ringworm. oh god.

[grumpypants]

soooo, we are seeing the gp later to basically beg for help. any positive experiences of this? started with one child, passed to two more, all on the trunk, and really don't want nursery age one to get it.
boil washed all the sheets etc, washing nightwear a lot, and covering the patches up (chemist okayed this) to keep the cream on.
but, apparently it keeps coming back and is highly infectious.
terrified it will go to scalp/ nails.
ds has sensory issues and chews his tshirt all the time - really need him not to spread it to his face.

I caught it from two kittens 11 years ago. I was pregnant and in ME, the pharmacist told me to use neat tea tree oil. I did, it went.

grrr. was in shop, with bottle of teatree oil oin my hand, and put it back! will try again, thanks.

what cream are you using? I used lamisil gel on my patch of ringworm and luckily didnt pass it to anyone else in the family. Is it definitley ringworm and not some sort of eczema that looks similar (discoid eczema looks similar afaik)

Had a nice experience with tnis. First where exactly is the ringworm ? treatment for ringworm of the scalp is very different to skin. Ringworm of the skin will react well to daktarin, canesten anything that has antifungal properties including tea tree oil, but scalp ringworm needs oral medication.

How long have they had it? DD has had it since about March, is bloody persistent!

skin - will def try tea tree oil, thank you.
only a cple weeks - panicking a bit due to school/ nursery etc

I would buy daktarin off the counter, and then bathe children in water with drops of tea tree oil, you can also dab tea tree oil on every so often or rub it on your hands during the course of the day to prevent infection, its highly infectious, and itches like mad, dont let it go anywhere near their scalps! THAT is a complete utter nightmare.

ask the chemist for zinc supplement suitable for the age, fungal infections are linked to zinc deficiency, when you fix that the infection will go away and not come back (antifungals will not work long-term if zinc is deficient)

To be completely honest lamisil is a pile of pants for ringworm and canestan is the best thing. Ring worm is past on through tiny abrasions in skin the damp skin allowing fungi to develop. As a vet who encounters ringworm all the time first thing I would suggest is that each child has their own hand drying towel and that towelling is very efficient.
GPs do normal prescribe Canestan so hopefully you should get sorted out.

zinc? that's interesting.
got a prescription yesterday and used it twice - so far so good. do i need to wash bedding every day? four of them and very wet here....

I'd stick to either canesten or daktarin, ringworm is an infection and will go within about a week or 5 days of applying it.

I found zinc on its own did the job (other stuff didn't and I gave up on antifungals in despair).
Fungal infections are opportunistics and tend to hang around if you are susceptible, ie run down, zinc deficient, low immunity etc.
So if you are giving zinc supplement, I wouldn't worry too much about missing one/two days of washing tbh, but try drying it out in the sun when next done for extra dose of uv on anything left.

lamisil AT 1% gel specifically for ringworm was prescribed by a doctor and cleared up the ringworm that canesten didnt shift so i wouldnt say it was pants at all!

Op you've got a good few to choose from here, obviously everyone has used different things that have worked, im sure if you go for anyone of them it'll work for you too

brillant advice thank you - i am using the prescription stuff, and have a list here : fabric conditioner, tea tree oil, zinc supplements
the lamisil the chemist sold me was for 16 plus, so am keeping in case i get it
really terrified they will get scalp ringworm - saw some horrible google image from the 1800s....
thank you all!

update the washing machine has not stopped; we have gone thro tons of handwash; and 3 of the dcs are now practically free of it - their one small patch each has faded to nothing. poor ds (who had it for about a week before we realised) has now got about 15 patches on his body and one on his shoulder. early ones fading , but i suspect the new ones have arrived due to the week of no treatment.

he is really distressed by it - wants to be 'normal'

also; do i tell the school? part of me wants to as the pets are free from it, so might have come from school? but don't want to draw even more attention to us, and doubt other parents mention things like this? plus, pharmacist and gp fine with attening school etc.

My dd (age 7) has it on her scalp,(no idea where it came from) been treating with anti fungal shampoo from docs since start of long school holiday, thought it was going but now seems to be getting worse again. Finding hair all over the house. Had to buy her a head scarf today. Think I'm more distressed than she is but you know how awful kids can be if they notice. Anyone out there been through the scalp version? How long will it take to get rid of?

elowil are you sure it's ringworm on the scalp.My middle ds had a form of psoriasis on his scalp & he lost hair as it killed off hair follicles,not saying that's what it is but you need to see gp for a referal if she needs a headscarf as she needs a specialist rather than a gp.We saw one & had to use arachis oil on him,hair loss stopped but he does have a bald patch now so hair has to be cut well to hide it.