Phobia - cockroaches

[hydrogirl]

So, as ashamed as I am to admit that I am scared to death of a bug that is much, much smaller than I.....I am.

As I'm getting ready for bed tonight, I see one of the little buggers crawling along the top of the door between bed and living room. By the time I grab the Raid, he's gone. Mind you, we grow some big old roaches in these parts....

I.....shaking, heart pounding, sweating, crying.....I'll be up the rest of the night now.

And, I'm physically worn out from work, too....Any thoughts anyone?

Hugs, HG

[suki44883]

Call a professional exterminator. I have one that comes out 3 times a year and treats both the inside and outside of the house. You could also buy some foggers and set them off while no one is at home. I have also heard that borax works wonders, too. Just sprinkle it along your baseboards and inside the corners of your kitchen cabinets. I haven't seen a roach around here in several years.

[hydrogirl]

Well, not much in the way of sleep last night. I sprayed under cabinets and in the closet and under kitchen appliances.....I found the little devil dead in the middle of the bathroom floor around 6 a.m.

Since I live in an apartment, I can't hire my own exterminator. I do plan on contacting the office today to see what can be done (especially since I have a pop-up into the crawl space in my ceiling--shudder!).

Lots of obsessive cleaning going on this morning! Hugs, HG

[evmdimples]

Oh yuck, I can so relate (I have a bit of a phobia as well, comes from a few childhood incidents; seems they know this and so I've had some very BAD experiences with the little buggers; they grow them big and aggressive in these parts!) I came back from my CoDA meeting last night and they were feasting on the cat kibbles. Luckily it is outside, but I know they'll be heading inside soon. They are the big huge Palmetto bugs, the ones that fly at you.... ((shudder))! Will be doing some spraying myself today, (and moving the cat dish further away!)

[suki44883]

Yeah, living in an apartment makes it so much harder. You can clean and spray and do everything possible; however, you never know the conditions of your neighbors' place. Roaches roam from apartment to apartment. All you can do is try to keep up. Do try the boric acid though. When I lived in apartments, I always kept some around for just that reason. If you look at the label on a container of the name brand "Roach Proof," you'll see that the main ingredient is boric acid. You can get it at any hardware store and many drug stores, and it's much cheaper than the name brand stuff.

[hydrogirl]

Thanks, everyone!!!! It's at least nice to know that I'm not the only one freaked out by the little devils.....I'll get some of that boric acid powder and give it a go....

Last year I used that expanding foam sealant around pipes and other cracks in the apartment. Now....if I could just NOT have a full-blown anxiety attack hen I find one......

Hugs, HG

[BlueMoon]

I think hating and fearing roaches is a healthy thing ... *eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew*

son + I lived in a "buggy" (see, I hate to write the WORD!) ... "buggy" apartment when he was little. One thing that helped is "BORAX" and a little bit of sugar mixed in for the bait. I used to put little piles around the kitchen and bath at bedtime. The Borax kills them and best of all, it sticks to the legs and goes to the nest with them to kill more.

(Borax is usually in the laundry detergeant aisle)

[joedris]

You're suffering from a phobia about bugs. It's nothing to be ashamed of, and counseling can help you to deal with it. And be careful with the bug spray. That can cause some serious problems by itself.

[Sweets79]

Originally Posted by hydrogirl

So, as ashamed as I am to admit that I am scared to death of a bug that is much, much smaller than I.....I am.

As I'm getting ready for bed tonight, I see one of the little buggers crawling along the top of the door between bed and living room. By the time I grab the Raid, he's gone. Mind you, we grow some big old roaches in these parts....

I.....shaking, heart pounding, sweating, crying.....I'll be up the rest of the night now.

And, I'm physically worn out from work, too....Any thoughts anyone?

Hugs, HG

Hey hydrogirl,

No need to be embarrassed. I'm not fond of bugs myself. When I moved into my old apt. I didn't know there was a centipede problem. I SCEEVE them. I started seeing one, two, three... Then when I saw them at night I couldn't sleep. I remember I stayed up all night because I was so scared the thing was gonna crawl on me while I was sleeping. I used to stress about it so much. Eventually I moved, but even now when I see one, it's unsettling. The worst is when you see one right before you go to bed =/ Call the exterminator if it becomes a big problem. That's what I would do.

Hope you got some sleep

[hydrogirl]

Sadly, once big bug season starts here in the South, I'm jumpy all the time. I think EVERYTHING I SEE out of the corner of my eye is a big old American Cockroach!

First apartment I had in this town was so bad that I would sit in my car in the parking lot and try to talk myself into going in....'cause I was SURE to find one somewhere. Did not matter how much the bug man came to treat the place.

I just hope that someday I can get past that. My insurance right now won't pay for any sort of desensitization therapy, which is what a counselor recommended once. So....I just walk around with a broom in one hand and a can of raid in the other! (I try to not spray neurotoxins about too often, and never would spray on the kitchen counter--i've become pretty handy with the broom if I can get past the initial anxiety attack!)

Thanks everyone!
HG

[Wascally Wabbit]

Let me make a suggestion.
I had roaches in the last apartment I lived in. I absolutely hated coming home, especially going to bed.
There was this ad on TV. I had tried every single roach killer known to man kind.
Weekly bombs, powdered bug killer, you name it.

Well I fell for the ad.
I did exactly what it told me to do.
I SWEAR this is the best thing to come along EVER.
I don't work for this company, so pleas take my advice and try this product.
I was completely infested with thousands of these bugs. After spraying it around, the bugs were gone in a week.
It's called Bengal Gold Roach killer.
It's a very cheap way to get your sanity back. Don't use anything other than the gold cap product. It kills them dead, and makes them unable to reproduce.
Awesome product.
I used it, and never had another roach.

[hydrogirl]

Thanks so much for all the suggestions! Hugs, HG

[blitzen]

i have an intense phobia of them myself, and so does my sister. she swears by the bengal spray, and the awesome thing about it is that it seems to kill everything you spray it at. (i had an incident the other night with the hugest scariest moth that there ever was. and poof! all taken care of.)