Just found about this forum

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I've been living the horror of mites since the end of February. Exterminators

said it was either from rats (no signs of such) or birds (there was a bird nest

on a column by my front door). That bird nest had been there for years but as

soon as I heard it could be the culprit I ripped it down & sprayed all around.

Though my husband and I both live in the house I have become the host. They do

not bother him or he does not feel them. I have sent samples off to the

Entomology Dept at U of Florida and am anxiously awaiting results. I'm wondering

how long it might take.

There are some possibilities of mites from other sources. Two days before they

woke me in the morning, swarmng all over me, my granddaughter had been here with

her two babies. She laid in my bed and nursed them as she has always done.

However, what is different now is that she and her fiance had recently moved

from an apartment to a house, a very old house, and they have a pig in a pen in

the back yard. And, he hunts racoons, kills them and puts them in a bag in the

freezer until he accumulates a few to send to a buyer who pays him per. My

granddaughter could have carried mites from either of those sources to my house.

However, I don't think the hundreds/millions that were swarming all over me

could have increased so in just 2 days. Could that be possible?

Another possibility is: Possums have been tearing up my yard so I set traps and

leave them in the traps until they die then my husband puts the trap and all in

his van to dispose of the dead animal. It is highly likely that mites from the

possums got all over his van and him and he carried them into the house where

they adopted me.

Another possibility is these could be mites from our yard. We have removed all

grass and covered the ground with mulch. When the leaves fall off the trees we

just leave them there. I was reading on the internet that there are mites that

thrive in decaying matter. Here in Central Florida we did not have the usual

winter freezes so it is an ideal setup for such mites.

The original attack was in my bed. After a few nights I moved to the sofabed.

The first night was great but the second night they found me. I went outside and

slept in my van. It was uncomfortable but mite-free. After a few nights I

decided to make it more comfortable and brought out bedding. Bingo! I must have

carried them with me! I bought an air mattress and set it up in my dining room.

The first night was great! The second night they found me. Right before bedtime,

my husband sprayed the carpet, I laid down a sheet, set the air mattress on the

sheet and made a border of Borax all around the base of the air mattress. I

wasn't in bed five minutes and they were crawling on me. At about 3Am one Sunday

morning I dragged the air mattress into my office. I work there and thought it

was a bug free zone. I was exhaused and fell asleep quickly and slept soundly.

At 6 AM I woke up totally covered, worse than ever. They were swarming as never

before. I can't even describe the feeling I had in my body. I could feel

" spriong " " sproing " " sproing " ! I laid there thinking " My God! They are coming

out of my body " !!It was horrible. That day I told my husband I was going to jump

off the Sun Bank Building and he sprung into action. It's very hard for him to

see me suffering like this and not know how to fix it.

I have tried many of the solutions I have seen on the internet, most are a waste

of time. Waking up with mites all over my face, in my nose, mouth and ears

totally freaks me out. My doctor had never heard of such a thing and didn't

believe me. Knowing that would probably be the case, my husband accompanied me

to see her. She gave me METHYLPREDNISOLONE & HYDROXYZINE. They help me sleep but

when I fall into a deep sleep I wake up traumatized because of all the mite

activity all over my body, especially my face. I keep a lint roller and pieces

of wide packing tape on a nightstand by my bed so when they wake me up, I can

remove the ones crawling on me, especially my face, neck & ears. I have been to

Leaves & Roots and bought Tea Tree Oil Extract, Shampoo, Conditioner & Body

Wash, Eucalyptus Extract, Oregano Extract. All nice, but none work. My husband

has bombed the house seven times - six bombs each times. He has sprayed with

BIfen 1T and Zenprox, in and out and spread granules. I have bathed in bleach

water, Lysol and Epsom Salts, used lice shampoo, sprayed myself with Lysol

Spray, Windex and Listerine and on and on and on. I have purchased vacuum

storage bags and after washing and/or drying on high heat I have encased all the

bedding previously on my bed, etc in the bags with moth balls and sealed them

shut with the vacuum - for the long term. No more bed pads, comfortors, pillows

and shams. I bought a storage cabinet for the back porch to keep the vacuum

cleaners in so they will be out of the house.

I am going to seek the help of a local herbologist to see if there is something

I can do to make myself unattractive to them. There must be something since they

will pass up one person to get to another.