You can't check yourself for lice

Today I have to treat myself and all four children for lice. I've already finished with Benjamin, he didn't have very many. Carolyn is next, then Charlie. I have to wait for Scott to get home before I do Liam because he's difficult about the water.

I'm currently sitting here with a product called "Lice Freee!" on my head and a shower cap. It's a pretty decent homeopathic treatment that comes with a great metal nit comb. It is supposed to dehydrate the lice and the nits, so hopefully this will work. I've used it before and it was pretty effective.

On the side of the box it says that self medication isn't recommended because it is impossible to check yourself for nits and lice. Well, there are a few ways to tell if you have lice: the first way is the itching (obviously). Second, lice leave behind droppings (gross, I know) kinda like fleas. If you have black flecks under your nails when you scratch your head, chances are you have lice. Third, you can use a fine toothed comb after washing and conditioning your hair; any lice big enough will get stuck in the comb as you drag it through your hair. Conditioner is also useful for getting the buggers out because it causes them to not be able to hold onto the hair and most of them will wash down the drain. Other than that, I agree that you can't treat yourself very will because you can't see the nits.

No End in Sight

I thought I would try to save some money on the lice treatments by taking one of the kids to the doctor and getting a prescription. Well, I found out that my co-pay for this new insurance is $40 and that insurance won't cover lice treatments because they are only sold over the counter and there is no prescription equivalent, at least not at Wal-Mart. So, I wasted a lot of time and stress, not to mention $40, today.

I ended up going to Walgreens because Wal-Mart's generic doesn't contain Permethrin, which is what the Doctor's office recommended. Walgreens, however, carries two store brands, one that is the Permethrin, which is the active ingredient in Nix lice treatment, and another which contains the other stuff which is equivalent to Rid. So tomorrow, I'm keeping all three of the smaller kids home from school and we're going to see what we can do about this.

The Bane of My Existence

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_louse

As you can see from the body structure of a louse, they are physically incapable of jumping, but there are many people, including educated health professionals who think that they do.

We have been fighting headlice since before school started this summer; this is now January. No matter how we treat, what products we use, or how thoroughly I pick, we still have lice. My daughter is 8 and in the 3rd grade. I insist that her teacher allow her to keep her coat on the back of her chair, since they each share their cubby with another child, and I've even notified the teacher that this is an ongoing problem. Part of the problem is that we have another 3rd grader living next door who rides the same bus and comes over to play. I do not know how well, or if, the mother treats her daughters' headlice (there are three girls), but I know for a fact that they have had it.
I spent the better part of today removing lice and nits from my 8-year-old daughter and my 5-year-old son. Oddly enough, neither my 4-year-old nor my 13-year-old has it, even though they share a room and the two smaller ones sleep in the same bed. My husband never gets it either, even though I have gotten it several times, and probably have it now. I am the only person in the house who is competent to remove headlice, which makes it rather difficult when I'm the one who has it.

We have tried three major brands and one store brand lice treatment, tea tree oil, mayonnaise, Dawn dishwashing liquid, and just picking the lice without any treatment. Nothing seems to be working.