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I found another new use for Thieves essential oil, chiggers!!! My sister and nephew were visiting last week and two afternoons we went to canoe and swim in a lovely large pond. Unfortunately we had to walk through some grass that ranged in height from lower calf to nearly knee-high. By the end of the second afternoon I began getting the red bumps and itching. By that evening, I had more chigger bites than I dared to count and they were itching like crazy! Just like this poem says…
“The thing called a chigger,
is really no bigger,
than the smaller end of a pin,
but the bump that it raises,
just itches like blazes,
and that’s where the rub sets in.”
~ H.B. Hungerford, Entomologist
I applied one drop of Thieves essential oil on each of my [many] bites and within a couple of minutes the itching stopped, what a relief!
My sister also applied Thieves to her bites but it turned out that for her Purification essential oil worked better.
Purification did nothing to ease my itching. Just goes to show you that each body is a little different and that you will know when you’ve selected the right oil, you will start seeing results quickly. Because of this it’s always good to have at least a small assortment of essential oils in your first aid case, I like to have at least: Thieves, Lavender, Frankincense, Helichrysum, Peppermint and Release. I feel that with those six oils that most of my bases will be covered.
By the next morning the huge red welts had diminished by 50 percent in size.
By the third day I could hardly find any chigger bite and the itching was gone.
One to two days later, I couldn’t find a chigger welt or bump anywhere.
Because I haven’t had much chigger experience I felt compelled to do a little research so I could learn more about these nasty little buggers. I want to share that info with you because you might be in the position that I was in, I thought I knew about chiggers and discovered that information was false.
About Chiggers
Chiggers are the juvenile form (larvae) of a certain type of mite of the family Trombiculidae. Mites are arachnids (like spiders, scorpions). Chiggers are a type of mite related to ticks.
Adult chiggers do not bite humans or other animals, they feed on insect eggs and other insects.
Unlike ticks, chiggers do NOT carry Lyme disease or Rocky Mountain spotted fever… that’s excellent news!
Chiggers do NOT burrow into the skin. Instead they pierce a skin cell with their mouths. The chiggers saliva contains an enzyme that causes the skin cell wall to liquefy. The body’s immune system reacts to the foreign enzyme which results in creating a hard, red wall at the spot of the bite. The chigger capitalizes on this – it uses this round wall, which is called a stylostome, as a straw. After the chigger has had its fluid meal, it drops off.
In medical terms, these hard, red welts are called papules.
A bite will begin itching three to six hours after a chigger has bitten the skin. By the time we start itching the chigger is long gone and it’s too late to prevent the chigger from biting. Which explains why applying nail polish to chigger bites does nothing. The itching is our body’s reaction [inflammation] to the bite, the severe itching response.
People often see a red dot in the middle of a chigger bite and assume that the chigger has burrowed down into the skin. That red dot is actually the stylostome [the hardened round wall which acts as a straw].
Where Chiggers Live
Chiggers are found throughout the world. They most commonly live in forests, grassy fields, gardens, parks, and in moist areas around lakes or rivers. Most of the larvae that cause chigger bites are found on plants that are relatively close to the ground surface, because they require a high level of humidity for survival.
Chigger get on us when we come in contact with vegetation. They migrate on our clothing, shoes and crawl across the skin in search of an optimal feeding area. The chigger’s mouth and feeding structures are delicate and are best able to penetrate the skin at areas of wrinkles, folds, or other areas where our skin is thin.
Therefore, most bites occur around the ankles, the crotch and groin areas, behind the knees, and in the armpits. Barriers to migration on the skin such as belts may be one reason that chigger bites also commonly occur at the waist or at other areas where their migration is prevented by compression from clothing.
Once the chigger finds some nice soft skin it inserts its feeding structure into our skin and injects enzymes that cause destruction of host tissue. Hardening of the surrounding skin results in the formation of a feeding tube called a stylostome. Chigger larvae then feed upon the destroyed tissue. If they are not disturbed (which is rarely the case) they may feed through the stylostome for a few days and cause severe itching – which I can attest to, the itching was horrible! Symptoms of a chigger bite usually take 1-3 hours, after the chigger has begun to inject digestive enzymes into the skin.
The chigger larvae are much smaller than the adults, half a dozen of them could fit on the period at the end of this sentence. Chigger larvae can scarcely be been seen without a magnifying glass.
Treatment for Severe Itching of Chigger Bites
They say that the itch is due to the presence of the stylostome and usually is most intense within 1-2 days ‘after’ the bite…
I did not experience that at all because I was using my Thieves oil, the first evening (about 4-5 hours after being in the grass) when I was crazy itchy the Thieves stopped the itching completely within minutes.
Because the itching was so severe I put one drop of the Thieves oil on every single bite I could find… but more kept popping up! I kept applying Thieves to the new itchy bumps and found that I had to reapply the Thieves about every 4 hours or so.
They also say that the itching can last for several days and it could take about two weeks for the symptoms to go away…
Well, we were at the pond last Thursday and Friday (Friday is when we got bit up) and by Sunday evening I could hardly find the locations of any of my bites and the itching was long gone!
Today is Tuesday, all of my bites and the itching are completely gone… by my count that’s only 4-5 days tops for a complete recovery.
Since chiggers do not burrow under the skin, nail polish, alcohol, and bleach applied to the bites in an attempt to “suffocate” or kill the chiggers does not work because by the time we start itching they are long gone.
Typically, treatment for chigger bites is directed toward relieving the itching and inflammation. Calamine lotion and corticosteroid creams have been used to control itching, and oral antihistamines, such as diphenhydramine (Benadryl), may provide symptom relief. Hmmm, those methods seem so antiquated… I mean, why in the world would I want to take a drug topically or internally if I don’t have to??? This was precisely why I became interested in therapeutic essential oils over 25 years ago, I knew there were better ways!
My sister and I don’t like to take medications, what we did instead was take one “00″ capsule and put 4 drops each of our Young Living therapeutic Lemon, Mountain Savory, Thyme and Ocotea essential oils and a little olive oil… instead of the drugs.
I felt that taking a capsule with therapeutic essential oils internally might help to combat the inflammatory reaction from the enzymes the chigger put in me. I cannot say one way or the other if taking that capsule assisted in my healing or not. I do know this, it certainly didn’t hurt. Those four essential oils [Lemon, Mountain Savory, Thyme and Ocotea] are very well-known for their antibacterial, antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties.
I would like to point out another essential oil that is extremely good for inflammation, Idaho Balsam Fir. It is well-known for its antihistamine and corticoid effect on itching symptoms and inflammation. I would have added Idaho Balsam Fir to my remedy if the other oils weren’t quite doing the trick.
Preventing Chigger Bites
They say applying a bug spray containing DEET to skin and clothing can help prevent chigger bites. My sister and I don’t like using chemical products at all so that is entirely out of the question. However, had I been thinking I would have made sure to have some of Tammy’s DEET-free spray on hand!
Additionally, chiggers do not bite at cooler temperatures, below 60 F. They also are not found in areas hotter than 99 F, so hot rocky areas on sunny days can provide chigger-free zones.
This temperature differential explains why we didn’t get bit up on Thursday, it was hot, well over 90 degrees! Friday’s temps were closer to 90 F in the shade, which is where we were sitting [on the wooden dock near the grass].
My nephew had a couple of chigger bites, he was swimming and rafting in the pond for hours. Therefore, he did not get bitten alive like my sister and I did.
The other thing we could have done to lessen some of our bites was to take a good long soapy shower immediately upon returning home. We put off our showers until after dinner because we were hungry.
Because we were using the Purification and Thieves essential oils we didn’t worry about some of the areas that we wore kind of thin from scratching (before we realized what was happening and put the oils on). Both Thieves and Purification are highly antibacterial and antiseptic.
My advice… have three things on hand at the beginning of each summer:
Thieves and Purification essential oils, and Tammy’s DEET-free spray!
This experience and my bit of research got me thinking that since dogs can also get bites from chiggers, perhaps some of their extreme scratching could be due to laying in the grass that harbors chiggers… and just maybe some dogs have been misdiagnosed as being allergic to grass, just a thought I had.
To end on an upbeat note…
When humorist Calvin Trillin was asked,
“How do you stop a chigger bite from itching?”
He replied, “Amputation, sometimes.”
Yikes, I know exactly why he had that response!
However, now you know that you will not have to suffer or loose a limb, and you know what to do to severely shorten the duration of chigger attacks!
Tim Gibb from Purdue University has this suggestion for those covered in chigger bites…
“If you absolutely must call in sick to work because of chigger bites, tell the boss that you have been diagnosed with arachnid papules.”
Have a fantastic {chigger-free} summer!
Sources:
Articles by Evelyn Vincent, Young Living Independent Distributor #476766
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