Lice: The shame and the trouble they cause, what’s a mother to do?

Samantha Torrence---They are itchy, creepy, crawly, and the most frustrating pest any mother can encounter. They are head
lice.  Just like any stigmatized condition, every mother thinks “I’ll never have to deal with that with my children!”  But then it happens.



[caption id="attachment_4548" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Head Lice -wikimedia commons"][/caption]

Little do those mothers and fathers know that while they are thinking they are impervious to any problem like lice, their son or daughter could be riding bus home from school,  bringing a special kind of house guest.  It does not matter how meticulously clean you are, lice can enter a home.  These lice also  pack new resistances to pesticides.    When a  pest such as lice enters the home, it can become especially difficult to control.  Furthermore the stigma attached to having lice can have consequences.

Since 2008 researchers have been warning that lice have developed resistance and immunity to over the counter medicines like Rid (Permathrin) and Nix (pyrethrins).   Some lice have even developed immunity to the harsh pesticide malathion found in the prescription lotion Ovide.  Malathion still seems to be affective on lice in the Americas for now.

Mothers have been screaming in frustration over new strains of what people are calling super lice. They have been brow-beaten by a bug, a tiny but very invasive little parasite and just have no idea what to do. What is worse is that most of the time mothers feel that they have no one to talk to about the problem, as learning your loved ones, or even you getting lice is considered shameful, and
keeping lice even worse. So knowing how people perceive that, how is a mom supposed to gain the information to battle the pest?

The first thing to realize is that more people than you think have had to deal with lice. This is a fact I found out this summer during my family’s own battle. My son one day started to itch, without advance warning or signs. He has always itched from dry scalp or excessive sweating, but this seemed more concentrated. None of my other children were scratching their heads, so concerns over lice were the furthest thing from my mind. The next day while combing my daughter’s thick abundant hair I saw something crawling and my heart sank. The bugs were huge, and through study I learned that they had already been in my children’s hair for 10
days.

I tried rid, nix, and everything under the sun. Each time the treatment did not kill the bugs but only slowed them a bit.  I scrubbed every inch of my house, washed all my clothes 3 times. Yet every 10 days another outbreakdisrupted my household. I was desperate. I finally had some luck with a product called LiceMD.

LiceMD (dimethicone) is a safer alternative to the pesticides, and when you comb the lice out they are decidedly dead from the treatment. It did not totally get rid of it, but I could tell that if I had kept up with the treatment that I would have won the battle.

Unfortunately,  my drug store only had one bottle; and I needed another bottle for treatment in 10 days. When I went back to the store to get another bottle in a week the entire lice section had been depleted of product. Apparently I was not the only mother
dealing with it.

The Public Health advisory board of Eldorado County California says that there is indeed an increase in outbreaks. While the increase of outbreaks is unknown that it may be linked to a lack of education and of proper identification of the louse. Sowhy was this outbreak in Girard, OH so hush-hush?

I think over-compensation of attitude towards lice may have been the culprit to the outbreak, and I did not put this together until after I reconciled my personal experience with the words of doctors.

When my son came home with lice I kept him from going to school. I then went and spoke with the nurse about alerting the mothers in my child’s class that Thomas had gotten lice and that they should check their children. The nurse said that they “Don’t do
anything like that,” they just check kids if they itch. Well my son had his lice for over a week and they did not catch that despite his scratching.

Doctors are also beginning to have the same nonchalant attitude about the bug. Perhaps it was in hopes of not panicking parents and encouraging the reporting and treatment of lice. If that was the intention,  it has not worked. Parents are in the middle of two ways of thinking, both of which do not comfort a person in the distress of dealing with blood -sucking bugs.

As  parents what are we supposed to do with the mixed messages of, “having lice is a shame,” or, “you are blowing this lice thing out of proportion don’t worry about it?” Both reactions encourage silence to the problem, when vocalizing and knowledge are the solutions.

To battle lice first we must destroy the stigma associated with the condition. Here are a few lice
facts that may help with this.

Fact: Lice prefer clean heads and clean hair. The natural oils on a dirty head make it more difficult
for lice and their eggs to stick to hair.

Fact: Lice do not transmit diseases, and they are not dangerous to contract in that sense

Fact: Lice have developed resistance or immunity to over the counter pesticides, so repeat
infestations are not uncommon.

Once people absorb these facts and the stigma is released, over- compensating with a lackadaisical attitude will no longer hinder the prevention process beginning with communication.