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

[Mumof3darlings]

Sock - you are our resident expert! Is there anything you can include in your diet permanently to keep the buggers away?

x

[IneedAsockamnesty]

not anything that passes scientific inspection however some people who are into that sort of thing swear by

fresh coconut grated
coconut milk
raw carrot
dried pumpkin seeds
dried cucumber seeds
raw papaya juice mixed with honey
fresh crushed garlic.

but most of these require you to eat large quantities and wash them down with a mixture of caster oil and warm milk.

so i personally wouldnt be prepared to try it for very long,i think i would rather have worms [hgrin]

[Seenenoughtoknow]

OP - you really are not alone in this, but I would take your youngest to a doctor to check out the whether the overdose is dangerous or not. On the medication details online it said that rather than the 500mg dose, a 100mg dose should be given to under 2's, so check again what you gave him and try to see a doctor who speaks English. Best of luck, and well done on bringing this all to light!! :)

[mathanxiety]

When you do laundry, wear rubber gloves for handling and sorting the dirty laundry, those doing the deep clean -- that goes for stripping the beds too.

[mumtoaandj]

Can you breathe the eggs in? we have an attic cupboard and whenever we go up there to search for something-i swear we get reinfected? there is no way we can disinfect the entire cupboard-it is a loft space. we have thrown out the carpet...is it just coincidence?

[Bienchen]

^The eggs have to get into your intestines, breathing them in will do no harm. It is most likely they get picked up by touching something that has been touched by someone having threadworms, by scratching yourself when you sleep and can't control your urge to scratch (hence the tight fitting pants) and then by touching your mouth or touching food and eating. They then get into your digestive system and on into the intestine where they grow until they are mature and want to lay eggs. Hence they emerge.

[IneedAsockamnesty]

in therory it is possible to breathe them in but to be honest its so unlikly that if some one told me thats how they kept on getting reinfected i would laugh at them or think they were very very very weirdly so unlucky or possibly waving loo roll infront of there mouth after wiping there bum and inhaling really hard intentionally.

think of it this way. female thread worms release an enzime from there bodies as they lay eggs this is duel purpose it helps provide a nice enviroment for the eggs and acts a bit like glue as well as contributing towards the itch.

so for you to breathe in a egg that can hatch in your intestine would require a fairly good shake of what ever the item is on a reasonable breath in and then for it to get stuck somewhere along the way before it goes past the entrance to your lungs and then wait untill you swollow.

thinking about it that way does kinda highlight how unlikly it would be to get repeatedly infected this way.

its also extreamly unlikly that anybody could pin point with reasonable accuracy when/who/how they got infected unless ofcourse they occasionally indulged in eating used loo roll and even they they would have to do it very irregularly to know for sure exactly when they ingested the egg.


with regard to your cupboard as long as the items in it have been washed or untouched for about 3 weeks then i would feel pretty happy to say its probally very safe.

[Mumof3darlings]

I have to say after starting this post I have started to feel a little bit better about this episode which i can quite honestly say, as ridiculous as it sounds, has been my biggest challenge pf parenthood so far. I have been so freaked out, upset and stressed about this incident which I know was very close to sending me into a state of depression of not bring about OCD which was really scary because I never ever imagined I could become like this. I have recognized the signs and thank all of you who have chatted with me about this and please let's keep chatting and I am trying to get back to normal family life.

My Ongoing my plan is:
We now each have our own towels and when washed (after about 3 days) they are gonna be done on a hot wash.

Kids wear nappies for bed with pjs on top.

Fingernails are cut short always (so need doing every few days - sisscors kept near bath so don't as part of bath time routine

Hands washed when come in from school/playing at friends, after loo & before eating

Bottoms washed first thing morning as are hands (this is a bit of a pain in the bottom because mornings are always rushed but heyho will get used to it!

Hand towels ALWAYS used for drying hands.

Also thinking about giving kids worm treatment every 3 months

But I can't do the following (which I honestly have had to give myself a good talking to because of the anxiety this has built up):

Stop my kids catching threadworms!

Stop my kids putting their hands on their mouths ever (although DS age 4 can encourage him but can't stop him doing it all the time)

Stop my kids holding hands with other kids

Stop my kids being kids, basically!

I can say that for several days now (5 maybe) I have not looked up a bottom at night although I am still examining the contents of DS1's nappy. Not sure if that's normal behavior or not.

I don't wanna be OTT but I want to try to prevent worms again as much as I can. At least next time (as I'm sure there will be) I will know I definately did my best.

Thanks for all of your support and good luck to others.

I appreciated all the replies.. Those who said "it's no big deal and not gross" made me feel much better as put it into perspective and made it feel less serious, those who said they were with me and also "freaked out" were also of huge support knowing that I'm not the
only one who has reacted in this way.

x

[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

[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]

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]

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...

[mathanxiety]

A dryer would possibly nuke them..

[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.

[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!

[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.

[mathanxiety]

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

[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?

[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.

[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!

[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.

[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!!!

[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

[booboomonster]

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

[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.