drawers and also add extra support for the matress are still in the side of the living room waiting to be brought up to be reunited with the rest of the bed and its storage drawers. In time... my kid will get it all done yet... So I am letting my kids be and let them manage their own stuff-- BUT for pulling sheets and vacuming when have the opportunity as this is a health issue for them both. They both have allergies and asthma- heck MCAS in one, so being sure to clean their rooms is reallly important for health! The one teen does keep her room very clean. I send the robot in there whenever I run it as it heads down the hall and into her room after it is done with my bedroom. But the other room has so much stuff on the floor that the robot is not set loose in there - USUALLY. But tonight there are two sections clear that the robot was able to clean! It is doing itsthing now as I ram re-running it in those sections as some vaumming is better than nothing in that bedroom!

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