In 2010 I was reading a book about midnight in bed when all of the sudden had this unmistakable feeling of bugs crawling from my hairline towards my face. It felt like a little army.
As you can imagine, I had to see this, so I jumped up and ran to the mirror. I leaned in and saw absolutely nothing. This was the beginning of my terrifying nightmare.
From that point on, all these years, I’ve rarely had much time without itching and the feeling of thousands of bugs crawling on me, especially at night. I was completely freaked out. In addition to this, I had a few times when the skin around my eye sockets burned like hot oil after I put lotion on, so I learned NOT to put lotion on in certain areas of my face. Also, I had numerous times when people who sat beside me or those who were in the same room as I was would go into itching fits, scratching their heads and noses with intensity. I felt like I had leprosy and that it bothered others, too, and I just hoped they wouldn’t figure out that I was the reason they were itching.
I thought that my 2 cats had brought something into the house because they too were itching, and perhaps they did, but even to this day, I have never been able to identify anything definitively. I have taken them to several veterinarians in the last 10 years about this. Most of them said that my cats were fine, but a few said that they felt something on my cats although they only recommended that I put the pesticide Revolution on them, which was only partially effective and never helped my itching. One veterinarian dipped the cats in powerful Amitraz and sent them home with me. Within a day they were itching again.
I knew it was in my environment, too.
Over the years I have cleaned, sprayed, fogged, and literally spent thousands of dollars on things that did not end this problem or set things back to the way they were prior to the “itch.”
I had to develop a daily routine to exist with a semblance of normalcy. I would throw the clothes that I was going to wear that day into the dryer on hot before getting dressed. I would take a bath with some Dawn dishwashing liquid and some lavender and cloves essential oil drops in it. I would wash my hair with Giovanni Triple Treat shampoo and conditioner frequently and I would wash my sheets daily. In fact I did tons of laundry and wore out everything very quickly. I was always spraying some new thing on everything that I hoped would curb the bugs, all to no avail.
I rarely went anywhere. My life basically came to a lonely standstill while my entire focus was on getting rid of these things!
After a while I realized that whatever it was that I had, it would take a determined effort over time to get rid of it, so I stopped looking for a magic bullet and started looking for something that had reliable results which might eventually eradicate these things.
I think I’ve found something that is working now. I ran into something called hypochlorous acid (HOCL). It is a disinfectant made from salt and water and electricity. I bought a good machine (not made in China) to make it because I knew I would use a lot. I have been spraying everything I sit on, lay on, drive in, wear, etc, twice a day. I spray the cats’ dorsal areas (backbone) and all their beds a couple times a day. It is very safe for cats and humans. I haven’t fogged yet, but you can fog it, too. I’ve already noticed wonderful results and far less bites, etc. I completely spray my head as a spray/rinse after I wash my hair. I spray my lint catcher in the dryer. I try to think of new places to spray it. I don’t wash my sheets daily, but I spray them down daily (off the mattress so I don’t get a sag in it). I spray the pillowcase and my head again lightly before going to bed at night. I spray all my clothes in the morning before I wear them. I take a little spray bottle to work.
So far, so good. I feel like I’m in control.
I don’t know what I have, but sometimes I think it’s a couple things like clothes moths, mold or a mite.
I may never have a name, but I’m hoping this hypochlorous acid spray kills them/it off.
