Ovex threadworm hell -4 days

@Humblebumbleoh Do you have them or the children? Have you spoken to your Doctor?

I have found the children seem to get rid of them pretty easily but can take longer for adults.

The open windows keep a draught going, dries the wee buggers out faster. I did it until a couple of days after everyone stopped having symptoms.
We tried the damp dusting but it didn't work as well for us. We had multiple infections, sometimes every couple of weeks when I did that but maybe just 3 or 4 in the last few years since I tried dehydrating them. DS is an anxious chewer of nails, sleeves, bag straps, etc so he's a magnet for worms but the drying them out seems to keep them at bay for us. I don't think its received wisdom but it's the best thing I've found.

www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/stomach-liver-and-gastrointestinal-tract/threadworms#treating-threadworms

Nhs says damp dust as that will pick up dust plus eggs - rinse cloth out regularly. Says nothing about heating the house.

Hello, Worm War 2 veteran here. Don't damp dust, it just spreads the eggs everywhere. The eggs are very sensitive to dehydration and not very sensitive to cleaning products so if you damp dust you're adding moisture which actually helps them survive.
My full proof method of worm eradication is:

1. Ovex before bed for the whole family on the day you spot the first one.
2. Clean pants and pyjamas every night for 2 weeks.
3. Everyone has to have a shower with a thorough bum wash as soon as they get up, towels and pyjamas go into a bin bag in the bathroom.
4. Beds changed every day for the first 3-4 days.
5. Windows all open and heating turned up as high as you can afford - this dries out the eggs and they die. This is the secret of how to get rid of them and is way easier than scrubbing the whole house.
6. Either hot wash the pyjamas, towels and bed linen or keep sealed in the bags for at least 3 weeks, whichever is better for you.

Just keep dosing. We had a run of them here years ago. I dosed everyone every couple of days for my own peace of mind. Cost me a small fortune in medicine but worth it. IIRC it took three weeks for the last of them to go. Agree on using liquid and tablets alternating if one doesn't seem to work. Tight underpants on at bedtime so they can't scratch.

Trim their nails, wash all the sheets, regular hand washing. We started to use germaloid cream I think whilst not prescribed for children I couldnt cope with them having itchy arses for another second.

If youve tried the pill form, take the liquid - or vice versa. Both are available from the chemist.

Wash all bedding, towels, underwear.

Burn sage and place crystals around the house. Half kidding but I was.very close to calling a goddamn priest it was THE WORST OF TIMES

@op
Do you understand how the lifecycle of worms works? And how Ovex works.
The worms you're seeing now have hatched from eggs since you took the medicine.
The medicine doesn't kill eggs, you have to do that with hot washing, damp dusting, washing every morning etc

Yes it can take longer than the said 3 days so don’t panic. Just keep with the the hygiene measures and re -treat 2 weeks after first dose. On the plus side DS had them twice a couple W years apart (so wasn’t due to re-infection) but has shown them sign of them in many years since then.

Best to wait a week or two for second dose as it. Doing it tomorrow is pointless. The point of the second dose is to kill any eggs that aren’t hatched when you done the first dose so tomorrow is too soon I think? If you do it tomorrow you’ll still have to do it again in a week or two imo.

Are you seeing them in the stools?
If so, the meds are working. You don’t normally see many worms in the stools because they cling on to the gut during a bowel movement. The meds weaken them and they start falling out when you poo.
Can take a few days to clear them all if you’ve had a heavy infestation.
The more you see, the more it’s working!

Vermox and Ovex are the same thing both contain mebendazole.
Please follow the instructions and be patient it will work if you give it time. Everyone in the household must be scrupulous with hand hygiene for 6 weeks and bath or shower as soon as you get up every morning with individual towels to prevent re-infection.

My 3 year old had them recently and it took about 6 days for them to go away with Ovex.

I found the liquid to work better than the tablets

took second dose about five days after

I sympathise

You also need to put all towels, bed sheets & night wear on a hot wash. Make sure kids fingernails are kept short.
It’s a nightmare!
Good luck.

I feel your pain. Have you also hot washed all bedding , soft toys in bed , pyjamas , towels for the whole family and did the whole family take the treatment whether or not they had them ? That helps !

Solidarity here - we’ve just a bout with DC1 (almost 6 year old). He got them at school before Christmas. I thought he had eczema at first so was slow to treat which I think meant a more established case. Should have known better as he had them a year ago and we had ovex in the house.

We are on third dose of ovex. Think it’s finally working.

We have also been showering him in the morning and evening to wash away eggs. Eggs don’t get killed by ovex. Most eggs laid overnight even while ovex killing adult worms. We take off dirty pants in shower, was and put on clean pants in shower so everything contained.

We’ve also done a throrough clean, put his much loved Lego into quarantine (eggs live up to two weeks outside body) and coached him on better hand washing. And all other household members taken ovex.

Good luck!

Ooh yes you have to boil wash all sheets , bedding, pants, flannels, steam mop everything!

As the eggs can live for a long time

But new tooth brushes and scrub the bathroom with bleach including the bath, might be better to shower for a bit 😬

Cut their nails short too

It depends if reinfecting themselves or not. If you have cleaned all the bedlinen, wiped doors handles and high usage points like banisters etc.
Cut finger nails. No sharing of cutlery, food, towels etc.

I feel your pain, yes give them a second dose tomorrow, I have given my DC an early second dose in the same situation, it didn't do any harm and was thankfully effective

The only thing I found that works is the Vermox chew tablet. They are a nightmare

Really bad luck to catch them in lockdown, my kids are nailbiters and in normal years we get them at least once or twice. They were getting them so often I would dose them at the start of the end of term holidays.
I'd take a second dose now & another in two weeks, restrict sugar ,& change pants & sheets regularly.
Horrible but harmless.
When I mentioned worms to kids friends they had not heard of them, which always surprised me. I think some kids/adults must carry them but they dont get bothered by them. My kids were picking them up from somewhere & school seems the obvious place.
Ovex is cheaper online I used to buy 4 bottles at a time. I once, ages ago when the very young one had them got a prescription for a massive bottle of non branded treatment from the pharmacy. It's a shame that ovex is the only over the counter medicine availble as it's quite pricey when dosing the whole family twice.