LICE!!!! again!!! What rx meds kill the nits?

[jerseygirl07067]

My kids' school has had a nasty outbreak of lice and my 5 y/o has it. We've dealt with it before, this our 4th time in 4 years, and I know all about how to get rid of them, etc. the life cycle, have had the service in the past, the importance of nit combing and I can recite the whole life cycle of a louse. However, we're going skiing in two days and I'm exhausted with all of the nit combing, laundry, etc. I believe we've just about gotten rid of it all, with the exception of a few nits we may have still missed. I would normally keep doing daily comb outs but I don't want to deal with this crap while on vacation and I just want the chemicals...now!!! I have so much to do before we leave, so behind with work, everything. Out of 5 of us, 3 have been clear the whole time (I have checked them twice with a full head comb out), but tonight DD and I still had about 4 nits...ugh....no live ones though. In fact we haven't found any live ones at all since discovering it a week ago, only nits. Weird.

What rx meds kill the eggs that have worked for you? I want these %$#@* things gone now!!!! No time for this right now...:(

[AnnieW625]

I would have a professional come or go to a lice salon. One treatment of Nix and sleeping overnight with a head full of olive oil worked for me, but I could handle the comb outs better than my girls (the lice salon had them sitting still though) and my hair was shorter (top of neck), but if we have lice again we are going straight to the salon. Good luck! My FSA also reimbursed us for the lice salon treatments.

[MaiseyDog]

Nix is supposed to kill the nits, but I have read about there being more resistance to Nix recently. Prescriptionwise, there is Lindane Shampoo. It is really strong and has lots of potential for toxicity, but its a one time treatment (in fact the product information specifically says not to repeat.)

[ncat]

Are the nits active/live?

DD had nits that were all dead/empty long after we got rid of the lice (yes, I checked using a microscope). Eventually olive oil helped me get them off of her hair.

[Tinkerbell313]

We used apple cider vinegar to loosen the nits and then coconut oil to comb out the nits and the live lice. The live lice do not like coconut oil.

You did ask about prescription meds and we have used Malathion. However, it only kills some of the eggs...so its not 100%...it does kill the live lice. Here is a CDC link for info: http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/gen_info/faqs_malathion.html

I just noticed your DD is 5, you may want to speak with the pediatrician.

Having to go through this every year, I feel your pain.

[o_mom]

This lists all the available medications and which ones work on nits:

http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/treatment.html

[Kindra178]

Our ped said nothing particularly safe chemical wise kills all the nits and that old fashioned combing remains state of the art. Some of the chemicals cited in O Mom's link are positively scary, especially the flammable one.

[almostmom]

I would do the cetaphil and hair drying method, Nuvo I think. It will suffocate all the nits, and most will get combed out. It has worked for us every time. You only need to do it once a week, and probably one time would work! But if you do it before you leave (it will take about an hour per person, depending on hair volume), you should be fine to wait for the second treatment when you come back. It's not chemicals, but it works! It's what our ped recommended.

[daisysmom]

The one time my DD had lice we were out of town. Do remember that you don't need to do laundry, stuffed animals, toys, etc. if you will be out of your house for 48+ hours. Any live ones at home will die with no hair there while you are gone.
We didn't do the prescription use, but we called the local Nit Fairy and I woudl call her again at the first sign of any bug. I just don't deal with lice and it is one of those problems I throw money at.

[jerseygirl07067]

We've done most of the above with good success. All of it still included nit combing. I was just looking for a shortcut since DH and I really don't want to have to deal with combouts on our vacation. My plan is to do a Nix treatment on myself and DD tomorrow morning with another thorough combout, then on vacation we will just do the combouts with wet hair (you're not supposed to use a lot of other hair stuff so the Nix residue works better) in the shower. When we had a lice service a few years ago, they told us to just get the girls in the shower every day and just keep combing with the Nit comb and eventually we'll get them all.

I prefer the more systematic sectioning and parting the hair and then combing one section at a time, but I will try this since we are on vacation and hope for the best! We are almost through with it like I said just a few nits and no live lice.

My pediatrician would not write a prescription and told me to just do the combing for the nits.

For something so benign, lice really sucks!

[Cam&Clay]

I have told this story before on lice threads before, and I'll say it again. I tried the combing, Cetaphil, Nix, etc. and DS1 still had issues. After 6 months of fighting, another mother (who was dealing with the same class of kids) called the health department to ask what to do when the lice keep coming back. They said that lice are becoming immune to Nix.

Finally, I called the pediatrician and got a prescription. I don't remember the name, but it was like pouring kerosene on his head. I was in tears during the process, but it worked and he's been lice free ever since. This was 5 years ago.

Natural methods are all well and good, but if they keep coming back, sometimes you have to call in the big guns.