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View Full Version : Major eek, or I should say itch, factor!!!



TiikkiStars
02-08-2008, 06:17 PM
DS came home from school today with a note in his Friday folder saying that someone in his class had a confirmed case of head lice. I checked him and don't see anything suspicious. But now I can't stop itching!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got it when I was in the fifth grade and (Itch.) the thought of ever getting it again is enough to make me want to shave my head (Itch.) and go live like a hermit! Itch. Itch. I have REALLY thick hair and it takes hours and hours and hours and hours to comb my hair with that little comb. Itch. And even worse, DH would have to be the one to do it. Itch. Itch. Itch. GROAAAAANNNNNNNN!!!!! I knew one of those letters would eventually come home as I don't know anyone who has kids in elementary school who has not had one of those letters, but I definitely could have done without it!!!!! ITCH. ITCH! ITCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

:> Karen

loobylou
02-08-2008, 06:43 PM
Karen
I work in school and let me tell you it is a constant problem. I usually get them myself at least once a year.
for your own peace of mind I would suggest you lather your sons hair in hair conditioner, and comb it thru with a fine tooth comb to check if he has any lice.
Quite often you cannot see any on a dry inspection, but then they are there when you do the conditioner check.
Good luck

My3Ds
02-08-2008, 06:44 PM
Thanks, now I'm itching. :) hope you don't get them.

Christie
02-08-2008, 06:45 PM
I got head lice about 9 years ago from babysitting my 3 little cousins. I had hair down to my waist and very thick. My dbf had to do it and it took about 5-6 hours each time. It was horrible. I got rid of it just get it again from someone else who didn't tell me they had it. I ended up cutting my hair off up to my ears! Just check him each day and make sure you can catch them early if he does end up with them. And wash his jacket that he wears to school!!

Spartymom
02-08-2008, 06:51 PM
OMG! We don't even live close to each other and I got a notice today to. I checked my girls, so far AOK.

suzi_f
02-08-2008, 09:47 PM
Knock wood, we've never had it here. Went around the kids day-care when they were small. I would have to wait & have them checked before I could leave them. As soon as I got in the car, i got the itchies all over. I think if anyone here gets it, I'm going to have to burn the house down 'cause I will KNOW they are in everything!! <shudder>

IMBlessed5
02-08-2008, 09:58 PM
I got it from school when I was elementary, don't remember what grade. But seeing how hard it is to get rid of, I've always been sooooo paranoid that one of my kids would come home with it. And yes, it DOES make ya itch just to talk about it, LOL!

I just wanted to say you ladies are very VERY fortunate that you get a note! Our school doesn't even do that. If I happen to walk in to a classroom and see that all the coats and backpacks are in big garbage bags on their hooks, that's how I know. We don't know if/when they check the kids' hair or if it was found in their class. It really aggravates me!

TiikkiStars
02-08-2008, 10:21 PM
I hear ya Vicki! Yes, we get a note. But, I am assumming that this note is like the two notes we got for a confirmed case of strep throat earlier in the year..........I find out from the teacher that there is strep in the class and the school gets around to notifying us with this note about a week later. So, I'm assumming that the lice has been around for awhile. I am also really hoping that the carpet and rug have been cleaned thoroughly!!! By law here, the students cannot return until they have been treated and inspected by staff. When there was lice in our school when I was in elementary they screened all the kids to try to control the spread. Since my son has a sensitivity to touch, I think ("think") I would have been told if they had to inspect him (if they were inspecting the whole class), so I don't think they inspected anybody. Sigh.

I am SO not a fan of little critters!!!! I know they are all supposed to have a purpose, but lice????

:> Karen

Kreative Dryve
02-08-2008, 10:55 PM
This subject really gets my blood boiling!

My DD got a case of head lice while she was in 3rd grade, she had the most amazing long hair, and I always made sure she wore it up and the like.
She is like me, and has the thickest head of hair, it took me 16 hours to pick through her hair the first day I got the note. I washed, picked, and smothered the little critters with mayonaise and a shower cap over night.(make hair really soft)

We got rid of them, and then about 6 months later she got them again. I was furious! I ended cutting her hair up past her ears, she was okay with it, because she was sick of sitting there for me to "nit pick".

Here is what makes me boil:

After talking to our school nurse about it. She very patiently told me that it's the same families in our district that keep infecting the school. (she never told me their names, that is against the privacy law)The kids parents never take the time to clean, or do all the steps to control and rid their house of the problem. But she does document the "problem households". You wouldn't beleive the horror stories she told me. Makes me sick!

They finally passed a stricter law for the school, that the kids are not allowed back to school until the problem is cleared-up completely.

My DD never got another case, and either did my 2 boys (knock on wood)
They are in the older grades who have less of a problem. Thank goodness!

Personally I don't ever remember hearing of this while I was in school.
It makes me wonder why this is such a issue now, and sometimes it's considered a huge issue in some school systems?


Okay, now I am itching :mad:

I hope they don't touch your house.

~Marie

Vintagegal
02-08-2008, 11:16 PM
OMG..... you guys have made me scratch my scalp! Groan!

Nancy
02-08-2008, 11:19 PM
I hated when that happened once in my lifetime to one of the kids and I washed everything everyday bedding anything that was laying on the floor etc etc. I must have used enough water to fill a pool, poor kids got their heads washed with the tar soap everyday.
Since I was a room mother I called every mother and told her to do the same -- then called them back to ask if they did it. Privacy laws or not, I think I got to every mother. Still makes me itch. - Nancy

threefriends91
02-09-2008, 03:00 AM
Oh l remember, when l was about 7 years old, and l got it at school, my mom was so upset..Their were 9 kids in our family..my dad went down to the school and made them change the layout of where we placed our hats and coats..one was too much...

IMBlessed5
02-09-2008, 08:58 AM
I hear ya Vicki! Yes, we get a note. But, I am assumming that this note is like the two notes we got for a confirmed case of strep throat earlier in the year..........I find out from the teacher that there is strep in the class and the school gets around to notifying us with this note about a week later. So, I'm assumming that the lice has been around for awhile. I am also really hoping that the carpet and rug have been cleaned thoroughly!!! By law here, the students cannot return until they have been treated and inspected by staff. When there was lice in our school when I was in elementary they screened all the kids to try to control the spread. Since my son has a sensitivity to touch, I think ("think") I would have been told if they had to inspect him (if they were inspecting the whole class), so I don't think they inspected anybody. Sigh.

I am SO not a fan of little critters!!!! I know they are all supposed to have a purpose, but lice????

:> Karen

Oh that would be soooo aggravating to get the note a week later! :chatterbox: Um, yeah, slightly too late!

I volunteer 2 mornings/week at our school to assist the Kindergarten kids with their accelerated reader tests. Since they can't read, the teacher recommends the children use the headphones and voice feature (where the computer "reads" the test to them). But I usually do not turn that feature on. I'd rather read them the test myself than to have them wear the same headphones that all the other kids wear. Gives me the creepies! Especially since the day that one 1st grade girl was listening to her test without the headphones and another volunteer asked her to plug in the headphones. She replied "I can't, I have lice". Well, they took her to the nurse's station right away and turns out she HAD it but was treated and was ok. But that just proves that she had NOT been checked to get back in to school as is the law here too. Also, there is one of the kindergarten students who insists on wearing the headphones - she thinks it's pretty cool. YIKES!

Unfortunately I think it's the same families infecting classrooms here too. They can't afford the RID shampoo or whatever else they could use, and also probably aren't educated on how to get rid of it. OR, they just don't care.

Sorry to ramble.

Kreative Dryve
02-09-2008, 12:30 PM
The community businesses have a program that pays for the shampoo RID, and the nurse will give the families a comb.

There was even one family that kept infecting the school, and had one of those parents "who didn't clean".
A group made up of our 3 school nurses, and several teachers actually went and cleaned the house, vaccumed, stored the bedding, and washed the kids hair.


This just reminded me of a patient I had while working for the ambulance.
A page went over my radio for a little girl that was left at on of our local parks. I went straight to the hospital, and met the ambulance there. So the
"1st out" crew wouldn't get hung up at the hospital, I took over to be with her. She was happy to have a female there with her, and was hugging me, and finally stopped crying. While I was holding her, I watched her scratch her head, so I sat her down on the ER bed, and wouldn't you know! Yep, she was infected. It was so sad to not be able to hold her. I don't think I ever took a longer shower in my life, and thank goodness I didn't get infected.

The ambulance had to be completely scrubbed down, and cleaned. The "1st out" crew was sent home.

The little girl was about 3 yo, and was taken into tribal foster care. They found her parents, and she eventually was returned to them.


Here I am itching again! :mad:

~Marie

Tantalize
02-09-2008, 12:35 PM
Ohhh Karen!!! How are you now?? Still itching? *hugs* I've never had to deal with this yet *KNOCKS ON THE BIGGEST PIECE OF WOOD* ;) but I do have allergic reactions and gahhhh I hate the feeling of being itchy.