Threadworms...or not?

[gigglesclifton]

I'm sure this has been done a million times before, so I'm sorry to bring it up again, but I'm new here and just wondered if anyone had an answer for my question. Is it possible to have threadworms but never actually see any of the little blighters?

My daughter, who is nearly 5, has suffered from a rash and itch around her top inner thighs, bottom and vulva for easily a couple of years now, on and off. I've seen 2 or 3 different doctors about it, they've generally put it down to eczema (she doesn't get it anywhere else) and prescribed hydrocortisone cream, I use that when it's particularly bad, and E45 cream in between when it's less angry looking. She scratches from time to time, and sometimes in her sleep. No doctor has ever mentioned the possibility of TW, and I've only started to suspect them since reading about them on the internet after she had a couple of nightime bedwetting accidents last week, which she's never done before in the 2 years that she's been dry at night.

Anyway, for the last few days I've been inspecting her poo ( I know), and her bottom at night, but never actually seen anything vaguely TWish looking. We both took a dose of Ovex yesterday evening, and I've heard that this can sometimes make TW in poo even more visible as they all come out dead, but when I had a look after she'd been to the toilet this morning, nothing, again. And I've never seen any in mine.

I've always been pretty vigilant about hygiene, even more so these last few days, but she is a nailbiter and I know that can cause a cycle of re-infection.

So, and sorry for the longwinded message, even though I've never seen a single one, could they still be causing the problem?

I have had TW as a child and adult, and you can see the little beggers in the poo, before you use ovex. I doubt that she has them, you can see them wriggling in the poo in the loo. TMI

Oh and if she had them she would itch like billy -o-, especially at night, they wake you up.

Hmm, I had been thinking it was odd to not have seen any at all. I mean, she does itch now and then, and I have seen her scratching in her sleep, but it's certainly never woken her up.

Maybe I can calm down on the obsessive vacuuming, damp dusting, bed changing and washing of the last few days.

Thanks believer

Even if you don't do all the washing etc etc, Ovex would reduce the symptoms sharply, at least for a week or so.

I find worms very easy to spot. Wait until the child is itching their bottom. Then, get them to assume the downwards dog position, in a well-lit room (feet on ground, hands flat on ground, bottom in air). Inspect the anal region. If there are little bits of thread moving around, that's them.

They could cause vulva itching, I think, but not top inner thighs, I don't think. They don't travel that much.

LOL @ notquite - did you get your 'technical speak' from med school.

Which bit? Downwards dog is a yoga term - it's the position children assume to get their bottoms wiped, in my household.