Getting Rid of Scabies on clothes, bedding etc - They hide everywhere

Carpets

Bedding

Mattresses

Clothing or coats worn in the last few days

Cuddly toys

Towels

Anything that you think will look cosey to a scabie mite. I even went a step further and treated the walls, floors etc - I so desperately wanted rid of them the second time around. I might sound a bit obsessive but if you are looking yourself at getting rid of scabies then you will know how unbearable they are. There is a certain way to treat the scabies to get it right, you can't just do it gradually. The treatment needs to be done all at the same time. In this lens I am going to run through exactly what I did to sucessfully get rid of scabies.

I did mine when my kids were at school, immediately after treating them (you can read more about treating the skin at another lens I have created which details are below.)

Getting rid of scabies for me was really hard work. My husband was working at the time so the majority of the work was left down to me. When I finally had it diagnosed correctly and had tried the perscribed cream once which had failed (if I had looked at the ingredients first, I would never have used it anyway) I tackled the mites correctly.

I treated all four of us that night before bed and then when the kids were fast asleep with their treatment on, I took all of their cuddly toys that they wouldn't miss and put them into bin bags. I tied the bags very tightly and put them in the garage, out of the way. This would save me having to wash all of those cuddly toys, some were big and would take forever to dry. I would leave the bags in the garage for at least two weeks. This meant that the mites would just die as they can not live for long away from human skin.

Then I washed all the clothes that we had worn that day and any that had been worn in the last couple of weeks and not washed (just one of Harry's jackets). I also washed all of the towels on a high wash. I cleaned the kitchen, bathrooms, table and chairs, lounge and everywhere with the help of my husband. Then I went to bed it was 2am and we were exhausted, I needed the sleep because tomorrow was going to be a big getting rid of scabies day.

The next day, I got up early when my husband went to work to get a head start before the kids surfaced. I took off our sheets, whilst wearing gloves to be careful not to re-infect myself and I put them on a high wash in the washing machine. Then I set to work blitzing everywhere around the house and giving it a good solid clean. I steam cleaned my mattress and curtains and bedroom carpet before the kids were up. I gave them their breakfasts and plonked them in front of the TV watching Spongebob. Then I pegged out our sheets and all the washing from the night before. Then I put my gloves back on and went off to strip their beds. I put their sheets in the washing machine, pressed the buttons. What happened next, was just not fair (stamping my feet here). The washing machine just wouldn't work, I remember thinking, nooooo not today of all days. I pressed a few more buttons, screamed a while, but it still wouldn't work !!!!!!

I emptied the sheets and put them in bin bags and tied them up. I did the same for everyones pyjamas.

I had to take the boys to school and there was a launderette a couple of minutes away from there, so I piled the bin bags into the car. (I would worry about the broken washing machine the next day). I dropped Harry and Sam at school and went back to the launderette.

Now in case you were wondering, yes I did put the gloves on whilst I was loading my washing. Luckily I was the only one there so I didn't get any funny looks. I left the washing and went home to steam the rest of the carpets, mattresses, curtains and even the tiled floor. (I wish my husband had of been off work to help). It was a hot and humid day and I remember feeling sick at one point, so I had a break, a big glass of icey water and some toast (I had forgotten breakfast, I think this was why I felt sick). Anyway, I got it done. I even cleaned the walls and the window frames. I went down to the launderette and picked the sheets up, went back home and made all the beds.


Then it was time to pick the kids up. I picked them up that day looking like I had been dragged through a hedge backwards. I had done it, well I was pretty sure that I had. Surely no scabies mite could live through all that cleaning ? All I could do then was to wait and see what happened next and just hope that all my hard work had been successful in getting rid of scabies

Even though I was exhausted, I managed to take us off to the beach and sit on the sand with a huge ice-cream. I had earnt it ! I tried not to think about the fact that I would have to repeat the whole thing a week later to get rid of any eggs that I had left behind.

Eight days later I did the whole thing again, but I had a couple of things to make it easier this time. The washing machine was working and because it was on a weekend, my husband was there to help too !

If you answered 'Yes' in the Poll above then you answered correctly. I know that in some cases it can take longer to get rid of scabies, but we were lucky. I was extremely thorough with the cleaning though, so that will have helped too.

If it doesn't work after you do this treatment then you can be assured that you will have definitely killed off a large number of the scabies mites. If you do still have them, then it would mean washing towels immediately after use, washing bedding daily, strict cleaning routines. For yourself a daily treatment that you can apply before bed. As long as you are using a natural scabies treatment then this is fine and not going to harm your skin.

Be careful though, not to get an itch and think that you have not been successful in getting rid of scabies. The itch can stay a while until the skin settles down. Harry itched for a couple more weeks. It was not as bad as when he had scabies though and was not bad enough to keep him awake at night.

If I ever was unlucky enough to get hit by scabies a second time, I would not even bother going to the doctor. I would do exactly what I did here.