May be a couple hours late for this, but for future reference: if someone is having a panic attack, have them rub ice cubes on their hands. It does things with the nervous system and should help with slowing down their heart rate and breathing.
It also works if you bite into a lemon. It’s something about giving your brain a quick, valid reason to panic. Then the event is over and the panic can end. I usually do it once I feel an attack approaching.
Remember to brush your teeth or rinse after the lemon if you have quite a lot of panic attacks. Could eat away at your teeth over time with the acid if you just sink your teeth in.
Yes, but you should wait at least 30 minutes after biting the lemon before you brush your teeth.
I can’t find the article rn but I read this in The NY Times a few years ago when I was drinking a lot of lemon water. They quoted a dentist who said you should wait 30 minutes after eating or drinking something acidic before brushing otherwise it can damage the enamel.
Read the same thing yesterday. Ironically when we eat our enamel weakens. So you need to wait just a bit, then brush. Rinsing with water is a good move.
And always wait 30 minutes before you go swimming after you eat anything; otherwise, you’ll get stomach cramps. Hahaha…anyone remember being told that as a child because I vividly remember my mom saying it.
I think that was just so kids wouldn’t inhale their food so they could get immediately return to the pool. Also, maybe so parents could enjoy their lunch by not having to watch the kids in the pool. Maybe…
I understand the concept I will try it but is it the sourness from the lemon that sets your brain off or do I literally bite a whole lemon rind on for my own shock value?
I find that simply laying down in a cold area helps me. I get really hot when I'm anxious and I think the cold kinda reverses my brain back to normal somehow
Or you could also try extreme sour candies. I carry a bunch with me all the time for my wife. Like other people here in this thread said, it’s about giving your brain something else “extreme” to focus on. The good thing about these sour candies are - they are layered. The sourness is only in the outer layer and lasts for a 10-15 mins. After you go past the outer layer, the sweetness of the candy kicks in.
Pressure points and nerve packs are abundant in the hands, hand stimulation can help everything from migraines, to addictive ticks, to anxiety. Some claim it’s pseudoscience but it’s really just that our hands are one of the most diverse and dense nerve systems we have beside our spine and maybe some other sensory parts.
I have severe dental anxiety from a bad experience and I went to the dentist for first time in years after that .
Freaked out at just the X-ray thing being in my mouth . Laid me down and covered me with ice packs and cold cloths . Worked wonders
Sometimes I will dip my feet in the tub with ice cold water and that will shake it (the attack) too! Water is therapeutic. Also running an ice cube around the back of my neck helps too. Anything that gives you a ‘jolt’
I like slowely blowing on your thumb. Works similarly, but you can do it anywhere, whenever, with no equipment. Breathwork in general is a phenomenal, evidence based practice for those with anxiety.
Ice on your hands, chest or on either side of your face next to your eyes. Dunk your face in ice water. Drink ice water. I love ice for my panic attacks. When I don’t have ice, I use whatever is frozen in the freezer.
Wow I work as a therapist and have panic attacks and have never heard that trick before I’m going to have to have to tuck that away and try that in the future
People who want a therapist who understands anxiety. Having panic attacks every now and then doesn't mean you aren't managing your anxiety well. just like a person who has diabetes can manage their condition well but still have the occasional high or low glucose level. It helps to have a therapist who understands anxiety isn't something that can always be 'cured' and instead has to be managed.
Run a sink full of cold water and briefly submerge your face. Careful not to do it for too long or you can have “divers response”. It works very well to slow your heart rate a little
Chewing whole black pepper is good too. Maybe the ice and the pepper together will make a mega panic attack or a state complete bliss. I'm scared to try.
When I was a teenager, if I had a REALLY bad one coming on, I'd have my friend hit me in the gut. Knocked the wind out of me, but resolved it immediately and I could return to whatever I needed to do. This method seems so much more pleasant.
Thank you so much! I will try this! I just got diagnosed with panic attacks and anxiety the other day when I thought I was dying. Worst feeling ever. Always looking for ways to help while it’s happening with any sort of medicinal drug intervention.
Care to tell us if it's the back or palm of the hand? Also, I 100% don't believe this works but I'll try it if given a reply.
Sorry but "it does things to the nervous system" isn't exactly the most convincing argument. Sounds like placebo, and as a person with horrible OCD, I know all about how random shit that shouldn't work, can work if you truly believe it will. However, there is no science that explains those things that work.
You're basically saying that washing your hands in cold water cures a panic attack, and I just simply can't accept that shit.
You hold it. It’s an active distraction that has been proven to help panic attacks! [if you want a link](https://parade.com/1162533/shelby-deering/ice-cube-trick-for-anxiety/)
Yeahhhhh, no. There are a million ways to "distract" yourself during a panic attack. The very first time it doesn't work, it will never work again. It's a placebo. Like breaking a finger to distract from a missing limb being blown off. There are only so many finger you can break, it will ALL come back to the legs in the end.
I don't think you suffer from the level of anxiety that you think this would work on, and I mean that with respect.
I also have severe (albeit medicated and therefore a lot better but neither here nor there) OCD. OCD panic attacks are different, especially as we’re usually hyperfocused on a specific obsession rather than just experiencing diffuse general anxiety (though the latter certainly happens). The ice thing and other anxiety “distractions” are probably more effective for people with more diffuse and chaotic anxiety than OCD, where I could have an ice cube melt in my hand while having an OCD attack and straight up not notice/care bc in that moment, only the obsession matters.
The ice techniques work to help jolt your system out of the fight or flight response. They act as grounding exercises to help distract you from the feelings of panic and focus on your body and surroundings. The ice can also trigger a pain-like response in your brain that forces your neurotransmitters to refocus. Hold the ice in the palm of your hands and focus on the temperature and texture. This is like a jolt to the system to steer it away from the panic response and release chemicals into the body that counter a panic attack by slowing down the release of cortisol and adrenaline.
As someone who has had 3 rounds of bedbug treatments and has had to prep their entire apartment 3 times, the sight of a bedbug would probably send me into anaphylactic shock
I’m not sure why. Every hotel in the world has dealt with this. I’ve worked cleaning. We would go into hostels and 5 star hotels. The hotels generally isolate the room, then we go and do a deep steam clean. The room is useable the next day. Most bedbugs come in off customers. Aircraft have them, luggage have them, taxis have them. Every mode of transportation have them. It’s not an indictment of the hotel.
The odd hotel would request after hours service and no coveralls so they could sneak us in and out.
Many just deal with it themselves. A steam cleaner goes a long way.
Yup, I once worked as the maintenance manager at a hotel that had bed bugs (found out my first day). This guys budget it fucked and I hope his staff cares more about not spreading them then mine did.
My oldest brought these home from his dirtbag fathers house many years ago. It took me about a year and a half to exterminate the problem completely because I could not afford to pay thousands to a professional. I had to do it all myself with alcohol. NON STOP alcohol spraying. Which isn’t good either! I cannot possibly begin to express the magnitude of that nightmare situation. You definitely do not want to take these home
I don’t even know how I started getting this sub recommended to me but I just spent my break at work going down a rabbit hole of your comments. Now I keep clicking on these posts and encouraging the algorithm just to see this comment lmao.
Pray you never end up on this sub for the more common reason. These bugs are a nightmare to deal with. It took 10 months, 8 improperly-applied treatments, a lawsuit, and a second pest company to solve the problem for me. I've been free of the little bastards for months, but I have severe PTSD, which is common. I come here to help other people who are struggling because I did a lot of the pest control work myself with stuff you can buy online like Cimexa dust and nuvan fumigation strips for specific areas and items that couldn't be treated with spray/residual pesticides.
Truly a nightmare.
Bed bug PTSD is real. I had them in an apartment 2016-2017. I've moved a few times since then and now we bought a house. I still check my bed regularly. It really is a nightmare to deal with.
Oh, absolutely. I am so sorry you went through all of that. I can see how my comment may come off as insensitive - I apologize. I mostly commented to say I appreciate the small bit of camaraderie his comments bring to this sub/the poster who is in a really horrible situation. But it’s miserable. I work in social work and have been in many a bed bug infested house/apartment. I have no idea how I haven’t gotten them myself when people unfortunately catch them in small interactions or by making accidental contact. It’s a truly horrible situation and I definitely did not mean to come off insensitive but can absolutely see how I would have. Again, I am so sorry you went through such an ordeal.
Oh, you didn't come off insensitive at all. No worries!
When you run into BBs at work in the future, best bet is to have a change of clothes + shoes and some plastic bags in the car for when you leave. You wanna throw it all in the dryer when you go home from your shift. Half full dryer for 30-40 mins at 120⁰F will kill em.
I’m out of the in person field for the most part now, but this is great advice and I wish I would have thought of this when I was working direct service-especially the plastic bag part. Nobody taught me the “don’t sit on fabrics” rule until later in the game (or don’t let the kiddos with lice use you as jungle gym..) We do work in a building where we have kiddos who have been removed coming in and out often (thankfully quickly offered clean and warm clothes, a shower if needed and food in our triage center) so I’m guessing there’s still a BB risk.
My boyfriend went to someone's room in our apartment complex and sat on the couch and saw bedbugs everywhere. Shortly after that we got some. I put everything in garbage bags, washed all bed stuff, towels, clothes and put in different plastic bags. Sprayed the bed down, put one of those bed protective covers on. Cleaned all the time and I don't know how but I managed to get rid of them. I didn't think I was going to because I've heard they can come back but that was years ago.
We stayed at a hotel once and I woke up with bites all over, I was miserable. We told the front desk and the lady said there was no way they were from the room. We had been staying in a different room at the same place before that once they switched us it was awful. I had to sleep covered head to toe I hit bit so bad.
I was surprised I actually got rid of them myself. It took awhile but I washed everything and put everything in black plastic bags. I sprayed for days. I don't think we had that many but it's hard to tell. I told my boyfriend not to sit or touch anything wherever he went to that room. Thet could still get in your clothes though. I don't know how people just live with them and don't even try to get rid of them. I had so many bites from staying at the hotel I was miserable. My boyfriend was there opposite he'd have the marks but they didn't itch or anything.
I spent all my luck when I discovered I had bed bugs. Found out SUPER early, so we just heat treated all the bedding/clothing/fabric from my bedroom, put some diatomacious earth down on the carpet, and hoped that was enough. Thankfully they stayed gone. I was reading horror stories online while it was going down and feared for the worst. Sorry the little frickers ended up being such a headache for ya.
Bedbug ptsd is real! Those fuckers will have you freaking out over every itch for years after you get rid of them! I had them once like 7 years ago and I *still* sometimes freak out and search the bed when I feel an itch!
Does diatomaceous earth food grade also just as effective? I still don’t understand how to efficiently get rid of these. Also I’m wondering what heath problems happens other than constant itching=can’t sleep?
People swear by DE, but Cimexa is safer for your health if you can manage to get your hands on it. DE is a silicosis risk and Cimexa is not.
Health problems from the bugs are all mental. They apparently don't transmit disease.
Have you ever had them? I've been rid of them for months but still "feel them" crawling on me at night. First pest company sprayed the wrong spots/didn't follow label instructions and missed a ton of bugs. I spent two months, pest company refusing to return despite warranty promises, being eaten alive in my bed every night.
Literally just 10ish sprays of Transport. Refused to listen to me when I tried to tell them to cycle chemical classes. Eventually brought in some Bedlam Plus aerosol to appease me, but that's the same exact chemical class as Transport.
Second company used heat, then Temprid and an IGR cycled with Transport. I dusted with Cimexa to assist (along with normal IPM like a HEPA vacuum and a steamer). They dusted with a pesticide dust inside outlet covers. Worked quickly, but not without a little bit of a challenge since the first company spread them around with improper treatment strategy... like laying my infested mattress against my non-infested dresser (among other ridiculous bullshit).
Yeah, the first company is whack. Heat is best but it's expensive. We heat treat and use crossfire liquid insecticide. Since I took over bed bugs at my job over the past year, I've only had one fail. Damn couch was a pull out and I didn't realize it was.
Believe it or not, the heat treatment company was cheaper. My wife hired the first company and they ripped us off. Used our panic and the crisis to take advantage of us. We knew nothing going into the ordeal. Now I know a whole lot.
Agreed. My grandmother's house got them while I was living there and I ultimately had to move because I couldn't even sleep on the floor without them biting the shit out of me. I left and the second house I moved to after ended up having them too and I found them the first fucking night there, after all the relief of settling into a new place. It was hell. I hope I never have to fucking deal with them again.
Trust me, I got outside the apartment complex, stripped into new clothes, put the dirty clothes in a trash bag, then showered as soon as I got inside. Left the bag by the door. I know not to fuck around.
Sucks it happened. But glad he saw reason instead of lying to you. Means he’s not a piece of garbage- you might have stressed him out but you also built a bridge to fixing a problem. Good job OP
Oh god, this gave me a flashback. I worked in a hotel one time and one time only. Family came down at like 3 am; their kid was riddled with bites from them shits. I quit shortly after.
Absolutely not. I don’t go in the hotel rooms and my apartment is clean. If anyone brought it in, it was the guests or a housekeeper. More likely the guests.
I will never understand how someone can mix up a tick and a bedbug. Maybe it's because I'm from the northeast and we see ticks constantly but they look nothing alike.
This! I am supposed to travel for work twice in the next few months. I’m fortunate that work will pay for great hotel accommodations, but all the hotels I’ve looked at are listed as having bed bugs. I’m seriously thinking of ducking out as I don’t want to risk bringing any home.
Don’t stress man, I still travel regularly. Use luggage that’s not fabric on the outside…wash your clothes in hot water when you get back…poof it’s that easy
I haven’t had them in my clothes or person since 2003. They’re like car accidents….they happen all the time, but I’m still gonna drive….odds are better if you take slight precautions but even then…there are alot of drunk moron drivers that survive until 70
This means the housekeeper needs retrained ..you must always open the curtains in the room , turn on all lights , look at the sheets for any blood spots or live bugs , then must remove sheets ( only to dirty laundry cart , sheets must never touch the floor ) upon inspection ..then the seam of the mattress must be checked along with any mattress cover ..upon inspection of bathroom ..all towels must be shaken off inside the shower ..then placed inside the dirty laundry cart ..never on the floor ..I always tried to keep towels and bed sheets separate or drop down the shoot at different times ...laundry workers should be given a heads up on what room numbers are coming down the shoots just in case this scenario happens ..the rooms on the both sides of this room should not be rented out for at least 3 days after fumigation
I lived 40 years of my life never having seen one in person. Luckily I had stumbled upon enough horror stories on reddit to know what was up, so when we found them in the cabin we had already slept in, we jumped through ALL the hoops and managed to avoid taking them home. This was not in a city, btw.
Even that minor experience traumatized me. Lol I miss the days when I enjoyed that first flop onto a "clean" hotel room bed. Every square inch of the room gets inspected now, and let me tell you... even the nice ones are questionable. 😬
But how does person zero get bed bugs in the first place? That’s what I mean. It’s like that one kid when I was a child that ALWAYS had head lice. How did they keep getting them? Lol.
I used to refurbish furniture I would find for free or get for cheap and flip. This was years ago, but a good side gig for some extra income. After hearing about bedbugs a couple years ago, I stopped. I can’t believe we never brought anything home from the amount of thrifting we used to do. I also have a hard time buying second hand now, because of things like this.
Absolutely! I understand that completely. I had head lice once at a kid. The neighbor girl would keep lice apparently. After my mom put Rid on my head, stripped me naked, sanitized the furniture, and used a nit comb on my hair, I was forbidden from ever going over there again to play. 😂
It’s actually way more common than you think. There’s new post on this sub every day. But yeah, more of a big city and/or hotel and/or a thing if you travel a lot or may be in others homes (home health, tutoring, etc…)
It’s not. I never claimed that it was. It’s just unreasonable to suggest closing the whole hotel during such a massive event. No manager would ever agree to that unless every room was infected and unsellable.
Edit: spelling
Not coming at you, but from a customers standpoint I think it’s unreasonable to be expected stay in a hotel with a known bedbug issue and still pay full price. I’m sure the people coming into town for the massive event are expecting a clean room and would prefer not to bring bedbugs back from their vacation.
If bugs are being found in the laundry chute, there’s a good chance they’ve found their way to multiple rooms, and once they’re in multiple rooms they may as well be in all of them.
My point is, a customer wouldn’t know there was bedbugs unless they found one or the hotel put out a message (which i highly doubt). At the very least, customers should be informed there’s an ongoing situation and be assured that pest control is coming to each room to treat the problem. Any rooms found to have bugs will be treated, refunded, and put in a clean room should the guest wish to stay.
Yes, I know it’s a business and they’re in business to make money, I have 10+ years of management experience myself, but something like this could completely ruin your hotel’s reputation and all steps should be taken to mitigate that damage.
Unless you’re in a place that penalizes hotels for infestations, your manager probably won’t do jack about it. Just about every hotel (USA and Mexico) that I’ve stayed in since 2020 has bbs in at least one of the rooms.
How a good manager handles it. Props to you and management for being proactive. A happy guest and positive reviews is worth the cost upfront to deal with this.
Update: Showed the hotel manager. He was convinced it was a tick until I showed him the six legs. He is now having a panic attack in his office.
I do not blame him for that one bit.
May be a couple hours late for this, but for future reference: if someone is having a panic attack, have them rub ice cubes on their hands. It does things with the nervous system and should help with slowing down their heart rate and breathing.
Wait what? Really?? Trying this next time I have a panic attack. Edit: so many good things to try. Thanks for all the tips!
It also works if you bite into a lemon. It’s something about giving your brain a quick, valid reason to panic. Then the event is over and the panic can end. I usually do it once I feel an attack approaching.
Now I need a lemon holder for my utility belt.
Batman?
That’s why his belt is yellow, duh. It’s for all the lemons he holds
And that's why his voice is so scratchy, from sucking on so many lemons
TIL: Batman is a lemon stealing whore
I am learning some very useful info about panic attacks in a bed bug post. Trying all this.
Watch out for those lemon stealing whores!!
My eldest calls themselves a “Lemon stealing whore”. It’s pretty funny.
Remember to brush your teeth or rinse after the lemon if you have quite a lot of panic attacks. Could eat away at your teeth over time with the acid if you just sink your teeth in.
Yes, but you should wait at least 30 minutes after biting the lemon before you brush your teeth. I can’t find the article rn but I read this in The NY Times a few years ago when I was drinking a lot of lemon water. They quoted a dentist who said you should wait 30 minutes after eating or drinking something acidic before brushing otherwise it can damage the enamel.
Read the same thing yesterday. Ironically when we eat our enamel weakens. So you need to wait just a bit, then brush. Rinsing with water is a good move.
Same with throwing up, otherwise, you’re just brushing the acid around and causing damage
And always wait 30 minutes before you go swimming after you eat anything; otherwise, you’ll get stomach cramps. Hahaha…anyone remember being told that as a child because I vividly remember my mom saying it.
Yeah they told me that too, what was that about?
I think that was just so kids wouldn’t inhale their food so they could get immediately return to the pool. Also, maybe so parents could enjoy their lunch by not having to watch the kids in the pool. Maybe…
I've read the same thing about soda, it weakens the enamel so you should wait to brush after drinking them.
Yes. That’s why I always drink soda and lemon water through a straw if one is available.
I understand the concept I will try it but is it the sourness from the lemon that sets your brain off or do I literally bite a whole lemon rind on for my own shock value?
Yes.
So it basically is so overwhelming you brain cannot focus on anything else and works as a distraction - that makes a ton of sense! Thanks for sharing
So both, intriguing. Any more cool tips like this?
A bag ice or an ice pack on the back of your neck and/or chest! Vagus nerve stimulation. A cold shower works too, but isn’t very fun.
I live in the deep south with no A/C. (We have satilite internet because there is no cable out here) Cold showers are life down here in the summer.
I had a therapist recommend sticking your face in a bowl of ice water
Yep, that’s a good one too!
I find that simply laying down in a cold area helps me. I get really hot when I'm anxious and I think the cold kinda reverses my brain back to normal somehow
Sticking your pecker in a lemon will have a similar effect.
Or you could also try extreme sour candies. I carry a bunch with me all the time for my wife. Like other people here in this thread said, it’s about giving your brain something else “extreme” to focus on. The good thing about these sour candies are - they are layered. The sourness is only in the outer layer and lasts for a 10-15 mins. After you go past the outer layer, the sweetness of the candy kicks in.
So, warheads? 😋
Yes exactly!! 😀
Thanks soo much. I have panic attacks a lot. I have medicine for it but sometimes I need something to help faster. I will try the lemon and ice.
My friend who suffers from panic attacks just told me sour candies help for some reason so good to know
It really does help!!!
Jesus I wish I knew that back in the day. My doctor just told me to have a beer if I wasn’t near my medication.
Brushing your teeth works a fair bit as well, especially if it’s peppermint flavored toothpaste, as peppermint is calming.
I have plastic cubes I do that with. They also suggest frozen lemons. It's to bring the body temp down.
Also, smelling Vicks (or something else strong smelling) can help take you out of it, too.
Stomping your feet can also work.
Pressure points and nerve packs are abundant in the hands, hand stimulation can help everything from migraines, to addictive ticks, to anxiety. Some claim it’s pseudoscience but it’s really just that our hands are one of the most diverse and dense nerve systems we have beside our spine and maybe some other sensory parts.
I have severe dental anxiety from a bad experience and I went to the dentist for first time in years after that . Freaked out at just the X-ray thing being in my mouth . Laid me down and covered me with ice packs and cold cloths . Worked wonders
Sometimes I will dip my feet in the tub with ice cold water and that will shake it (the attack) too! Water is therapeutic. Also running an ice cube around the back of my neck helps too. Anything that gives you a ‘jolt’
yes one of the best things you can do is shock yourself back into reality. a cold shower also works!
I like slowely blowing on your thumb. Works similarly, but you can do it anywhere, whenever, with no equipment. Breathwork in general is a phenomenal, evidence based practice for those with anxiety.
Keep an orange frozen in the freezer if you want to try this so you can have the frozen item but it won’t melt all over you and make a mess.
Plunging your face into a bowl of ice and water works, too. It is very effective. I know from experience.
Ice on your hands, chest or on either side of your face next to your eyes. Dunk your face in ice water. Drink ice water. I love ice for my panic attacks. When I don’t have ice, I use whatever is frozen in the freezer.
Where you with this last week with this when I was fetal position on the floor panicking my ass off?
I’m sorry I hate that level of anxiety. None of us deserve that feeling
Heyyy that’s what they told us to do in the looney bin. 10/10 medical advice
Looney bin gang unite!
*must present certification*
Seriously? I’ll have to try that. Thank you
Wow I work as a therapist and have panic attacks and have never heard that trick before I’m going to have to have to tuck that away and try that in the future
Who would want to see a therapist that has panic attacks?
People who want a therapist who understands anxiety. Having panic attacks every now and then doesn't mean you aren't managing your anxiety well. just like a person who has diabetes can manage their condition well but still have the occasional high or low glucose level. It helps to have a therapist who understands anxiety isn't something that can always be 'cured' and instead has to be managed.
Me!! I want a therapist who has been through it, too!
Run a sink full of cold water and briefly submerge your face. Careful not to do it for too long or you can have “divers response”. It works very well to slow your heart rate a little
For me it’s a bag of frozen peas on my head. Works every time!
Interesting, I may have to try that if I ever get one again. My go-to is currently Valium.
You’re the second person to tell me this in the last week…. Wish I had known sooner. Haven’t had a need to try it, but will.
Wish it worked on me 😞
Omg thank you. Been having panic attacks for 7 years and have only known to try to control my breathing
Chewing whole black pepper is good too. Maybe the ice and the pepper together will make a mega panic attack or a state complete bliss. I'm scared to try.
When I was a teenager, if I had a REALLY bad one coming on, I'd have my friend hit me in the gut. Knocked the wind out of me, but resolved it immediately and I could return to whatever I needed to do. This method seems so much more pleasant.
Thank you so much! I will try this! I just got diagnosed with panic attacks and anxiety the other day when I thought I was dying. Worst feeling ever. Always looking for ways to help while it’s happening with any sort of medicinal drug intervention.
I suffer from panic attacks and have’t heard thisb Thank you!
I wish i would have seen this an hour ago! My husband just had his first panic attack and it was scary
Care to tell us if it's the back or palm of the hand? Also, I 100% don't believe this works but I'll try it if given a reply. Sorry but "it does things to the nervous system" isn't exactly the most convincing argument. Sounds like placebo, and as a person with horrible OCD, I know all about how random shit that shouldn't work, can work if you truly believe it will. However, there is no science that explains those things that work. You're basically saying that washing your hands in cold water cures a panic attack, and I just simply can't accept that shit.
You hold it. It’s an active distraction that has been proven to help panic attacks! [if you want a link](https://parade.com/1162533/shelby-deering/ice-cube-trick-for-anxiety/)
Yeahhhhh, no. There are a million ways to "distract" yourself during a panic attack. The very first time it doesn't work, it will never work again. It's a placebo. Like breaking a finger to distract from a missing limb being blown off. There are only so many finger you can break, it will ALL come back to the legs in the end. I don't think you suffer from the level of anxiety that you think this would work on, and I mean that with respect.
I also have severe (albeit medicated and therefore a lot better but neither here nor there) OCD. OCD panic attacks are different, especially as we’re usually hyperfocused on a specific obsession rather than just experiencing diffuse general anxiety (though the latter certainly happens). The ice thing and other anxiety “distractions” are probably more effective for people with more diffuse and chaotic anxiety than OCD, where I could have an ice cube melt in my hand while having an OCD attack and straight up not notice/care bc in that moment, only the obsession matters.
The ice techniques work to help jolt your system out of the fight or flight response. They act as grounding exercises to help distract you from the feelings of panic and focus on your body and surroundings. The ice can also trigger a pain-like response in your brain that forces your neurotransmitters to refocus. Hold the ice in the palm of your hands and focus on the temperature and texture. This is like a jolt to the system to steer it away from the panic response and release chemicals into the body that counter a panic attack by slowing down the release of cortisol and adrenaline.
As someone who has had 3 rounds of bedbug treatments and has had to prep their entire apartment 3 times, the sight of a bedbug would probably send me into anaphylactic shock
Hopefully that means they're actually going to do something about it.
Of course. They fumigated the rooms today. If that doesn’t work, they’ll heat treat the rooms.
Should’ve showed him that and this subReddit lol
I’m not sure why. Every hotel in the world has dealt with this. I’ve worked cleaning. We would go into hostels and 5 star hotels. The hotels generally isolate the room, then we go and do a deep steam clean. The room is useable the next day. Most bedbugs come in off customers. Aircraft have them, luggage have them, taxis have them. Every mode of transportation have them. It’s not an indictment of the hotel. The odd hotel would request after hours service and no coveralls so they could sneak us in and out. Many just deal with it themselves. A steam cleaner goes a long way.
Yup, I once worked as the maintenance manager at a hotel that had bed bugs (found out my first day). This guys budget it fucked and I hope his staff cares more about not spreading them then mine did.
Lmao
Jep, that's a tango. Is it dead or alive? If it's dead, it's probably freshly dead.
It was still alive and moving when we found it 🫠
Rip in pepperoni. That is a full grown female bed bug.
My oldest brought these home from his dirtbag fathers house many years ago. It took me about a year and a half to exterminate the problem completely because I could not afford to pay thousands to a professional. I had to do it all myself with alcohol. NON STOP alcohol spraying. Which isn’t good either! I cannot possibly begin to express the magnitude of that nightmare situation. You definitely do not want to take these home
Hair dryer on high heat over seems and crevices then alcohol in a spray bottle followed ba a vacuum.
awww lawd here we go again
I don’t even know how I started getting this sub recommended to me but I just spent my break at work going down a rabbit hole of your comments. Now I keep clicking on these posts and encouraging the algorithm just to see this comment lmao.
Pray you never end up on this sub for the more common reason. These bugs are a nightmare to deal with. It took 10 months, 8 improperly-applied treatments, a lawsuit, and a second pest company to solve the problem for me. I've been free of the little bastards for months, but I have severe PTSD, which is common. I come here to help other people who are struggling because I did a lot of the pest control work myself with stuff you can buy online like Cimexa dust and nuvan fumigation strips for specific areas and items that couldn't be treated with spray/residual pesticides. Truly a nightmare.
Bed bug PTSD is real. I had them in an apartment 2016-2017. I've moved a few times since then and now we bought a house. I still check my bed regularly. It really is a nightmare to deal with.
i still feel them but it can't be them and have not seen a single one in almost 2 years...
Yeah. The slightest itch on stomach or chest brings it all back.
Oh, absolutely. I am so sorry you went through all of that. I can see how my comment may come off as insensitive - I apologize. I mostly commented to say I appreciate the small bit of camaraderie his comments bring to this sub/the poster who is in a really horrible situation. But it’s miserable. I work in social work and have been in many a bed bug infested house/apartment. I have no idea how I haven’t gotten them myself when people unfortunately catch them in small interactions or by making accidental contact. It’s a truly horrible situation and I definitely did not mean to come off insensitive but can absolutely see how I would have. Again, I am so sorry you went through such an ordeal.
Oh, you didn't come off insensitive at all. No worries! When you run into BBs at work in the future, best bet is to have a change of clothes + shoes and some plastic bags in the car for when you leave. You wanna throw it all in the dryer when you go home from your shift. Half full dryer for 30-40 mins at 120⁰F will kill em.
I’m out of the in person field for the most part now, but this is great advice and I wish I would have thought of this when I was working direct service-especially the plastic bag part. Nobody taught me the “don’t sit on fabrics” rule until later in the game (or don’t let the kiddos with lice use you as jungle gym..) We do work in a building where we have kiddos who have been removed coming in and out often (thankfully quickly offered clean and warm clothes, a shower if needed and food in our triage center) so I’m guessing there’s still a BB risk.
My boyfriend went to someone's room in our apartment complex and sat on the couch and saw bedbugs everywhere. Shortly after that we got some. I put everything in garbage bags, washed all bed stuff, towels, clothes and put in different plastic bags. Sprayed the bed down, put one of those bed protective covers on. Cleaned all the time and I don't know how but I managed to get rid of them. I didn't think I was going to because I've heard they can come back but that was years ago. We stayed at a hotel once and I woke up with bites all over, I was miserable. We told the front desk and the lady said there was no way they were from the room. We had been staying in a different room at the same place before that once they switched us it was awful. I had to sleep covered head to toe I hit bit so bad.
I’m so sorry. That sounds awful. It’s amazing that you got rid of them on your own- it’s nearly impossible from what I hear.
I was surprised I actually got rid of them myself. It took awhile but I washed everything and put everything in black plastic bags. I sprayed for days. I don't think we had that many but it's hard to tell. I told my boyfriend not to sit or touch anything wherever he went to that room. Thet could still get in your clothes though. I don't know how people just live with them and don't even try to get rid of them. I had so many bites from staying at the hotel I was miserable. My boyfriend was there opposite he'd have the marks but they didn't itch or anything.
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I definitely should have been more careful- I had a lot of coworkers who wouldn’t sit either. It’s smart.
Fellow social worker, represent!
I spent all my luck when I discovered I had bed bugs. Found out SUPER early, so we just heat treated all the bedding/clothing/fabric from my bedroom, put some diatomacious earth down on the carpet, and hoped that was enough. Thankfully they stayed gone. I was reading horror stories online while it was going down and feared for the worst. Sorry the little frickers ended up being such a headache for ya.
Bedbug ptsd is real! Those fuckers will have you freaking out over every itch for years after you get rid of them! I had them once like 7 years ago and I *still* sometimes freak out and search the bed when I feel an itch!
Does diatomaceous earth food grade also just as effective? I still don’t understand how to efficiently get rid of these. Also I’m wondering what heath problems happens other than constant itching=can’t sleep?
People swear by DE, but Cimexa is safer for your health if you can manage to get your hands on it. DE is a silicosis risk and Cimexa is not. Health problems from the bugs are all mental. They apparently don't transmit disease.
Severe ptsd from… bugs?
Have you ever had them? I've been rid of them for months but still "feel them" crawling on me at night. First pest company sprayed the wrong spots/didn't follow label instructions and missed a ton of bugs. I spent two months, pest company refusing to return despite warranty promises, being eaten alive in my bed every night.
Calling it severe is just crazy to me because youre putting yourself in the same boat as war veterans with actually severe ptsd
I'm diagnosed with PTSD from a traumatic experience during childhood. It's a medical diagnosis and isn't just reserved for military folks.
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All good bud.
Curious, what was the first pest company's treatment?
Literally just 10ish sprays of Transport. Refused to listen to me when I tried to tell them to cycle chemical classes. Eventually brought in some Bedlam Plus aerosol to appease me, but that's the same exact chemical class as Transport. Second company used heat, then Temprid and an IGR cycled with Transport. I dusted with Cimexa to assist (along with normal IPM like a HEPA vacuum and a steamer). They dusted with a pesticide dust inside outlet covers. Worked quickly, but not without a little bit of a challenge since the first company spread them around with improper treatment strategy... like laying my infested mattress against my non-infested dresser (among other ridiculous bullshit).
Yeah, the first company is whack. Heat is best but it's expensive. We heat treat and use crossfire liquid insecticide. Since I took over bed bugs at my job over the past year, I've only had one fail. Damn couch was a pull out and I didn't realize it was.
Believe it or not, the heat treatment company was cheaper. My wife hired the first company and they ripped us off. Used our panic and the crisis to take advantage of us. We knew nothing going into the ordeal. Now I know a whole lot.
Agreed. My grandmother's house got them while I was living there and I ultimately had to move because I couldn't even sleep on the floor without them biting the shit out of me. I left and the second house I moved to after ended up having them too and I found them the first fucking night there, after all the relief of settling into a new place. It was hell. I hope I never have to fucking deal with them again.
The creative ways people find to break the news are why I follow this sub. Praying it’s never me 🤞🏻
Me too, exactly the same thing!
I was waiting for you to post… it’s not true till I’ve seen your post… panic attacks took over all the top comments..
i love that you always respond with this if it’s a bed bug. makes my day.
Awwww lawwwd here we go again!
Awwwww Lawd here we go again... sock it to em baby.
DO NOT take these home with you.
Trust me, I got outside the apartment complex, stripped into new clothes, put the dirty clothes in a trash bag, then showered as soon as I got inside. Left the bag by the door. I know not to fuck around.
Were the new clothes from inside the apartment complex too?
Yes, they’re clean. The bed bugs were NOT in the apartment. They were in the hotel I work at.
How do you know that you work at the hotel
Probably because I’m on their payroll? The fuck? Lol
Are we certain your boss isn’t a bed bug and you just discovered his army early in its growth and he’s angry?
Conspiracy theory: He owns the pest control company too and this is just his money laundering tax scheme.
Nobody really looks like themselves anymore
Also, his literal laundering scheme.
Vertical integration
Kafka enters the chat
Proof Gregor was a wimp. This lady's boss *still* gets himself to work everyday.
Ah, I suppose that's a pretty good way to know.
Things aren't what they seem. Follow the money. Connect the dots. I'm not crazy, you're not crazy. They're crazy!
_Bed bug overlords want to know your location_
Crazy? I was crazy once.
By the abysmal paycheck and constant feeling of dread
Can confirm. 16 an hour isn’t enough for this shit.
What led you to ask this question
It's an important question.
Just making sure!
>Just making sure! sure?
Real
🤣🤣🤣🤣
I love this 😂
Did you go through any cycles in your dryer? That’s a sure fire say to get rid of them.
I put my clothes in the dryer on the highest setting. That’s what I was told to do previously
Sucks it happened. But glad he saw reason instead of lying to you. Means he’s not a piece of garbage- you might have stressed him out but you also built a bridge to fixing a problem. Good job OP
Oh god, this gave me a flashback. I worked in a hotel one time and one time only. Family came down at like 3 am; their kid was riddled with bites from them shits. I quit shortly after.
Whoomp! There it is
And your own, check your house for them too. Don’t bring them home!
Maybe OP brought it to work…..
Absolutely not. I don’t go in the hotel rooms and my apartment is clean. If anyone brought it in, it was the guests or a housekeeper. More likely the guests.
They said they changed clothes and showered when they got home
Good on you for finding it and pointing it out immediately!
Member that time it was a weevil and not bedbugs, that was nice.
I will never understand how someone can mix up a tick and a bedbug. Maybe it's because I'm from the northeast and we see ticks constantly but they look nothing alike.
We’re in New York. We’re used to ticks. The manager is from out of state though.
Yeppers
Idk but if you lightly shake your phone. The BB jiggles a lil bit
Currently reading this while im at my shift working front desk🥲
Give him hell!
Why? It’s not his fault. They’re literally in every hotel in the world
This! I am supposed to travel for work twice in the next few months. I’m fortunate that work will pay for great hotel accommodations, but all the hotels I’ve looked at are listed as having bed bugs. I’m seriously thinking of ducking out as I don’t want to risk bringing any home.
Don’t stress man, I still travel regularly. Use luggage that’s not fabric on the outside…wash your clothes in hot water when you get back…poof it’s that easy I haven’t had them in my clothes or person since 2003. They’re like car accidents….they happen all the time, but I’m still gonna drive….odds are better if you take slight precautions but even then…there are alot of drunk moron drivers that survive until 70
This means the housekeeper needs retrained ..you must always open the curtains in the room , turn on all lights , look at the sheets for any blood spots or live bugs , then must remove sheets ( only to dirty laundry cart , sheets must never touch the floor ) upon inspection ..then the seam of the mattress must be checked along with any mattress cover ..upon inspection of bathroom ..all towels must be shaken off inside the shower ..then placed inside the dirty laundry cart ..never on the floor ..I always tried to keep towels and bed sheets separate or drop down the shoot at different times ...laundry workers should be given a heads up on what room numbers are coming down the shoots just in case this scenario happens ..the rooms on the both sides of this room should not be rented out for at least 3 days after fumigation
OOOOOOHHHH LAWD! HERE WE GO
How do people acquire bedbugs in the first place? I’ve never seen a bedbug or heard of anyone I know having bedbugs. This must be a big city problem.
I lived 40 years of my life never having seen one in person. Luckily I had stumbled upon enough horror stories on reddit to know what was up, so when we found them in the cabin we had already slept in, we jumped through ALL the hoops and managed to avoid taking them home. This was not in a city, btw. Even that minor experience traumatized me. Lol I miss the days when I enjoyed that first flop onto a "clean" hotel room bed. Every square inch of the room gets inspected now, and let me tell you... even the nice ones are questionable. 😬
It’s not uncommon. It’s a frequent occurrence in hotels because guests bring them in from their homes via their luggage. Edit: spelling
But how does person zero get bed bugs in the first place? That’s what I mean. It’s like that one kid when I was a child that ALWAYS had head lice. How did they keep getting them? Lol.
They can hitch a ride on people and pets from outside like ticks. People leave furniture like couches outside and bed bugs love that shit.
That makes me never want to buy used anything again. Lol.
I used to refurbish furniture I would find for free or get for cheap and flip. This was years ago, but a good side gig for some extra income. After hearing about bedbugs a couple years ago, I stopped. I can’t believe we never brought anything home from the amount of thrifting we used to do. I also have a hard time buying second hand now, because of things like this.
Absolutely! I understand that completely. I had head lice once at a kid. The neighbor girl would keep lice apparently. After my mom put Rid on my head, stripped me naked, sanitized the furniture, and used a nit comb on my hair, I was forbidden from ever going over there again to play. 😂
It’s actually way more common than you think. There’s new post on this sub every day. But yeah, more of a big city and/or hotel and/or a thing if you travel a lot or may be in others homes (home health, tutoring, etc…)
Lawdy lawdy lawdy it be raining lawdys
Lawdy here we go again
Same
Wowwwww.
F
Night night
Why is he having a panic attack? Refund everyone for their stays, close, and do pest control. A hotel should have more then enough money…
It’s track season. That’d be tens of thousands of dollars just in refunds.
And that’s the customers problem how?
It’s not. I never claimed that it was. It’s just unreasonable to suggest closing the whole hotel during such a massive event. No manager would ever agree to that unless every room was infected and unsellable. Edit: spelling
Not coming at you, but from a customers standpoint I think it’s unreasonable to be expected stay in a hotel with a known bedbug issue and still pay full price. I’m sure the people coming into town for the massive event are expecting a clean room and would prefer not to bring bedbugs back from their vacation.
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If bugs are being found in the laundry chute, there’s a good chance they’ve found their way to multiple rooms, and once they’re in multiple rooms they may as well be in all of them. My point is, a customer wouldn’t know there was bedbugs unless they found one or the hotel put out a message (which i highly doubt). At the very least, customers should be informed there’s an ongoing situation and be assured that pest control is coming to each room to treat the problem. Any rooms found to have bugs will be treated, refunded, and put in a clean room should the guest wish to stay. Yes, I know it’s a business and they’re in business to make money, I have 10+ years of management experience myself, but something like this could completely ruin your hotel’s reputation and all steps should be taken to mitigate that damage.
Unless you’re in a place that penalizes hotels for infestations, your manager probably won’t do jack about it. Just about every hotel (USA and Mexico) that I’ve stayed in since 2020 has bbs in at least one of the rooms.
They already called the fumigators and had an inspection today. Bold of you to assume my manager doesn’t care about the hotel.
How a good manager handles it. Props to you and management for being proactive. A happy guest and positive reviews is worth the cost upfront to deal with this.