To ask for threadworm reassurance

[Help241]

I suffer with anxiety and after feeling an itch earlier I have convinced myself that's what it is. I am in early pregnancy and read you can't take medicine and am spiralling thinking I will have to deal with this for months and won't ever be able to sleep as it freaks me out so much. I even checked DS's poo nappy in the bin earlier to reassure myself. Nothing dodgy I could find in there but still not reassured. He goes to nursery and is a thumbsucker.

Can I have positive stories from people who had them and it wasn't a big deal? This would be our first time dealing with them, I read about the hygiene measures and daily laundry, hoovering, wet dusting and already want to cry at the thought of doing all that daily on top of working and morning sickness. But worse is having to feel anything wriggling down there. I'm shaking at the thought.

Need to balance the catastrophic thoughts in my own brain. Thank you

I am sorry for your anxiety. Can you have a gentle was, put some sudocream on, rest, and give the doctor a call in the morning.

Sometimes an itch is just an itch. Sorry about your anxiety.

What do you normally do to combat spiralling thoughts? I like to try and step out of myself and recognise that parts of my brain are misfiring and sending too much “danger” signal and focus on that rather than the overwhelming thoughts. And then try and distract myself by doing something that requires concentration, like reading a book.

We can give you lots of reassurance that threadworms really aren’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but you know that already.

Sorry for the TMI in advance.
I too convinced myself I had these in pregnancy in near identical circumstances.
What it actually turned out to be was pregnancy haemorrhoids.
Second pregnancy = body much better at carrying baby and you get all the crappy pregnancy stuff earlier.
So have a good look down there with a mirror at night and if you can't see threadworms it's probably not that and get some anusol to stop the itch.
(I do however still live in fear of the day DD brings them home eventually!!!)

Are you supposed to do all of that stuff? I had threadworms several years ago, I just took the medicine and washed my clothes as normal. Certainly didn’t dust the house for eggs!

My experience doesn't sound positive but was not too bad. I had loads of them during both pregnancies. The periparturient rise in endoparasite load is thing in animals and I assume also in people (although in me anyway not limited to periparturient period, it was the whole damn pregnancy). I dosed the rest of the family and briefly considered taking the Ovex myself (we use benzamidazoles in pregnant animals- how bad can they be?) but decided to be good and not take it. I decided not to pursue all out war/eradication strategy as lots of effort with no guarantee of success, especially the second time when #1 was in nursery and likely to keep bringing them home. So I just kept everyone's nails short, tried to remember not to let my fingers near my mouth without handwashing first (this was precovid), wore PJ bottoms instead of sleeping naked, washed pants and towels at 60 and let that do. I didn't hoover every day or wet dust anything except mine and my daughter's bum at bedtime and every time either of us went to the loo. I don't know how much difference it made as I don't know what the outcome would have been had I either done nothing or gone nuclear with the cleaning.

Had a bit of itching now and again but not too bad- I'd trot off to the loo (nobody questions a pregnant woman who disappears to the loo a lot), damp a piece of loo roll, swab them off and chuck it in the loo. If you can bear to look there is a certain satisfaction to watching the buggers panicking in their watery grave. Add a squirt of bleach to the bowl of you feel like it ( just for extra vengeance not hygiene- they flush and die without it).

The itch was not really bad at all (certainly not compared to FUCKING thrush which I had both times and never before or since). I consoled myself with the fact that possibly a parasite load helps protects one from immune mediated disease (read that somewhere, no idea if true).

Can't remember what Ovex datasheet says about breastfeeding but fick it, I had the celebratory post birth dose into me even before I tore into the stash of Stilton, paté and prawns with which my lovely DH had stocked the fridge for my return from hospital.

I’m so sorry you’re feeling anxious. But I’d say your bum itched. It happens to the best of us.

I know this will sound a bit ucky but my kids had them, took the medication and were fine (if itchy) I only did the separate towel thing and frequent hand washing, didn't do wet dusting or anything like that. They really are quite common in nursery/reception children.

And I never caught them.

Thank you all, I just remember DS having some white bits in his nappy a while back, I did inspect them at the time and thought it was bits of fluff but now wondering if it was that. It was a few months ago though so I don't know if he's just had them all this time with few symptoms and I have finally caught them.

It could equally all just be in my head, I have checked in the night and the morning and can't see anything.

Anxiety sucks. Even though I feel better about threadworms I feel such pressure in my chest and can hardly breathe and I can't shift it. I've only had a couple of hours sleep. I feel so guilty for growing my baby in such a tense environment.

How is your ds sleeping? The first sign of threadworms for us has always been no sleep. I mean waking up screaming in discomfort, getting like 2 hours of sleep a night. It’s horrific. Mine have never had them and just seemed fine. It’s always a massive ordeal. Thrush is very common in pregnancy and it very likely could be that.

Hi OP, my children had threadworms when I was pregnant and I remember horror, thinking I'd have to put up with them for the rest of my pregnancy. I don't know if I did have them ( I had itching for a while, but that could have been my brain imagining it, like when people talk about nits I get an itchy head ) but I googled all the natural remedies that are safe to take when pregnant. I remember eating while cloves of garlic and pumpkin seeds! I cannot look at a pumpkin seed now without feeling sick. However, it either worker or I didn't have them, but knowing there was something I could do which might be helping, helped my anxiety

Thank you @mindutopia, DS has not had any issues sleeping at all. I am starting to be hopeful that I am imagining it.

@freesolo thanks I also think trying natural remedies will help my anxiety by making me feel more in control. I really want to know if I do have them so that if I don't I can just move on, but I also don't really want to keep checking as I think seeing an actual worm is going to send me over the edge. But i don't want to ignore it either and potentially let it get worse ahhh

Hi OP I’m currently dealing with threadworms.

I have used the recommended medication and have hoover and wet dusted and I’m trying to maintain this for a few weeks.
I’m also using a natural remedy (not recommended during pregnancy sorry) as an extra back up to help.

I have been feeding up on how to prevent etc and found article which talk how they feed on sugar: “
Do parasites feed on sugar? The answer is a resounding yes. Parasites use sugar as their primary source of energy. They cannot survive without a steady supply. Parasites use amino acids and fatty acids in the creation of their eggs, but for their energy they use sugar. If their energy source is removed, eventually they won’t be able to reproduce. In order to win the war and accomplish a natural parasite cleanse, we have to create an anti-parasite environment depleted of what gives them energy.” This might be helpful.”
This is maybe the push I need to reduce my off the scale sugar consumption( mostly chocolate 🙄😢)

Hope it helps

We've been through it twice in my house. The first time I got so stressed about it washing and hoovering everything every day for weeks. Now I know just take the medication, encourage hand washing and it will be ok. It's also a bit like headlice the more you think about it the more you itch and can drive you insane

Thank you! Definitely a good incentive to stop the sugar. Starting to feel itchy like crazy again but don't know if it's because LO is in bed and I have finished working and have nothing else to think about!

Oh blimey we’ve had them loads of times!! Sorry if that makes us sound slovenly. Nail -biting school age kids and it’s a regular occurrence in this house. Doesn’t freak me out at all, weirdly 😁

Haven’t had them when pregnant, so I do understand that makes things trickier. Just look in your and your DC poo for little wiggly white worms. Change towels and bedding, wash them on a hot wash. Medicine for the whole family ideally, Ovex liquid is the nicest.

Now, headlice on the other hand...I live in abject terror of getting those!!

Piles.

Pumpkin seeds! My homeopathic mum swore by eating pumpkin seeds when we had threadworms as kids, infact I can barely remember having them or ever being treated with over the counter medicines but we were always given pumpkin seeds to eat (which i found pretty tasty actually)

My eldest had them when I was pregnant with DD2. I was under consultant care and mentioned it to him. He said he had worked in many countries in the world, and in some countries places they just gave up treating them as there was no point. And no bad things happened.

But my guess is piles!

Good luck

Haven't read the whole thread but if you're worried about taking medication during pregnancy chopped raw garlic stops the females laying eggs if you can bear to eat it. The lifespan of a threadworm is 6 weeks so if you keep nails short and hand wash lots it's a good way to kill the cycle naturally

Quick question - love your message - did you not get rid of the worms for your entire pregnancy? And personal q - did that mean that you also didn't engage in intimacy with your plus one?! As I am repulsed at the thought of that when there are worms lurking!

Sorry - meant to send that to powershowerforanhour