Worms or what?

[Cl]

I'm desperate. For the past three nights my dd (nearly 3) has gone to bed with just the usual amount of fuss only to wake screaming about two hours later. She's done a very loose, almost diahorrea -type pooh and is complaining that her bottom hurts, to the extent that it can take half an hour for her to allow me to get near her to change her. There's no nappy rash and no cuts in her anus (I got the doc to check). I get her back to sleep with cuddles and calpol and an hour later we have the same again, but with even more hysterics and this can go on for another couple of hours before she falls into an exhausted sleep. She's fine during the day, but the nightime stuff has gone on for the past three nights and I'm really beginning to lose the plot, especially as just as I get her off the baby (4 months) usually wakes up. We've been to the docs (twice) and he said it might be worms, but would the reaction to this be so extreme - she really does go ballistic, won't lie or sit down, starts beating her bottom and screaming for it to go away - also he didn't see any evidence when he looked, though he's sent off some tests. I'm treating her for that anyway, but otherwise am at a loss. Has anyone else come across this. She was unwell (fever, cough, cold) last w/e and has recently started asthma drugs, but the doc assures me this is unrelated. All help appreciated.

Sounds very familiar Cl. You could be describing my dd on the two occasions she's had threadworms (disgusting things!) She too was hysterical, and inconsolable. We got some tabs from the chemist - they are chewable. Treated the whole family as they recommend. However I would be interested to know whether anyone has tried any alternative treatments..preferably ones that protect against them rather than getting rid of them when they arrive.

Cl, it does sound like threadworms. My daughter had them when she first started school and I was so alarmed by her hysteria and manic movements (usually she is a very calm & placid child) that I called my GP out!!!! The treatment prescribed worked very quickly.

Same here. I don't know why you never hear of this reaction, but it happens every time with my son.

Another horrendous night last night, so thanks for all the messages. I actually stopped her asthma medication today and tonight she did the first 'solid' pooh she's done all week. Now of course I don't know if that's the worms medicine kicking in or the lack of asthma medicine and anyways the night is still young... Will let you know. Incidentally I too would be interested in any alternative treatments as I'd like to treat ds (aged 4 months) and me and neither of us are allowed to take the prescribed medicine (I'm b'feeding). If it is worms he's most likely to catch it as she's constantly shoving her hands in his mouth. Thanks for the reassurances though - makes your skin creep doesn't it?

Hi,you must make sure all the bed linen is washed on a hot wash and ironed to kill off any little blighters left.Also a smear of vaseline around the anus at bedtime as then when they come out at night to lay their eggs its all slippery.
A good homeopathic remedy is cina.
Oh yeah one more thing keep finger nails short.
Good luck

Quick update. It was threadworms. I gave her the medicine late Friday and by Staturday night she was fine. Sunday and Monday mornings there were small maggoty type worms in her nappy (making me ill thinking about it)and when I went back to the doctors for an asthma checkup this week - the test results had come back. (He did an apparently little used sellotape test - ie sellotape on the bum , and then sent off for analysis - downside is results take a week to come back.) Anyway my tip of the week is that if you get any of the symptoms insist on getting the medicine fast and use it. It works really quickly and I'm assured there are no side effects - it's only a single does of banana flavoured medicine (with another dose two weeks later) and the relief all round was phenomenal. I've since looked up the condition in several books and noone mentions such a severe reaction - even thogh its obvioulsy not uncommon - I think the health officials should be told!!!Still looking for alternatives for son and me. Doc gave us a prescription for a 'safe' version of the drug, but the manufacturers are out of stock and don't know when they'll have any in.

I ws so glad to find thsi. My 9yr old ds has had the same reaction, screaming at night, and running round because his bottom hurt that much, he mentioned seeing white things in his poo, but when i looked threadworms up in my medical book there was no mention of such an extrmem reaction. What i need to know is, so the over the counter remedies work, or should i wait till tomorrow and take him to the drs? Don't want either of us to go thru another night like the last 3.

Definately can get over the counter remedies but you need enough for you all in the family. The benefit of getting a prescription is that it is free! Also I found that the best stuff for my dd particularly was Vermox ( mebendazole 100mg/5ml) but I have a feeling that might be prescription only. Last time I got a few bottles to have some in stock because, despite all the bed stripping and clean towels etc. she got reinfected a few times. Things have been OK for a long time now.
The first time she got them we were all given Pripsen but I took a violent reaction to it - severe headache and vomiting. I thought it was a bug until the same thing happenend when I took the repeat dose 2 weeks later. No-one else in the family reacted that way though.

My dd had a type of worm a long time ago. The doctor said she could of picked it up from a sandbox she played in everyday at a daycare center but he was not totally sure. As far as I can remember the only symptoms she had was itching.

My dd has had this - twice, with the same middle of the night reaction that you have all mentioned. The first time, I was also bf and had a young baby so couldn't take the prescibed medicine. However we were both fine - just made sure we didn't share towels and that dd's hands were well washed in the morning.

Re reactions to threadworms: I caught these (along with headlice) when I was doing my teaching practice. The thing I remember very clearly (stop reading now if you're of a sensitive disposition ) is that when they come out at night to lay their eggs around the anus you feel something as they come through your sphincter, probably because the ring of muscle is so tight (ugh - I go cold just thinking about it). I found it most horrible, so I can imagine that the nasty sensation could really disturb a small child.

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SB34, I just read that (pinworms) can spread as long as they are in the gut and the infection will continue. It also said alot of the time the reat of the family can have this and have no symptons. When my dd had this the whole family was told to take the same medsication just incase we also had it.

SB34, I just read that (pinworms) can spread as long as they are in the gut and the infection will continue. It also said alot of the time the reat of the family can have this and have no symptons. When my dd had this the whole family was told to take the same medsication just incase we also had it.

SB34, They won't go by themselves, as they will just keep laying eggs which will hatch, I have become such an expert since I asked my question! Yes you can check yourself, the female will come out of the back passage at night to lay the eggs, this is what causes the horrid sensation. When its dark have a look at your child's anus, a torch may be helpful and you can see them wriggling about (eeuugghhhhh!), this image also conjures up all sorts of unsavoury things that a child could tell teacher the next day - "miss, my mummy was looking at my bum under the bedclothes last night"
You can also see them in their pooh, if you look carefully enough. It said on one website I visited that 20% of all school children have them at any one time, so how come everyone will own up to nits, but no one I know will admit to this? It does make your skin creep on a level way beyond nits - good luck checking!

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you can only see the eggs under a microscope. They look like little threads of wiggly white cotton about half an inch long. Ours have gone now,(hip hip hip hooray) we used something called Ovex, but we all have to be dosed again in a fortnight just to make sure. £6 for four tablets (one each) at the chemist.

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Ooh this thread is gruesome reading! Ds has just started school and I see that sometimes starting school and incidences of thread worms co-incide. Oh please No!

Sorry to be so grotty - but apparently they can get passed easily through shared plasticene in schools. Lots of schools have individual plasticene tubs for each child to prevent this. A friends children kept getting reinfected and this was the way eehhh!

...there's loads on the 'net about this. My son is Autistic and doesn't understand even the basics about hygiene (and he's 14 years old!)as he has a very limited vocabulary and understands few words and concepts. So its really hard to cope with if he gets it. He also will not sleep with pyjamas on (I have just made him an animated cartoon with a computer programme showing a boy going to bed, sleeping and waking up in the morning with pyjamas on). He does all the things you're not supposed to do on the recommended list of hygiene measures unless I am with him every minute of every day. He had a couple of bouts of threadworm when he was a toddler and recently after an outbreak at the respite care centre he goes to he has subsequently got them. There's loads of info if you use google search engine on life-cycle of the worms, on and off the body etc.

Some interesting 'preventive' measures are the fact that they feed on sugars so cutting down on sugary stuff in the system may help and apparently eating raw carrot, garlic.. amongst other things can act to create an uncomfortable environment for them. I also found this (referring to them as pinworm 'Enterobius vermicularis' which i think is the same thing) "Because the eggs are sensitive to sunlight, open blinds or curtains in bedrooms during the day"

Getting him to co-operate with medicines when he as younger was a complete nightmare. He can smell if drinks or food have been contaminated from about a mile away. So having a one spoonful one-off dose i.e. Vermox liquid medicine is ideal though it is prescription only and discovering he had them on Saturday night of a Bank Holiday weekend was no fun at all. Though I did wait til during the day Sunday, the emergency doctor gave me a lecture about non-emergency blah, blah when all i was really asking for was a prescription...no examination, no diagnosis, none of his time whatsoever was necessary just the few minutes it took to write a prescription -he took more time over saying about it not being an emergency than it would have taken to say "yes, fine" scribble, scribble.. though he didn't have to live in the same house as an Autistic child with worms crawling out of his bum for three days untreated knowing full well that the eggs would be finding their way back into to his system and increasing the chances of everyone else's due to the simple fact of him being Autistic.

And you're all right it is really, really gross to have to deal with!