Physical and psychological damage

Physical and psychological damage

Outside Lawson's home, a mattress rests up against a tree beside a box spring and other items that have become infested with bed bugs.
Her clothes are in big, plastic garbage bags. Each time she wears something, she throws in into the wash right away in steaming hot water to get rid of any critters that might have crawled on.
The lack of sleep and anxiety are getting to her.
"I've become a social pariah," she said, her voice cracking with emotion. "I can't let anyone come over because I don't want to infest them, I'm too stressed out and exhausted to go out."
She is extremely fearful someone will find out her house is infested. Aside from not wanting to reveal her real name, she refuses to allow pictures of anything that might identify her house.
She said she's been on the Internet non-stop reading about bed bugs and the people who have been affected by it. She's read about people burning their house down, and others walking around their house in a burqa, an Islamic veil that covers the entire body except for the eyes.
"You have to see this, this is what I'm dealing with," she says, logging on to YouTube.
She plays video after video, each edited to resemble a horror flick about creepy, crawly bed bugs that bite and haven't let this woman sleep tight in a while.