Threadworms - how many have them?

[Mumof3darlings]

Dear All,

I feel like I am going mad!

1 week ago I noticed DS (age 4) scratching his bum a couple of times, I immediately thought he might have worms. Checked that night by looking up his bum with a torch and immediately saw a wriggling little blighter which quite honestly made me feel sick to the stomach! My DS is a clean little boy, ie washes his hands after loo, not always before eating though and we have a very clean home but I try not to be too OTT with the kids about not touching mud/sand etc while we are in garden etc as I feel like they have gotta play/get germs etc!!!

So I gave kids and me and DH medicine... Next day checked DS no 2's nappy whilst changing him and noticed a worm in there too!!!! agggrrr!!! This sent me over the edge tbh as I felt like the medication was my only hope!!!

OK so in last week I have checked DSno 2's nappy probably a dozen times and nothing... Also checked up DS1's bum while he sleeps every night and it's clean as a whistle.. I need to give the medication again after 2 weeks but to be sure I gave us all it again yesterday just in case.

I have a doctor who advises both on natural and mainstream medicines and he advised we could all take an aloe vera drink each morning which is preventative.. so we are taking this (which I feel is more for my mind than anything else)..

I have cleaned bedding, hoovered, washed, towels have been washed after every wash - the amount of washing I have done this week is as much as a busy launderette!!! Poor little DS1 is marched home from school and told to wash his hands immediately... I am watching other kids in his class and noticed one of them scratching his bum the other day - I am thinking about this subject 100% of the time - I honestly feel like I have become obsessed with it!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had threadworms as a child quite a few times and I have had them as an adult too - immediately treating the problem. It always freaks me out everytime but this time seems worse as I noticed it in both my kids... what am I doing wrong???

I think the worst thing about this is that I feel so alone with it as nobody has EVER told me that their kids have this... Do people just not realise? or is it just that we are unlucky and get it more than others... Today I decided (after 1 week) to tell my DS's teacher. I found it so difficult to do as I am so embarrased and feel so guilty about it. I was hopeful she would tell me that she had seen it a hundred times before - she's been a teacher for about 15 years - but she didn't!!!!!!!!!! She was very nice, very understanding but said she had never known of a child having it before - OMG made me feel like a freak!!!

Help me - please tell me either what I am doing wrong or why it is that people don't discuss this????

Thanks for reading!!

x x

[Baldwin1973]

Did you get a reply Indiamay1? I am very anxious about threadworms too. Having CBT at the moment for it but it's not working very well. I hope you are ok.

[Indiamay1]

Hi i realise these posts are old but was curios to see how mum of 3 darlings is doing did the thread worms go? I had them as a child aboit age 10 but it didnt really bother me except if i ever had a particulary itch bum i would check i never saw a worm again until march 2017 at age 39 my daughter also had them i think as i didnt actually see an adult worm in her but convinced i saw the lave when checking at night. I did everthing meds /cleaning became really paranoid depressed lost loads of weight cos of the anxiety however gradually got back to normal by the end of summer 2017 i didnt see anything after first treatment now that was a year and half ago since first discovery and to my horror i felt a tickle a couple of days ago and it was my worst fear, bloody worms! Only one but i know you never just have one we all took meds straight away i have checked daughter last 3 nights and nothing. Is it possible i never got rid or just bad luck on catching again.

[Aheeps121]

What's the best medicine to use for it?

[MrsFlorrick]

Worms everywhere!!!!

We've got them too!!

Everyone had their worming tablet last night and the house has been scrubbed and hoovered.

Laundry on high temp and machine has been going ten to the dozen today.

Worm o Rama!!!!

Scary thought..... Do we all know each other?? (Looks around nervously).

Is there a "worm season"??

[livinginthesticksoutthere]

I have soooooooo missed the symptoms with my DD2 who is 6. She complained for weeks of having a sore vagina, which went away after 20 minutes or so. I can't tell you how often I had to whip the torch out to have a look. Everything looked honkey dorey. She'd feel better when I put some sudocreme on it. Never any issues or belly ache during the day. Only at the weekend did I saw the first worm crawling out. I am so grossed out, I cleaned nonstop the following day from 10 in the morning until 2 at night (mainly my 18 year old daughters' room) and continued for another few hours the next day. I have an 18 year old, whose room is a health hazard with half of her clothes permanently living on the floor. I treated all of us with Vermox, my DH initially refused until he saw the look in my face. I have a large number of black binliners with 18 year olds clothing waiting to be washed, I am washing all the duvets (thankful for a big washing machine) and every scrap of clothing that was out at the time. I march my DD2 to the bathroom in the morning to have a shower before breakfast. We traditionally did the evening bath. My hands are chapped. I went through a litre of bleach and a full container of "kills mostly everything on contact" stuff.
We had a mouse in the house a few months ago, and you'd think I went mad then with the cleaning. When I read about the eggs floating in the air, that made me want to just move out of the house and leave forever. Having a cup of before tackling wash #16. Only another 10 to go...

[onyx72]

This thread makes me feel better. DS (4) was scratching his bottom a lot last week. I joked that he might have wriggly worms, had a look ... and I saw a worm .
All the family has been dosed with Ovex and yes, I've been doing a lot of laundry!

[rainbowsprite1]

sorry - they CANT swallow tablets....

[rainbowsprite1]

I have just tried to dose my 2 DD's (age 5 & 6) with Ovex, they can swallow tablets & when they chewed them as the packet suggested they both gagged & couldnt get any of it down. that was the quickest waste of £8 I've done for a while. can anyone suggest any better tasting meds or a good way of getting the tablets into small children??

[lisata]

Dosed the whole family and did endless laundry today /-: We have had them twice this year. For those wondering apparently they are more common in winter months. The chemist said that they always seem to have a rush in the second week of term ... I bought the last pack of own brand Boots tablets today... so clearly there are others around who are buying it!!

Funny that it is such a taboo.

[booboomonster]

Glad to help mumto2! Good luck with the preg test and the worms!

[Mumto2andmaybeonedue]

Permaquandary - it might be that you put it with Milk, if water based product the milk might not work with it..... I only know that as when talking to a pharmacist about putting antibiotics in milk or a yoghurt as my eldest daughter wouldn't ever take it, and she said it was water based and that milk/ dairy could break down the medicine and it might not work.... Don't quote me on this but it makes sense really....
I hope you are all clear now x

[Mumto2andmaybeonedue]

booboomonster you have just made my night!!!
Without tmi I have def got the dreaded thread worms and as yet can only assume my girls have them..... But I may be pregnant and have been majorly stressing, so major deep cleaning tomorrow now and gonna try hygiene method til I find out for sure if I am next wk!! If not its meds away for me, but if I am I shall be eating pumpkin seeds and cleaning like a Trojan!!
Thanks so much for posting this tho, as I have really been freaking out!! Hence surfing the net at this silly hour!!!

[booboomonster]

Just wanted to update in case there is anyone pregnant with threadworms who is fretting about whether they will ever go without meds... mine did eventually go, without the meds, after about 10 weeks. I kept up hygiene methods, scrubbing hands frequently, had my own towel away from the DCs, wearing underwear in bed, washing bedclothes weekly (though not at high temp, just well rinsed), etc etc.

[narmada]

Is there some sort of outbreak of abnormal proportions at the moment?!?! We have them and Ovex doesn't seem to be doing much, eek. Maybe I will go and get the Pripsen and see if that sees them off!

[FayKnights]

My youngest had it last month, I emailed the school so they could let the other parents know. The school secretary was very blasé and convinced me that it was very common, felt much better after that. Try and keep nails short.

[glassyh]

Am I too late to add to this threadworm thread? We have them. DCs and I took Ovex yesterday am. How will I know when it has worked - will we see dead worms coming out in poo?

[mathanxiety]

Permaquandary -- you all have to take a second dose a fortnight after the first to take care of the entire life cycle.

[FannyFifer]

Ovex didn't work for my DD, I bought Prispen which paralysed them, then had a major laxative effect which cleared everything out, was pretty horrific the amount that came out.
Kept up the cleaning for a few days a d there has been no sign since.

[permaquandry]

I've added a separate thread but......I'm gutted, just relaxing slightly re mental OCD scrubbing/washing etc and dd2 gone for a poo and there was a very much alive worm. All fam had ovex 72 hours ago (just under).

Checked last night and neither dds had any round bum.

Please tell me this is normal and because so evident, maybe was hanging around in back passage and ovex not 'got to it'? Never seen one in her poo before so obvious and on the outside, maybe it's a final one being carried down?

Was Going to ovex again this morn, but pharmacist said not to and to check tonight and tomo and take to ooh docs if still present.

Dd2 had her ovex diluted in milkshake, could that be why? Please help!

[Bunsouttheoven]

I have to say I have had the same thoughts as sock. Yes surely if it lays that many eggs it is because the vast majority will perish. Also it says they thrive in a moist environment but surely dust is not a moist environment?

I am washing what I can at 60 & doing an extra rinse on any 40 degree loads.

I am calming down about it all because I am bloody knackered & a bit lazy we will keep up the hand & bum washing. Only eating in the kitchen & keeping the kitchen/ bathrooms super clean. If they come back we'll medicate again. As grim as they are, in the scheme of health issues a family can have threadworms are of no consequence.

[mathanxiety]

A dryer would possibly nuke them..

[lucasnorth]

Thanks pixie (and what have you done with all Dd1s socks btw?! They vanish one by one...)

Kids bedding claims 40 degree wash only and don't want to chuck it all away, so will carry on with extra rinse cycle and cross fingers...

[IneedAsockamnesty]

this is jmho but im pretty sure that washing any higher than 60 is not needed for many things that people insist need it inc worms.unless you are running an empty maintainance load or its bedding

i would always make sure laundry is rinsed well anyway as it makes stuff last longer. detergent can bog down fabric make it smell weird rinsing help prevent that.

i dont think the eggs are that hardcore imho any creature that has to lay 100's of eggs in a few days does so mainly due to mortality rates, now if they lay say 2 each i would be frightoned to death and think they would possibly take over the world.

disclaimer..... i am not a scientist i just have a morbid fasination with human parisites

[lucasnorth]

Just discovered we have it for 3rd time in 2 yrs [hangry] Good to see I'm not alone!

Question for you more knowledgable folks - does hot washing make any difference? There's so much contradictory stuff on the internet, but there seems a school of thought that the eggs are so hardcore that freezing/heat/antibac makes no difference; you just need to rinse thoroughly enough to wash them down the plug.

What does Mumsnet reckon?

[IneedAsockamnesty]

hurrrrrahhhhhhhh

my work here is done

and your plan sounds like a good one accepting the things you cannot change (and shouldnt) is always a good thing