"The Seven Year Itch" or "I always knew eight-legged creatures were out to get me and mine!"

For anyone who has been following the blog, you know that Muad'Dib, Rivulet and I have been "itchy" for a couple months. The common diagnoses were as follows:

3 of 5 Doctors said it was Eczema
2 of 5 Doctors said it was dry skin.
100% of Doctors said it would go away if we used enough lotion.

100% of family members said it was a toxin or food allergy.

One Chiropractor/Allergist treated us for a yeast allergy. And a milk allergy. And a sugar allergy.

Finally one Dermatologist actually looked at us and discovered this: Scabies.

I know. Could they think of a worse name for something that was already uncomfortable and disgusting?! But wait, there's more: Scabies mites are not insects but arachnids, related to spiders and scorpions."

It was difficult not to scream in the Doc's office! And it turns out that although the family and their energy testing was right, it was a toxin, truth out of context did little good. It's a good example of how truth out of context does no one any good. We were looking for a food toxin, or a deeply internal toxin. Not a toxin excreted by a female mite laying her eggs in tunnels under our skin. *shivers with revulsion*

Our obvious next question was: "How did we get these little demons?!"
Most common cases are on dirty people, hobos, etc. The doc told us that anyone can catch scabies if they are in crowded dirty conditions for even for a short period of time. Say, four days to a week.

Muad'Dib and I thought about that and came up with two possible scenarios. Either we got them on the houseboat in Lake Powell (considering I was nearly the only one who slept night and day indoors on the mattresses), or in the hotel we stayed at in Star Valley during the reunion.

Either way, it happened and "Ewww."

Here are 10 things I learned while afflicted with Scabies:
1. Don't just take a drug because a doctor "thinks" it will treat the symptoms.
2. Bring a sleeping bag.
3. WorldMark is worth EVERY PENNY. Because I know those beds are clean and Scabies-free! ya know how I know? Because I don't just pay for the room, I pay for the room to be CLEANED!
4. I'm grateful for Capitalism, because it makes places like WorldMark possible and affordable to us.
5. Muad'Dib (and many others) are right, "Scratching makes it worse."
6. Do the research so you can ask the right questions.
7. I respect people with enough guts to say, "I don't know, but you know who might . . ."
8. Most Dermatologists recommend NOT using a loofa sponge in the shower or bath.
9. Irritability is a byproduct of not sleeping because you are up scratching all night long. Evidence: Rivulet over the past three months; and
10. Yay for Health Savings accounts. Beacuse the lotion to fix us wasn't covered by insurance and would have cost us over $200.00!

Luckily, no one can catch it from us, and we have been given the two step cure. And in four weeks we should not be itching or scratching anymore.

One of the first things I said to Muad'Dib upon discovery was, "I told you. Spiders are evil."
He replied, "These aren't spiders."

Say what you will, but if it has eight legs and attacks me, I'm going to call a demon a demon.