Help, I've got worms!

[harryetta]

No itching, but today have had a weird crawling sensation around my bum. Just had a look with a mirror and I literally saw one crawl out and I feel utterly disgusting. What do I need to do? I can buy some otc medication tomorrow. I share a bed with my daughter and have lots of cuddly toys on the bed that she brings with her every night. She has SEN. How often and for how long do I need to wash bedsheets? The toys aren'y washable - what do I do with them? How on earth do I stop them spreading over the house/onto door handles?

I'm struggling not to freak out right know after seeing a worm crawl out of my arse -shudders-

Is that true?!!!

Its higher. It’s something like 80% of the population have some sort of parasites in their gut at one time. So yeah, that’s a high percentage. They live on a lot of things. It’s not that we should routinely treat, but it’s recommended that we treat ourselves once a year or every six months. People can argue this all they want, but it’s true.

Off to pharmacy I go!

Sympathies @harryetta we had them recently. My skin was absolutely crawling with the idea of it.

Dd 3 was the only one with symptoms, I checked after she stared crying over her itchy bum. My son 6 never had any symptoms, but sure enough after a few nights with a torch after I'd already dosed everyone, there they were.

I did meds at day zero, 7, 14, 28, assumed i woukdnt catch all the eggs in my home (my kids were formerly allowed to run naked as they love to be naked - now we have a pants rule) so kept dosing until they would have been dead. I deep cleaned, quarantined stuffies that couldn't be washed in bin bags for 3 weeks. I will be adding a monthly bum check into my routine now (with a torch when they're asleep) as we have nursery, school, and my son is an anxious chewer of anything in sight...

Good luck op. With my daughter, the itchy one, I gave her meds in the am and she was already calmer that night.

You sound very authoritative on this, but I'm not sure you're right. Everything I've read says very rarely do people catch worms from pets/animals...

I don't think freezers would kill worm eggs. The eggs can survive for 2 weeks, so you need to quarantine the soft toys for at least that long.

They are human-specific as a PP said, so you can't get them from animals. My son is also in Y1, OP, and we've had threadworms once a year for the last three years (I think the first lot was from my older child).

I, like you, find it really really gross, and the first time I discovered that we had them I absolutely freaked out. But I've had to change my thinking so that I don't drive myself mad!

Keep nails short. Nailbrush scrub before food, for everyone. Hoover daily for the next few weeks. Wash all bedding immediately, then wash it again a couple of days after taking the tablet (it takes a while for the worms to die off), then wash it at least once a week.

It is true that a lot of the population have them without realising - especially those with under-10s in the household. I've accepted we'll probably get them again in a few months' time. It's so grim! But it's just life. It's fine. x

They are really common and often people don't realise they have them.

Take the medicine. Take another dose in two weeks time (this is now recommended by some pharmacists) to get rid of any stragglers.

Clean all your bedding and hoover and dust everywhere. They lay thousands of eggs that are very light weight and can easily be moved around when you strip beds etc.

You and DD should be wearing pants to bed and washing your bum each morning for a couple of weeks.

Ideally, cuddly toys should be in quarantine for a couple of weeks but it's understandable if this is not possible. Try hoovering them if DD needs them to sleep.

People sometimes use "threadworms" these days as a generic term when what they mean to say is "worms" generally. The OP used the term broad term "worms" in the title. A person may not know for sure exactly what type they have - and they may have more than one. Pinworms/threadworms are host specific, and are known for causing an itchy butt, so if you have an itchy butt then it's a pretty good indication that you do indeed have thread/pinworms. But humans can get all kinds of other types - hookworms are the ones, for example, that you can get from running around barefoot in the dirt.

Fortunately the active ingredient in Ovex kills multiple types of worms - not just threadworms/pinworms. Sounds like it would be harsh for it to be able to do that doesn't it? But actually it works by making it impossible for the worm to ingest glucose, so it then dies from lack of nutrients. Of course the meds don't treat the eggs - which is why it's important to wash all the linens/underclothes etc etc. And to cut fingernails to get rid of any lurking eggs.

Getting pin/threadworms is not necessarily a sign of bad hygiene - you can breathe the eggs in, as well as getting them from not washing your hands. But of course the chances of ingesting them are much lower if you do wash your hands etc.

39 hours later and can still feel them. Really hope these meds kick in soon!!

If they are wriggling, try getting a big blob of vaseline or sudocrem and putting it in there blocking their 'exit'. A big blob!
It stops them wriggling outside, which is when it is sore and itchy.

The medicine is usually quite quick - hopefully you will feel it has worked by the morning.

We really don’t!

A lot of this is incorrect, you don't get worms from your dog or cat lol... threadworms are a human condition, threadworm eggs can be in your pets fur, but only if you've put them there by stroking then! Living near a farm has nothing to do with threadworms....Jesus.

The most common vector for threadworms in the UK is going to be your own kids.

Worms from animals are highly unlikely - ie, hookworms are rare in the UK, but not uncommon in tropical, humid climates where you might holiday, walking around barefoot, sitting on the ground etc.

The most likely worm from animals is the tapeworm - there are two species that infect cattle and pigs, that can also use humans as a host, but you'll pick those up by eating undercooked meat (from the worm cysts). For the most part, the worms you'll most commonly come across won't do that -ie the tape worm your dog gets can't survive in your body.

You're really not to get any kind of worms in the UK from either walking around barefoot or wearing shoes in the house.

If you make a habit of eating undercooked meat, particularly from dodgy sources, feed your dog wild caught meat or dodgy meat and don't bother worming your dog and then eat dog poo... yes, you're at risk.

I've found it pretty easy to avoid doing those things though.

Caligirl80 are you in the US by any chance? or here in the UK? I ask, because a lot of what you're saying is rather geography-specific. Hookworms are really NOT an issue with humans in the UK and children ought to be able to run around barefoot outside without contracting anything like that! I mean, I suppose ticks are a potential risk in certain parts of the UK but even then ... I just hate to think that people reading your post might stop healthy outdoor barefoot play because they think they might pick up parasites. Not a thing in the UK.

The OP is obviously talking about threadworms (called pinworms in the US) which only live in humans and are evolved to do so. You cannot catch them from pets. Tapeworms can be contracted from cats and dogs but that's a very different thing with very different symptoms, and all pets should be routinely wormed anyway.

I had a South African friend who was used to routinely (monthly) having a worm pill when she lived there as a child, and got some real Looks from her GP in the UK when she asked where she could get monthly worming pills for her kids.

Having said that, it's so hard to get rid of threadworms that I'm beginning to think that dosing everyone up on Ovex once a month is not a bad idea, if you have young school-goers. Many people are asymptomatic so probably a lot more of us have these in our guts than we realise.

I joined this thread(worm) because my younger son seems to have brought them home again and now I have them. :-( The standard NHS advise to sterilise everything, wash all bedding and towels after every use and damp-dust your house daily for 2 weeks seems to have been formulated for people who live in sterile, featureless cubes with no Stuff and flat empty horizontal surfaces everywhere. We will try. In the meantime, I'm actually very concerned that I have them in my urethra because it's really irritated there. Any idea if Ovex actually KILLS the buggers if they migrate into your bladder, given that it's on an entirely different system to your gut? And if not, what can I drink to flush them out?

Sitting on the ground😩😩

Do they wriggle up your bum? I feel ill

'NHS advice to sterilise everything, wash all bedding and towels after every use and damp-dust your house daily for 2 weeks seems to have been formulated for people who live in sterile, featureless cubes with no stuff and flat empty horizontal surfaces everywhere'.

Judgey much? Their homes may indeed be as you describe. However, your home currently has worms. I know which living situation I'd rather... 🤷‍♀️

Am I unusual then? I am 55, never had worms or nits and neither did any of my 3 kids🤔

Eh, really. Never had them!

I dunno, I suspect if you're sitting on the ground on damp, sandy soil theres a much higher chance you also have your hands on that ground and hands to face/mouth is (certainly for kids) inevitable!

But tell me you sat on a wet sandy beach and NOT got sand up yer crack?!

Kids pick them up at school very easily, my daughter did after coving when it became acceptable to use hand sanitizer instead of washing hands before lunch

Oh, I didn't think it was judgy. I mean, I aspire to live in a house totally devoid of things that collect dust...

What I think I was trying to get at is that for most of us fallible mortals, those of us who don't spend hours every day swabbing down surfaces and vacuuming and dabbing at door handles, the chances of totally eradicating this very common (and ultimately harmless) parasite are low. Of course, we also share body space with loads of other parasites that tend not to make the MN threads because they're far less obvious.

Anyway, primary school-aged children tend to be very common vectors for threadworms. If you've escaped this, then genuinely - kudos to you! I am happy for you.

Argh, I've had them twice since I've had a toddler! Strangely I never found evidence on him, only me though. I do bite my nails so it has shown me how disgusting the habit is!

I found them easy to get rid of (a gap of 7 or so months before getting them a second time). The Ovex is really all I did, and to make sure to always wear underwear in bed.

Wrap them in plastic and freeze them for a few days, that kills everything.

This is what I said until last year😆since having a toddler I've now had them twice (months apart so did successfully get rid of them the first time!)

That you know of..