Of Lice And Men... tal Breakdowns

Oh, the piles of laundry and blankets...

Oh, the time spent shampooing and rinsing and combing and picking...

Oh, the psychsomatic itching...

Oh, the feeling of "ick", knowing it came into MY home!!

The first line on the instruction sheet in the treatment box said:

"If you or a member of your household has head lice, don't panic.  Keep calm."

Uh huh, good luck with that.

I've had (what I assume is) a sinus infection for the past 4 days (congestion, fever, headaches, body aches)... and finally on Thursday I woke up without the fever portion, which was a welcome change.  But that's the day I found the first louse.  But maybe I should backtrack...

Natalie's been having visits with her siblings every Monday afternoon.  Last week (just before Christmas), as the transporter was handing her back to me, she said, "I should let you know, she's been exposed to lice."  Her 2 older sisters have had an ongoing problem with lice, and their grandma didn't seem to think that was reason enough to cancel the visit IN THEIR HOME!  I supposed you could say that's when the panic began.  I quickly bathed her, washed all of her clothes and diaper bag and jacket in hot water, and began tediously checking her hair and scalp daily.  Nothing.  Two days later she had a doctor's appointment, so Brian asked the doctor how long it could be before it showed up if she was infected.  He said a week.  This Monday came and went, and she was fine.  Sure, she was itching her head something awful on Christmas Eve, but only that day, and she does have dandruff, so that could explain it, too... And I'd been washing her hair with shampoo containing tea tree oil, as recommended by friends.

But late yesterday morning, I thought I'd look again... and I saw it... small and brown, wiggling amongst her dark hair.  <shudder>

I went out immediately for lice treatment (after searching online and becoming discouraged at the sites that said lice treatments weren't safe for a 2 year old), and the one the pharmacist recommended said it was fine for children over 2 MONTHS old.  I came back, treated her thoroughly, then on a whim, checked Hallie... and found one.  Sam... had 2.  So I treated them concurrently, then rounded up all the bedding and any stuffed animals that had been in their beds since last Monday, so I could wash most of them and at least high-heat dry the rest to kill any eggs.  (Still working on the pile.  They have a lot of blankets.  Especially considering Sam can't seem to stay off his future brother's bed, so we had to wash all that as a precaution.)

It occurred to me sometime last evening that I had let Natalie nap with me two days ago (I was sick and needed to rest and she couldn't be trusted to take her nap if I wasn't checking to make sure she stayed in bed and wasn't sneaking toys.)  That meant my bedding had to be washed, too... and Brian and I were suddenly at a greater risk.  UGH! 

I checked my hair repeatedly in the mirror, as best ask I could.  I went through Brian's hair last night when he got home, and saw no signs.  But this morning... I decided to through my hair with one of the lice combs, over and over and over again.  If there was one there, I wasn't going to miss it for carelessness.  And then there he was.  (Dare I admit it?)  One stupid louse.  I'm mortified... and off to treat my own head now.  Weep.

Comments

[Susan]

We went through a period of time with my now 10 year old having lice every month. There were some "repeat offenders" in her classroom. I started having her sleep on a blanket on the floor with a towel on her pillow. It was much easier to wash that than an entire bed of stuff. I ended up pulling her from school in December of that year because I was sick of it. In a household of 10 I was either going to go broke buying shampoo and spray or go crazy from the combing and picking!

[Gwendie]

Lice! My head is itching just thinking about it! Our family of 8 have had two lice events over the past 10 years, and I must say I empathize with you fully! I have several children with Autism and chose not to use treatment shampoos for a variety of reasons. Instead, I was able to manually remove the lice using the "LiceMiester" - the best lice comb EVER. This lice comb really works at removing lice and their eggs. It is designed with extra long 2" ROUNDED teeth that glide through hair and is so effective at removing lice/nits at all stages of development that you can even use it on yourself without the assistance of anyone else (Lice were gone in 5 day - no reinfestation!). Shampoos are great, but they still require that you comb out the nits. The comb cost $10 aprox, and may seem expensive, but it is well worth it. I use the LiceMiester preventively as well (nothing like peace of mind). Every other week or so, I'll comb through my children's hair just to make sure all is well - if you can catch an outbreak at the very beginning, it is so much easier to deal with. For more information about lice and the liceMeister comb check out http://www.headlice.org/licemeister/index.htm

Best wishes!
P.S. Don't forget to wash/vaccume the kid's car seat covers :-)

[Tiffany]

My friend had recurring lice in her home daycare... she used the medicated shampoos several times but couldn't seem to get rid of the bugs. Then she found out that if you slather your head in vaseline and wear a shower cap for 24 hours before shampooing, it will kill the buggers! It's cheap. It's safe and your hair will be super soft.

[Debbie]

Hilary...I am so sorry and feel your pain. When we brought our sib group home from the Philippines, they all had lice. Brian (hubby) treated them immediately in the PI when he picked them up, but they were still infected when they got home...ugh, ugh and double ugh. Thankfully, I (who have very long hair) did not get any, but I was itching for days just at the thought of it.

[Koe]

Having dealt with lice numerous times over about 8 months while kids were in public school I agree with your other commenter about the comb. I didn't use the lice meister, but I used a metal comb and this was finally the only thing that got rid of all the lice. Uhg. Olive oil seemed to kill the lice too, but I'm not sure. It helped the comb. Shampoos just don't kill the nits, which is what keeps the lice coming back.

[joe]

yes lice are not fun, but there are a number of treatments that are natural, one in particular called Lice Safe that is safe for newborns and nursing mothers. I found that they are the only company that exceeds the CDC center for disease control standards in being 100% effective in destroying both lice and nits in one application or about one hour per person. As far as cleaning and laundry yes that is important also, but if the lice do not have a host they die. fact from CDC. to get a free lice LOCK COMB you can go to www.licesafe.com or if all of this freaks you out you can just call the only state licensed hair experts currently doing this method call Head Lice Hero. or just follow me the lice expert on twitter : http://twitter.com/liceexpert