To wish people would stop freaking out at threadworms?

[Inkandbone]

Sorry if I sound a bit brusque but I've clicked on at least three screamy threads about threadworms, oh god, oh no, how awful, how disgusting, I must burn the contents of my house followed by my own children.

And thousands more in search engines.

Here is the thing. They are totally, entirely, absolutely NORMAL. They are no more or less disgusting than any other parasite type thing - nuts or whatever- very common in children and very easy to treat.

They can be very painful for children around their bottoms because their skin is soft and sensitive. This is why you should freak out, because your child is in pain, not because 'oh, ewwww.'

All the daft over the top reactions do is perpetuate the problem as people don't talk about it thinking it's some grim, gross, horrifying thing when actually they are perfectly normal, extremely easy to treat and no matter how much you boil wash and encourage hand washing your kids may well get them for the simple reason kids put things in their mouths more than adults.

So seriously lighten the fuck up!

You can get it over the counter IIRC.

Obviously, as with most things prevention is better than cure, mostly because they really can be very uncomfortable for little girls in particular (mine screamed in agony when she had them ) but they really are incredibly easy to sort.

butwing the other 50% were lying!

I caught scabies through my work. Worms are a walk in the park compared to scabies.

I worm mine regularly as well, like the cat.

The take a torch/stick sticky tape to the arse etc is just bizarre to me.

I've never bothered with that raver.

Change the sheets and the towels, but no need for a massive fuss. Worms do not equate filth, dirt, general grossness or anything like that. They are just tiny parasites enjoying a little holiday in the depths of your bowels.

Chit you're probably right!

Even those who think they (or their child) have never had them are probably mistaken. They're often symptomless, esp in adults. It's estimated that about 40% of school-age children have them at any one time! Adults often don't know they're affected as they tend to sleep more deeply than kids at night (when the worms come out to lay eggs).

HTH

Letters have come home from school about them.
My first thought was "ewwww!" followed by "kids are disgusting" followed by "bum and torch?!" which quickly became "ah well. Get on with it". Luckily nothing so far but probably only a matter of time.
It's like when I first saw a nit, I thought it was horrible but now it's just a regular check.

Yes to the torch madness.
The pharmacist told me to do the shine a torch up dads bum at midnight. (Not sure why midnight but she was quite insistent) if she woke up to me doing that I would have frightened the life out of her.

I find them quite interesting really.

Dd nots dads bum. That would just be wrong.

I imagine most of our dads would not appreciate this!

I've never had worms, neither have my siblings so if DD ever gets them I probably will be a bit because I have absolutely no idea what to expect and quite frankly the imaginings on my head are fucking GRIM!!

So I will carry on in my little bubble, changing sheets and towels regularly, religious washing of the hands and pray very hard that I will never ever have to experience the horror

40% of primary aged children have them at any given time. That's nearly half of all children. Many will be asymptomatic too so it's not easy to say your child has never had them with any degree of certainty.

My DC have both had them and we Ovex every few months or so now. Never had headlice though.

Crossposted with wayfarer.

Pinky, I'm an emetophobe and wash hands, towels etc religiously. House is scrupulously clean. Worms? They pick up the buggers from school.

We had them twice . And I thought that the eggs can live on bedding, toys and pens etc for at least 2 weeks. So you have to clean it all or store it for several weeks in bin bags to ensure the eggs are dead or the kids just re infect themselves? Then a shower each morn for at least 2 weeks to remove any hatched ones from previous night as they have 2 week life cycle. Then do ovex after 2 weeks again. It's not a case of just popping an ovex

I can't see how anyone could argue that parasitic worms coming out of an anus isn't disgusting.

I keep hearing that people have a propensity to either nits or worms. This has been true for my family. My DC have had worms several times but never nits, despite seemingly weekly letters from school telling us that classmates have nits.

Have anyone else found this to be true too?

pinky if - and she may not - was to be affected she would possibly experience itching in her bottom and vagina, which doesn't sound too terrible but it's very painful for them, a sort of stabbing pain, and is worse at night.

Ovex sorts within 24 hours but washing the bum and genital area with tepid water helps soothe it. Loose pyjama bottoms are best.

I have housework, that's interesting.

I wonder what it is that makes you a worms or nits person? What are the nits people doing that we could do, to stop getting the worms (and vice versa)?

No more or less disgusting than anything parasitic, anything relating to poo, really.

They are just one of those things. And as with most things, the more dramatic we are about things, the more dramatic children will be too.

To be honest I don't really find anything relating to humans in that sense to be 'disgusting' - it's like saying childbirth is disgusting, it is, bit it's just how it is isn't it?

Dd2s class have had nits so many times it's ridiculous. Her best friend has had them 4 times and they are always touching heads but she has never had them.
Dd1 on the other hand had them all the bloody time.
Dd2 has had words a few times though.

Maybe our kids' bums are more appealing than their hair?

And there is a sentence I didn't think I'd write!

Im sure she will get them at some point. Nits too. I'm actually not that squeamish so it will be fine when it happens - I just don't like the idea much but who would?!

I saw a parasitic horse hair worm exit from an earwig once. That was amazing and totally disgusting in equal measures.

Funnily enough I am checking her poo at the moment because I'm waiting for a 2p coin to appear...