A Question About My Grand Daughter?

Question

Hello I'm Barbra and here's my question.

My 11 year old grand daughter has lived with me and my husband for seven years since her parents abandoned her. You can imagine how proud we were on her first day of high school. But now she's been coming home with an itchy head and we don't know what it is! She's scratching every 20-25 seconds now!

We've used that special anti-dandruff shampoo and that hasn't worked and we covered her head in Camile lotion which soothed the itching until she washed it off.

She made a list of the symptoms and asked me to put it on here as well.

1. Itchy Head (everywhere)

2. Itchy Neck (top)

3. Itchy Ears (behind)

4. Moving Sensation If She Doesn't Scratch.

Any Idea's To What It Could Be?

Answer 1

Head Lice! If she washes her hair a lot, because they love a nice clean head, If you see tiny little black things, it's most likely lice, or she could have like a rash, or poison ivy....

Answer 2

Have you checked for nits?? because this is what it sounds like, my friends son caught them at school as do thousands of other kids. There are plenty of treatments available in chemists.

Answer 3

Lice...they love the area behind the ears like you wouldn't believe.  I'm 32 now but when I was 8 or 9 I lived in Ecuador and, as you might suspect of any foreign country and it's associated school system lice were in abundance.  They make their rounds every year and it doesn't mean that you or your granddaughter are dirty birds...it means that someone with whom she has contact at the school brought it and now it's a gift that keeps on giving.  There are tons of options for caring for it from shampoos to pills (the pills are kind of indirect...they add a hormone to the blood that makes the nits ((louse eggs)) sick...it takes longer than shampooing which has the advantage of loosening the salivary glue that keeps the nits buried in the scalp so they fall out even if they don't die in addition to killing active lice).  Once you've got the treatment for her scalp in progress make sure you wash her bed sheets in hot water because they sometimes jump off and implant eggs in that...nice survival technique, eh?  Good luck.

Answer 4

I agree with everyone else here, sounds like head lice to me.  Or maybe dermatitis.  See a doctor for a more definitive answer.  Good luck.  

Answer 5

Check her hair/scalp it sounds like lice.

The #1 sign is itching. You can treat this with RID found at the drug store, but I'd have her seen at the MD to rule out any other possibility. I realize everyone wants to avoid the trip to the doctor but they can 'see' her and help her much better.

Good Luck.

Answer 6

she probably has head lice. you can buy special combs from pharmacists.

Answer 7

this sounds like what we call in the uk - nits or head lice.

you will need to check her head - it is hard to see the lice but

the eggs are white and attach to the hair - behind the ears where

the hair comes out of head is a good place to start looking.

suggest you go to a pharmacy and ask for the best product.

this is nothing to be ashamed of it has nothing to do with being

dirty - would suggest you do all household at same time.

buy a special comb and daily get your granddaughter to comb her hair.

they are common with kids - fact of life.

when you treat her and then comb hair onto some white paper you

should see the dead insects.

if its not nits then sounds like she is allergic to something - could

be anything from shampoo soap powder and you may have to look

at buying products for sensitive skin hypo allerginic

i honestly think its nits - you should also inform the school so they

can warn other parents - your granddaughter's name will not be

mentioned.

don't worry about it too much but get it sorted because they multiply

fast.

Answer 8

I've got to agree with almost everyone else, it's head lice.

Answer 9

Head Lice (nits), go to chemist buy a nit comb or nit shampoo (personally i dont like them). I just comb my daughters hair through once a week in the bath, whether she is scratching or not. Do it when wet, while conditioner is in the hair..you will then see the blighters. Get rid of nits in seperate container, not in the same bath water. Head lice is highly contagious, but harmless and only are attrcted to clean hair so don't feel embarrassed. All kids get them, especially girls with long hair, so make sure her hair is tied up for school. The nits go in cycles, and lay eggs which attach themselves to the hair, these can't be removed with the comb until hatched. So an initial shampoo would be a good idea but to keep buying the shampoo is expensive, hence frequent combing to get rid of them all. Your local pharmacist will advise you more.

Answer 10

Hello Barbra,

Well it sounds like head lice to me. Get some anti lice shampoo and follow the instructions on the back. She probably has an allergy to the lice which is causing the itching and the lice moving around is causing the moving sensation.

Hope this helps x

Answer 11

Take her to a doctor to confirm that it's head lice, because it probably is. Then buy anti'lice shampoo and use the comb the doctor should give you.

Answer 12

Could be head lice, get a nit comb and some tea tree .. Try shampoo'ing her hair in tea tree shampoo as this will deter them once you have rid of them.. or leave in conditioner as the nits find this hard to cling to

Answer 13

Eczema?

Or could be a reaction from a new product she may have been using? x