Diaper Rash Cream, Borax
Re: "folliculitis"/mite infection in scalp/skin--using borax solution with some success. About 6 months ago, 5 out of 7 members of our family came down with a couple of strange red bumps. They seemed like flea bites or something similar. I wondered what they were, treated the bumps with tea tree oil, and they all disappeared. ...Except, that is, for mine, which were on my back so went unnoticed for a couple weeks. Soon, my back was *covered* in these weird red bumps. They were like large zits, except that they never formed an actual head (and if you tried to "pop" them, you would only get blood). At first, I thought maybe we had a bed bug infection, as the bites did itch and were painful. Then, I wondered if it was MRSA.
I tried EVERYTHING I could possibly think of on my back (ACV, raw honey, tea tree oil, Thieves essential oils, sea salt and epsom salt baths, anti-fungal creams, even a round of antibiotics for MRSA! I mean, I tried all the natural remedies I know of (quite a few!), as well as an all raw diet for 4 weeks, a juice fast...I mean, you name it, I've tried it, including a parasite cleanse (from humaworm.com which was very effective in every other way, might I add).
I felt great from doing all the cleanses, but the bumps STILL were there. :( The bumps simply did NOT respond to all my remedies like a fungal, viral, or bacterial problem would...I mean, anything viral, fungal, or bacterial should have been LONG dead. I was absolutely STUMPED.
I finally discovered that medicinal strength Lavender Oil worked and so did Oil of Oregano, and so smothered my back with that and the bumps FINALLY (and very slowly) stopped coming and began healing up.
But...then, worst nightmare, they began sprouting in my scalp!!!!
What worked on my back wasn't possible for my scalp, because it is VERY difficult to "smother" a scalp in medicinal strength essential oil without going through an entire (expensive!) bottle of essential oil at a time! All the hair gets in the way and soaks up the oil, and so one $30 bottle of oil is gone in no time, and I don't have the ability to afford that kind of cure! I was at a real loss for what to do aside from shave my scalp (which I still might end up doing, if I can't find a cure any other way---though as a woman, this will be ONLY if I can't cure this any other way). The bumps began appearing on my face and neck too, making me want to freak out even more.
That was when I stumbled on an accidental cure... I was out of lavender and oil of oregano, having used them all up on my head, so on a whim, I put some diaper cream on the bumps around my chin (I have one child still in diapers, hence the diaper rash ointment) and after a few applications, the bumps WENT AWAY! This was amazing, because the only thing up to this point that worked was the lavender and oregano oil, BUT those took a couple weeks to do the job!
So I looked at the ingredients in the baby diaper creme and it had zinc oxide and boric acid in it.
Googling boric acid is actually what led me to this site, where I discovered a thing called MITES (which sounded just like what I had!) and how they are killed by using boric acid in the form of borax. Walla! A whole lot of unanswered questions about my strange problem started getting answered. So the first thing I want to say to you is THANK YOU. :)
My second question is this. I've been using the hydrogen peroxide and borax combo for a couple months now. I notice definite improvement, but I'm still dealing with the mites.
I also began using Ponds Cold Cream on my face, since that slowly suffocates the mites, as well as giving my face a borax/peroxide rinse once a week (only once a week since it is so drying). I haven't had a bump on my face since I started that, however I did start getting them inSIDE my nose! Talk about nuts! I guess the mites ran there for cover. I started putting the borax/peroxide solution in my nose, just rubbing it in with my finger, and am noticing improvement, though if I'm not diligent, I still get bumps there. In fact, the first time I realized they'd gone into my nose, I just put the diaper cream up my nose...and about 3 hours later, had the itchiest nostrils ever! I swear I could feel them running out of my nose, as I felt these itchy slow trickles following trails out of my nostrils and going various directions OUT of my nostrils. It was SO weird! I killed the "trails" quickly with an orange cleaner spray I have--I sprayed it onto my hand and rubbed it all around my nose, wiped it off about 5 minutes later and didn't experience any more itching or "trails" exiting.
As far as my head goes, my scalp is feeling really tender from the drying effects of the borax/peroxide, so that's a real bummer. I currently use the borax/peroxide solution 2-4 times a week. Specifically, I mix about 3 Tablespoons borax with 1/3 cup (3%) peroxide and 2/3 cup water. Using a large bowl as a basin, I soak my scalp thoroughly in this, and also run it down my neck, ears, nose, forehead and the top part of my back, just in case.
Half of the time, I'll sleep with the solution in, and half the time I'll rinse it out after an hour or two. When I sleep with the solution, I usually wake up with my scalp feeling like it's burning, hence why I don't sleep with it in all the time.
Since learning that orange oil also kills mites, I've tried using Orange TKO on my head, as per someone's recommend on a mange page on your site, but it doesn't seem to help nearly as much as the borax does...though maybe I'm not using it right.
ANYways, I have a hunch that we somehow got into some weird mites from somewhere... The rest of my family doesn't appear to be infected with them like I am, as the bumps never really came back on any of them. I seem to be the only one that the mites decided they liked. I was just wondering if it's safe to continue doing the borax soaks for this long? It's been 2, almost 3 months now, and I'm hoping that I'm not poisoning myself! I'm having to do the soaks so often that I'm afraid to take the Borax internally, too, worried that I may already be overdosing just from what my skin absorbs.
I was also wondering if you had any words of wisdom or have had any experiences with anyone dealing with a mite infestation like this...meaning, how long is "normal" to get rid of them???? I'm so jealous of the *dogs* who get mange---I mean, it sounds like their mange clears up fairly fast. :)
THANK YOU so much for all of your help. The medical community gave up after their anti-fungal and their antibiotics didn't work, and told me I must be allergic to something and to just learn to deal with it. Argh~~! I'm so thankful for people like you and those who write in, people who share your knowledge for the rest of us to benefit from. Keep up the good work!!!
Dear Molly: First off there are many other people who have bumps like yours (all over their body but without the acne head) and when they apply lavender oil the mites run for cover by moving themselves to other areas. The mites are loosely called Morgellon's disease, but I prefer to call them mites or nanoinsects, due to its size being peculiarly smaller than a dog mange.
This is why if a mites were present that an aroma oils (lavender oil) set up a barrier to prevent them from spreading to the head (by applying lavender oil a ring around the neck), or if they reach the head, a barrier oil is drawn around the eyes (ring around the eyes), noses and ears, before they are applied to the TARGET area.
The mites infestation manifests themselves like lupus, rosacea, or lyme. They can take the form of a synthetic superbug (man-made) if there were fibers (www.silentsuperbugs.com)
One interesting thing about these "unknown mites" is that if they stay on the skin, they are relatively easy to kill and will never come back again.
However, if they get into the bloodstream they manifest themselves into more serious condition of lupus, lyme or a relatively benign rosacea. So the fact that foundations are set up to deal with these problem separately, the conditions from my own trial and error were all related and all responded quite well to the borax remedy. I have as yet to wait from other places for their remedy and they don't seem to have any solution, but it is likely earthclinic will be the first to post them anyway!
Usually a borax is used both externally and internally as way of treatment. In some cases eating orange peels might help too.
Yes the borax and hydrogen peroxide is drying. The way to resolve this dilemma is to use to apply lotions after the application UNRINSED. Another possibility is to use MORE frequently (as much as you like) a simpler solution of just borax without rinsing by using hydrogen peroxide mixed to borax less frequently.
Neem oil would also do it but a lot less effectively as they are also insecticidal but an orange oil CAN be mixed with some borax in event the drying effect of hydrogen peroxide is causing the problem.
DMSO if mixed in low portions with a borax solution can be another substitute, but I prefer a fairly low concentration so that it doesn't cause stinging, such as always below 50%. I would have to try it myself to know the exact concentrations.
People have really different tolerances for DMSO (which are also penetrating) and I guess the exact concentration that has the least irritation and still have some effects is between 10% to 25% DMSO in a borax. I have no way for sure since the numbers I tried are too small. What I do know is my own arms, I can easily go 50% concentration since that area is less sensitive.
The reason why dogs are relatively easy to cure with their mites infestation are two reasons I can think of, firstly the mites species do not go deep into the bloodstream, the second reason is the size prevents them and only exists exclusively on the skin of the dogs.
The human forms of mites are much more smaller and can reside in the bloodstream if action was not taken soon enough to kill them, giving them a CHANCE to survive deep in the blood, which can result in pretty bad joint pains and terrible skin pus.
I was just wondering if it's safe to continue doing the borax soaks for this long?
Borax can be used externally just like soaps. Although I tend to think soap at least for me are actually more toxic for me as soaps have pseudoestrogens from all those perfumes they are using, and it just modifies my testosterone, which I don't like.
A borax is more ideal for me since it is unscented and have no dangerous pseudoestrogens. Some sodium lauryl sulfate contains traces of dioxin which I do not like and it is the borax that removes the body of excess fluoride due to popular water fluoridation and chlorination which seems to destroy all my plants by stunting its growth.
Many people worry of taking too much borax. Taking too much borax manifests itself by if they were taken too much, it will cause a diarrhea, being the most frequently cited problems. The other, which is less prevalent is sleepiness as borax may cause sleepiness, if of course you happen to be already sleepy, but has no effect or little effect if I was not sleepy. Although tit does have calming effect. The other thing is borax, if taken too much and I don't mean poisoning myself by taking a tablespoonful - can lead to some loss of appetite, which is great if I happened to want to loose some weight. Although the practice of taking baking soda and borax (a very small amount) does lead to weight loss as the borax seems to cause my body temperature and metabolism to go up, and hence weight loss and also chelates out fluorides which my body don't want after all.
One commonly cited borax toxicity is the issue of LD50, which means a dose that can kill half of the mice often expressed as mg/kg. For example a borax or boron is actually a essential mineral needed for bone metabolism, and boron are found in thyroid and parathyroid, which influences metabolism and remove fluoride from the pineal gland which tends to accumulate over the lifetime. Fluoride therefore accelerates the aging process while borax reduces the fluoride buildup, which is a common biomarkers for aging used by scientist. The LD50 of borax is about 2000 mg/kg and the LD50 of salt is about the same as borax. Therefore for a borax to have a LD50, a 100 kilogram man would have to take 2000 mg/kg x 100 = 200,000 mg or 200 grams of borax. So a small person, whose weight is 50 kg his LD50 toxic dose would be 100 grams of borax, or 1/10 of a kilogram!
In practice taking that kind of a huge dose is not possible except for accidental poisoning. In practice I would be more concerned about taking low dose for especially sensitive people or make minor errors in taking too much as opposed to taking it ridiculously too much.
So taking borax in that instances would lead to the problems of weight loss, diarrhea, loss of appetite (I like this one!), then the borax can be taken by me as long as I like. In fact I take them for weight loss and joint pains (cause is mycoplasma or mycobacterium).
I find the skin also gets less irritated as mites die if I take 1/4 (men's dose) or 1/8 (woman's dose) of borax mixed in 1 liter of water taken throughout the day. Depending on peoples's sensitivity I have noticed some can take it for a long as they like to some people who have low tolerances and can take it for no longer than 2-3 days out of a week. The only way to know anything is for me to just try it. I also take it for my joint pains. The key to all this is if the boron is maintained at a steady level in the blood long enough all mites eggs would die and it shouldn't take that long but it does take at least 1 month of continued use, assuming proper usage. However most of improvement is seen for about 2-3 weeks.
I believe that taking 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda in 1/2 glass of water, once in the morning and once before bedtime to help with the mites infestation, and then an hour or thirty minutes after I take the baking soda I will likely take the borax drinking water.
It is necessary I think to take a bath in borax and wash all clothes and bedspread in a borax AND hydrogen peroxide solution. However for clothes and bedspread to prevent further REINFECTION is the key and it is why borax should be used as a cleaning solution in the house and the use of laundry. It is best to mixed the borax, in a detergent when doing laundry or cleaning floors if at all possible.
Most people who get mites get it from being outdoors, bungalows, and now the mites infestation seem to exists in hotels and motels. This is why borax should be used not just for household purposes but in business establishments such as hospitals and hotels, where people often get them due to being a public facilities.
Hopefully you do not need to get jealous of dogs' mange. They got different mites species altogether, too large to go into their bloodstream. It is us humans who get a more menacing species, the one that can exists in the bloodstream if they were not quickly treated and can manifest itself as Morgellon's, lyme, lupus, or even rosacea.
Nh
12/18/2016
Boston, Ma
08/17/2017
Indiana
11/11/2018
The mites are Springtail Mites. Unfortunately they can jump an excess of 6 ft. That s why they're named that. There's a spring on their tail ends. They are extremely hard to get control of. They make woven shafts in longer hair to lay eggs in. Not many eggs at all per shaft. However they can construct a lot of shafts quickly by 4 of them working as a team. They are most active in dim to moderate light, mainly in the very late evening. They burrow to survive, they not only stay under skin, they go deeper and move quickly to a different area away from whatever is threatening them. They have that bubble up so quick it's hard to notice. Dogs get them also. Rainy wet yuck attracts them. They slip or spit stinky brown nastyliquidfor eggs. The Bubble liquid is clear. Baking Soda has been most helpful until now. Hope the Borax works. It is getting overwhelming. I myself cannot handle too much much more. Blessed Be
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