Diagnosed and Treated for Scabies But No Relief from Itching
Answered by: Conrad Richter
Question from: Ruthie
Posted on: November 14, 2000

I’ve been to several specialists concerning my issues at hand. It’s been over a year that I have been itching chronically inside, terribly. I was diagnosed and treated for scabies after many trips to several internalists and specialists. I’ve also been to many dermatologists and practitioners as such. I’ve made many trips to a herbalist and now am taking a herbal medicine called "Clear", I am on a detoxifying tea and colon cleaners, but am still miserable. If there is any help concerning this issue please let me know.

We are not familiar with the herbal product you are taking so we cannot reconstruct the rationale for it. But the detoxifying cleansers suggest that your herbalist feels that there is an internal component to your problem, not just a localized scabies infestation as the doctors appear to have assumed.

Itching can have many different causes, and the cause is not always immediate to the area where the itching occurs. We suspect that the modern medical system is misdiagnosing many cases of itching simply because it does not go beyond looking for an immediate pathogen (such as the scabies mite) or allergen or irritant. Certainly, an immediate local cause such as scabies mites should be considered first, but then when the localized causes are eliminated it is necessary to look for more "systemic" problems such as malfunctioning or out of balance internal organs. This where modern medicine often fails, because it poorly understands the relationships of the organs and systems of the body, because it tends to be "reductionist" instead of "wholistic" in its thinking.

For example, the liver can be out of balance and can produce irritants internally that cause the itching. No amount of antifungal, antibacterial or scabies medicine will have any effect (except perhaps to relieve secondary infections caused by the scratching). Sometimes such patients report problems with digestive sensitivity to coffee or find that they cannot consume as much alcohol as they used to without suffering intoxication and hangover effects, or they report that the itching is not constant but is worse at certain times of the day, especially when tired: these are indications that the liver is weak or out of balance and that a very different treatment is required from what your doctors have proposed to date.

You may wish to discuss your herbalist’s thinking and rationale for the treatment you are on. Not all herbalists are aware of systemic causes for itching. It may be useful for consider the liver’s functioning (for example) in this case. In the meantime, it may be helpful to apply an anti-itch cream available from your pharmacy to the afflicted area to relieve the itching until a herbal, dietary and lifestyle rebalancing program can take effect – which can take months to repair what is likely years of damage to your body’s internal organs and systems.

There are some herbs that can relieve itching, but because they work in different ways and in different circumstances, they may not give you the immediate relief you need. If you search for "itch" in the "Q and A" section of the Richters website you will find past suggestions of anti-itch herbs. But in this case, you may need a non-herbal cream (from your pharmacy) that will buy you time and stop the itching which can worsen the problem with secondary infection and irritation. But resist the temptation of thinking that just because an anti-itch cream works and your itch disappears that your underlying problem is gone – it will likely come back again if you don’t proceed with the rebalancing program.

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