Lice

Sigh. We had lice. Specifically, E and L had lice, generously donated from a school friend. Also, I am relieved to use the word HAD.

I know all the facts about lice - they prefer clean hair to dirty, lots of people have had encounters, you're not dirty/a bad parent if your kid gets lice - but most of my lice experience has been with patients who were living in squalor before coming to the hospital, so I've always felt a little . . . smug, like "That'll never happen to ME." I remember a friend saying casually, years ago, "Well, you know they'll get it one day, right?" and me being HORRIFIED. Pride before the fall, right? I'm much more humble now.

I'm telling you because life has taught me that honesty about struggles in the best policy. This is in context, of course. I cringe as much as you do at oversharing. (OMG, my fbook friend who shared about crapping in a port-a-potty! Really?) But when I tell people that yes, my twins are from IVF, I meet other people who struggled with infertility. When I tell people that yes, I struggle with food and exercise, I bond with other people who have those issues. So I'm telling you that my kids had lice, I survived, and I bet some of you did, too. I've already met some, like my lovely neighbor who loaned us her special lice comb and E and L's teacher who said both her kids have had lice.

I got the "There is lice in our class!" note home from school last week and did a quick head check, but didn't find anything. Later that week their teacher emailed to say E was scratching her head a lot and maybe I should recheck? I did and oh look! There are nits in my kid's hair! Honestly, you guys, I've done a lot of gross things in my job, but this was one of the grossest PERSONAL things I've had to do. I told L that picking nits out of her hair was the second grossest thing I've ever done for her - first place goes to childbirth, of course.

 Last weekend was a beautiful weekend, but I spent eight hours on Saturday and another eight hours on Sunday going through E and L's hair, inch by inch, in a variety of directions because sometimes a nit is only visible when the hair falls in a particular way. It was painful. My back killed. We watched at least five movies. A washed everything that could be washed, bagged up everything that couldn't be washed, and vacuumed the bejesus out of the house and furniture.

I'm doing nightly headchecks and we're still throwing all the bedclothes/towels in the dryer daily (heat kills nits) but they're lice-free as far as my incredibly detailed headchecks are concerned. The rest of us never got them, but I treated us all and have been checking our heads, too.

This is one of those experiences where I've always thought, "OH GOD I'LL NEVER LIVE THROUGH THAT!" and yet here I am, I've lived through it, I've learned a few things, and I'm much less judgmental when it comes to lice. I'm also completely traumatized. I don't know when I'll let my kids wear their hair down at school again and I can't casually run my hand over their head without obsessively checking for nits. 

Comments

[Michelle]

Oh yes. Lived through it, had PTSD for at least a year. I remember it like it was yesterday, but in truth it was nearly 5 years ago. My fourth was turning one the next day. My other three had miles of hair to be checked daily. The sheer amount of stuffed animals to be put through the dryer nearly killed me, I mean it. Hopefully you have seen the last of it.

[Shalini]

My older had it and ugh, it is a monthly thing to check for here... So not fun

But nits can't live off the hair, so while it is good to wash bedding and everything, I don't know that the live would fall off onto a stuffed animal and still be able to live.....

Glad it is over and hopefully no more!

[Jodie]

I had lice when I was in 7th grade. I was so embarrassed, because even though the lice notes are anonymous, everyone knew. I had thick, down to the middle of my back hair. Maybe I should go thank my mom (again) for so patiently combing the nits out.

When my girls were first graders, I woke up one morning with my head very itchy and I thought Oh CRAP here we go. But it turned out I had hives (allergic reaction to penicillin).

[Heather]

My son's K class had a child who had lice for most of the school year so I began looking for things to lessen his chances of getting them from her. We used a shampoo with tee tree oil in it for the entire school year and he never got them. Not saying the shampoo was the reason, but the internet says it helps. And if the internet says so, then you know it must be true! :) We bought the shampoo at our salon and it was a bit pricey (Paul Mitchell) but I have heard you can add tee tree oil to regular shampoo and get the same results.

[Liz s]

We got it a year ago! Oh god the memories. I got them too. And they kept coming back. Finally my doctor shared the cetaphil trick and between that and tea tree oil. I still spray tea tree on the bedding occasionally just in case

[Julie Johnson]

Oh yeah, 2 of my kids got them and I discovered it over Christmas break last year. I wouldn't let anyone in or out for the whole two weeks. It's been almost a year but I shudder when I see them scratching their heads. I still keep a kit in the closet.
Good luck! You'll stop feeling them crawling on your scalp sometime in the next month or two:)

Julie

[Angie]

My daughter had lice in 1st grade and after that we started using the Fairy Tales Rosemary Repel spray religiously and now she's in 4th grade and hasn't gotten lice again - and we've gotten the notices that it was in the class, etc - but my daughter didn't get it since we use the repel spray. Go get some - I found it at Ulta. It is worth every penny!

[kellie]

Hi

Yup I too have PTSD about our experience with Lice. 1st time i spent hours combing through dd's hair in front of the tv, cried every night "how could "we" have lice" I bought this stuff from England shipped overnight it helped but its really about the nit picking (God i hate those things, they are bug eggs...shudder) every night for 2 weeks we would coat her hair in this stuff and pick, and look, and pick and look.

A few weeks later i found out the mom of the child who had it and shared was a hair dresser. She was told her child wasn't allowed in with bugs but nits are acceptable (wtf board of education) i saw her in the hallway in the am, quickly picking the hatched eggs (full sized bugs) out of her daughters hair and saying okay thats good enough... off you go... she didn't believe in picking out the nits or was too lazy, and would do it in the hallway of the school.

To this day i shudder at the thought of our experience with lice... so glad the kids are older as it seems to have stopped.

[amy]

My daughter had recurring cases of headlice for one entire school year. Yes. The entire.effing.year.

We'd clear them, she'd get re-infested, over and over. I shaved my son's head, she got the shortest bob in the world (hack job by me because a hairdresser I am not). She gave them to me. I HATE head lice. I was livid, angry, frustrated and then angry some more.

That was 5 years ago and I STILL check their heads.

[Maureen]

Can I recommend David Shannon's new book "Bug's In My Hair?" It is a great kids book with the bonus of lots of factoids. Every school should have it - makes the kids (and parents) feel better!

Hang in there!