Scabies

[StephP47]

I wondered if anyone can offer any advice.

I picked up scabies back in February, although was misdiagnosed for ages and so i only treated scabies in May i believe. Me and my son showed symptoms and our skin got really bad absolutely covered.

When we first did the cream for scabies we done it 3 x across 3 weeks (the 3rd time was following a chat with the doctor who agreed it was still active and was worth a try). We also was given antibiotics for skin infection and moisturiser to help. My sons dad also did the treatment as he starting showing symptoms (were in different households).

This didnt work, although it calmed down a lot on my skin my son still struggled (hes not even 2). So we went back to the doctor and agreed to try again and continue to moisturise. Meanwhile, i did ask the doctor should anyone else do the treatment given my son is between a few households and me and his dad are seperated and my mum is my childcare when im working. i was advised because they dont have symptoms they didnt need to do it.

Anyway, this second treatment did not work. I went back to the doctor who insisted to keep moisturising and it would clear eventually (especially as my skin was looking much clearer). Given this advice, i went away with some family on a caravan holiday as i expected with time it would clear

After coming back from this holiday my mum and her partner started getting signs of scabies, so my son was still clearly contagious. I also picked it up again. So we did another treatment. Again we ended up doing around 3 x across 3 weeks given the 3rd week there was still some signs of new scabies marks.

Everyone who went on this holiday did the treatment, and my sons dads girlfriend also had been doing it alongside his dad whenever we did to make sure we all cleared anything potentially around.

The treatment then seemed to be working, my skin cleared completely, my sons was looking much better. His dad said he didnt have anything new appear, his girlfriend also never picked it up, and my mum and her partner seemed to not show any new signs. Then all of a sudden it seemed to start to escalate again on my sons skin and i again showed a few scabies marks.

So once again we just did the cream again, everyone who has contact with me/my skin (i have also got a new boyfriend so he also did it although no symptoms). I did the cream again 2 x across the last 2 weeks. But Today im showing signs of it AGAIN?? new scabies marks which werent there before i did the cream i dont think.

Does anyone have any advice on how to get rid of this thing. I find the doctor so useless i end up following my own advice half the time as he doesnt even seem to believe we still have scabies and keeps insisting on products to help skin inflammation (which although may be helpful, arent going to sort the problem).

I am everytime doing hot washing of bedding, towels, hoovering. EVERYTHING. It seems impossible. The money i have spent on these creams its ridiculous. And ive dragged my now boyfriend and family into having to do it all as well.

I am trying to insist the doctor gets my to a skin specalist but who knows how long that will take??

Can anyone offer advice. I have shown a picture from today of the new rash thats appeared. the creams im pretty sure are also ruining my skin and making my skin really dry and my skin has been feeling dry and peeling around my hands. I dont know how much more of this i can take?

Why the fuck were they telling you to moisturise, did they think mites have an aversion to lovely soft skin??

Anyone who is significantly exposed to anyone who has scabies or their laundry/bedding/towels needs to be treated, as the same time as everyone else and at the same time as doing all the washing. No safe harbour. Who told you the asymptomatic people don't need to treat?

BLEURGH. It's the itchiest, most repulsive thing ever, I sympathise.

Tell me about it. My experience with the doctor and this whole mess has been so poor. But the NHS is so overwhelmed they are so hesistant to pass you onto someone who actually knows what they are talking about its so fustrating. Its honestly had such an impact on my Mental Health i just dont know what to do anymore.

That sounds so tough, and it seems like it's all on you… is there any way to get everyone involved (i.e. anyone with past or ongoing exposure) to agree to blitz this all at once? I know that's not always easy…

I was being a bit flip about the moisturisers, of course they can help your skin feel better if it's rough and dry from scratching, and people can have symptoms left over from the infestation that will just take time and care to go away (including psychological ones… once you've had scabies, in my experience your brain tells you you're itchy and infested even when you're not!) — but honestly it sounds like this isn't being taken seriously enough to avoid the mites being reintroduced and recirculating. Only when everyone's blasted it all at once in both humans and fabrics can you confidently say that any remaining symptoms are just eczema/leftover inflammation.

Good luck…

I've experienced this through work this year.
The spots and itching can stay for weeks after treatment so unless new spots are appearing and it's not the old ones I wouldn't think it's new.
Have you heard of Norwegian scabies? Now, Google pictures of these show a lot of crusty skin but it's millions of scabie mites infecting the body instead of the 10-50 that normal scabies usually do.
I'm not saying you have this but my experience at work was that we all cleared up scabies using x2 treatment, but one person was so infected their body was red raw and so itchy. It was diagnosed as Norwegian scabies.
Took months of oral medication and cream for it to make a difference. The skin is now clear but took a very long time to recover from that.
How do you think you caught it or is it unknown? I wonder if there's a place where it's rife and you keep going back there to catch them?

I had scabies many years ago. I was very itchy and went to the GP who said I was imagining it.

I was bathing a lot and dousing myself with calamine lation thinking I was going mad.
Months later a relative saw me scratching at my arms, insisted I saw a different GP. The second GP said it was the worst case he'd seen.

I was given some liquid that I had to paint my body with, and it was two applications. I think it was called malathion. It worked

Well anyone who is in regular contact with my son, so me, his dad and girlfriend and my mum and her partner have all in recent months been regulary doing the cream at the same time and doing the hot washing etc when we have felt it has shown up again. So we have all come together and tried to get rid of it and thought we almost did it just seems impossible. The doctor has really no clue what he's talking about I've had to off my own back get all family to do it etc if it was up to doctor we'd probably be in a much worser position.

I think I may have caught it from.someome I went on a date with. As it started with me then I passed it onto my son and thats the only explanation I have for catching it

I also had scabies many years ago in about 1975 and had to paint my body twice with a liquid, it did clear up and I had had scabies for months as it was misdiagnosed a couple of times, it was a liquid though not a cream like OP had

Googling it, I think it was malathion that I had as the description of painting it on and leaving looks the same process that I had to do

Hi Op.

So I ended up catching scabies in the hospital from giving birth to my DD. She also caught it as well. It was absolutely horrific. I lived with my parents at the time and my poor dad ended up catching it the worst of all of us when we arrived home.

The cream the dr prescribed worked for me and my DD after a few applications but not for my poor dad and he was absolutely covered and suffering badly.

He ended up seeing a private dermatologist who wrote him a prescription for ivermectin which cleared it up so its worth a try asking for that from the GP.

@RedRiverShore2 , I can't say 100% that it was malathion but it was a liquid. The doctor called it an emulsion, and I painted it on. It was in the late 1980s.
IIRC, it was cloudy in colour, as emulsions often are.

Ivermectin, like most drugs, has side effects.

We had this earlier this year and ended up going private to get it sorted. Firstly, the consultants ecretary said its really common, people ust don't realise.

The main thing he said was to not keep doing the treatment. It takes a while to stop itching even if the scabies are all gone. I was still itching around my middle for weeks after the doctor checked with his magnifying glass and said they were all dead. He didn't explain why but he said if you have all treated it the prescribed amount of times then you must stop and leave it to heal. Don't keep on,.

What about speaking to a pharmacist for advice?

Thanks for your message. We did keep stopping the treatment for a number of weeks but new trail marks appeared so it definately kept coming back. I ended up actually booking 4 nights away locally and made a small holiday just me and my son, did a treatment before we went bagged up all the clothes when we got there and applied another before we left as advice said mites die within 2-3 days when away from skin and now 6 weeks later we are free from scabies I think basicslly something in my flat was re infestating it despite following all the online guidance.

Did you evet get rid of them?