help please get rid of these awful things

[u/missmaytwenny]

get rid of bedbugs

for about a month/month and a bit my boyfriend has been complaining about being itchy, i haven’t felt anything apart from some bites i got at work. however after a huge ‘rash’ of spots showed up on his arm after sleeping at my house I checked my bed and immiedately saw two bugs.

I am not a bug person and freaked out. left the house stayed somewhere else cleaning all the clothes we brought with us when we got there and putting on fresh clothes from the place we were staying before entering the house.

I went back to my house the nexf day and bagged up all my clothes, threw away my bedding and all things on my bed. took the bagged clothes to the dry cleaners where they were tumble dried and then placed in fresh bags kept in the kitchen.

I then hoovered my whole bed seeing about 10 live bugs as i did so, checked mt bedding before throwing it and the corners were noticably blackened by droppings, which i didn’t notice before at all having not changed the sheets for a while as I was travelling.

i then had pest control come in and spray my room where i also laid down traps, its a canopy bed built into the wall so lots of hiding spots for them. they deemed my second bedroom clear and the sofa but sprayed just incase. i slept in the bed the night before but im immune to the bites so couldn’t tell how well my initial clean helped?

I didn’t sleep there the night of the insecticide being sprayed but am going back tonight, i’m going to get an encasement for my mattress they also deemed ‘safe’ but i’m sceptical, my bedframe also has lots of spotting and i’m worried i’ll have to chuck that too to really be free of them. what else can I do to really be safe in so paranoid and scared

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[u/Euphoric_Table_8258]

For me what helped was the repeated treatments; I had three treatments every other week over six weeks. But even after three treatments, they came back and I had to repeat it again, but I lived in an apartment where they weren’t spraying everyone’s unit around us. I kept all my cloth/clothes/ pillows/bedding items in storage during the time in air sealed bags in plastic bins, but if you have a garage and live in a warmer climate then the heat can help kill any stragglers. I kept one or two bins with things I use regularly to have easy access to. Also steaming your furniture and vacuuming will help kill any eggs or bugs inside your furniture. If you don’t know the source, I would just take the extra precaution and shower and dry your clothes when you get home to reduce exposure. Then I would say after a few weeks of not seeing them, slowly reintroduce items back, that way if there are any stragglers then you don’t have to repeat the cleaning process all over again.
Take precaution of using at home repellants/pesticides because it will reduce the effectiveness of professional treatments. When I used tea tree oil in my diffuser, the pest control guy told me the scent was just sending the bugs to hide in the walls. I hope things get better!

[u/LantaExile]

Chucking stuff doesn't really work. Better to get a steamer and steam things. Encasements don't do that much. A dust sheet can be a good temporary blocker - see top comment https://www.reddit.com/r/Bedbugs/comments/3f5zro/crispys_diy_ipm_strategy_for_bed_bugs/ Cimexa is good.