First, if you were considering going crazy because of bed bugs, you’re going to need your mind to get rid of them. It’s the best tool you’ve got. The quicker you act, the less you will react, and believe me…really, I understand what you are going through.

First, you have to sleep. Trying to deal with this on 3 hours of broken sleep a night will wear you down and you won’t have the energy to do what you need to do, and you may make bad decisions that prolong your infestation due to sleep deprivation.

You’re doing the right thing by learning everything you can from https://www.bedbugsnorthwest.com. Read and re-read everything. Get rid of clutter, discard clutter in sealed bags,  ziplock what you want to keep, and don’t open it till you can decontaminate it. Assume everything might have bugs or eggs on or in it. Remember the goal is to get to zero. It can seem daunting, but it will eventually happen.

Get your pest person there and have them do their thing. Remember, this is 80% education and 20% poison. I don’t think anyone gets rid of them without using some poison, so don’t waste a lot time wishing and hoping for a natural remedy. The longer you take to eradicate, the more bed bugs you will need to exterminate. You will use natural solutions, like steam, lots of vacuuming, Murphy’s Oil and 90% alcohol (contact kill – don’t get in eyes, or sleep in it.)

Ask your PCO (pest control officer) if you can mop your floors after treatment – they might not think to tell you or you may not see see them when they are done treating. Find out what they used, they should leave you some kind of paper with what pesticides they used and where. Know where they treated, not just what they used. You will need that information if you want to wash or steam around your house. Don’t wash or steam treated areas until the pesticides are inactive which can be up to 90 days depending what residuals your pest company used.

After your PCO treats your house discuss with them what follow up treatments they will be providing. Since very few pesticides kill eggs, most chemical treatments for bed bugs require reapplication at 10-14 day intervals to kill newly hatched bed bugs.

Sleep: By now you should have protected your mattress and box spring with bed bug proof mattress encasements. This brand has been proven to prevent bed bugs from coming in or from escaping out of the zipper.

Next you can prevent bed bugs from climbing up into your bed by using Climb-up Interceptors.

Now that you’ve got them out of the bed, you can sleep. They’ll still try to get to you but they’ll have to cross over the poison and they can’t get you in bed.

It’s true that cleaning up is a BIG part of this treatment. Vacuuming, mopping if it’s OK, 90% alcohol to spray on bugs if you see one.

Do not douse yourself in alcohol every night, it’s dangerous to breath concentrated fumes, and you will only dry your skin out to the point where it just cracks open causing further skin irritation. If your bed is isolated, bedding off the ground, and you clean as a whistle you don’t need to do the alcohol/pajamas tucked into socks routine at night.