Help, I've got a tapeworm and it's messing with my head

[Invasionofthegutsnatchers]

I've had stomach ache for a few weeks. Phoned GP, submitted stool sample. Results not back yet. Gripey pain, back pain, feel tired. GP said probably gastritis or h.pylori infection.

This morning I passed a worm 🪱 about 5cm long 😱😱😱 it was dead. Looked a bit like tagliatelle but thinner.

I'm so disgusted, I wash my hands really regularly. Horrified, vaguely amused, stomach feels like it's being eaten from the inside out and now I know why! Dear Lord.

I will phone GP again on Monday to request prescription for tablets to kill it. Until then I KNOW IT IS THERE and it's so disturbing 🤯

@Invasionofthegutsnatchers

It was cream in colour?, thin and like tagliatelle I guess, with a weird horseshoe shape at one end. 5cm long. Not moving.

was it like this

Found this information, the fact you found it in the loo means it may have left on its own accord

Treatment for tapeworms in humans

It’s important to note that some tapeworm infections don’t require treatment. Sometimes, the tapeworm leaves the body on its own. This is why some people never have symptoms or only have mild symptoms.

If a tapeworm doesn’t leave your body, your doctor will recommend a treatment based on the type of infection.

For an intestinal infection, you’ll need to take an oral medication to get rid of the tapeworm. Antiparasitic drugs used to treat intestinal infections may include:

praziquantel (Biltricide)
albendazole (Albenza)
nitazoxanide (Alinia)

After completing treatment, you’ll have a follow-up stool sample to ensure the infection has cleared.

@HappyMcflappy

Go and get two bottles of Ovex from the pharmacy, have a spoon full every morning and night for three days and then 7 days later do the same for three days to kill any eggs that have hatched. Promise it will work.

@HappyMcflappy Ovex is for threadworm.

@BunnytheFriendlyDragon

I hope you can see a doctor or a pharmacist to help. I'm stressed just reading this thread and worrying whether the sausage I just ate was cooked so I can only imagine you must be quite distressed

I'm also thinking back to sausages I cooked the other day that may have been slightly undercooked. Me and DD are them and they seemed ok but DP refused saying they were raw. I'm worried now

Does it talk to you OP in a low grumbling voice demanding to be fed? Are you planning a final meal for it before it's death sentence? You should read Irvine Welsh - 'Filth'. It's all about an intestinal tapeworm!

@Mincepiesallyearround

They do use pencils to wind worms around in Africa to pull them out, but didn't think that it was from that end!

And don't worry about Sushi. It all has to be frozen for 24 hours by law in the UK before being served which kills off anything revolting. That's why sushi is fine for pregnant women to eat in the UK, but not in a lot of countries.

I flushed the worm 🪱 in horror but if another appears I will keep it 🤮

Wot? As a pet??!

Let's hope not @Myusernameisnotmyusernameno !

I thought the pencils thing was for Guinea worm?
(Dont Google it)

Do you have a dog OP? Worms can be passed (round, hook, whip etc) through animals, although it's pretty rare.

For the previous poster, just FYI, dog fleas cannot live on humans. They might jump on for a bite, but they will not stay.

And yes, some worms are extracted slowly over a period of days or weeks using a small stick that they wind the worm around. Some also migrate to the eyeballs.

Hope you get it sorted OP. Must be worrying.

Doesn’t have to be undercooked. We’re all vegans or vegetarians in our house. We didn’t eat pork for that exact reason.

In case this is alarming anyone. The facts are…

“Thoroughly cook meat at temperatures of at least 145 F (63 C) to kill tapeworm eggs or larvae. Freeze meat for as long as seven to 10 days and fish for at least 24 hours in a freezer with a temperature of -31 F (-35 C) to kill tapeworm eggs and larvae.”

www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/tapeworm/symptoms-causes/syc-20378174

OMG why did I read this thread?!?! Why did I google for photos?!?!?

I hope the nurse has phoned you back OP and you've managed to get to the pharmacy.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned but isn't there some advice about washing bedding and towels in hot water and changing regularly while you are under treatment/infected?

Still trying to get my head around people PAYING to infest themselves with worms so they can lose weight.

Has it wormed its way out yet!!!!

FIL grew up in Africa. A couple of years ago, he had tests for ongoing stomach pain.

Turns out, he’d had a tapeworm for 37 YEARS.

I bet it’s not a worm. ( I haven’t read all the thread but have read the OPs posts. )

No more worms yet.

I won't keep it as a pet 😆 I'll keep it to show the GP. In a plastic container.

Am I the only one who doesn’t inspect my leavings?
I’d have no idea if there was a worm in my poo.

I don’t know how true the following story is but my parents were fairly intelligent professionals and were definitely told this by a doctor and believed it.

My dad developed epilepsy in his late 20s, he’d caught worms from the dog. The doctor said one of the worms had migrated to his brain and died in his brain and the resulting damage had caused the epilepsy. Sadly neither parent are around to quiz for further details about what sort of worm, did my dad actually have a brain scan which proved this or was it a bonkers doctor speculating……?

@CovidCorvid

I'm afraid it's quite possible! 😮

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6070292/

Am I the only one wondering though, how intestinal tapeworm gets into the actual meat??

Try not to think too hard about that.

Funny that the title of your thread is‘I’ve got a tapeworm and it’s messing with my head’They can go to your brain.. see a doctor OP. Sorryit is true though.

I used to do brain surgery in sheep for these in my first job. It was quite fun.

Beansprout? They’re hardy buggers and often pass through the digestive tract intact.

I’m going to have to believe it’s a bean sprout.

@alwaysonadiet1

That raspberry medicine was so awful I can't even have anything the same colour in the house!

Yes, me too. I'm scarred from the diabolical worm medicine.

My mum in the 1990's got a jumper the same colour. The whole family referred to it as her worm medicine jumper. She rarely wore it!

Just chill about the sushi. If you've bought it from a supermarket, it's 99% cooked fish - smoked salmon, prawn, tuna, smoked mackerel - and in order to be able to have raw fish/sashimi, it's either frozen to minus 20 Celsius for over 24 hours/minus 15 for over 36 to kill off parasites - or it's from UK farms with specific exemptions due to the low risk of fry coming into contact with the natural food sources which contain parasites.

It's not your ebi nigiri or california rolls.