Scabies, judgement, and society

Posted , 2 users are following.

Yep, i was officially diagnosed with scabies today. I already presumed it was likely. Of course i'd've rather been told it was just poison ivy or sumac, but it's not the end of the world. Thankfully, it's a treatable diagnosis. I still wonder if i got it from hiking through the woods a few times in the past month, or from wading in a creek, or from weeding the walkway in my parents backyard, or if my friend had it and never said so before we hugged each other goodbye. But i guess i'll never know.

Anyway, my bigger questions revolve around telling people. I am currently staying with my parents for a few months, checking in on them (they're 72) before moving out of state again. Therefore, telling my household would mean telling my judgmental American parents that i've made whatever poor choices led to a scabies infestation -- and not just a scabies infestation in my skin, but a scabies infestation in their very household!

So. I know Mom mentioned itching about two weeks prior to my noticing my itches, and she believed the itches were related to something in her bedroom. Then, when i noticed my itches seemed a bit abnormal (possibly bedbugs?), i asked Mom and Father if either of them had any itches that day, and Mom informed me hers had gone away. Father said he had itched for just a couple days, a few days prior to my first set of itches, and that it had gone away. It's mosquito season, and bug bite season. When i first noticed, i thought they were mosquito bites. And maybe that's all my parents experienced.

When i considered the idea that i had contracted bedbugs, about a week ago, i decided to wash all of my laundry -- about 4 or 5 loads of clean and dirty clothes, bedding, towels, anything cloth and in my bedroom, on all the hottest settings. And i inspected the bed for bedbugs and found nothing, and i vacuumed the carpet thoroughly. And i slept in a tent for three nights, to see if the itching would stop. It didn't stop, exactly, but it did lessen. I imagine now, that i must have killed off a sizable number of mites.

Anyway, neither parent has mentioned itching anymore in the past week. I sort of want to tell them i have scabies so they can defend themselves against it in case i've already unknowingly spread it. But i don't want to tell them if they don't need to know. I don't need to hear how i'm living my life all wrong, and how i'd be better off sitting inside watching TV like they do, or how i'm banned from any nature walks while staying on their property.

So what do you think? What's the consensus?

And i also recently visited one of my newer friends' households for the first time, a little over a week ago. (This was about the time i was beginning to wonder if those were all mosquito bites, or if they could be something else...perhaps bedbugs.) This friend sort of tried to seduce me that one time, and we ended up cuddling for the latter half of a movie. I guess that means i could have carried scabies into my friend's house. Do i need to confess?

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2 Replies

  • Posted

    Never mind! I no longer seek advice! I told everybody about the parasitic mites. Apparently Mom's never heard of scabies, and my father only heard of them but didn't know much about them. Everything went well.

    And i was totally delighted to hear my doctor say "Scabies isn't something we should be embarrassed about. Diabetes is something to be embarrassed about. You have no control over catching scabies, but you have control over your diet."

  • Posted

    I'm glad you told your parents, if it's truly scabies what you had and probably they as well I cannot take away from my mind the ordeal you are going to go through. Read as much as you can about it. You will only be able to fight scabies by knowing how they behave and reproduce. I'm sorry to say it will be a long long journey for you and your poor old parents. 

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