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Help!! I found a worm!!!! TMI alert!

11 replies

cafelatte · 10/09/2012 15:00

I am absolutely disgusted. Last night after my shower I was peacefully reading in bed when I felt a discomfort/tickle around my "foofoo" area (sorry about nickname, not sure how to call it on here).

I went to the bathroom to inspect what was going on, and to my horror, I found a short, white, thin, cotton like worm moving disgustingly.

I quickly showed DH in disbelief and flushed it down the toilet shortly after that!
We naively didn't know what it was and were horrified but now after having Googled it I know. It's threadworms. Shock

How come it's the first time I've ever heard of them? I went to the pharmacist who kindly explained everything and gave me something called Ovex for the whole family just in case and she said it was extremely common and that 40% of children got it at some point before the age of 10.

I am now assuming that they've got them too (otherwise, where have I caught them from?), so will treat them and DH when they come back from school/work.

I knew about nits which my kids have never had but worms! I vaguely heard about them when my gran told me that my dad caught them once as a child, but I thought it was rare and that it only used to happen in the olden days.

Anyway I've desinfected the whole house, changed all the sheets, hoovered everywhere, changed all the towels and will have that pill later with them.
Hopefully that will be sufficient to kill the worms and eggs.

Has anyone had Ovex, is it effective?

OP posts:
TheGruffalosbitch · 10/09/2012 15:17

It's more common than u think, infact they say 40% of children have them. Make sure u treat all the family and take a second dose in 2 weeks x

AttilaTheMeerkat · 10/09/2012 16:31

cafelatte

Nothing to be ashamed of.

Threadworms are more common than people realize. Its certainly not a sign of poor hygiene; they are very successful parasites and have been around for a long time.

Treating your other family members is important in case they have them as well. Also re-dose them two weeks later. Ovex is very effective, one tablet will kill any worms.

I found the following measures also helpful:-
Wear cotton knickers in bed tonight under your pyjamas and for the next few nights as well.

Run the bath hot and cold water tap and lower yourself into this after you get up and before you fully dress. If you can do this daily for a few days do so. This measure will kill any eggs that have been laid overnight around the anal area.

CMOTDibbler · 10/09/2012 16:37

I honestly can't believe that anyone gets to an age when they have had children and not heard of threadworms.

The Boots worm treatment is cheaper, and if you take another tablet each after two weeks theres no need to worry about all the cleaning as the eggs don't survive long not on a body

cafelatte · 10/09/2012 17:07

what I meant to say CMOT that I have never heard of anyone around me (friends or family with kids) who got worms, and my eldest is 8.

So I was gobsmacked when the pharmacist said that it was as common as nits.

Perhaps people keep it quiet because they are ashamed or something.

OP posts:
cafelatte · 10/09/2012 17:11

Attila, thanks for the tips, would a shower in the morning not be as effective as lowering myself in the bath?

OP posts:
VivaLeBeaver · 10/09/2012 17:18

Sudacreme slathered on your bum will stop them exploring.

Though hopefully if you've taken an Ovex tablet they'll all be dead now. Encourage very good hand hygeine with the kids - nail brush to get under funger nails.

jimmenycricket · 10/09/2012 17:20

Yup, the DC got them and gave them to me first term of nursery. I was equally horrified but GP was entirely unfussed and said almost all children get them now and then.

WowOoo · 10/09/2012 17:24

Of course people keep it quiet!

Person:Good weekend?

Me: Well, not really we all spent rather a long time looking at our arseholes to see if we could spot any wormy things and then cleaned the whole house, and boiled all the bedding and towels and cut our nails so short they hurt. Other than that, great!

Seriously, they are common. The pharmacist man didn't bat an eyelid when I bought Ovex. It worked for us.

Make fingers out of mouths a new house rule also.

AttilaTheMeerkat · 10/09/2012 21:17

Sitting in the bath in warm water is more effective to clean around the anal area where the eggs are laid. You cannot see these eggs with the naked eye as they are microscopic.

They are very common, this parasite has been around for a long, long time.

Would agree with Viva's comment re nail brush to clean fingernails.

Cailleach · 11/09/2012 15:44

Threadworms are very very common, I had them twice as a kid - a cleaner household than ours you couldn't wish to find; it's nothing to do with hygiene, so don't be embarrassed, OP!

PooPooOnMars · 11/09/2012 17:14

Uergh we had them in my house. Horrific things! My dc was wetting the bed and it turned out the worms cause that because they go in the wee hole!

My poor dc was so distressed as the itching was driving her crazy but every time i looked i couldn't see anything!

The medicine works very well. Did they tell you that you have to take another dose?

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