How do you know if you are cured of scabies

Hi, Cassey,

Borax and Hydrogen Peroxide is effective.  However, it can be brutal on the skin.  I took three consective baths, with both products, and my skin sagged as if I had fast forwarded thirty,fourty years.  

Oh God, this has been awful for me.  I definitely feel your pain.  The nights of anguish and anxiety have been terrible...

I just got the Pemethrin cream about 3 weeks ago, but I'm still getting bumps.  I think the reason that I never "saw" any burrows is because they are making their home in my scalp...  From the research I've done it seems like the symptoms like new bumps and such don't necessarily mean that the cream has been ineffective, so I'm hoping that its just the remains of the dead mites causing a reaction, but I've been through a bottle and half of the cream and I'm not too itchy except my scalp.  As I'm typing this I can feel some crawling in my skin, a little on my face and left arm...  

Going to make another dermatolgist appointment soon, as I want to be absolutely certain that these things are eradicated!!

Thanks for the thread, this is very therapeutic for me.  This is a picture of a new bump on my wrist.  I've got a ton of these on my scalp, and they itch like crazy...

Hello Cassey and others!

I was babysitting two girls when I noticed them itching and complaining of rashes and bumps. I didn't think much of it but when they were really upset I texted their mom.She had the grandmother of the children pick the girls up immediately. I asked if they had anything contagious and NEVER GOT AN ANSWER!!

Not only did I not get an answer, the entire night, (friday)she also quit bringing the children. Red flag. I asked once again the following day and she said they had eczema.. Two days later my son was sick (her smallest child had a cold I expected him to catch) with several red bumps at the hairline. I thought he may have roseola and since I noticed the bumps at night after breaking a fever I expected him to wake up with a full body roseola rash. (Sunday night)When that didn't happen i texted the mother once again to make sure nothing had changed with her children (monday morning)to which she said no the doctor had told her that morning her kids only have a 'cold' which they'd had the two weeks I watched them.

I took him to the doctor for his 'cold' and let them know the babysitting suspicious rash problem. My son had an ear infection and the doctor said it was to soon to know what his rash was. That night I had horrible itching around my outer thigh and three small bumps in a row. It got worse every day for me and my son's rash never got worse but never went away. Friday morning I texted the mother once again because I felt it was either in my head or 100% scabies outbreak. After 20 questions she answered that her children had scabies. VALUABLE INFORMATION.

Needless to say I immediately took both children to the doctor straight away and the doctor was reluctant to even prescribe the permethrin. Dumb. I went home and washed or bagged everything. Everyone did the cream. While applying it we all got more bumps and were extremely itchy. We were itchy for 3 days and then it subsided. The doctor advised us to only do one treatment but I obviously don't trust someone who thinks it will go away on it's own so after research I'd seen you should do it again within a week. We had all had a few new bumps and slight itching but I did the cream again after 6 days and rewashed everything, even wrapped my bed in plastic wrap. And sprayed all furniture THOROUGLHLY in bed bug spray..We all had immediate relief. And no new bumps. That was 3 days ago now and just today we all have several itchy red spots. I'm not sure if it's from the permethtin, seeing as how it just started today.. Or if it's from "eggs hatching". That is my dilemma now. The doctor is an hour away and it takes about three hours to be seen. I'd hate to go and the doctor not want to prescribe anything. Also my husband (although I do all the cleaning) is very reluctant to go through the process again. Advice?

Hi, I wanted to reply to this thread a few months. About 2 1/2 months ago I had the exact same proble, I woke up one morning and was itching like crazy, like something tiny had bitten me, this got worst during the evenings (I felt like i was being bitten) but when I went to my GP they told me it was excema, bed bugs or other diagnosis. This pursued for weeks, the itching, the little rashes, the itching was so severe I would scratch myself and it would bleed. I went back to the GP and they then said it was 'scabies'. They gave me Pemethrin cream, which I applied all over during the evening after a shower and fully dried, and did this again 3 days later followed again by another 3 days. As I didn't really believe anything that the doctor had said about my symptons at this point (since they thought i was crazy) I ended up looking online like most people and just on the safe measure, bagged all my clothing in binbags for 3 days then washed on 60degree wash, hoovered carpets, washed curtains, took a lighter and flicked it around the bed (hoping to kill anything). I even washed my hair with lice shampoo as even my head was itchy. I washed everything down with vinigar and purchased two sprays (Good Ideas Professional Mattress Deodoriser & Inspired Mattress Deodoriser/ Sanitiser and Dust Mite ) and sprayed it over my mattress and left it over night (also carpets) Now I am not sure whether it was the last course of the pemethrin cream that worked or the mattress spray, cleaning house throughly but I just woke up the next day and it was gone.

I just thought I would share this if it helps anyone as I remember that one month of itching torture seriously left me depressed, more so when the doctor couldn't even make a proper analysis. I was waking up at 2am to wash my body with vinigar, just thinking of the subject scares me as it is as I never want to ever get it back, scabies, mites (whatever it was) but this is what I did and it worked for me. Oh and don't steam your mattress, or oversoak it with any sprays as otherwise it will either damage your mattress or cause dampness which may attract bugs, mites etc, hoover hoover hoover! 

I'm no doctor or specialist, but whatever I had, the rash and the itchiness, this all worked for me. 

This sounds slightly painful but, very helpful. 

Thank you for this. 

If cream don't work, I might try this. 

I don't think I have it .. but im getting bumps on my legs and im not sure if it is because of the weather change or something else. Because I just got done having this a few months ago, and it sucked so bad. 

Now when i see a bump, I get paranoid.

Scabies gone now.  Permethrin was helpful but weak.  Used 50% bleach/50% water and doused the spots that were suspicious.  It burns and can leave marks. I've heard of people having success with 30% also.  Best thing was to take a bath 2 times/day in 2 C borax + 1 C hydrogen peroxide.  Can also add epsom salt and or Dead Sea Minerals.  While sitting in tub scrub the spots with a brush and then put the bleach solution on them.  Let it burn for a minute or two and then dunk into the water.  Very effective.  I also bought Benzyl Benzoate -which isn't really sold in the US so I bought it on-line.  I mixed it with part coconut oil and part coconut lotion to make it 25%.  Put it in a jar and used a q-tip to cover the spots daily.  they recommend that you use a sort of paint brush to cover you whole body (they say not the face but only not near mucous membranes or eyes)- and leave on 24 hours.  It tends to absorb after a few hours so I recovered myself.  It really works.  The benzyl only cost around $6 (US).  Also I occasionally used Queen Helene clay mask -but any clay mask will do.  It dries out their colonies and your skin starts to look good.  I bought a steamer and steamed my car (daily) and my carpet/floors. It worked very well.  I laundered daily and I even treated my cat with Ivermectin (his vet rx'd).  I put my mattress in a plastic bag as well as my sofa.  Put chair cushions in plastic bags too.  Made sure they were taped up tight.,  I am now at the stage where my skin is fairly clear and no new burrows but having lots of itches - which they says lasts for about a month.  Looking forward to the end but it's already a relief to have no crawling sensations or new infestations. Took over 2 months.  Also - eyeglasses and watches can harbor the mites.  I put them in ziplock bags and cleaned them with bleach spray a few times before wearing.  The problem is that they travel around your body daily and lay eggs.  Then the eggs hatch and they seem to hatch daily.  so if you use Permethrin and space it 7 days apart you will be missing some of the mites and they will lay more eggs.   Oh - I also used 50% hydrogen peroxide and 50% water on my eyes and nose and ears when these were problems.  Good luck!

I thought I would write on this discussion about my experience of contracting Scabies! As many of you have confirmed it is totally dreadful! The itching is dreadful,accompanied by what I would discribe as being stabbed with needles, the crawling under my skin was like I was living in a horror movie! I did totally loose my mind at one point, breaking down in tears. I was following all the advise my doctor gave me but no relief! Well I would like to say, my doctor was right and the treatment has worked, so all of you who are in the position that I was in, I want to tell you, this will pass! There is light at the end of the horrible scabies tunnel! Here's what I did: got diagnosis from doctor! Totally freaked out, wtf is happening to me, I can't have scabies. Has my doctor gone totally mad! Well it's seems not because I did have it. Went and got my prescription called derbac, antihistamines called faxofenafine, steroid cream! Applied derbac all over my body, feet, ears, face, scalp, everywhere, waited for it to dry! Relieved itching a bit but within 4 hours I was violently sick! God it was awful, had to leave the lotion on for 24hrs, I don't know how I managed it. Was sick on and off for 24hrs!

Washed lotion off, itching was completely mind blowing, crawling feeling was mental! Took faxofenadine, this helped a bit but not enough. Went out and got some dettol and an itching cream called Eurax. Bathed in Dettol which relieved itching the applied eurax which helped the itching a lot! Washed everything, like a mad women, everything I had touched slept on etc, you know the drill, everything feels contaminated so has to boiled to within an inch of its life!!!

The other thing I got was some home blits plus spray by Canovel, basically very strong insecticide. Spayed everything, my car, purse, rooms, beds, handbags, coats, shoes, ugg boots, Everything! My house stinks of this stuff, but the smell somehow made me feel better like I had declared war on all parasites! Carried on with dettol baths and taking the faxofenafine and eurax cream!

5 days had passed by now. Second 24hr application of the derbac liquid is due, oh my god! 24hrs of being sick to look forward to! But no! This time it just gave me a massive headache! Brilliant thank you God! A little ray of light in my darkest despair!

24 hrs later washed derbac lotion off! Phew, headache and blurry vision but no projectile vomiting.

Guess what! I feel so much better! A little itchy here and there, a little crawling feeling but so much better!

Gone gone gone! Feel very well and have a little smile on my face! I feel like Im master of the universe! I've won the war against my scabies! I've just experienced three weeks from hell and I've come out the other side! Still bathing in dettol though, perhaps I will do this for the rest of my life, who knows! I see people itch and I want to run a mile, eyeing all people with suspicion. Hopefully this suspicion will fade with time.

There is hope and the derbac lotion, (although obviously very toxic because it felt like it nearly killed me with the two 24 hour application) really did work! And remember a lot of the itching is your nerves endings reacting to the invasion. Hang in there everyone! Eurax cream was a good send! You will get through this.

Dear Cassey,

Not sure if you have this particular product in the UK, we get this in SA in the form of a low risk Insecticide - called  MERCAPTOTHION. Actually used to kill bed bugs (scabie mite) should assist with dermodex mites as well. They apply it to animal hide/skin.