I cannot get rid of threadworms. Please help!

[Susay]

I’m so embarrassed writing this.

I’ve had them for about a year, I have no idea how I got them as my dc are in their twenties. I have tried everything!

We use separate bathrooms and we all have our own towels. We’ve all had the ovex treatment, two weeks apart. I personally have had it (ovex) more often. I’ve followed all the hygiene guidelines, ie washing hands thoroughly, sleeping in underwear, changing bed linens regularly, wiping down surfaces etc - everything (including eating raw carrot and garlic).

I’ve even been to the Gp (before this current crisis hit!) and had a sample tested. It came back negative but I don’t know how that could be as I’m absolutely positive I have them.

I don’t know what to do and, ridiculous as it sounds, it’s getting me down. Any suggestions? Anything at all?

apparently i read you can put some sellotape on the area in the morning and pull off the sellotape to see if there are eggs!

I had threadworms last year and the pain (not itching) was around the vulva. That's more common than itching.

Northern it was painful for you?

I’ll steel myself then to look in a mirror. And if it is worms (which I really fear it must be), consensus is to up the ovex?

Yes painful. Not itchy. I have always had pain rather than itching. I don't get them often. As a child a few times and last year. I'm blaming the keyboards in university.

I know this sounds gross but I tried this a few times and it worked. Raw garlic in a masher, mix with vasoline and put it around and just inside the anal area every night before bed. The worms hate it and can't lay their eggs so die off.
It's an alternative remedy which has worked numerous times for me and my kids over the years.
Good luck, it sounds awful!

Can you wipe with a flannel or some cloth that can’t shred to see if you still think it looks like worms?

This shows what they look like in poo.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/threadworms/

Never had them (to my knowledge) but one of our cats did!

I work in a microbiology lab - we wouldn't generally see them in a stool sample.

The adult worms (about 0.5cm long, translucent, very wriggly) live just inside the anus and will crawl out at night to lay eggs, which is when it would be itchy.

To test you would take what's called a sellotape slide (ask your GP). Very occasionally you might see the eggs on a urine microscopy as an incidental finding.

You wouldn't generally see them when you wipe, and if you do see the occasional one, it would wriggle a lot. It does sound more like loo paper to me (unless there's a lot of wriggling that you haven't mentioned). They're not easily squashed.

Thank you for further posts, I’ll give the garlic paste a try. Thank god I’m single.

That picture is horrid - they look quite long there! I haven’t seen any that size but the colour looks the same.

I wonder why the doc didn’t ask for a sellotape slide. I’m heartened to think that what I see may not be worms but I really don’t think it’s toilet paper (I got a bit obsessive about scrutinising closely - sorry for tmi). And I do get the itching too.

Thanks again.

We've had a long term problems with worms here too OP, I am becoming a worm expert. Definitely agree you need to be 110% sure you have them first of all.

Do you know about vacuuming as they live in dust, also throw the duvet away and get a new one?

Have you tried using the moist toilet wipes? When ds has had them, he wipes with a moist wipe well just before bed and we rub Sudocream in the area, it probably works the same as sellotape in that they cannot lay eggs. It then clears very quickly. I can’t give him ovex, he vomits, but this works well.

Good luck!

Order a bottle of Ovex you can buy from the chemist. Should get rid of them x

I’ve tried Ovex Phoenix but I’ve ordered more today. At this point I’m up for trying absolutely anything!

Not sure I agree that you wouldn't see worms in poo, but the garlic and vaseline remedy has worked for us. Also eating lots of pumpkin seeds, I can't remember why this works.

If you check your bottom at night, as they tend to appear at night, with a dark flannel, you can see whether they are still active.

Get your mirror out!! As soon as the itching starts in the evening, off you pop and have a good look. Utterly revolting but they are easy to see wriggling around the place.

I think I’ve injured myself contorting to look in a mirror! Rubbish eyesight doesn’t help.

So - worms AND a bad back. Living the life!

Oh! Did you see them?

No, my eyes are too useless even with a magnifying mirror!

I’ve ordered some pumpkin seeds - what do I do with them - snack all day on them/eat a handful once a day/eat a kg on one sitting?! And how many garlic cloves in my Vaseline?!

I get an itchy anus. But I am allergic to many brands of loo roll. Took me a while to realise!

Yes as pp’s have said. How can a dose be as effective on a grown adult as it is on my 5yo??! Easily double it and repeat weekly for a month. My DS needed 3 lots to work. Good luck!

My youngest was a bloody martyr to worms, constantly getting reinfected; they were rife at his school.

What worked for us was showering him first thing every morning to remove any eggs laid overnight and keep breaking the cycle. And clean PJs every night.

What cream for an itchy anus? (asking for a friend)

I’ve taken all the hygiene measures suggested, eg, changing underwear twice daily, showering twice daily. Should I change bed linen and towels more often than twice a week? I feel I’m getting a bit obsessed with my worms. Perhaps I’ll miss them when (if) they go!

Bloggers someone suggested pruritis ani cream.

So I think the ovex works by making your insides hostile to worms so they can no longer cling on. It doesn't actually kill them. So if you see live worms after taking it, that's ok, that is because they can no longer stick to the wall. Someone before suggested taking a laxative after ovex to ensure maximum expulsion of the worms

That is rubbish. Ovex kills the adult worms but not the eggs, that is why you need a second dose 2 weeks later to kill those that have hatched since. And in my opinion (but not official!!) another one 2 weeks later & so on.