threadworms or not?

[addictedtocaffeine]

Hello all, I am unsure if ds has worms or not. He has been complaining intermittently of an itchy bum for about 6 weeks now but we've had a good look, when itchy and also at night when he is sleeping and have never seen anything. he can go several days without mentioning his itchy bum and it doesn't seem to be keeping him off his sleep. I have a 7 month old baby too and have never seen any worms when changing nappies etc.
I just wondered what people thought-is it common to have worms but never see them? he goes to nursery and they have had a case of threadworms recently...
are there any side effects from the medication? should we all be treated just to make sure?
The more I think about it I end up feeling itchy myself but don't know if all in my head!
I am still breastfeeding dc2, not sure if I'd need to see gp or not?
thanks

They look like threads and can be almost transparent. Do you have a potty? can you get DS to have a poo into that so you can have a good look.

I caught threadworms off my DC recently and I was very itchy particularly at night but thought it was my piles playing up!

I examined poo in a potty and finally saw one waving at me.

Apparently about 40% of school children have them at any one time.

I think if your DS had them your 7 month old woukld soon get them as no doubt they are putting everything in their mouths.

Keep looking in the nappy and some would recomend shining a torch into your son's bum when he is sleeping at night ( I've never done this)

If you do need to use medication OVEX is good but not for children under two. I think it's the only one breastfeeding mothers can have too but best to check with pharmacist.

You can use the hygeine method too. Just change all the bedclothes, wash soft toys at high temperature, put pants on your DS at bedtime and ensure hands are washed before any food is consumed.

DS had them recently and we treated everyone with ovex twice at a two weekly interval and did the hygiene steps suggested above (turned all DS's school shirts pink by leaving a red sock in the hot wash)
You can't use the medicine if you are pregnant, breastfeeding or under two, so you need to speak to GP or pharmacist. Alternative is hygiene method only for 6 weeks.
We informed school and nursery (though only older DS apparently infected) and neither of them did anything about in-contact children or as far as we could tell at supervising hand hygiene etc better so easy to see how they are just passed around. NHS guidance is they should deep clean as well but they have obviously decided they can't eradicate them.

So has anyone/their dc ever treated for worms but without ever having seen any actual worms? We have looked regularly over the last few weeks but never seen any. Is this common for worms or should you see them to treat?
Also for those who have experienced worms-do your kids itch all the time? only at night? at least every day? The reason I ask is my dc has an itchy bottom but only once every few days and only for a few minutes then is easily distracted and seems to forget. Does this sound like worms or not?
Thanks for the replies above too.

When I had them, I was incredibly itchy every day. Not so much in the day but every night the moment I got into bed and my body got warm (it's when the worms lay their eggs).

Not everyone gets symptoms though. My DC had them but never complained of itchy bums. It's only when I had them that I started to look at their poo more closely.

Could your DC have anything else causing the itching. Does his bum look red/sore. I only ask because it is possible to get eczema there if he is a sufferer.

You could go to your GP. They used to put sellotape (or similar) on your bum and send it off for analysis to see if there are any traces of eggs. Don't know if they still do this but probably best to get more evidence before you treat needlessly.

DS had an itchy bottom which he presented to me for inspection and I was "delighted" to see one of the blighters on the first inspection. Treated and cured as no further. Complaints

Recently DD2 has been complaining about her itchy bottom, but inspections have yet to reveal any critters. (I am currently away so don't know if problems this week. I assume not or DH would have emailed/texted/face timed) in lieu of spying critters I work on"wet wipe to ensure clean followed by tissue to dry which reduces itching"

Forgot to mention that at 3 next week DD2 is "a big girl" who no longer wants help with wiping.

Thanks all, he has mild eczema and I have been using daktacort occasionally on his bottom without much success. I will try using wet wipes when cleaning after toileting for a week to see if helps. He just said he was itchy and we looked again for about a minute but didn't see a thing. it's all a bit weird!

If it's worms it is usually itchy at night, when they come out to lay eggs around the anus and lay them in some irritant jelly-stuff. We saw them on DS the first time he complained about his bottom. The websites suggest you go midnight exploring with a torch to catch the little blighters

Thanks all, we still haven't seen any worms:-/. Ds complains about 3 -4 times a week of itchy bottom, we've tried checking at night too but never see anything. I'd hate to have a worm infestation and not treat it but I also don't want to give medication unnecessarily.
Spoke with gp who gave me a prescription for everyone but said she would wait and see for a bit longer.
So that's what I'm doing....
We are using wet wipes on toddler after toileting, will see if helps.
Am I right in thinking we could get away without treating baby if we end up going ahead with treatment? baby doesn't scratch bottom, is always in nappies so as long as we maintain strict hygiene measures ( which we do anyway ie handwashing after nappy changes) the eggs wouldn't get transferred to anyone? I've been having a good look at baby's poo :$ and again have again not seen any worms.
what do you think? treat or not?

Couple of things on whether to treat or not.. OVEX isn't particularly invasive in terms of what it does. It operates in the gut (as opposed to a drug that is transferred to blood/cells etc) and all it does is stops the little wrigglers being able to absorb glucose, so they starve to death. The under 2 version has a slightly different operation in that it paralyses them, but because you have a shorter window (they have to be expelled while they are still paralysed) it is recommended to give them a laxative with the medication.

I discovered recently that my DS had them, and he was 20m, and I asked the doctor whether I could just use the standard OVEX and was told that while they could not officially give the advise to use it under two, she would use it on her own DD who was around 1y. It is uncommon under 2 and there is less testing done of the product, which is the reason for the under 2 classification.

My son (and daughter 4, and us parents) all took OVEX twice two weeks apart and other than not seeing any more wrigglers, there were no other side effects.

As OVEX works pretty fast (within 24hrs itching should have stopped) I would personally in your situation give it to your DS and if the itching stops consider then whether to treat the rest of the family, and if the itching continues you know it isn't worms.

Thanks thepippy, I think I might take your advice and treat ds, then see what happens.

Just treat. It's not the worms that cause the itch. I don't understand why you're waiting.

I just heard that usually you can see at least one worm at some point to confirm diagnosis. my main reason for hesitating to treat is that I am breastfeeding (but have now checked on BFN and advice is amount prob too small to be harmful) and also what to do about baby. I don't want everyone taking medication if they don't need to, especially my youngest.

Thanks to everyone for the replies, they have helped a lot.