curious_hoosier asked:
I have been itching all over my body for the past 4 months. I went to the doctor and they told me it was just really bad dry skin. I have tried all the soaps, oils and creams I can find and I still itch very bad. My brother and sister who I lived with over the summer have now started to itch and they have been told it could be scabies. I have no red spots or rashes. I have thought that if I have had it for this long, I would start to see something.
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I have been itching all over my body for the past 4 months. I went to the doctor and they told me it was just really bad dry skin. I have tried all the soaps, oils and creams I can find and I still itch very bad. My brother and sister who I lived with over the summer have now started to itch and they have been told it could be scabies. I have no red spots or rashes. I have thought that if I have had it for this long, I would start to see something.
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#1 by Victoria L on August 13, 2009 - 4:08 am
Scabies is a mite infection under the skin. Generally, one of the symptoms is red spots and rash. Additionally, once you begin itching, you almost have no control about scratching. And once you start scratching, you break the skin and begin to get infections. You probably don’t have scabies. However, you need to go to a dermatologist and have it checked out. Scabies can be spread by direct skin contact with others. And there is a treatment that you must follow to the letter. However, it may just be dry skin, excema or even psoriasis. Go back to the doctor – dermatologist specifically – and give them all your symptoms and have them check you again. I had a foster child who had scabies, and we all had to be treated. Scabies will also just about drive you insane because the mites travel all over your body and scratching will not help. Again, it is unlikely that is what you have. You may need a prescription steroid cream, lotion or solution to keep you from itching. Also, it could be that you are having an allergic reaction to something you are wearing or sleeping in or on. Anything with wool in it has been known to cause these type of problems. But have it checked out by a professional. Excema and psoriasis are hereditary too.
#2 by A Canadian on August 16, 2009 - 7:02 am
It’s possible but highly unlikely. Scabies leaves a very distinctive red rash and most often you can actually make out the lines through which the mite has burrowed under the skin. I would suggest visiting your doctor and insist on having skin scrapings sent for scabies testing. To be done properly, the physician must put a drop of mineral oil on the skin at an infected/rashed site and on a glass microscope slide.He must then scrape the skin quite hard to remove skin cells with a razer blade. The material he scrapes off should be put directly onto the microscope slide. Ideally, the scraping should be hard enough to cause the skin to bleed. Your doctor will send the sample to a parasitology laboratory to be examined for ectoparasites (which includes scabies exam). In my experience of 22 years as a medical microbiologist with a subspecialty in parasitology, most doctors wouldn’t recognize scabies or the accompanying rash if it hit them in the face! Conversely, most Dr’s who do diagnose a rash on site as Scabies are usually wrong and it is usually impetigo. That’s why i recommend that you insist on proper testing.
Good luck and I wish you well.