Lousy Weekend

[mysid]

My poor daughter is having a lousy weekend. She knows that I have to go over everything with a fine-toothed comb, but she is getting fed up with my nitpicking. Literally.

Yes, friends, lice. We've been having an epidemic of lice at my children's school, and as of a couple days ago, my daughter E is the latest victim. Now we are washing, steam cleaning, and spraying everything. Die, lice, die.
.

Comments

[zoesmith.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

Yeah, I remember... my mother had to cut my hair to get rid of them... it was a bad experience.

I feel for you both.

[mysid.livejournal.com]

My husband has been asking her, "Are you sure you don't want to get it cut?" as she has long (three inches below shoulders), very wavy, and incredibly thick hair. The first night, I spent 2 1/2 hours combing it all with a lice comb. Now that we've succeeded in pulling out every loose or semi-loose strand, it all goes much easier and more quickly. But, ugh.

[rwday.livejournal.com]

Ugh. Been there, done that. You have my sympathy. Even the thought of it makes me itch.

[mysid.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[mad-martha.livejournal.com]

Oh, ick! My sympathies. I've been there - not with lice, precisely, but with something very similar. It made me paranoid about the least itch for months afterwards :-(

[mysid.livejournal.com]

I think a strong dose of healthy paranoia is in our future too. I say "healthy" paranoia because who knows how long until the whole school community gets it under control. Until then, every itch must be checked out.

[greenwitch.livejournal.com]

Ugh.

When I was in elementary school there was an outbreak, and for a good... 9 months, on and off, my mom kept checking me, finding nits, giving me the shampoos, bagging all my stuffed animals, etc. Finally it got to the point where this just could not be possible, and she sent one to a lab. Turned out it was dandruff O_O She let me get my ears pierced after that, heh.

[mysid.livejournal.com]

I would have loved to have seen her face when she got the lab results. :)

[greenwitch.livejournal.com]

That I don't know, but I ran around the house screaming bloody murder :D

[kenazfiction.livejournal.com]

Oh no!!!!!!

I remember being in first grade and we had a classroom epidemic. I remember being miserably itchy and feeling such horrific SHAME when my mom took me to the pharmacy to get that nasty, awful "Rid" shampoo!

[mysid.livejournal.com]

That's been the one good thing in all this. Right at the beginning, the school spread the word that it was nothing to be embarassed about and that lice actually prefer clean hair. As a result, no one is embarassed to admit that they've caught them, and parents are quicker to spread the word to everyone their child might have given them to.

Here's to stigma-free lice!

[secretsolitaire.livejournal.com]

Ugh. And ew. Hope they go away soon. (How long does it normally take?)

[mysid.livejournal.com]

The eggs hatch after ten days, and the eggs are harder to kill than the bugs. So after you kill all the lice in your hair, comb out all the nits (eggs) you can find, and clean everything that might have lice or nits on them (clothes, bedding, furniture, etc.), you have to keep doing it all over again--and again--for at least ten days. Otherwise, those few nits you didn't manage to find will hatch, mate, lay more nits, and start it all over again.

[poicale.livejournal.com]

I am so sorry to hear about the lice! As a teacher, I'm constantly knocking on wood anytime I hear of people getting it, because I know it's SUCH a pain to get rid of. One of my students last year got it three times - but never spread it to anyone else miraculously.

[mysid.livejournal.com]

Yeah, dealing with the initial infestation isn't too bad, it's the whole knowing that you miss just a few and it's going to start all over again that's maddening.

E is one of at least three in her class with it right now.

[obeetaybee.livejournal.com]

Oh, man. I feel your pain. My daughter came home with lice a few years ago and then promptly gave the buggers to me. Her infestation was easy to clean up. Mine, not so much. It got to the point (I have long, thick hair) I made my husband cut my hair below my pony tail so we could get all the nits out.

I'll be keeping my fingers cross you can clean it up quickly. *hugs*

[mysid.livejournal.com]

My hair is relatively short already, so no problem there.

Thanks!

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, I'm aware that I'm posting quite late and anonymously (I don't have an acount). For future referance- I remember my own lice experiences, and the chemicals are awful. You can use a mixture of shampoo, lemon juice, and olive oil, spread it all over the hair, and then cover it all with plastic wrap for at least half an hour. It sounds weird, but it kills all the lice. Thank god I'm not in elementary school any more.

[mysid.livejournal.com]

I've heard of using straight olive oil (without the additions) in that way, and I've heard it works well. I just went straight to the big guns and used RID. It worked great, and the current formula isn't unpleasant.

My neighbor (whose children all got lice during this same time period) fussed about with "all natural" remedies. The lice just kept reappearing again and again with her kids.