this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2025
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fuck you spez

Now that that's out of the way, here's an exclusive Lemmy update on my horrible life with more questions.

After the last post, upon the advice of Lemmy, I put everything in trash bags, showered, and left with new clothes in shopping bags.

I changed into the new clothes in a Starbucks, at which the employees suspected I was an intravenous drug user and asked me if I was okay through the door, likely with Narcan in hand.

I told them I was fine, just washing my hands (which made no sense because I had been loudly placing things into garbage bags and opening sealed clothing packets in an echoey room without any water running). Then I continued to put more things in garbage bags, concealed slyly in large branded bags from Target.

Yes, they all thought I was a homeless junky, but it was actually much worse, and after over 10 minutes I emerged in a new sexy outfit, terrified that the police were being called, then grabbed my Frappachino and ran out.

I managed to get to the bus just in time.

All the bags were frozen for days and the contents washed. Everything was salvageable except my alarm clock radio which only plays static now and blinks strangely. It did not like being frozen and washed.

Since then, I have noticed 1 additional bite. I do not know if it was there before. I am terrified. Multiple days have passed since then, but it doesn't prove I am safe since bed bugs can go days without feeding. If it turns out I still have them and may have spread them, I will deal with that guilt and agony when I know for sure.

I back with my friend but am now rethinking my approach, contemplating that I should have stayed at the bed bug place.

I did not end the tenancy when I left but did keep the cashier's check that was the rent. I am still unsure of what to do.

I have a family member who is slowly dying in that area, I work remotely and expect I could lose my job any month, they've already gutted 90 percent of the department and I would expect other jobs will be next. I have survived many rounds of layoffs however. This family member lives in a small place and is somewhat crazy. I may not be able to see them if I am not in the area.

My credit has also taken a nosedive, so it will be very hard for me to rent something new. I'm considering going back and suffering instead of looking for something cheap here. I could probably get someone to cosign if I did look for a new place. I know no one in this area except my one friend who is not very social.

My head is completely messed up, even more than it was before. In the last post, people responded about the psychological devastation bed bugs cause. I am already there: 2 days of bed bugs and suddenly fleeing and I am on pins and needles, my normally mildly crazy brain gone extra bonkers with what ifs, fear, and suffering.

I am considering going back. The landlord won't tell me how many treatments have been done in the past year. This seems concerning. I don't know what to do. They did however do treatments to the room immediately after bed bugs were found, they said. I didn't feel like they didn't take it seriously, but am not entirely sure the building isn't crawling with them all over in other rooms.

What would you do if you were me? Please, tell me Lemmy.

(in conclusion fuck spez)

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[–] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 2 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

I'd recommend purchasing an ozone generator and ozonating the house/room if possible. Forever ozone makes an affordable residential unit for 80 bucks.

Make sure you have a couple extension cords (it's dangerous to breathe) so you can activate it from outside the house/room, and run it for the amount of time described in the instructions to eliminate bedbugs, and your problem should be solved.

[–] theotherwoman@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago (4 children)

Is this an affiliate market link? Are you that cool Polish chick who talked with me in the "hell" room about that exciting investment opportunity? It sounds too good to be true, which is why I'm interested.

Seriously however, does this device work? Ozone is also hazardous and these are small rooms, many of them close together. Also, is this device something that works completely all the time? I am poor, spending more money on a wild card seems Luke a risky idea.

[–] pivot_root@lemmy.world 3 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

Are you that cool Polish chick who talked with me in the "hell" room about that exciting investment opportunity?

"Nicole" spams people's DMs on Lemmy and Mastodon, making new accounts every time one of them gets banned. I would suggest not following through with that investment "opportunity" unless you're happy becoming a scam victim.

[–] seathru@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

They're correct. Ozone generators do help with bedbug infestations, ~~I'll try to find the paper I read.~~ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32302460/ And another: https://ag.purdue.edu/department/entm/_docs/493_capstone/feston-capstone-summary.pdf

I used ozone generators as part of a bed bug treatment, along with CimeXa and Crossfire as I recommended in another reply. And it was effective. But I was lucky and found them before moving in, so I was able to seal the house up and go nuclear.

You don't really want to run an ozone generator in an occupied house. Even if you seal a room up, it will leak out and probably not good to breathe. But it has the upside of killing just about anything living, so it will kill both bedbugs and their eggs given a high enough concentration and long enough time.

I bought one of these (not an affiliate link) and it was overkill.

[–] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 1 points 7 hours ago

I came back to this thread and saw other responses about a previous post you made about this place, and I just want to also chime in and also say this ozone generator would not be viable for that situation where there will be so many untreated rooms of other tenets. I would recommend not going back.

[–] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 1 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

I have no relation to that company, other than having bought a couple of their generators to deal with a mold and mildew smell issue in a garage and a room in my house, where they worked quite well.

I haven't ever needed them for bed bugs personally, but from what I've read it should be able to exterminate every bug in a room after about 10 hours per room (though it may not kill every egg if they're in an odd spot that the gas can't get to).

When I used one in a bedroom, I didn't notice much if any leakage from the room with the door closed, and it dissipated after a couple hours of being off.

I would hate to recommend this and have it potentially not work considering your situation, so you may want to try other solutions first before going down on this route.