Scabies!

[Blanket26]

We've been struggling with scabies for weeks. Several rounds of cream and it keeps coming back on my 1 year old!
I've bought some Derbac M to try. Has anyone had more success with this?
And if so how do I keep it on my 1 year old for 24 hours as he eats with his hands and puts them in his mouth. Can I use derbac m on his body and cream on his hands overnight.

Please help! I'm desperate and this is really getting me down now. Dr's are useless

Thank you. No partner, fortunately. But lives with 8 boys and no-one else is infected.

I’ve read all the tips on this thread. He hasn’t been at home now for four weeks and all his bedding and clothes here have been washed so we are pretty confident there is nothing here. Just trying to work out how to avoid him bringing it back. He’s seeing a dermatologist the same day he comes home and I’ve ordered some of the aromatherapy treatments via Etsy.

He is going to wash enough clothes to manage for a week and then put them in a sealed bag for a week before he comes home. He’ll do a treatment the minute he steps foot in the house and we’ll wash clothing and bedding every day for a week.

I just feel so sorry for him. He’s trying desperately to manage and take precautions whilst living in a student house with no tumble dryer and a very long walk to the laundrette.

Yes I understand especially with his exams looming.i felt so sorry for my son too putting up with wrongly diagnosed itching of scabies for months .Told it was stress starting a new grad role and having to take masters level exams while being awake itching in the night. Is it possible to get some kind of drs note so they make allowances for this for your DS when sitting finals.
I realised I must have caught scabies off my son when I had had a steroid injection in my knee .Others have touched on it on this thread but I do think how they take hold is linked to our immune system. Your son is probably under stress with exams has he had any illness lately or steroids?
I am still not rid of them got to go back to the GP who said he will refer me to a community skin clinic. DH got them now too so there was no way it was just post scabies itch which the physicians associate tried to fob me off with.

Hi everyone - finally realised this thread existed - I started a separate thread but this is clearly where it’s at! I haven’t been able to read everything so apologies if some of this has been asked before.

Currently in the scabies war too. Four rounds of pemethrin and two rounds of ivermectin each week and every time I get an itchy spot towards the end of the week or one of my daughters does. Should we keep taking the medication weekly? The dr won’t prescribe anymore so I’ll have to start buying it. My friend got me ivermectin from India - 24 12mg tablets for about £2. So I can take more just not sure there’s any point and I can’t keep giving it to the children. I don’t know how/why we are getting reinfected. I’m now washing bedding every day, hoovering and disinfecting the floor. I have dust sheets on the bed and sofa. Also only wearing clothes once and hot washing and tumble drying. Pretty much shrunk my entire wardrobe.

Can anyone recommend a dermatologist in London who is an expert in scabies and understands this nightmare? @Tinydancer1234 you said you finally found one who gets it?

Sorry this is happening to everyone. And I thought threadworms were bad…

Hi Grace,

My dermatologist gave me ivermectin so if you have managed to take this then this is pretty much all you can do with the cream also. You can get prescribed soolantra which is ivermectin cream for the kids which is what my dermatologist prescribed for my little one. He’s still coming out in some spots but has cleared a lot. So just sticking with it. I’m “touch wood” clear and none of us are itching.

Grace if you DM me I will give you details.

Thanks @Tinydancer1234. Did you take medication weekly when you were symptomatic?
I’ll DM you - thank you.

Just a quick update here. I spoke to a gp this morning who in his 36 years has never heard of scabies not working after a few rounds of the pemethrin cream. Are we dealing with super scabies? What’s changed and why do no gps seem to know anything about scabies?

Not sure if anyone can answer that that’s the maddening thing. It’s well known online that people find it very difficult to get rid of and the dermatologists know that there is a resistance to permethrin hence why they looked for an alternative like ivermectin. I think it also has to do with your immune system and whether you are more allergic than others. Hence why there is such thing as asymptomatic carriers. They can pass it on with no symptoms at all. It is truely mind boggling and this is the second time I’ve had this 10 years apart. I never thought I’d be so unlucky to get it again. It took just under 2 yrs to get rid last time. That was again with prem and iver. It was truely traumatic for me the first time around and I had extreme anxiety. This time I’m completely different and a lot more relaxed. No amount of anxiety helped. I don’t cover my sofas now and just hot was and tumble all clothes and towels daily and have been doing that since July last year. Like you I have damaged some of my clothes however have learnt to buy clothes with material that can withstand the hot wash. Bed gets changed every 2 days not daily any more and I haven’t gone around cleaning all toys etc. It got too much and found the extra bit of anxiety driven cleaning has actually not made any effect. It’s really important your mental state isn’t effected by this as it will play havoc on your immune system. I say just be sensible and do what you can. It took a long time for me “not to feel dirty” even though I was extremely clean. My house is spotless. I suggest use a tea tree shower gel- a good one. That is good for all kinds of things including bacterial infections, use medication from doctor, meditate your stress away at home and do what you can in the house to keep things clean. The main thing is managing the itch and Eurax is good for that and contains crotamiton which is a anti scabicide too but a weak one. So it can help however it does stink a bit. Sulfur 10% ointment is natural so that doesn’t hurt too.
On days of non treatment you can use the sulphur to make you feel like your doing something if you feel like it but it can be drying to your skin.

Just remember eventually it will go and if it is scabies- think of it as rosacea which is also mites which live on the face but no one freaks out over them and lots of people suffer with that. It doesn’t mean you’re dirty. Our body’s are made up of all sorts of things. All we have to do is just be sensible and work on getting rid of them which may take time but that’s ok. You will get there in the end. Nothing is forever remember.

I feel for those who are experiencing these symptoms but you’re not alone. Be wise and communicate with your dermatologist and do what you can do, after all that’s all you can do. Other than that get on with life as it’s precious and we don’t deserve to be anxious or depressed over this. Life is too short.

Interesting- there’s such a disconnect with lived experience and medical views. I keep saying it to gps. You have a really good way to view it and I agree once you get stressed it feeds into it all. I got very bad anxiety with threadworms. Ended up in therapy for weeks. Felt so dirty. This is triggering for me and my anxiety has been pretty strong this week - it’s that awful feeling when you see a spot. Then you go into a spiral. I had a fantastic gp when I had threadworms but she’s left now. Missing the support. Changing bedding so much is a killer. I’m going to have to cut back. It’s too much. And I have a new spot anyway.

Would you believe I think we've all got it yet again!
I've emailed consultant for tablets and cream.

To those of you who have seen a dermatologist, can I ask what tests they did to confirm it was scabies?

They used a microscopic lens (after using an iPhone torch the first time we saw them and misdiagnosing). It was also diagnosed on the fact that we all have a rash and we responded to scabies treatment - we tried it to see what happened in-between appointments. I wanted a skin biopsy from the start but she said they stopped doing them - this is NHS not private

An iPhone torch! That's not good

I know. Honestly we’ve been round the houses. So many people looking but missing it. Think 5 gps, three consultants. No one did any test or anything thorough until I told them I thought it was scabies. And now we are down the road of ‘it’s really easy to treat, you can’t possibly be still struggling’ well maybe we wouldn’t be struggling if we hadn’t been infested with them for months through misdiagnosis. Basically if it’s infectious and itchy and spreading on the body just assume it’s scabies. Like threadworms spotting it fast is crucial for it not turning into a very expensive cleaning and hygiene project.

We saw a dermatologist today. Been prescribed ivermectin - three doses - AND lyclear, also once a week for three weeks.

Has anyone had to pay a private prescription for ivermectin? I’m expecting £300 plus for three doses

Glad you have got somewhere . Is that the topical or oral ivermectin? Will you let us know how you get on please. Have you all got to be treated with it all too or just your son?

@kerstina it's tablets.

Given he hasn't been at home for six weeks and none of us have ever had any symptoms, the dermatologist doesn't think it necessary - he thinks it's highly unlikely we're all infected but asymptomatic.

He treated with cream last night and should have the tablets by Saturday.

@OvertiredandConfused sounds like you have a good dermatologist there!

For those getting reinfected after appearing clear, how are the spots presenting?

How is everybody doing?

I'm sorry for the lack of response lately and seeing more are suffering

This is exactly what I had previously from gps and dermatologists saying “you can’t possibly still be struggling with it”. They are clueless and when you say ok give us something to clear it up with they give you random creams that don’t work and then say it’s stress or folliculitis but doesn’t explain why more than one person has it. Then they say your child is suffering with Eczema which they never suffered with before and it’s just a coincidence that you got rashes at the same time a week apart. This is exactly why people get anxious and stressed because they aren’t believed or taken seriously.

You say derm thinks your not infected but asymptomatic, that’s contradicting himself. You are infected if you’re asymptomatic. Just means you don’t have viable signs as your body isn’t allergic to them

Yes at least they are treating you and not brushing it off but do these dermatologists really know there stuff when so many times misdiagnosed and we are the ones telling them what seems to work and what doesn’t

Son still suffering. Me only a couple of spots and spot treat and they go. He got a couple on his palms and one spot on sole of foot as well as pimples on his arms. He rarely itches though now. How are you doing? Any success?

For me just like folliculitis if I get a spot and it’s not itchy usually now.

My son seems to be improving. After seeing the dermatologist last week he has to use the lyclear once weekly for three weeks and also take the ivermectin once weekly for three weeks. He did the cream on Thursday but didn't get the tablets until Saturday so slightly spaced out. In between he's using the oil and hair and body wash from etsy that someone recommended.

Rash definitely isn't as angry and he doesn't think he has new spots but it's really too early to tell. Still very itchy (although I've noticed he's scratching a bit less) but that's to be expected. We're changing the bed after every application of cream or dose of ivermectin. He's put most of his clothes away in a wardrobe that isn't being opened and washing clothes he is using after every wear - with the jeans and hoodies as well as bedding it feels like we're running a laundry!