Sharon

[Guest guest]

You are such a brave warrior Aandraya. Don't think many people could have had done what you did.

All the best to you !!

Von: Aandraya <aandraya@...>An: "bird mites " <bird mites > Gesendet: 15:34 Freitag, 18.Mai 2012Betreff: Re: Re: sharon

Very true. As sick as I still am with Lyme, the whole infestation and skin nightmare is but a memory to me. I feel like I can deal with anything now!

Aandraya

On May 18, 2012, at 5:25 AM, mitesbegone <no_reply > wrote:

I agree! For in that telling and retelling, it helps newcomers to understand and to believe they will survive, and it reinforces to each of us, what we have been through, lest it fade in our memories until it becomes a nightmarish dream we once dreamed. Thanks for keeping up on our toes,Terry > > >Dearest Sharon, > > > > > >This could be my story. One difference being for me that weeks the invasion I had felt things crawling on my legs. I thought they were ants. We had gone through an intense heat wave recently of temps up to 112 degrees outside; one of the hottest heat waves I've been through in No. Cal. The ants and tiny baby spiders were marching through my office sliding door in lines because the heat was killing them. By a week or so later, an explosion happened in my house. The whole house was infiltrated with something we could not see other than the tiny spiders and a few ants, but we felt them. We were getting bit all over. We had exterminators here too and signed a big contract for many sprayings and PCOs

found nothing. I called the County Vector, they found nothing except they did say that we had rodent feces outside in the open space near the door that were full of mites. My sister from Nebraska had come to visit so I had gone outside to clean up debris of > leaves and twigs to tidy up. Did I track something in the house from muddy shoes? I had also gone to help out at church by doing massive yard work hauling buckets of debris to a truck. Did I get something like springtails on my clothing while doing volunteer work? Also a friend had had birdmites so I thought maybe I had gotten something from her. She and I got together once in a while. And on top of that my husband and I had gone bird watching a few weeks before that. I had dropped my wrap around neck scarf in the dirt (it was cold that day) and I developed a day later an elongated 4" rash on my neck that would not go away from the scarf I had wrapped back around my neck. The rash migrated

from one side of the neck to around the neck in the back near the hairline. Nothing would make it go away. There were so many possible scenarios that might explain how I got an organism on me, into my house, etc. And on top of that, my husband and I so stupidly had > not changed our air filter in our house for the last 11 years, not knowing where it was (near tall 10' ceiling). For years I thought we just happen to have a filterless central air furnace... the humidity in the house was unbearable, and in the summer!!!! Up to 80% humidity in CA is practically unheard of IN A HOUSE. > > > > > >Those were some of the things that possibly led up to our infestation. But from there, the story is like yours. The swarming on the body, getting the medication Hydroxyzine helped me through this so that at least I could sleep. My husband was infested too (another difference with you, but HE WAS infested as badly as I was). I

want you to know that eventually things do get better. My brother and father-in-law paid for our treatment outside of our HMO to see our LLMD. Thank goodness someone believed us and wanted to help us. We suffered terribly. We got rid of all we had and lived out of zip lock bags that held ironed clothing which I washed and steam pressed with my Singer steam press every day, including all our sheets and all bedding. We slept on an airbed upstairs on a bedframe from Ikea. Everything was sprayed and wiped down daily. We had fly paper wrapped around the legs of the bed. I still sometimes had swarming to feet and face, and did some very > bizarre things like sleep in painter's suits with duct tape around any entrance. to sleep. It didn't work. Try to get out of it in the middle of the night when nature calls... or it was so hot in the house I couldn't breath and had to strip down outside to breath. Anyway, many trials and tribulations to my story... I

too wanted to burn my house down. We stopped going to church too. I was so glad my daughter lived in Germany with the grandkids as we wanted no one in our house. I wondered if neighbors had this too, but we said nothing to anyone. When we had the trucks here to take furniture to the dump I did tell one neighbor who lives quite a distance away, and she backed away as fast as she could. We removed all carpets and rugs and replaced flooring downstairs with a vinyl. The cement was coated with some type of thick glue to keep the vinyl down. My husband took off the baseboards in the house downstairs and replaced those, but not until we totally > sealed off the bottom of the drywall to the floor (there is usually a large gap between drywall and floor which is covered up by baseboards) with a thick sticky substance used for sealing out air) to keep anything from getting to us. He did a great job on the baseboards because he used to do carpentry and

cabinets for a living. > > > > > >I do buy the idea about the military testing. I'm sorry, I do. Something is definitely going on. Two examples: my son and daughter-in-law came over on Sunday for Mother's Day brunch. 1) In conversation I found out that my former husband has scabies (I doubt that it is scabies... I think it is either birdmites, springtails or this mysterious thing that most of us here have experienced). He is so stubborn he won't ask for help (he is a very egotistical sort of attorney). He has his law practice in his home, along with a whole slew of dogs. He is my son's dad. 2) my daughter-in-law shared that her 60 year old co-worker has springtails... she has had them for 2 years and still trying to work while treating herself. She is afraid if her boss found out she has them she will lose her job. She has all the SAME symptoms we have all had. I told my daughter-in-law not to hug her or sit in her chair.

This poor woman rents an apt. Landlord has had PCOs come in with > no relief. She really needs to remove all carpeting. This co-worker woman has CFS and Fibro. So they seem to like most of us who have immune problems (pre-existing Lyme?). But we know that anyone can get these, even if healthy. > > > > > >Anyway Sharon, my hopes are that these monsters start to recede for you and you get a real handle on it (it took 10 months for any big differences to be felt here)... I'm available if you ever want to talk. We finally did discover the air filter problem and also bought a dehumidifier, ran it 24/7 for about a year. Treated all drains, continued with all the usual like spraying, cleaning everything constantly, no clutter anywhere, all plants tossed, we had no animals, so one less problem there... things are 90% better, but I still get sensations and occasional bites. So my problem is not 100%. > > >

> > > > > > > Post # 1 of the end of my horror > > > >This is an e-mail that I sent to two pastors at my church on May 9th- one being a PHD of Psychology: > > > >Something

happened to me at the end of February that has shaken me to my core and I need help because of it. I have tried to journal it but will try to summarize it here. > > > >I am an accountant and was in the midst of a very stressful tax season, along with lots of stressful family situations. > > > >I woke up one morning with things crawling all over me. It felt like an army of insects had come over the head of my bed and were swarming my body. I couldn't see them and I couldn't bathe them off. From that point on there was nowhere I could lay down in my house. I couldn't take a nap when I was exhausted and that took it's toll emotionally. > > > >I called three different exterminators. The first two told me it sounded like bird mites and wanted me to sign a contract so they could start extermination. I resisted because I needed more information so I googled Bird Mites and found the site BirdMites.org. There is a link to find an expert in the field. I applied. The one who came out basically told me "it's all in your head". At least that's what I heard at the time. He used his 30x magnifier on "samples" I'd trapped but couldn't see anything so he gave me an address to send the samples to the Entomology Dept at the U of FL in Gainesville. I "trapped" some more from my body on glue boards and sent them off. The results were that they saw nothing. He also referred me to a woman in Winter Park whose whole family had been suffering similarly. I called her but her case was quite different than mine. The whole family was affected and they gave up, disposed of all their belongings, sold their home and > moved. > > > >My husband has been working with the folks at DIY Pest Control in Oviedo, where we have spent a fortune on different treatments. It seems like

mites, all kinds, are rampant and mostly untreatable. The curious thing is that my husband is not bothered by them. The info on the internet says that frequently they will pick a host, usually a female, and not bother anyone else in the household. In fear, I have isolated myself from my family - the worst thing is from my great-grandchildren who need me to care for them, often. I am in such fear of infecting others that I have not been to church but once or twice in the first days since this hit me. If I run to the store and see a friend who wants to hug I get sick. I avoid anyone I know like the plague. > > > >I made it through tax season but I could barely work with things crawling on me every moment. It was horrible trying to talk to a client professionally but feeling like a crazy person feeling things crawling on my neck and face and wondering if they could see them. > > > >Where did these mites come from?

Did I pick them up from somebody? Did I bring them in with something I bought? Are they from some animal or something in the yard? They find me wherever I am. I moved from my bed to the sofa bed. I slept outside in my van a few nights. I bought an air mattress that I moved from room to room. We even stayed in a hotel for four nights. Each night their presence on me was increased so much so that on the fourth night I laid in bed feeling them going into my mouth, nose and ears and asking the Lord to just take my life. Nothing kept them off me and I rarely got more than two hours sleep a night. I cannot sleep in my bed which we have sprayed and wrapped in three layers of painters plastic drop cloth and sealed with packing tape. There were many occasions at night that I laid there feeling as if they were coming out of my body because they were just "appearing" without having crawled to get wherever they were. I have > considered suicide on more than

one occasion. I began to believe someone had put a curse on me. > > > >I have been to my primary care physician 2 times and felt like she didn't believe me so I changed doctors. She did however give me 2 prescriptions. Methylprednisone (for 6 days) and Hydroxyzine (to take at bedtime each night). Can you imagine! The purpose of that medicine is to calm me down enough so that I can sleep when things crawl on me! > >The first appointment I can get with my new primary care is May 23rd. > >I have been to a walk-in clinic twice. The doctor there seems more concerned than anyone else I've been to. However, her treatments for Scabies brought no relief. I guess if you don't know what it is treat for anything. She referred me to a Dermatologist who travels worldwide on mission trips and has seen things we don't see here in the US. I have not yet made an effort to see him. > >I've been to a doctor outside my plan

and paid $75 out of pocket to be told to order some skin cream off the internet. I guess she thought my rough skin was the cause. I've been bathing in Epsom Salts, Clorox, Lysol, 20 Mule Team Borax, Dawn Dish Detergent and Arm & Hammer Washing Detergent. Many of these things were recommended by a person at DIY Pest Control and some of the like sufferers on a forum I found. > > > >I've been to two different acupuncturists a total of three times and have some of the worst tasting concoctions anyone could ever imagine. One is treating for parasites and the other says it's my circulation and nervous system. he gave me some "relax" herbal pills. > > > >One Saturday morning, after many days of less than two hours sleep on any night and taking several baths each day and using lice shampoo (sometmes 3x in one day alone) to get them off my scalp, my husband took me to the ER at 5AM. They gave me an IV with Ativan

and I got about four hours sleep there. They gave me a prescription for some over the counter allergy pills which I already had in the cabinet. > > > >Let me add that prior to this I had no health issues and am on no meds. I resist drugs and believe in the healthy way. To get relief from this I RAN to the doctor(s), etc begging for help and swallowed everything they suggested and more. > > > >My husband has been praying for me. Friends I have told have been praying for me. And, I've been calling out to God, begging, pleading for help. April 21st I put an anonymous prayer request on the church prayer request link. > > > >We paid for a week at the hotel but the fourth night was so horrible we checked out and returned home. At this time suicide was first and foremost in my mind. Knowing that we need more help than I've been able to get I called the exterminator who came out at the beginning of

this. He had news for me. He is a Christian and told me that first and foremost I need to have my church praying for me. So here I am. Then he told me he has been in this business for many years, over thirty I believe, and his experience has been that if you can't see something it isn't there. Then he added "there is always the possibility that the government has created something to use in warfare, but as yet we don't know that". I didn't think that strange because in my search on the internet I had already seen that as a theory. Then he told me of someone who had called him. A retired police officer, swat team member. Intelligent, educated, sharp and analytical. All the qualities > associated with someone in that field. His malady came on the same as mine, in that it struck in one day. Just as for me, no treatment worked. He was so stricken that he considered burning his house down. So have I. The end of that story is that he had experienced an

emotional breakdown and St Wort healed him. Other than that, I have no information. I hope the exterminator will put us together so I can get more info. > > > >St Wort is one of the things I didn't have on my counter so I ran to Whole Foods and bought what appears to be the best St Wort on their shelf and began taking it immediately. I don't doubt that I had an emotional breakdown because of all the pressure on me at that time. It all makes sense now but I rejected that theory until yesterday. > > > >I also went to Home Depot and bought wide double sided tape. I came home and cleaned the top of my mattress, already wrapped in three layers of painter's drop cloth and sealed with packing tape, vacuumed both the mattress and the air mattress, sprayed them both down with Lysol and then made a border on both with the very sticky double sided tape. I washed my pillow in Arm & Hammer laundry soap and a

little Ammonia. It was dry at 1:30 AM and everything was ready Nothing was going to crawl on me that night! I went to bed crying because I could no longer sleep in my nice fluffy bed with crisp sheets and a down comforter. Now, my bed is a vinyl air mattress with no sheet and very sticky double sided tape around it. I sleep covered with a Queen size flat sheet folded in half crosswise and am always fearful that it will droop off the side and allow the mites to crawl up that way. Last night there was no chance at all of that happening because I was double > protected by the tape on the air mattress and the outside border of the mattress on my bed. > > > >At 4:30 I woke up with things crawling all over me from the soles of my feet to my scalp. I quickly jumped up and ran to get the black light the exterminator had told me to use. Shining it in the dark will reveal anything that is there. I checked the vinyl air mattress from top

to bottom, I saw lots of white specks but none of them were moving. I used a very big magnifier that I use for my sewing and crafts to see better. Nothing moving. Then I took the light and looked into my 10x mirror in my bathroom, at spots on my face, chest and body that I felt the crawling. Nothing! Then I knew that the exterminator had to be right. I can't tell you how much that calmed me, really calmed me. I went back to bed and right to sleep and slept till 9AM when the phone woke me up. > > > >I know it's far from over and I need help to get over this and make sure it never happens again. I feel that crawling all day and night and I have been reluctant to call for help because I believed I was infested with mites and was fearful of infecting people with whom I came in contact. I don't know what help to ask for other than prayer. If there really is something then our home needs to be anointed and prayed over. Since the first day

only a little over two months ago, this has cost us close to $3,000 in co-pays, out of network doctors and meds, etc, every kind of herbal thing from Leaves & Roots you could ever imagine, cleaning supplies I don't ordinarily use, pesticides and equipment and on and on and on. And the work has been beyond exhausting. Spraying, scrubbing, cleaning, steaming, washing every item that I touched even one time. I really want my life back. > > > >Sharon > > > >I will post what followed tomorrow. > > > > > > > > > > > >------------------------------------ > > > >