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I'm new here: Itchy arms, rosacea, pilaris keratosis

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 10:05 pm
by r3volution
Hello, I'm new here but not new to many of the problems I'm reading on this board. I've thought for the last 9 years that I had mites of some sort. At times it has turned my life upside down and people thought I was nuts - especially the medical people I sought help from - so I've since given up entirely on their help.

I had those small white pimple blemishes since a preteen and I have had a very mild rosacea since I was a teen. My facial skin has never been nice and has always been a battle even when I was not broken out. I have had huge open pores, reddish, uneven skin, that looks rough even when clear. I have never looked like I had fresh young skin even when I was a teen.

My real infestation problems started after I moved to Thailand 9 years ago. After living there for a year I began waking up in the night with this terrible itch on one of my upper arms. The itch became more intense daily and bumps began to appear that looked like pimples but could not be expressed the same way pimples can. I discovered I was pregnant , but there was little joy as my entire existence was consumed with the awful itch that began to border on intense pain. I began feeling the creepy crawlies all over my body, especially under the tips of my toe nails. I tried most everything but I did not want to take any drugs since I was pregnant. I was pretty sure I had some sort of mites. I found a website online of other sufferers of mites. I began washing everything in the house every day. I was trying all kinds of products and taking cold and hot showers multiple times a day, going in the ocean, swimming in pools, putting calamine and every anti itch and bug repellent available. I had the dogs treated over and over and began giving them shots myself and dipping them in harsh chemicals. I stopped touching the dogs entirely because after I would pet them I could feel the creepy crawlies on my hand. We got mice in the house and I began thinking the mice were leaving mites that were attacking me. I went to a couple dermatologists at that time who said it was not scabies or mites but some sort of dermatitis. They recommended cortasone but that made it worse. My arms were getting hideous from the marks and picking. I couldn't get any sleep because the itching and pain would wake me up constantly. My husband couldn't sleep in the same bed as me anymore because I was moving and shaking the bed with my constant itching and discomfort. Sometimes the pain, that felt like it was going into my nerves, was so bad at night I would be in tears. The urge to pick out the bump was extreme as if I needed to get something out of there. Inside the bump was sort of a dry grainy particle. The itching always started at dusk and wasn't so bad in the daytime. I got so desperate after trying every other topical stuff and was searching all of Thailand trying to get sulphur after hearing that would kill mites. I finally put lindane on one of my arms and it actually relieved the itch on the one arm but not the other untreated one. But I was scared to continue using it because I was pregnant.

When I went to the hospital for my daughter's birth the itching and crawling stopped. I thought for a moment that it might have been pregnancy related, but it resumed when I left the hospital though never quite as strong as to cause the intense nerve type pain. I also noticed it would stop in air conditioned hotels. Thailand is very hot all year and we did not have air conditioning at our home there. 7 months later I moved back to the states.It was winter and the itching stopped but during summer it came back. When I got pregnant with my son it was extreme again. This time I knew that the critters hated cold so I used ice packs on my arms at night to get enough relief to atleast fall asleep. When I woke up with itching I would go get 2 new icepacks, refreeze the last 2, in an endless cycle to keep sleeping. I went to a very reputable top notch dermatologist. He didn't take my concerns seriously but when I said I might have picked up something in Thailand he did give me a parasite test (fecal sample) but would not do a skin scraping as he said the brunt of the itching would be dispersed around my body not just on my arms. No systemic parasites so the derm did me no good in identifying or solving my problem.

The dogs have been kept on a constant dose of Revolution and some other bug killers. At one point the dogs got fleas in the house so I covered the entire house with diatamaceous earth which took care of the fleas and may have helped with the mites for a time, but when it gets hot my arms do start itching. All the while I have had flare ups of mild acne and rosacea on my face, itchy scaly eyebrows and tiny, scaly bumps on the pores on my legs, back of the hands, tops of the feet and my chest that itch and crawl at various times, and especially the back of my scalp where I get very itchy bumps under my hair. . Recently, I straightened my hair with strong chemical perm type solution and I swear it was as if the critters ran for cover on my face and eyebrows. I could feel the crawling and mild itching on my face and started picking even though my skin was fairly clear, the mild itching spread to my chest, back, and shoulders and tiny bumps started appearing. I wiped all my skin with apple cider vinegar which usually gives me some modest relief but doesn't get rid of the problem.

So, I'm determined to get rid of this thing once and for all after living with it for almost 10 years. I have read a lot on this forum and another forum for Keratosis and I've got a plan for a few new things I'm going to try. But first, I want to positively identify the existence of mites so I know I am not crazy after all. I ordered a microscope from amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001UQ6E4E. Is 150x is enough to see them??

Re: I'm new here: Itchy arms, rosacea, pilaris keratosis

Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 11:25 pm
by Walter
Hello

It is a while ago you posted your message so I wanted to ask,
is the situation still the same?

regarding the microscope, even 40X is enough but what is more important is that
you have a light system so the specimen can be lighted from the underside,
it looks the microscope you mention doesn’t have this posibility......

Walter