In a message dated 98-01-25 19:57:49 EST, you write:
<< Hi to all,
I have a mom who is treating all of her family for scabes. The
recommendation is to trreat the entire body from the neck down with the
permethrin, Elimite. I did a search of the archives to find Dr. Hales
posting in 1995 for the treatment of lice, etc. I was wondering if a
recommendation of a 24 hour wean would be appropriate since the entire
torso will be covered with the drug, not just isolated to the scalp. The
physicians in this case seem to be divided on this issue. The baby is one
year old and still nurses quite frequently.
Thanks for your help. The mom is getting "itchy" just waiting to treat!!
>>
My first question is concerned with why this mom is treating the whole family.
Have they all been diagnosed, or just one of the members? And also, was there
really a definitive diagnosis of scabies? I ask these questions because last
summer my daughter was basically diagnosed with scabies over the phone (!)
when what she REALLY had was chiggers! And the MD wanted the entire family to
use lindane! It's a long story, but I would first want to make sure that this
treatment is absolutely necessary, and also try to determine whether the whole
family (or even the mother) really needs to be treated (assuming the rest of
the family is only being treated prophylactically). I think there are mixed
views out there regarding prophylactic treatment-I'm not saying it shouldn't
be done, but I would get reliable information first.
When I first joined this list several months ago, I came in at the end of a
discussion on lice, and think I recall Deborah Altschuler's name being
mentioned. Her website, which is for the National Pediculosis Association
(http://www.headlice.org) is an excellent source of information, particularly
because it emphasizes the importance of doing all the other things to get rid
of lice and scabies (vacuuming, laundering clothes, etc.) I highly recommend
this website.
I hope I haven't taken this too far off the topic, but in my own case, I could
have been spared a lot of difficulty if my own pediatrician had only taken the
time to accurately diagnose my daughter before prescribing a pediculocide for
the entire family. As an aside-I never did use any of these items, and
expressed my concerns about lindane to the MD's office without success-he
feels the literature about lindane is "scare tactics", and even refused to
accept info on lindane that I brought to his office! But I DID do all of the
other things (vacuumed the whole house, laundered everything, etc, which was a
huge, unneccesary ordeal) while I agonized over what to do about my daughter's
skin condition for almost a week. Almost immediately after applying the
chigger-rid, her symptoms subsided. Now all I have to do is find a new
pediatrician...
Good luck,
Troy Brown, RN
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