Ailment: Mites (demodex mites)
Remedy: Borax
Borax as a source of boron. Boron deficiency, supplementation, chelation, heavy metals, fluorides, fungicide, anti-microbial. How to use borax both internally and externally.
Question posted by Rosey said of Sydney, NSW, Australia on 19 March 2023 at 7:25 5436
Hi does anyone else have larger pores and thicker skin on cheeks from rosacea? I can’t help but think there could be an overload of demodex mites in the pores that may be causing the problem. My skin was flawless before rosacea and I know they say you can’t feel mites because they are too small but I can feel something on my face sometimes, crawly itchy sensations, even up my nose. I’ve been using black seed oil, mixed with tea tree oil, helps the crawly itchy sensation go away but the skin texture is still not smooth. I tried the borax drink for about 3 weeks, plus tried the borax peroxide on face, it helped more than the ivermectin cream. Does anyone know how to get skin more smooth again? I am tempted to try co2 laser, but it’s expensive and I’ve heard it’s painful!
Comment posted by Brighter Days Ahead of Huntsville, AL, USA on 9 January 2023 at 4:58 5415
YES
Update from my first comment nearly three weeks ago.
I have been using a 32 ounce bottle of OTC 3% Hydrogen Peroxide and 2 Cups of Borax per bath soak twice per day for the past 9 days, and occasionally applying the hydrogen peroxide directly to bothersome spots. I have also been laundering all clothes, bed linens and bath linens in Borax daily. It has been gradually getting rid of them.
Comment posted by Mike Alger of Ashland, NE, USA on 27 May 2022 at 0:52 5349
YES
I’ll be 64 in June and this is the worst thing I’ve encountered in my life. I discovered my shop and house has water leaks causing mold AND I’ve been dealing with bird mites that infested my shop and moved to my house for three years. Doctors thought I was nuts or on drugs. I have leukaemia and do blood test regularly. Three bug people been out, all trying to sell me something I didn’t need or regular bug treatments. None of them drilled a hole, scraped or scooped anything. I would have spent $5000 so far to eliminate my issues. My dog and I were bothered and the hardest part of this whole ordeal is my wife says it’s in my head. Mites were in my hair, eyebrows, nose, ankles, elbows, ears. My wife helped clean and ran laundry booster if she thought about it. I found an enzyme cleaner like Kleen green will take the brown off your skin, stop itching and make black things fall off you in the sink. I’ve cleared 80% of my issues. I now know what to look for and how to treat. Watch for brown powder, black specs or dots and dust in your clothes. I enzyme spay and shake off clothes I wear, the dust turns into floating white things and when you vacuum your dirt container looks like a cotton candy machine. Dermatologist said I had nibs without one sample or looking at skin close. This is a fight of your own. I don’t say anything to friends or family, tired of the he’s nuts look. Enzyme cleaners YES, diatomaceous earth YES, constant cleaning YES, neem oil YES, tea tree body wash YES, borax YES. These are all part of my life now. Now no itching or bites 95% of the time.
Reply from David Niven Miller:
I would suggest the mould is the bigger problem and it is essential to fix all leaks and clean the mould with a chlorine bleach cleaner. Bird mites are only a possible problem if you have occupied birds nests close to the house or shop.
Comment posted by ma2glenn of Ottawa, ON, Canada on 14 March 2022 at 15:55 5344
Some comments: Demodex mites aren't visible without a microscope. Everyone most likely has some demodex mites. People with compromised immune systems may have increased numbers. Rosacea and demodex may be related. Demodex mites cannot cross species. What does cross species might be ringworm.
Question posted by Cara Domings of Newburyport, Massachusetts, United States on 7 September 2021 at 7:43 5314
33 y o female in New England here. After visiting the ophthalmologist and dermatologist and doing some research, I'm definitely suffering from some sort of demodex issue, even though it's mild. I've had problems since living in dorm housing in college. It's caused lesions on my cheeks, blepharitis and ocular rosacea, hair loss, chronic inflammation on my face, eyebrow loss. Does anyone have any connection with environmental factors living in an apartment building, living in a tightly spaced neighborhood like the downtown of a city or housing district? I also wonder if this has to do with the state of the immune system? Does stress or a slightly compromised immune system have anything to do with susceptibility to mites? Is it all just a vicious cycle, where you'e stressed in your home space, which compromises your immune system, which then makes you a host for mites, which then causes more stress? I also was reading about bird mites that can be a consequence of trees with lower lying branches that are near to windows in homes. It makes sense. I also was reading that mites like wetter, warmer environments much like humans. I'm ready to leave my home for a while and also prior to it, ask the neighbors to cut back their trees that are coming into the backyard of my apartment. It's thickly settled where I live. I'd like to try going away from the environment and seeking some sort of retreat somewhere to heal my body in a colder environment. Or maybe move...
From David Niven Miller:
Yes, stress weakens the immune system and makes people more susceptible to mites. Please read the pages on Grow Youthful concerning demodex mites and bird mites, which explain their transmission. (see Ailments, Mites) Having trees around is great, and there is no need to cut them back unless there is a birds nest by a window AND the nest has bird mites AND you are showing symptoms of bird mite infestation.
Comment posted by Paulette of Florence, Colorado, United States on 28 August 2021 at 2:4 5311
YES
If you are still struggling with scabies mites I had them for nearly 8 years and ran across comments claiming Kleen Green Natural Genesis makes it gets rid of them. I've been mixing the concentrate with water 1 part enzyme concentrate to 7 parts water and spraying myself 3 times a day. After a week I'm down to just a few biting during the day. I target where the biting is happening. It takes a couple days to get rid of them under your skin, but it's working really well. I am also sprinkling Borax on my mattress every day and letting it sit for awhile before vacuuming it up. Putting sheets and pillows in the dryer for an hour each day is keeping them from returning.
Reply from David Niven Miller:
Please read the Grow Youthful web pages on mites, and mite transmission. They can only live for a couple of hours in dry bedding and furniture so vacuuming and cleaning is not necessary for demodex mites.
Comment posted by Tagscreen of San Diego , California , USA on 26 August 2021 at 6:0 5310
I've struggled with Demodex mites for nearly two years. My doctor's diagnosis was scabies. Permethrin cream didn't work at all in fact I think they enjoyed eating it! I too started researching because of my diabetes - others had said I must have diabetic neuropathy that can mimic the creepy crawly feeling. The entire time bathing or showering just made it worse. I found a bed bug one day and it put me on the hunt for bugs that infested humans. The Demodex mites symptoms are spot on. I recently found out I've had Candida Glabrata which is the worst yeast infection. Recent studies have found that mental illness has now been associated with yeast overgrowth. I definitely agree with getting the yeast under control before anything else. To add insult to injury I'm allergic to all gluten foods, therefore, my diet is consistent with anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory foods. Zinc-rich foods should be limited because they makes hormones elevate and that's what causes our sebaceous glands to over-produce sebum that these mites crave. My best food friend is chicory root or the inulin by itself. Whether it's made from the root or blue agave is your preference. I'm waiting for payday to buy boric acid suppositories as my pharmacist recommended. I hope this helps someone because I'm determined to rid myself of this awful mite infestation! Thanks for sharing your stories as well! Good luck.
Reply from David Niven Miller:
1. Zinc-rich foods help your immune system to control both mites and fungal infection.
2. Instead of buying boric acid capsules, read the Grow Youthful web page on
Borax
, which is a fraction of the cost.
Comment posted by Buffalo Barbie of Orlando, FL, USA on 29 July 2020 at 13:51 5255
I wish you'd written this recently because our experience of the severity of demodex destruction is identical. If you happen to read this, call around till you find any kind of Doc with a microscope and ask for a dermoscopy. Tell the Doc you think you're having a problem with eyelash mites causing what's called blepharitis.You might want to start with an Asian Dr or eye doc ophthalmologist, as many now test for mites with in-office microscopes. Hard to find docs who have them. I've been taking Ivermectin tablets for 1.5 years - three 200mg tabs day, because I did not know there were natural home remedies I could use. After 12 years of suffering, they're finally dying off by the hundreds. I pray for an end to this torture. Wish I could talk to you, I hope you've found the help you need by now.
Comment posted by Wendy a close eskew of Kodiak, Alaska, USA on 30 June 2020 at 2:16 5241
YES
I am 56 years old female. I had severe muscle aches and my eyesight went from 20-20 long distance to considerably worse in the matter of a year. My problems started about 6 months after having knee surgery from a ski accident 2 years ago, but whether it was the cause or not, I do not know. I had a roaming rash and red bumps that started in the location of where my knee surgery scar was and slowly increased in size moving up my thigh then down the other and eventually to each upper arm. I also became extremely allergic to spider mites, cottonwood pollen and cats. Before my symptoms started I had no allergic reactions whatsoever to these things.
I also traveled to Africa a couple years earlier and I have read that some worms can live inside a human body for many years and only start causing problems after your immune system is down like trying to heal after surgery. So initially I was pretty confident I had worms... in particular hook worms... because the one symptom I had that only pertains to hook worms is that all allergies mysteriously go away.
I had gone to an eye doctor 3 times. I took ivermectin horse paste (proper dosage checked with my pharmacies friend first to see if it was the same as the human version). My eyes went back to 20-20 after taking it 4 days in a row. Which was the amount taken for extreme nematode infection. So with my eyes now back to normal I still had this mysterious roaming rash. The dermatologists thought I was crazy to think I had worms living in Alaska. But I am also a bear guide, skin out bears, and eat lunch afterwards without even washing properly in between. Not to mention snorkeling with manatees in Florida, and walking barefoot in Florida in muddy swamp alligator infested waters and gardening extensively - all things that expose you to worm infestation! I even flew to johns Hopkins dermatology department who gave me permethrin cream which did not work.
I started taking garlic, ginger, cinnamon, cayenne pepper and turmeric supplements which are all anti-parasitic and tried coating the rash with iodine and peroxide every morning and evening after first scrubbing the rash to remove all flecks of skin and shaving the area. Then I bought a microscope 1500 power and a microscope camera. So now I could look at my blood. The spots felt like there was always something just under the skin. If I picked at it I always found a small white object that looked like a super small little grain of rice. The dermatologist said stop picking! But if I did not remove them the rash always increased in size. When I picked yes the spots looked worse, but there were way less of them. So I assumed these objects must be eggs because under the microscope they did not appear to have legs. But in my blood I definitely had worms and photographed them. I eventually took albendazole which kinda worked, but it was not until I took both albendazole and ivermectin at the same time and also a bath with one cup of bleach in the bath water and scrubbing , and then an hour later after air drying and refilling with clean water and then bathing again with borax about 3 cups in a full bath, that I noticed a real improvement. Now, after having done that routine for 3 days I would say my spots are very small and healing. In another week they might even be gone completely. So in the end I believe I had two separate parasitic infestations! One being hook worm and the other demodex mites. Had I not read info on this site I would probably be struggling with those spots for years and years to come. It took me 2 full years of serious experimentation, looking at blood slides and researching parasitic infections to finally figure it out! I had all but resorted to always wearing long sleeves and long pants to cover up the spots or others would think I had leprosy or at the very least chicken pox. Luckily my spots were always on arms or legs, easy to cover up... not a big deal... but I definitely noticed that wherever the spots moved to, that area would become very weak and it almost felt like I had arthritis. The parasites also alter your behavior and I can attest to the fact that mine made me remove the pods from just underneath my skin. I can only assume that it was what they needed me to do in order for the eggs to hatch and complete their life cycle. Also wherever the infection was would be sensitive to hot water and in areas where the mites were would always go back to not being sensitive to hot water. Had I purchased a microscope like the one I have now when I was a little kid I would have become a parasitologist instead of being a big game hunting guide in Alaska and running a wildlife photography kayaking business.
Question posted by Mama Bear of Shawnee Mission, Kansas, USA on 17 May 2020 at 0:30 5224
My question is to Linn Bee from Mesa, AZ. What is the ratio mix of your tea tree oil, borax, ACV mix in your spray bottles? Also how much dry mustard powder to how much water? I loved your explanation for why this works. I am trying to help my daughter who is suffering terribly from terrible rosacea on her face and nose along with acne fluid-filled cysts and is experiencing severe hair loss. I think it is all caused by mites. It is interesting that you mentioned avoiding cheese because mites love it because when she eats any cheese her face reacts terribly. She is fairly sure she is allergic to tea tree oil, so what are your thoughts?
