Lice (crabs, body crabs, pthirus pubis)

[SW_PA_Couple 4,024]

You would not want this to happen to you. It has happened to us. We are informing people with whom we have had contact for the previous few months. It becomes evident only after a few weeks. It is not a sexually-transmitted disease (STD). It is not an STI. It is an infestation. It is not pleasant. The remedy is easy (requires no prescription), but is not (you must follow the instructions exactly). You are out of the swing lifestyle loop for a couple of months as you want to know it is gone for sure. You do not know how you got it -- it could have been from intimate contact -- it could have been from your brother's-in-law dog rolling around on your sofa. But you have it. A condom would not have blocked it. You must launder everything and take things to the dry cleaner in plastic bags and explain the reason that it should not be mixed with other people's clothing. You have crabs (you can see them and their little white eggs (nits) even without a magnifying glass). You want to be rid of them owing to the fact that they itch, itch, itch. And you do not want other people to suffer this. So you do the right thing.

 

Well, it's not a dread disease.

[sunbuckus 3,567]

Oh, dear. I'm sorry to hear you and Mrs. SW are going through this ordeal but you're right, lice/crabs can happen more easily than we'd like to admit. I hope it goes away quickly for you two!

[kikonkrome 844]

Wholly Crap!!

 

I had a particularly active friend get them when I was a teenager, but never even ran close to this as an adult!!

 

I hope you guys start feeling better!

 

Question do you think being fully shaved would have mitigated this? I have never really looked into it, but it has been in the back of my mind.

[SW_PA_Couple 4,024]

Wholly Crap!!

 

I had a particularly active friend get them when I was a teenager, but never even ran close to this as an adult!!

 

I hope you guys start feeling better!

 

Question do you think being fully shaved would have mitigated this? I have never really looked into it, but it has been in the back of my mind.

I kinda figured this question would arise. My wife and I examined each other and found the "crabs" just as they are described at a CDC Web site. But not in the groin area; for me, on my back (I'm as hairy as a bear). For her, on her scalp. What I read makes me believe that these creatures could almost as easily have jumped from host-to-bed-sheet-to-another-host or host-to-scalp-of-another-host as from pubis-to-pubis.

 

The bill thus far: $8.99 for the medicine (RID) and $700 to get the carpets and furniture steam cleaned. Next is the dry-clean bill for our wool coats and jackets.

[two4youinswva 3,068]

Sorry to hear you're having to deal with this. I know it sucks. Twice when my daughter was in elementary school she got nailed with head lice due to it running through the school, so I know what you're going through as far as treatment.

 

Now, if it makes you feel any better, you've managed to make every single person that reads this thread, including me, get a case of the phantom itches.

[asncpl 729]

Question do you think being fully shaved would have mitigated this? I have never really looked into it, but it has been in the back of my mind.

 

Darn, Kikonkrome beat me to it. That was my first thought when I read the post. I read the response but still wondering if one has no hair, as in no body hair, no pubes, and no hair on the head, can one still get it?

 

So sorry to hear regardless. What a pain. But on the bright side, your house and coats will be superclean. I can't remember the last time we steam clean our carpet.

[funcoupledayton 2,708]

Darn, Kikonkrome beat me to it. That was my first thought when I read the post. I read the response but still wondering if one has no hair, as in no body hair, no pubes, and no hair on the head, can one still get it?

 

So sorry to hear regardless. What a pain. But on the bright side, your house and coats will be superclean. I can't remember the last time we steam clean our carpet.

 

They need hair to hang onto in order to live, but I have seen pubic lice on eyelashes.

 

The incidence of pubic lice is quite low in recent years due to the widespread popularity of shaving and waxing.

 

Pubic lice have a different squatter/rounder shape and prefer the shape of body hair, while head lice are longer in body and prefer the hair on the head.

 

Sorry this happened to you! Good luck.

[cplnuswing 4,713]

I read the response but still wondering if one has no hair, as in no body hair, no pubes, and no hair on the head, can one still get it?

 

Edit - Dayton beat me to it, but already was in the process of typing it out, so here it is anyways

 

From what I've read, I don't think so. It doesn't mean if one got on your totally hairless body it would instantly croak or anything, just that they wouldn't find you to be a very hospitable place to stake a claim and raise a family. SW_PA is also correct in that while they may prefer the pubes, they won't turn up their noses at moving in other places too.

 

For some things, it's kind of like real estate - location, location, location. Kid comes home from school with head lice, it's a real PITA for the parents but no biggee to anyone else. Sexually active adult comes home with lice... OMG...STD! STD!! Same thing goes for HSV-1. Cold sore on someone's lip, no one thinks anything of it. Get all technical about it and substitute the word "herpes" for "cold sore", and move the location downhill a bit, and the freakout starts.

[sunbuckus 3,567]

 

Pubic lice have a different squatter/rounder shape and prefer the shape of body hair, while head lice are longer in body and prefer the hair on the head.

 

Sorry this happened to you! Good luck.

 

That was both fascinating and creepy. Thanks for posting that tidbit!

[kikonkrome 844]

They need hair to hang onto in order to live, but I have seen pubic lice on eyelashes.

 

The incidence of pubic lice is quite low in recent years due to the widespread popularity of shaving and waxing.

 

Pubic lice have a different squatter/rounder shape and prefer the shape of body hair, while head lice are longer in body and prefer the hair on the head.

 

Sorry this happened to you! Good luck.

 

I just scheduled a total body wax...errr getting shivers and phantom itches reading this thread.