Psychosomatic Itch Since the mere thought of head lice is enough to make anyone's head itch, it's important to consider that your itching may not have a physical cause, and is likely just the manifestation of your continued lice-related anxiety.
Known by psychologists as a “hysterical condition,” psychosomatic itching is nonetheless a “genuine physical affliction caused by emotional anxiety,” says San Francisco-based psychologist Juli Fraga. That means the problem is real.
Signs of Lice
Some symptoms of lice are a tingling feeling on your scalp, intense itching, and possible bite marks near your neck, ears, or scalp. If you notice any of the symptoms you should check yourself for lice.
Psychosomatic Itch
Since the mere thought of head lice is enough to make anyone's head itch, it's important to consider that your itching may not have a physical cause, and is likely just the manifestation of your continued lice-related anxiety.
An intensely itchy scalp without signs of a rash or another skin reaction can be a sign of a nerve problem. Your doctor may say you have neuropathy (neu-rop-ah-thie). It's the medical word for a problem along a nerve due to damage, disease, or an abnormality in the way the nerve works.
It may take 4-6 weeks for itching to appear the first time a person has head lice. How are head lice spread?
In fact, it can take up to six weeks for a child or adult to develop the typical itchiness that might prompt a head check. And even then, half the people with lice still won't exhibit any symptoms associated with lice.
Formication is also a type of paresthesia which is defined as tingling dermal sensations. Causes of crawling sensations on the scalp include delusional infestations, hallucination, substance abuse, a parasitic infestation, side effects from medication, or issues with the neurologic system.
The nits firmly attach to the hair follicles and thus cannot be removed easily. Third, a lice infestation brings about a tickling sensation on the scalp as they crawl. Unfortunately, some people may not feel the tickling sensation, so it may be difficult to notice until the infestation is severe.
You can actually feel the nits stuck to the hair shaft; each one will feel like a bump on the hair. For many people checking for head lice on our own scalp or even that of another family member can be challenging as you are unsure of what these tiny insects look like on the head.
Look for lice crawling on the scalp where the hair is parted or on the hair shaft. The lice will be dark in color and the size of a poppyseed. Look for nits near hair follicle about ¼ inch from scalp. Nits (eggs) will be white or yellowish-brown.
Head lice survive less than one or two days if they fall off the scalp and cannot feed. Head lice eggs (nits) cannot hatch and usually die within a week if they do not remain under ideal conditions of heat and humidity similar to those found close to the human scalp.
If you spot nits, but do not see any lice, it is possible that they are hiding and scurrying from the light as you search the hair and scalp; they can move quite quickly! Focus your search to their preferred hideouts, behind the ears and at the nape of the neck.
Infested children usually carry fewer than 20 mature head lice (more commonly less than 10), each of which, if untreated, live for three to four weeks (5–7). Head lice stay close to the scalp for food, warmth, shelter and moisture (6,7).
For the study, researchers compared tea tree oil, lavender oil, peppermint oil, and DEET. The researchers found that tea tree and peppermint oil repelled lice the most, and a tea tree and lavender combination kept some lice from biting people with treated skin.
Lice dislike the smell of many things, but the thing they hate most is peppermint. So, before you send your kid off to hang out with other kids, spray them with a peppermint spray. It's the same concept as using a mosquito or bug spray in the summer months, except the scent is less offensive.
Best places to look for nits: behind the ears and along the hairline at the neck. Itching of the scalp is the main symptom. A scalp rash may be present. The back of the neck is the favorite area.
Signs of head lice
small white eggs or nits (egg cases) in the hair behind the ears or at the back of the neck. an itchy scalp. a rash on the back of the neck. feeling as though something is moving in the hair.
Scalp pruritus is a common and distressing symptom. It is most commonly associated with seborrheic dermatitis and psoriasis but appears often without any noticeable skin lesion or obvious diagnosis.