No-See-UMs
I do not live in Brooklyn, I live in Louisiana and like most of you my husband, doctor, etc… think it is nerves, allergies, or my imagination. I have bought covers for all the mattress, and pillows. I have been prescribed Hydroxyz HCL 25mg, Prednisone 20mg (these medications make me very sleepy even the next…
I do not live in Brooklyn, I live in Louisiana and like most of you my husband, doctor, etc… think it is nerves, allergies, or my imagination. I have bought covers for all the mattress, and pillows. I have been prescribed Hydroxyz HCL 25mg, Prednisone 20mg (these medications make me very sleepy even the next day, very difficult to function while using them) and Permethrin cream for scabies. This helps as long as you wear it and maybe a day or two later, that’s all. I have had bites, and what looks like blisters on my scalp that itch. The medicine gets rid of these. It feels like tiny spiders crawling on my skin, it has a sharp bite when it bites. Sometimes it seems to swarm or viberates on my skin like it is trying to hatch out, then it bites. It seems to be on the ceramic tile floor especially under the lip of the cabinet, in the carpet, in the cloth couches, on the mattress although for now it is gone from there when I removed the plastic cover (for good I pray), and as of late in my car (I have cloth seats and carpet)it feels like I am being pelted with something, even the covers for the mattress and pillows. I have also sprayed the house, car, mattresses, couches, floors, etc… 3 times to what seems no avail. If anyone can help I would apprecite it. I have had very little sleep in 8 weeks, although when I took the cover off our bed I found little black specks, I found these on me occasionally when I would itch or something would bite me. They are too small to see anything. It feels like they swam and collet under me on the couches and seats. They crawl, jump, and seem to fly. They seem to be able to penetrate clothing and bedding quickly. Please Help.
Dear “fellow victim,” well, join the sorry crowd. I’m in Manhattan and for the first time ever no-see-ums have gotten into my apartment. It’s the top floor of a brownstone and just below the roof garden, where I’m sure the breeding ground for these $#$@#$ are. They’ve been eating me alive ever since late August and early September. My partner doesn’t get a bite. I get welts that get progressively itchier as each day goes by. From what I’ve read, this is the “healing process.” If you scratch them, serious dermatological problems can develop. DO NOT SCRATCH! I’ve found that hot water, as hot as you can stand, stops the itching for about an hour, sometimes two. Cortisone creams, even prescription strength, are next to useless. Benadryl may be helpful to lower the discomfort from the itchiness.
As others have said, they are very tiny and can get through the standard screens up here in the NE quite easily. I’ve ordered special no-see-um screening with 20×20 mesh. That is the minimum size you need to keep them out, and, apparently, it won’t block airflow all that much. While I’m waiting for the screens, I’ve kept the windows tightly shut but, since it’s still rather warm up here for early October, I need to keep the air coming in through the a/c. I think that has been a mistake and I’m sure they are getting in through the a/c. I purchased some contraband pesticide called Microcare that contains a powerful dose of pyrethins, the pesticide derived from chrysanthemums. The standard Raid stuff just won’t work and NYS bans almost all useful pesticides. (I suppose we’re just supposed to intimidate bugs up here until they leave!). When I recently fogged the apartment, I had relief for just one night. Then they returned, presumably through the a/c. To get some peace, I pretty much live in DEET. Nothing, I repeat, nothing else repels them for me.
I called an exterminator who told me first it was bedbugs (NOT! had that checked and keep a monitor in the apartment, and sheets and bedding are always unsullied), then he said I probably had body lice or an allergy to dust mites, or I was just neurotic and should see a doctor! I told him that I had captured over 20 no-see-ums on the glue board of two FlyWeb lamps (not all that effective) and I can prove that these creatures are biting me. He was rather impressed with that, but warned me that no one would believe my story since no-see-ums don’t exist this far north! Wrong on just about every count.
So, what do I do? I use DEET. I have ordered the correct screens for my apartment. I have rallied neighbors to keep standing water and other leafy sodden debris cleaned up on a regular basis on the rooftop. And I wait. First for the fine-mesh screens, then the first frost, and the death by old age of these nasty, almost microscopic vampires that torment me. I’m told the adult form, which are the biters and they are all females, just like mosquitoes, live for about a month, maybe a bit more in “captivity.” And, I pray for their early, painful demise.
Another note about no-see-ums: they don’t go far from their habitats, usually no more than 350 feet. But in NYC, they obviously can travel on updrafts much farther distances. I know people who don’t live near parks on gardens who are afflicted. Final bit of advice from all experts is a good defense: fine-mesh screens and no holes or cracks around windows or doorframes where these monsters can get in.
“Fellow victim,” quite frankly, I’d try to fumigate the car over and over again, then wait until winter when you can leave it outside where any adults still alive will freeze to death. Meanwhile, if it’s warm, they will continue to plague you. You might want to sell the car, but that seems rash. Do it only if the above measures fail.
I feel like Job. Really. I do.
Well, I now too am a victim of these bugs, and I am glad to find this site. My husband and I travelled to upstate NY last weekend for Memorial Day and brought them home with us in our new car. We now have the tiny, itchy, red dots all over our bodies. The car now has hundreds to perhaps thousands of the bugs in it, even after vacuuming it and taking it to the car wash the last two days. So sad the car is only a month old!
Now, I am willing to to anything to: 1)kill/control them and 2) prevent them from getting into our home. There are a couple in our house, but not too many yet.
What advice do you have? What cleaning products and sprays/foggers are best? I have been vacuuming everything and wiping down with alchol or Windex. I have been washing our clothes as soon as we get home in hot water and drying on hot. One of my husband’s jackets had hundreds of bugs in it when we took it out of the car. I bought a CO2 machine and an electric bug zapper which should be here in a couple of days. What else should I buy/do??
Should I fumigate or sell the new car? I am going crazy and am desparate to try to save our home.
Sincerely,
A fellow victim
I had posted on Brownstoner a long time ago about the same problem that some of you are having. I thought at that time the little devils that were tormenting me so bad were no seeums but I am not sure now. I think they may be thrips..(I came across a web site that says they can bite, and they are described in a similar way as no seeums)……..I have had misery for most of 4 years, and can relate to Rochelle, about not being believed, and a husband that didn’t get bit. I have since learned they like women, as we have thinner skin, and less hair. I can also relate how they get underneath you, in your clothes,how they vibrate, swarm, and hurt when they bite etc. etc. How they get into your bed, sofas, clothing. I would feel them under the lip of my counters,and in bed at night as well. I have had our home sprayed professionally twice, thrown out so much ‘stuff’, tried oils, and creams, ordered things on the net, tried everything and anything I could think of. They were/are misery. They are not nearly as bad now, and can be tolerated, but we are constantly vacuuming, and doing things to keep the situation in check. Vacuum lots, and lots. Use murphies oil soap for cleaning(comes in a bottle, it has been around for years, and it is 98% natural) My husband is a believer now, as we had a water tray under one of our plants full of tiny black flies. We quickly sprayed, and got rid of the plant. So……..check any plants you have, and get some safers soap for your plants. (One year we had some of our house plants outside, and then brought them in) I wonder now, if this could have been the start of the problem. We also discovered, tiny maggots/eggs on one of the bathroom walls. (get yourself a magnify glass) We are really clean people, but I guess we just didn’t notice this before. (or maybe it is a new area for these little devils,…. who knows)…..Anyway, for anyone out there that is going through this, I feel for you. I know what it is like to go through this, and not have people believe you, and have sleepless terrible nights. I would be glad to help out answering any questions what worked, and what has not. I live in Canada, on Vancouver Island, B.C., so this problem really is a far reaching problem. My e mail is lighthousecountrycottage@shaw.ca
I am distressed!
need help with these salt and pepper bugs that are tiny and crawl all over me and bite, pin bites. the bites do not hurt too much and leave no welts but it is unbelievable annoying to be bitten anytime of the day or night . mostly in my bed! These creatures crawl all over me, get in my ears, bite my backs. I wash my sheets put news ones and then there they are.
I have fogged, sprayed all over- nothing works. they are TINY, now even at my computer screen! I taped them as I pick them from my bed this way.
I have wooden floors do not live by a lake and cannot identify them. This is their size>.< some area little bigger and seem to have wings, some are lighter and tiny. That might be eggs, adults. etc… They feel like sand.
I have thrown bedding away, comforters pillows, bought new ones nothing works.
I moved here two months ago, first month was fine, now this month has been horrible. They seem not to have gotten to my housemate’s room but I have seen them in the shower, and when I sweep the floor is full.
I dont see them move, but i feel them crawling and biting.
Someone please help before i go mad!
Oh my god these things are driving me crazy! It’s so weird, they fly all around my bedroom but nowhere else in the house. It’s gotten so bad that I’ve begun sleeping in the living room. I see them flying all around my lamps and on my walls . It’s disgusting. I live near wetlands so I think they came from there. I also noticed these little wingless bugs all over my windowsill in my room and another bedroom. I wonder if that’s the stage before they develop wings and start terrorizing the world. I just wanna get rid of them!
I’m in East Baton Rouge and I tell you the little no see ums are horrible. Flying fire breathing dragons is how they are described elsewhere. You can’t see the critters to kill them but they will bite you till you go crazy. In Atlanta where I’m from we don’t have this problem. Neither in North Carolina where I was working last.
She’s not nuts or going crazy. They will make you crazy if you don’t take any action against them. When I burned a vanillia candle in my room they didn’t come around. But because the wax vapour was getting in to my computers, I had to stop. Since then I’m getting eaten alive. Looks like it’s back to burning the vanillia candles…
Hun Goole NO SEE UMS and show that to hubby.
Rachelle,
Where do you live in Louisiana. And, crazy as this sounds, have you been in fresh-water ponds/lakes recently. I remember a few years ago reading about duck hunters who were getting some sort of water-borne parasites that led to painful rashes. Two culprits include helminths (a wormy thing) and cyanobacteria.
You might have the same problem as I do. I am extremely sensitive to dust and dust mites. I also get that way if I touch cardboard or anything that has dust on it. My skin gets incredibly itchy and rashy. Then I found this: http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=80723&catid=33262
It seems to help control the mites instantly, and it’s organic unlike a lot of other sprays, which smell incredibly bad. The good thing with this is that you can spray just about anything (clothing, sheets, fabric couches), and just let it dry. I even use it on my carpets and then vacuum. The relief I felt was instant. Hope this helps!
Rachelle,
I feel for you. This is my nightmare. I have sympathetic itching right now in fact.
I think everyone will believe you (?!) and be able to treat the issue, once they know what it is you’re dealing with. Since you have “hot spots”, why not lay down some tape or fly paper or glue traps for a day. Take what collects to a dermatologist or your doctor. It may be yucky, but it sounds like you’ve been dealing with yuckier for too long