HELP! Scabies is killing me!!

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I am a student currently living in Istanbul and studying here for 1 year. Before christmas my body was itching like mad, i thought it was just the chage in water, dry skin or weather changes. However, went i went back home to the uk the gp said it was scabies. I used some malathion cream and it got a bit better. However, now i am back in turkey and need to useth malathion cream again. I am scared that it didnt work the first time. Also i hae been reading reviews, do I need to wash my sheets every day and change them every day? How much caution should i take? Because i feel like i need to be changing everything every day and that would just take too much time, also i have exams coming up and this is just consuming me. I am scared and very upset as i just want this to pass. 

Also if the malathion doesnt work should i try permethrin? 

Please help it wold be greatly appreciated.

thanks

misbah

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  • Posted

    Hello,

    I am also currently battling scabies. It is horrible and I am trying to find a cure. I've read that Dead Sea salt baths can do the trick if you take them consistently for up to 5 nights using 2 pounds of water in each bath. I tried doing a few baths but didn't do it consecutively so I'm afraid that's why it may have not worked. I intend on trying to do it again. I've also heard that changing sheets is a must. Which like you I am also in college and this is quite frustrating as it is very time consuming. Anyways, just thought I'd give you this bit of information. You can find Dead Sea salt sold in bulk on Amazon and eBay. It's roughly $20 I believe for 10 pounds. If this works for you please get back to me and let me know. I'm desperate for a cure and have been battling this far too long. I completely understand the frustration of the scenario.

    • Posted

      Thanks for the reply and information. i cannot use the sea salts as i dont have a bath here, just showers rolleyes. I think if your tmalthion or permethrin hopefully it should do the trick. Also do you thik i wil have to chang y sheets every day after the medication until the itchin stops? Or just once after i have used the medication?
    • Posted

      I'm not sure I've read that changing every day is necessary but I don't have the answer to that. Also with the salt I can't guarantee this will work but since you haven't had scabies very long I would imagine that they have not burrowed too deep into your skin yet so possibly just wetting your skin and applying the Dead Sea salt directly onto it may work. I will warn you though it burns like a mother and leaves a red mark. The red mark does leave though. I'm currently waiting for permethrin in the mail and I'm hoping that will help. Though I don't put much trust into current pharmaceutical medicine. We'll see though.
    • Posted

      If I were you I would change at least for the first 3 nights. Just to be safe.
    • Posted

      Ok thanks a lot i will give it a go. I think i have had it for over a month now. The itching is driving me insane. I think you can get permethrin from thepharmacy which would be quicker than ordering it.
    • Posted

      Best of luck to you. I'm sorry you're dealing with this, it truly is horrid. Thanks for the advice.

      Ashley

  • Posted

    Misbah.... I'm a clean freak so when I got scabies I searched high and low, tried everything anyone online said worked for them. Sadly the only thing that really helped was Permethrine 5%. I did my first treatment a month ago after proving to my doctor what I have isn't eczema because my body literally was covered with rash. I scratched so hard my body was covered with blood marks that turned black and blue. From reading I learn that these suckers are very slow and it's actually me that's helping them spread all over my body from scratching. I happen to have it on my head too.... just my luck. It's a tough area to treat due to all the hair that's in the way when you're trying to apply the permethrine cream. So I use NIX for lice but it only have 1% permithrine in it, better than nothing I guess.

    Im on my second treatment because I think the first one didn't do it. My head started itching again really bad and I noticed the rash moved to my forehead and jaw areas. My neck started itching and I can feel burrows like rash but can't see it when looking at it. I'm asking my doctor for the only oral medication called Iverticin

  • Posted

    Sorry not done with my story.... pressed the wrong button.

    The oral medication is call Ivermectin. Doctor says its toxin so they don't want to go that extreme. A lot of time they don't understand the severity scabies have on a person and they treat it like its just a rash, unless you bump into a doctor who actually had scabies before! It's really a life changing experience.

    Don't waste your money on all the salt bath, sulfur soaps, borax & hydrogen peroxide, neem oil, tea tree oil, lavender oil, bleach bath, Cheyenne pepper scrubs, etc etc everyone keep recommending. It's a waste of money and they do nothing but burn and hurt your skin. I did everything and I just ended up with really dry top layer skin that cracks when I move lol. Let me say I never have to use lotion in my life, that's how moisturizing my skin is.

    My recommendation to you is get professional help! Do the permithrine 5% treatment and if you can do the oral ivermectin pills. Along with that what helps is lint rollers.... when you feel crawling or itching, don't scratch, instead roll the area with the lint roller. This collect the mites that's crawling on the surface. Some ppl say they can see them but I have been looking and looking and I see nothing. It's not visible to the eyes so I don't know how ppl can see them. If they are seeing them it's probably something else lol.

    And YES.... the constant cleaning and washing is killing me as well. I feel like I'm a paranoid freak now!

    Keep us updated and good luck with the battle. God please let all of us get through this!

    • Posted

      Thank you so much for all the advice. I am trying malathion atm bcause thats what my doctor prescribed but i am going to try permethrin if this doest work. 

      Did you change your sheets everyday and if so did you do it aftr you bathed because im thinking if i try both ways before and after showering there is still risk of getting the scabies on the sheets. For instance, if i change my sheet before i shower then the scabies could fall off my skin onto to the new sheets and if i change my sheets after i showe the scabies from my old sheets could crawl bac onto my clean skin. 

      There is so muc to thin about.

      i am also prayin for all of us to get rid of this awfulness.

      thanks again i really appreciate it,

      Misbah

    • Posted

      It's a lot of work and sadly the more you read the more horrify you become of these creatures lol.... I limited my bedspread to 1-sheet for my bed, 2-throw for covers. It's easier for me to wash/dry them on a daily basis. When I just got scabies and they are very active, I wash my sheet/blanket every morning before going to work and spray my mattress with bedbug spray. Come home in the evening to dry them before bed. Shower and make my bed for the night. It's a lot of work! Now I just pop them in the dryer before bed after I shower.

      I recommend that you don't think too much and just do the minimal as per your doctors instructed. Some ppl in here are doing too much and not even getting great results anyways. I think we all become paranoid with this condition and also become desperate to find a resolution for our condition which lead us to over thinking and doing everything lol

      The truth is these bugs don't like surfaces and we only have a few of them on us so it's not that easily passed to someone else nor they will fall of us everyday to our mattress, blankets or clothing. After you do the treatments you'll start to feel better and I read that the post treatment condition almost feels like you still have scabies except it's much tolerable. I think I'm doing better.... I still have itch here and there, find new burrows here and there but it's not spreading like it was prior to treatments. I can sleep at night now. I noticed that I feel a lot more crawling now than I did prior to treatments but I think that's probably caused by the treatments (side effect of the drug). I use a lint roller for it just to give me a peace of mind but again I've searched high/low and still have not seen one single mite. The lint roller collects a lot of dry skin flakes but nothing like everyone else here describes with tiny legs/arms lol

      Good Luck and hope you feel better soon.

  • Posted

    Hi, sorry for your crisis.  Here is a list of things to try:

    -Borox and Hydrogen peroxide (use in bath)

    -Diamaterous Earth (sprinkle on sheets)

    -Tea Tree, peppermint oil, clove oil (mix in spray bottle with alcohol and spray on body-then take bath)

    -drink baking soda and water (bugs like internal fungus)

    Be persistant.

  • Posted

    You need to go back to the doctor and get a prescription to treat this.  Nothing else will work.  You treat with 1 tube of permethrin (Elimite) all over your body and 7 days later you repeat with another tube of it to get what was missed.  The directions are with the medicine.  Good luck, please remember this is very contagious.  Clean your bedding in hot water/hot dryer, bag your clothes you wore for 2 weeks then clean that in hot water/hot dryer.  Everything you sat on must be cleaned as well (furniture/car seats, etc..)  You can even iron the inside of your clothes to make sure nothing survives.  This is a horrible thing to go through.  My cousin went through it, she did this and it worked.  Good luck.

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