Threadworm/pinworm cleaning

[thenoodleking]

So as the title suggest threadworms have hit the household. Sunday night the itching started, followed by a fearful bum scratch 😫
the household was medicated with ovex on Monday mid morning, and basically I have not stopped cleaning.

My issue is my GAD is in rocket mode, I cannot cope. I feel like I am going insane. I am convinced they are everywhere, I am cleaning things that probably don’t even need cleaning. And in between the cleaning I am crying.
everything hot washed everyday, the cats had a bath too, and their bedding all hot washed. The surfaces are all being wiped down multiple times a day, as well as the vacuuming too. Hands being washed often, and as far as I have seen no bum scratches.

i just need reassuring that they are not everywhere. I think I caught them early, because I only found one big one small on each infected person. So surely the eggs couldn’t of spread around the house ?

what did people actually clean ??

@StillWantingADog I think she is worried about potentially ingesting the worms. Or kids doing that, and then the whole cycle starting again.

Although your version sounds more frightening 😆

We had worms when I was clearly on reflection in more of an anxious place. I cleaned everything like a lunatic, changed every bed every day for a week, made the children shower every morning while taking their clothes off in the shower and putting them straight in a bag, washed the towels after every single use, also straight in a special bag, not even the laundry basket, all teddies on the beds were washed or put in a bag for weeks. I obsessively checked every poo and even wiped on the floor under the washing machine every time I put a load in just in case. This is not a healthy way to deal with worms, although I did feel like I was being very effective. It was exhausting.

Years on, we just had another episode and I literally just changed the bed of the identified infected child and made him shower in the morning for a couple of days, didn’t even use a clean towel every time. No hovering or anything. It makes me realize quite how anxious I was years ago, but like you I had these obsessive egg thoughts. As pps have said, please try to recognize the issue is more anxiety than worms. I know it’s hard though. Stay strong, you can do it!

My ds recently had this and I had ocd so I know how you feel
from what I've worked out, the eggs can last at most 2 weeks outside the body- but on hard surfaces that is more like a couple of days. Sunlight kills the eggs so open curtains etc
if you all take the second dose, it's almost impossible to not be rid of them- if you want it to be 100% chance of being rid of them take a third dose 2 weeks after the second in the off chance any eggs survived 2 weeks and were ingested.
it takes more than 2 weeks from egg being swallowed to being able to lay eggs, so after the first dose has worked (which can take a few days) there can't be any "new" eggs, at most there could possible be viable eggs 17 or so days after taking the first medicine (3 days for it to work so still laying eggs, then the 2 weeks for the eggs survival time outside the body) but that's fairly unlikely.
clean bedsheets, towels and pants on hot wash but anything else is pretty pointless.

Once the medicine took effect (48 hours max I think?) then there won't be any new eggs as long as you take the followup dose.

It takes that 14 days for them all to hatch, but they won't be adult yet so ... no new eggs.

We took ovex two days ago. Haven’t seen any live ones since yesterday. I feel you. I suffer with anxiety - health related especially and things like this trigger me massively. Brings back memories of our flea infestation (never get them they’re v hard to deal with). I’ve been extremely anxious all week as I Discovered the worms on me first :(
glad to read these comments, they’re reassuring. Still super vigilant though, wish I could relax. How did you get on in the end?

Hi @pinkbunnylugs, I am sorry you are dealing with them. I have sadly dealt with fleas before too, after I moved into a new flat with my newborn baby, it was horrific ! For me this was a lot worse, maybe because as I have got older my anxiety has gotten worse. However, I am so glad that this thread helped you in some way.

Here is my update for everyone who commented, or will see it in future. As of right now it has been six weeks since I found out the household had them. I didn’t stop frantically cleaning for about 3 weeks after I started the thread (so four weeks after I first found them). I ended up doing three doses of the treatment for everyone. I still clean the house throughly everyday, wet dusting all surfaces, vacuuming throughout, all sofas and chairs etc pretty typical to what I did before. I wash all the bedding twice a week (used to be once a week) hot wash of course. All underwear and sleepwear is put into a separate hamper and hot washed separately to other washing. I wash the towels daily still. We all shower every morning as normal, and I clean the bathroom after we are all done. I think a lot of people will say it’s overkill, but it just became my normal, and it doesn’t take me much time really, and I’m way more on top of household cleaning so it’s all easy to keep up with. My bills have increased by a fraction, hardly noticed. My constant nagging has meant the kids do not put their fingers near their mouths now, and wash their hands more throughly than before.

the reality is, that I never saw another pinworm/threadworm after the first day of treatment. I saw them in 💩 on day three after treatment, very much dead though.
I did not handle the whole situation well at all, in fact it’s still a massive worry of mine to get them again. The treatment obviously does all the work, and my crazy cleaning probably didn’t help as much as I would like to think, but keeping busy probably helped my anxiety more than anything. Plus, this thread, actually talking about the concerns helped wonders.

@thenoodleking thanks for replying and glad you have not seen anymore. I’ve only recently realised that I suffer with anxiety and I’ve reached out for help and downloaded a meditation app last night. My anxiety has gotten worse over the years with kids and since going back to work… it’s hard. Chatting to other mums helps though. I’ve also just bought the book Mind over Mother. Hopefully it’ll help too.

I have just taken my second pill and its a relief to feel that progress is being made. I don't wash things etc as often as others do. No itchy bum for a while.
Glad you feel better @thenoodleking.

@Calling how often do you get them? I’m still not in a good place mentally. Massive mental spiralling going on, even though I haven’t seen any since the day after we took the ovex (Friday)

@pinkbunnylugs completely understand the spiralling. I still go through points of paranoia and worrying about getting them again. Everywhere said how easy they spread, so now kids in school are my number one worry, but this was the only time we have ever had them.
However. Me and my 6 year old had a tummy upset last night, which I know we had diarrhoea the week before finding out we had them ! So now my concern is that we caught the bastards again !
Did you or maybe @Calling have any tummy upsets before you found them ?

This was the first time that I had them @thenoodleking to my knowledge, as an adult.

My tummy had been poorly for ages before and I had diarrhoea and all sorts, but I really don't know whether they are all linked.

It helps to eat plenty of vegetables and fruit to help the flow of stuff out of the body!

Would a good walk in the fresh air help?

That’s interesting. We’ve all had an upset tummy on/off for months. Maybe we’ve had them for ages and didn’t realise…?

@Calling @pinkbunnylugs

it was just a random one off toilet trip, didn’t last any longer than that. So no idea if it is related, probably just more paranoia on my part. I’ll let you know if we’re unlucky enough to get them again :(

hope you are both doing okay

just out of interest... do you live in a rural area? We used to get these when I was young (primary school) in a rural area in the country where I'm from, but since I've moved to the big city I never got it again. Now I have a small child and I'm so paranoid that she will one day come back home with this. How common is it in the UK? Apparently it's common in the rural areas (because of agriculture) rather than big cities? Is that true?

@Sandrine1982 i doubt it - I’d say the opposite…more kids in urban areas = higher chance. Eggs only lives for 2-3 weeks outside the body so unlikely to be laying around outside in rural areas? Maybe less education around it in rural areas…

@Sandrine1982 no, I’ve always lived in a city, I never had them as a child either, just this one time as an adult.

According to stuff online, it’s incredibly common among children in school because it spreads so easy from not washing hands etc. but funnily enough, everything I read pointed towards other countries ‘deworming’ school age children every year 😂

I live in a city with a students coming from across the globe. I just don't remember whether I had them as a child.

Hopefully we will be 100% soon.

Anyone tried home remedies on top of ovex?

@Calling im doing raw carrots, pumpkin seeds, and homeopaths can prescribe remedies for prevention and treatment (have taken ovex too!)

Are you doing or going to do any prevention remedies ?

@thenoodleking yes all of what I said! Obviously hygiene too. But easy to eat garlic, pumpkin seeds & carrots daily

I hadn't thought about prevention remedies! I am drinking turmeric tea. Need to stock up on the carrots. The worm eggs are all dead now, I expect.

When I get out and about I plan to wash hands thoroughly before I eat out.

Unfortunately I have covid now.

@pinkbunnylugs absolutely love garlic, but allergic to carrots ! Never had pumpkin seeds before, will look into them. Thank you.

@Calling I never thought about prevention either, I just figured eating well would keep digestion getting rid of the unwanted stuff.
With all the hand-washing make sure to use hand cream too.
Unfortunate about covid, sods law to get it after worms 😂

Have you had them back. I’m new on here. Just got threadworms again as saw them last night, my poor son. Taken ovex all of us and hopefully it goes quick. Cleaning is the most annoying part. Any advice welcome on when do I stop cleaning🤣🙃😞

No we haven’t touch wood!

took 3 pills each, over 3-4 weeks. Cleaned lots and been good with hygiene since. I’ve had friends who’ve struggled much much more with headlice

I recommend the whole family always wears pants to bed, even when they don't have worms. This has saved us so much stress.

There's nothing I hate more than having to boil wash sheets at 9pm on a Friday night to because one of my kids wakes up with the dreaded itch. This way we know the beds aren't 'contaminated' so the massive boil-a-thon can wait until I actually have space on the airers /doors to dry stuff. Sods law, we always spot worms when we've just done the biggest load of washing ever in the depths of winter and there's nowhere to hang stuff. The pants in bed rule means we can postpone the big wash and be a bit more relaxed about it. That means we just have to clean the loos and change the towels which is loads easier late at night.

I know loads of folk wear PJs to bed and will wonder why on earth you'd need pants to protect your sheets but my kids love to strip off, I challenge anyone to keep PJs on my 4 year old!