I have created this thread to inform and stop misinformation about scabies. I was going to do this with an account on here but was unable to activate it. I tried 3 different email address's but was unable to recieve an activation email. until then.......

I have bumps all over and I itch like crazy do I have scabies?

Sarcoptes scabiei aka The itch mite irritation identification is key to treatment. Other suspects could be flea or bedbugs as they leave similar welts, pimples and bumps. Knowing that you have scabies will help with treatment.
Steps for Identification:
1. Do you itch? An itch so unbearable you can not help but scratch? Does it worsen at night? Does your bumps/rash have liquid or puss in them?
If you answered yes to these questions you are one step closer to the identification process

2. Location, the itch mite prefers certain parts of the body including but not limited to face, neck, armpits, wrists, hands including the webs, knees, elbows, folds of skin and soles of feet(mostly in infants). After you are infected it may take a couple of weeks for burrows or tiny tunnels to become visible.


3. Burrows/Tunnels is the scabies key ID. Doctors and dermatologist both look for this. The size is roughly 2mm-15mm long and most of them zig zag. These sometimes turn bright red and later peel and for a brown crust. Inside these tunnels are the females eggs and fecal matter. The fecal matter has massive amounts of bacteria in them. This bacteria is usually what causes the papules to form all over your body.
If you have tunnels the culprit is Scabies

I have scabies what do I do?

DO NOT PANIC. It is important to know you are a walking infectious contagion. Everything you come in contact with will become an infected surface. Breathing, sneezing, coughing are all ok if you have that all going on at once you may have something else as well. Only the things you touch are potential infected surfaces. If you have signs of scabies and sleep in the same bed with someone else chances are they have it too. Began an isolation zone. Quarantine yourself and begin the process of eliminating these little buggers. Make a doctors appointment. If you do not have insurance or are low income I will go over a way to get rid of them as well. If your occupation forces you to have physical interaction with people you will need to call into work sick until the first treatment. You will need to tell your employer why. You may need to educate them. I called a doctors office and had a medical assistant tell me that they do not treat scabies and that i would need to get the vaccine. There is no vaccine.


Chemicals:
Get familiar with permethrin. It is a pesticide mostly used in agriculture and livestock farming. This chemical is mainly used to kill all sorts of mites. This chemical is toxic to birds fish and cats. It will kill them so keep them away from it. If you treat yourself and have a cat do not touch it until you clean yourself. Permethrin is safe for humans as long as you do not ingest it or put it in an orifice of your body. It is not recommended for for infants.
How do I know if i'm allergic?
Have you had lice? If you have chances are permethrin was used to treat it. If you have never had lice but have come in contact with pesticides such as raid or similar product they contain pyrethrin. This compound is very similar and more toxic to humans and it may have touched your skin. If no allergic reaction to these things you wont have on to the Permethrin.
The doctor will prescribe one or a combination of 3 different medications.
Permethrin 5% cream (do not use if pregnant or nursing.) Use this cream from head to toe and dont forget the folds of your ears. Make sure you massage it into your hair and scalp. Leave it on for twelve hours wash off and repeat 4-7 days later at the most 3 times.
Permethrins toxicity to humans breaks down in 15 minutes on the surface of the skin well before it can absorb into your body. The residue which is not absorbed is what kills the mites.
*BEWARE* Permethrin side effects are itching and rash. this is normal and is usually a sign it is working.
personally the itching was about 100x worse when I applied the permethrin the entire day. I felt the itching stop exactly a day later. only minor itching similar to the kind you get when you lay on grass.
Your symptoms may worsen for up to 6 weeks after you have killed the scabies mites. You must remember that these things live in your skin. When you kill them they still remain in your skin. just like a splinter your body still reacts to the foreign matter. You still may have bumps you still may itch. If you see new burrows or tunnels 2 weeks after the second treatment you will need to re-treat yourself.
Ivermectin is an oral anti parasitic. this is usually used in extreme cases and may make you feel sick while the medication works.
Crotamiton works in some cases but fails a lot. If your doctor prescribes this ask for something else. It is not for use in children.

Permethrin is the best thing to use. Permethrin resistant scabies is uncommon and only found where mass treatments are issued and permethrin is used as abatement.

Naturals:

There is no natural treatment that works as well as permethrin just keep that in mind
Sulfur has been used for a very long time and is known to be the first treatment method developed for scabies. Sulfur should only be used when the chemical treatments can not be tolerated. This method should not be used with pregnant women or infants.
Clove oil has been tested on a large itch might populous and only showed a 25% mortality rate in non-permethrin resistant and permethrin resistant itch mites.
Isoeugenol is a chemical found in the ylang ylang plant. A plant from Asia. Ylang ylang oil can be used. Isoeugenol is highly toxic to mites of all species but only in concentrated doses which is not available for domestic or commercial uses and is still being tested . If you can some how get a concentrate higher than 17mM it can be used.

Other oils and compounds varies on a person to person basis and does not work for everyone and has been tested but with unsatisfactory results. Some include coconut oil, baking soda, borax, and hydrogen peroxide.

Although naturals are cheaper they are less reliable and its very common to hear of a reinfestation shortly after one believes them to be gone. Many think natural oils work 100% but do not realize that the oil itself it the killer not the compounds in it. The oil suffocates the creatures. Very much like the creams the only difference is the residual affect that the chemicals have that continues to kill once the cream is washed off.

My advice: USE PERMETHRIN

The poor mans method(United States)
Three things need to be purchased
1. Sentry 35 day dip for dogs Permethrin dip at Amazon $9.99 (can be purchased from petco for $17) It's safe for humans and long story why it says dogs only.
2. Permethrin concentrate for a sprayer or a spray bottle permethrin concentrate at Amazon $34 this will be used to treat the environment
3. Borax $5 at the local market in the laundry detergent section.

Make sure you have enough money to do a lot of laundry as well whether it be for the laundry machine or soap for the laundry.

This will all need to be done and it will be further explained in the clean up section.

Take a shower clean yourself real good scrub really hard to get all the dead skin off your body make sure you're groomed well including cutting your nails. Draw a bath and put enough water in the tub to cover your legs. Now dump half of the bottle of sentry dip into the water. Get in the tub and be prepared to sit there for about twenty to thirty minutes make cups with your hands and begin to apply the solution to the rest of your body including your hair be mindful not to get it in your eyes ear canals but make sure you get behind your ears and the ear folds. When you are finished be prepared to stand there for a rough ten minutes while you air dry. Do not use a towel. *Caution*: if you are female wash your genitals immediately with soap and water make sure the inside too. For males once you are air dried wash your penis off. Make sure you do not wash any off of your body until 12-16 hours later.

Once you treat yourself the clean up process should begin immediately while the chemicals or naturals is still fresh on your body. this will kill any that might get on you during the clean up.

How do i clean up?

This part is very time consuming and is the same importance as treating your body. Your bed is infectious waste and needs to be treated with finesse.

You will need several cleaning supplies
You will need the permethrin concentrate listed in my poor man method. This is more important than bleach or any other product. Follow instructions on bottle and fill a sprayer or spray bottle. Bleach can be used but not on fabrics but on non porous surfaces. Remove any type of fabric that can be washed from your living space including anything you might have touched (curtains, oven mits etc.) You will need to clean your car out as well. Spray all surfaces with the permethrin spray. Let your car bake in the sun.
Remove mattress and all other furniture to an area to be chemically treated
Pillows and stuffed animals need to be placed in plastic bags.
Your stuffed animals and pillows need to be placed in a freezer for 24 hours I call this the choke and freeze method. This not only kills scabies but dust mites as well which can trigger allergies in most humans. Lay every piece of everything outside and make sure every piece of clothing and anything else is neatly laid out. Now spray everything with the permethrin spray I mean everything including floors walls anything you might have walked on or touched. Furniture and mattress as well. Pay close attention to the walls and floors near your bed.
After you have sprayed everything you have come in contact with since you contracted scabies its now ready to wash in almost boiling water if you can. Add borax to each load. This will help remove the skeletons from your clothes to reduce further irritation. wash pillows stuffed animals everything but the furniture.
Sorry about your clothes shrinking but you need high heat dry when you dry your clothes. I suggest the high heat dry then hanging the clothes out in the sun. once everything is cleaned place everything in plastic bags. Wrap your furniture and mattress's in plastic.
You should wear gloves and spray your clothes before handling anything. The permethrin spray does not ruin your clothes and I have used in the military on our uniforms to repel insects.

The final steps

You are close to liberating your body and home of one of the worst parasites that can inhabit our body.

Repeat the chemical process every 4-7 days for at most 3 weeks. If you find tunnels or burrows 2 weeks after treatment you will need to restart the entire process over. You did not do something right.
Your symptoms may worsen for up to 6 weeks after you have killed the scabies mites. Do not be alarmed only if there are new tunnels.

FAQ/Myths/Information

Myth: I can see scabies.
Truth: No you can't unless you have eyes that are microscopes. These suckers are tiny the average female is .3mm long and males are about half that size. To give you a comparison A flea that has not fed is about 4mm which is over 10x bigger than the scabies mite. If you can see something on your skin its not the scabies mite.

Myth: I have hundreds of scabie mites all over my body
Truth: At a given time there are about 13-20 female mites on your body. Double that are males. The life span of an adult female is about 2-3 days and males 20 days so you can potentially have dozens of generations living off of your body.

Myth: Scabies feed on blood
Truth: Scabies feed on skin and only the top layer called stratum corneum.

Myth: Scabies mites jump or fly to other potential hosts.
Truth: Anatomically Mites can not jump their legs are too short and are not used to jump or move up and down they are used to move forward or backwards.

How is scabies spread?
Coming in contact with an infected person or material. Its common to see people get scabies through trying clothes on at retail stores.

Is scabies an STD?
Yes, it is considered to be you can get scabies through sexual contact and is the number 1 way it is spread. Unfortunately many std clinics do not treat scabies.

I will add more to this if I can at a later time. Good Luck to you all

Great post with a lot of great information. Though I do recommend if you had scabies for some time or were misdiagnosed that you use sulfur treatments as the permethrin will not work as it sucks at penetrating the skin.
All in all sulfur is 100% effective in killing scabies mites, rat mites, bird mites and is 100% natural so you do not have to worry about post secondary skin infections or cancer. And if permethrin treatments fail after using them twice 5-7 days apart it is likely not going to work so you will need to do full body sulfur treatments.

I used 45% permethrin all day everyday for 16 days incl scalp (I wore a hat everyday). My scabies came back.

Use sulfur it works. And I think you mean 5% because 45% does not exist as it would likely kill you. Scabies and all other mites had sulfur treatments, don't ask me why it just works!