Dreaded pinworms :(

[lilspark]

I know pinworms are relatively common but my gosh are they horrible! I'm guessing my son brought them home from nursery and now his sister has had them- I'm 9 months pregnant and no symptoms yet but this is the last thing I needed at a time like this.

Soon as I realised I gave all in the house a dose of mebendazole (except for myself) and intend to give a second dose in 2 weeks. It's been a week since the first dose but my daughter is still itchy and I saw a live worm today. Is that to be expected? As I understand the drug kills the live worms but not the eggs. So would you expect to see some live worms (hatched eggs) in the interim period between the first and second dose? And how else should I manage this? I'm going to start putting Vaseline in the area every night as I understand they can't lay eggs on it? Any advice would be welcome! It's really gotten me down at a time when I'm supposed to be preparing for baby arrival I can't think straight :(

Aside from dosing yourselves have you been tackling the clothes and washing? That is also key to getting rid of them. When we first had them I got the sense from online chats I basically needed to burn the house down. But my youngest is prone to them and we have the routine down now. Change and wash the bedding of those you know to be infected every day for three days, immediately change pants when they wake up, as any eggs will be on them from overnight, and don’t reuse pjs or clothes for a few days either. Wash hands obsessively and especially before they eat a snack or food. Trim nails and clean them. Vaseline in the area is good and often acts as a placebo as well when the child is uncomfortable.

@Himawarigirl great tips thank you- I did change the bedding but only twice since then and now after some googling I'm frantically cleaning everything today. So now my plan is to hot wash bedding daily, hoover and steam clean bed area. As you said change clothes daily and I will keep nails trimmed. My kids don't usually wear underwear under their PJs at night but they will be now until this is sorted. You mentioned your youngest is prone- is it ultimately a combination of dosage and cleaning that works every time? And would you expect to see live worms in between the doses? I'm just concerned as I read it's the females who exit the anus to lay eggs so does that mean if I see a worm wriggling in the area then it's a female ready to lay eggs?

I only ever saw a live worm at the start of an infection. The first time we got it was worst as I just didn’t know what I needed to do so it dragged on a while. But now after dosing and the focus on washing for three days my son tends to stop itching and I give him the second dose after 2 weeks, but we seem to get rid of it fairly quickly. But I have friends where it has been far more persistent. So I haven’t ever seen a live worm partway through I’m afraid. I did also look into how often you can give the medicine because my son got it on holiday in France once and I couldn’t do all the washing etc. as easily and the meds didn’t seem as effective somehow. So I checked and you could also give a subsequent dose another two weeks later, for example, without harm. So he ended up with three doses over 6 weeks that time.

@Himawarigirl I was delayed as well when it came to the hygiene measures as I had no awareness of this and doctor just said to wash the bedding (as a one time thing). I'm worried that these worms are more resistant to this med as I didn't expect to see any live ones a week later. With your friends who had more persistent ones how did they get rid off them eventually- just from rigorous hygiene? I really hope they don't stick around too long - it's soul destroying!

This seems like an over reaction to a fairly routine childhood phenomenon. I get when pregnant emotions can run high; but soul destroying and getting you down seems a bit much? They won’t cause any harm; it’s gross and a pain doing extra washing but surelt in the grand scheme of things pretty minor?

FYI you can take diatomaceous earth to stop yourself getting these when you're pregnant. It works and some GP's don't know this.

@Muthaofcats agreed it's minor if it does go away with rigorous hygiene measures and dosing but from everything I'm reading online for some people it just doesn't seem to resolve no matter what they do! And for some unfortunate people it can even travel up the vagina to the uterus and in some cases even into the lungs! And yes pregnancy emotions are in part to play for sure- ideally I don't want to bring a newborn home and risk them catching it - it would be most uncomfortable for a small baby. I was hoping to use these last few weeks to get finally baby preps done however now I'm just obsessively cleaning- like I said happy to do it if only it came with a guarantee :) fingers crossed!

@iceandcheques oh amazing I will definitely look into this- thank you!

Step away from the internet! Honestly some of the stuff I read when my son first got it was horrific and I was super stressed also. It does rank as the most disgusting thing my children have had and a live worm in your child’s butt is something you can’t unsee. So you have my sympathies, but it is a manageable infection. I’ve not heard of the medicine you mentioned taking. I’ve only ever seen Ovex mentioned and that’s all we’ve used, which you can get over the counter. Didn’t occur to me to go the GP. So maybe get some of that and see if it works. Not sure how my friend resolved it. Her daughter seem to have it as a kind of low lying thing they just got used to, which I wouldn’t cope well with I have to admit. But she also didn’t do any washing etc.

To reassure you, whenever my kids have had worms, we did not get it; and they were all cleared up after one dose without any rigorous hygiene following.

deffo agree the internet can be a nightmare, esp when pregnant when you’re naturally more alive to risk.

@Muthaofcats oh thank you that is reassuring :) can I ask what steps you would take? Just washing underwear and bedding for a few days? I'm still a bit worried as since her first dose 10 days ago I'm still seeing live worms and I'm wondering if the drug has been ineffective but I guess I'll only know for sure once I've given the second dose at the 2 week mark

Oh god I've been with you the last week, my 19 month old somehow caught a rare type of worm that became an 'infestation' needing 2 trips to A&E because she was delirious with pain and panic over night. Yes, I do know that sounds dramatic. She started showing symptoms on the Saturday and by the monday things had got really bad. With all my kids I've never known anything like it- when the worms started dying they were coming out in her nappy and looked like small maggots. We're waiting for pathology to come back from london to find out what she swallowed but they're thinking something on the beach in the sand over the summer. Anyway, we are now on day 7 after taking the first Ovex (she's had two doses in 48 hours by A&E) and the last 2 nights she's slept through and atm no further signs of worms. I think if you get to say 7 and still have signs you need to speak to the GP. The Dr at A&E did say it's fine to give another dose shortly after in extreme cases but not sure yours sounds as horror movie like as ours 🤣

@violetcuriosity omg what an ordeal!! Sorry to hear that, glad that it seems to be resolving though! I hope she makes a speedy recovery bless her :(

Update- I've spoken to her GP and she says that it seems to be a stubborn case as I'm still seeing live worms. She said we can try a mebendazole dose twice a day for 3 days with a follow up dose in 2 weeks and that should (hopefully, hopefully, hopefully!) make an impact. Fingers crossed - poor child has been so itchy and uncomfortable