Over the Counter Pesticide Products Will Not Get Rid of Bedbugs

Pesticide products sold over the counter to kill bedbugs may cause more harm than good, according to Dini M. Miller, Ph.D., Entomologist for Virginia Tech. At best, these products are ineffective, at worst; they may get people and pets ill. The best way to eliminate bedbugs is to hire a pest management professional, advises Cornell University.

Lack of Contact with Bedbugs

Bedbugs need to come in contact with the insecticide in order to be poisoned. But since bedbugs have nearly flat bodies, they can hide in cracks and crevices in walls, floors or furniture and wait until the insecticide loses its potency. Even insecticide "bombs" or aerosol foggers only coat the surface of objects with insecticide and do not penetrate into places where bed bugs hide. These "bombs" are highly flammable and have been known to suddenly explode.

Multiple treatments of these products fail to kill bedbugs.  But aerosol foggers coat the room and objects with a layer of insecticide that may sicken pets and people because they are far more likely to come into contact with the residual pesticides than the bedbugs.

Resistance

Pesticides that could kill bedbugs decades ago, such as pyrethroids, now do not work.  Over the counter pesticides consist of pyrethroids.  Unfortunately, bedbugs are increasingly becoming resistant to pyrethroids.  Pyrethroids attack the bug’s nervous system and cause paralysis. But bedbugs protect their nerve cells with genes that break down toxins from pyrethroids into harmless chemicals, according to Ohio State University.  Bedbugs that survive pyrethroid exposure pass this resistance to their offspring.  

Fun Facts

Adult bedbugs survive up to one year between meals, according to Cornell University.  Bedbug larvae, called nymphs, can only survive a few months.  But this is long enough to wait out a pesticide treatment.  If only one room is treated or one apartment in a large building, then bedbugs can scamper from the treated area to untreated rooms and apartments, infecting them. Eventually, they return to the originally treated area.  

All rooms in a home or building need to be treated simultaneously, although this is still not guaranteed to kill all of the bedbugs, especially eggs.  Only professional strength insecticide sprays can kill eggs.  These insecticides are often licensed, depending on what state, province or country one lives in.

Alternative to OTC Products

Cornell University states that it takes two or more treatments by pest control professionals in order to eliminate bedbug infestations.  But even insecticides cannot do the job alone.  Homeowners must vacuum floors, baseboards and furniture; all clothes, bed linens, small pillows and machine-washable stuffed animals washed in hot water and large pillows placed in a hot clothes dryer.  Just cleaned items need to be placed in plastic bags until the infestation is considered over. 

All cracks in furniture, walls or floors need filling in so bedbugs cannot find hiding spaces and females cannot find spots to lay their eggs.  Beds and sofas may not have to be tossed unless this is recommended by an exterminator. 

References

Virginia Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services: “Bed Bug Treatment Using Insecticides.”  Dini M. Miller, Ph.D. http://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/pesticides/pdffiles/bb-treatment1.pdf

Cornell University New York State Integrated Pest Management: FAQ List for Bed Bugs

http://www.nysipm.cornell.edu/whats_bugging_you/bed_bugs/bedbugs_faqs.asp#killwith

University of Kentucky: “Bed Bugs.”  Mike Potter; August 2008. http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef636.asp

National Public Radio. “Bedbug Genome Reveals Pesticide Resistance.”  Jon Hamilton; January 19, 2011. http://www.npr.org/2011/01/19/133057071/bed-bug-genome-reveals-pesticide-resistance (Describes findings by Ohio State University.)

Image of bedbug nymph feeding on a person from the CDC

Getting Your Home Ready for Bedbug Treatments

One reason why bedbugs (also spelled bed bugs) are so hard to get rid of is because you have to do some extensive preparations to a building before an exterminator can come in to do the voodoo he do so well.

It will take many hours, even a good chunk of a weekend, to get your home ready for a bedbug treatment.  Bed bugs are tiny and can slip into incredibly thin cracks in walls, floors, furniture, electronics, clothes, bedding and just about any other damn thing you can think of.  If bedbugs were as big as pictured in this photo, then they'd be easy to kill because they could not fit into their hiding spots. 

Icky image of bedbug on skin from Wikimedia Commons.

Can Foods Help Cure Insomnia?

 
Insomnia is a big problem but most people do not want to take medications to get sleepy.  So they try to get sleepy with food.  Insomnia is a much more complicated problem than a single food can cure.

The recent home remedy for insomnia is to eat two pieces of bread.  This is for the type of insomnia where you sleep for a couple of hours, wake up and cannot fall back to sleep.

I've tried this home remedy and can report that it's a bunch of hooey.  According to the National Sleep Foundation, combining proteins and carbs make you sleepy.  Other foods that supposedly make you sleepy (and yet, somehow, do not work for me include):

• Cereal and milk (cereal needs to contain protein and not just sugars)
• Peanut butter on bread or crackers
• Cheese and crackers

Now, just because food does not get me sleepy doesn't mean it won't get you sleepy.  Here's one of my older blog posts on Foods that Make You Sleepy, which also includes a list of foods containing tryptophan.

Although alcohol can make you drowsy, it interferes with deep sleep, so you wind up not getting the quality sleep that you need.

Sleep Patterns of Horses

I know that this blog is generally focused on human sleep and dreams, but sleep behavior of other species can just be so damn interesting.  Also, there might be one or two of you that own horses or soon will own horses and need to know their basic behaviors, like what horses do when they sleep.

For example, it is normal for horses to not sleep as much as dogs, cats or people.  Foals tend to sleep laying down more often than adults.  Horses, like people, can also suffer from sleep deprivation.

Since horses are prey animals, they evolved to spend most of their time awake in order to respond quickly in case a predator made an appearance.  Even though horses have been domesticated for thousands of years, this trait has still not been removed.  It’s rare for a horse to lay down for the deepest possible sleep unless the horse feels that the area is safe enough for him to do so.

Standing Up

Not many studies have been made on the sleeping behavior of horses, but one unscientific one was done by photographer Robert Vavra. During his decades of photographing horses, he got to see many horses in a feral or semi-feral state.  He noted in Such is the Real Nature of Horses (1979) that horses sleep in three body positions.

The first is the sight most of us are familiar with: a horse asleep while standing up.  The head is down, the lower lip drooped and one hind leg is cocked. The forelegs do not need to be cocked because they can stand the weight.  This is the lightest form of sleep because they can quickly run away should danger threaten.  Horses approached in this position need to be talked to softly so that they wake up before you touch them, otherwise the horse may panic.

Lying Down

The other two body positions of sleeping horses include lying on the chest with the head up (although the jaw may be touching the ground) and lying flat out on one side.  Foals often need to sleep lying down on their sides because their bodies use up so much energy for growing.  Horses can only lie on their sides for about twenty minutes at a time.  The blood them begins to pool on their side they are lying on and the pain wakes the horse up.

Horses need stalls large enough for them to lie down in and get this deep sleep.  Many horses in this deep sleep snore or show signs of dreaming.  Horses waking up from this type of sleep will be quite groggy, as opposed to horses that sleep standing up.  When horses live in herds, they take turns lying down to sleep while others keep watch.

Sleep Deprivation

Horses need about six hours of sleep per night and tend to catch naps during the day.  If a horse is stressed out, she cannot sleep.  After a few days, the horse may begin suffering from sleep deprivation.  Not much is known about sleep deprivation in horses, but some British horse clicker trainers believe many domesticated horses trained with harsh methods or horses that live alone are most prone.

Sleep deprivation can harm the horse’s immune system and general well-being because they are on such constant stress.  The horse may suddenly fall asleep in bizarre times like getting tacked up or just before being fed because their bodies are in desperate needs of REM sleep.  The horse may fall asleep standing but suddenly begin to collapse.  The fall wakes the horse back up.

Image of sleeping thoroughbred foal by Daita for Wikimedia Commons.

Do Dreams Predict the Future?

I was watching an episode of Doomsday Preppers (I can't remember why) and saw one family that spending all of it's time and money preparing for doomsday solely because Dianne Rogers (the wife) keeps getting a recurring dream about doomsday.  Their entire lives (hubby, wife and 6-year-old daughter) revolve around this dream.

Which begs the question -- do dreams predict the future? 

No, they don't.  They can influence your own future, but dreams are in no way reliable predictors of future events. 

Case in point: the 1957 Kentucky Derby.  John Nehrud, trainer of the hot favorite, Gallant Man, had a dream that jockey Bill Shoemaker would lose the race by misjudging the finish line.  Nehrud warned Shoemaker about this dream before the race. 

During a stretch drive when Gallant Man was nose to nose with Iron Liege, Shoemaker did indeed misjudge the finish line and stood up in the stirrups as jockeys are supposed to do when a race ends, letting the horse know that he (or she) can finally slow down.  Iron Liege won, with Gallant Man second by a nose (see offical photo finish above.)  Some point to this as proof that dreams can predict the future.

Keep in mind that this is the biggest race of all in American thoroughbred racing. Because it's restricted to three-year-olds, a horse has only one shot at running. Sometimes trainers, owners and jockeys only get one shot at it, too. Jockeys -- even legendary athletes like Bill Shoemaker -- are prone to cracking under extreme pressure.

Being warned about makng a major mistake may cause you make a mistake.

Think about all the times you thought your dreams would predict the future -- a dream about marrying a certain someone, picking the correct lottery numbers -- that sort of thing.  Dreams usually do not come true.  Dreams may give us a peek into our own decision-making abilities and creative imaginations, but do not live your life by them.  Or tell the jockey of your horse about them.

Despite this, Psychology Today reports that 50% of "the general population" believe that they have precognitive dreams.  So why do so many people insist that they have prophetic dreams?  It's because they believe they do -- not because they actually do.  We tend to pay attention to events that reinforce our beliefs and ignore those that don't. This is called confirmation bias.

"The Harvard Medical School Guide to A Good Night's Sleep"; By Lawrence Epstien, MD: My Review

I'm going to let the cat out of the bag now and let you know that I cheated for this book review.  I didn't read the entire book.  I skipped the parts that weren't pertinent to my life, such as the detailed description of what it's like to visit a sleep clinic, since the odds of me ever going to one are practically nonexistent. 

Otherwise, I did read The Harvard Medical School's Guide to A Good Night's Sleep (McGraw Hill; 2006) and can recommend it for anyone concerned about getting a good night's sleep.  This is a short look at sleep problems written for the layperson.  It does not go into much detail for particular problems like insomnia, narcolepsy, restless  legs and other disorders, but does give you enough information to know that you really do not want to have these problems.

There is a big section devoted to children's sleep problems, which parents will (hopefully) find useful.  Since I do not have kids I can't evaluate how good the information is.

This is part of a series of short, easy-to-read medical guides put out by the Harvard Medical School and Harvard Health Publications.  Harvard Heath Publications' website is a reputable and understandable medical reference for people not involved with the medical industry.

The only big criticism I have of the book is it's 7 Step Plan for getting good quality sleep. Step one is "Recognize the need for good sleep."  Really?  That's a step?  Wouldn't the fact that you picked up the book negate this step?  It's advice like that that keeps me up at night.  Am I recognizing the need for good sleep enough?

Dreamt that My Abuser Committed Suicide

I last saw my abuser (whom I'll call Mitch) in real life in September of 2005.  However, I see him at least once a week in my dreams and nightmares.  He beat me up for about five years so I left him in December of 2004.  I even left the damn continent he lived on to get away from him.  And yet I can't get rid of him in my dreams. 

But last night was the first time I dreamt that Mitch committed suicide. He suddenly jumped out of a window while we were having an argument.  The building looked a lot like the dorm I lived in at Millersville University, Hull Hall (pictured).  That building was only three stories.  In my dream, it was a lot taller.  Mitch went splat.  I'm hoping this is a positive development for my subconscious. 

At the end of my dream, I did get picked up by the police as a "person of interest" in  Mitch's suicide, considering that I was present when he jumped.  Damn that reality getting in the way of my dreams again.  Although I wasn't too happy about being implicated in Mitch's suicide (and having to explain all this to my Mom), I felt tremendously relieved.

Let me emphasize here that I have NO plans to return to the UK, locate Mitch and nag him to death.  If I never see Mitch again, it's can't be too soon -- whether in real life or in my dreams.