My home-bound Mum is 96yo and I am her sole 24x7 carer. There is nobody else to help.
She was diagnosed with scabies last week. I wonder how she contracted it because we have no visitors since January 2020: only my husband and myself. Neither my husband nor I are showing any symptoms. However, the carpet in the foyer of the building we live in is absolutely filthy.
Her doctor prescribed Lyclear Scabies Cream with active ingredient Permethrin 5%. Her doctor said to leave it on overnight and bathe her the next morning. I read in the instructions "wash off after 12 hours".
My Mum is unable to wash herself after peeing / pooing or bathe herself. Every time I wash her, she hits, wrestles and pushes me. She is quite strong and gets extremely aggressive despite all my cajoling: a couple of times, I almost fell over. I must hold both her hands to stop her from injuring me. With very great difficulty, I try to bathe her once a fortnight but very often must delay that by a week or two because of her aggressiveness.
I think I can rub the cream on all over her body. So why can't the cream just remain ? I mean, what will happen if it is left on ?
I applied clove oil and just left that on. Nothing happened. I was careful to rub only the affected portions (red blisters area). Itching stopped immediately. No washing, no bathing. Mild itching restarted and I reapplied clove oil. Is this a safer alternative ?
Good luck!
If you can't apply the cream and then wash it off as per the prescription, get help to do this. Do you have any regular help with personal care from HCAs or anything like that? If not, ask your doctor if he can recommend any local agencies and explain the difficulty.
"Scabies usually is spread by direct, prolonged, skin-to-skin contact with a person who has scabies. Contact generally must be prolonged; a quick handshake or hug usually will not spread scabies. Scabies is spread easily to sexual partners and household members..."
source: https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/scabies/gen_info/faqs.html#:~:text=Scabies%20usually%20is%20spread%20by,sexual%20partners%20and%20household%20members.
http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/PermGen.html
This provides much better information on how to safely use permethrin:
https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a698037.html
I've avoided buying any products with permethrin, even just for protection. If you're really, really worried, you might try to find a doctor who only treats with natural remedies, a homeopath, to suggest an alternative to permethrin
And this provides information on clove oil:
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321256#side-effect.
If it were me, I'd continue to use the clove oil, and not the permethrin at all, but if you do use it, follow the guidelines and use it sparingly.
I emailed scabies scientist Dr. Burt Currie of Menzies University who authored a New England Journal of Medicine paper on Scabies. He said it was safe to leave permethrin on the skin for longer than 12 hours.
After my experiences (below), I believe that clove oil is more effective than permethrin.
I applied clove oil only to those parts that had the rash (being afraid due to Mum being 96yo and her skin is translucent and very fragile).
After the first application, the next day, about 50 small round black eggs and small light brown round mites fell out onto her bedsheet and I collected them in a plastic container and changed her bedding.
Thereafter, I applied clove oil several times more over the next few days.
Then, I bathed her. The next day, uncontrollable itching but not as bad as before. I reapplied clove oil and waited a few days.
After her skin had considerably cleared up, I applied permethrin all over (as per instructions). But after about only 9 hours, she had uncontrollable itching in her right armpit (one of the previously affected areas). I again applied permethrin.
After waiting for a while, Mum specifically asked for clove oil. Only after I applied that did she obtain relief from uncontrollable itching.
I bought 6 bottles of clove oil (20 mL each) at the Indian grocery store (cheaper than on-line or elsewhere) for Australian $3 per bottle. Whereas the subsidized permetrhin costs $5.60 (for Mum) and $13 (for me). But I believe clove oil is better. Some scabies is permethrin-resistant.
I know some wonderful lovely and compassionate nurses have replied. But who gave Mum scabies ? I think it was the nurse who gave her the corona vaccine #1 because I saw her stroke Mum's right arm about 3 times with her ungloved fingers. Then, she donned gloves before giving Mama her shot.
Mama has not had visitors ever since corona broke out January 2020. I don't meet anyone because I am 24x7 sole carer for Mum and you all know how demanding that is.
Scabies scientist Dr. Currie was very surprised that Mum picked up a scabies infection from such a brief encounter with the nurse but there can be no other explanation because nobody else has touched her.