One Response

1. Monica

   September 30th, 2009 at 10:57 pm

   1

   You really need to include more specifics in your question. For your itching, if your son is allergic to prescription creams and I don’t know what subscribed creams are but you can always try to take an oatmeal bath. That’s a natural way to soothe itchy skin. I always just use over the counter hydrocortisone cream. Your "mites" may be many different things. You may have a medical condition called scabies where there are tiny mites that burrow under your skin. The itching is caused by an allergic reaction to their eggs and feces in the burrows. If you have scabies, you will have long narrow tunnels on your skin (not the scratches) and the itching will be a lot worse at night and will prevent sleep. A natural way to get rid of scabies is to get permethrin cream and apply every night for at least a week. You might be able to find it at a co-op or organic food store like whole foods. Permethrin is made from chrysanthemums which contain a natural insect repellent and mite killer. If that doesn’t work I guess go to the doctor. If there are rodents or birds in, near or around your home these mites may be the parasites that normally feed on them but have "decided" to bite you guys. But, they are very hard to identify and a professional is the only one who can truly tell you if you indeed have a mite infestation of this type and what you should do about it. Your problem may be bed bugs, fleas, lice or a combination of these or some other pest. I will include some how-to web sites for getting rid of some of these pests. Once you get rid of the "biters" these problems should go away they are primarily a nuisance in the US. It has been a while since there was a major outbreak of plague or typhus. None of these infestations mean that your house is not clean.

   Bed bugs
   Look at your mattresses for rust colored spots. Bed bugs bite you and suck blood for food. This means their poop is mostly blood. Usually the spots will be on the edges where you could "crush" a bug between the sheet and the mattress edge. Also look for these spots on the corners of the box spring and your bed frame/head board and foot board. Just look anywhere that you think some little bugger could hide. Think warm and dark. Check couches, baseboards, chairs and the rest of your furniture as well. You are more likely to have a bed bug infestation if you have stayed in a hotel on a vacation or trip and placed your suitcase or luggage on the bed. These guys like to "hitch rides back to your place" in this manner.

   Here is a pretty good site for bed bug removal. They give good information and also tell you what won’t work.
   http://www.bedbugsguide.com/
   Just remember, bed bugs can go up to a year with out a blood meal, so when you’re wrapping your mattress write down the day. They are also very good at hiding and getting away from regular bug sprays.

   Fleas
   These little guys effect my life personally since I have 3 dogs. I have decided to take the chemical route and that seems to be the only way that has worked. Fleas are the most dangerous of all of the above pests. I said above that it has been a while since the last major outbreak of plague or typhus, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t isolated cases. If you feel symptoms of either of these diseases you should get yourself checked out because fleas are their main vector (http://ochealthinfo.com/epi/cd_news/2007/CDnewsletter-2007-08.pdf and http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/f/flea/intro.htm). Anyway, fleas have a distinct life cycle where they go from egg to larva to pupa to adult. The flea pesticide people know this and if you get a spray with IGR (Insect Growth Regulator) you can stop the eggs and larva from turning into adults. However, you have to repeat the spray in 2 weeks because pupae are watertight and sprays can’t get inside. But after that you should be good. As long as you treat any pets with flea medication and wash everything you can and vacuum everything else as thoroughly as possible. If this doesn’t work, your next call should be a professional exterminator. Sorry, sometimes fleas are really difficult.

   Lice
   Well there are 3 types of lice that infest humans normally.
   Head lice, body lice, and pubic lice, because you are talking about creams and not shampoos to get rid of itching, I assume the possibilities could be neither head nor pubic lice. So, what’s left are body lice. I feel this name is kind of a misnomer because body lice live mostly on your clothes and bedding. They are only on your body to feed. This one is a relatively easy fix, just wash your clothes and bedding that are in use (at least weekly) in hot water (130 deg. F). Usually you can’t see these lice they are super tiny, and they crawl around and lay eggs in the seams of your clothing.

   Monica