YOUR CHILD HAS WORMS - are you doing something about it?

[shimmy21]

Sorry to be graphic but I'm trying shock tactics as I'm so fed up and feel the need to raise awareness...

Up to 40% of children AT ANY ONE TIME are thought to have threadworms. Do you know if yours is one of the 40? Do you know the symptoms? Did you know the eggs that are spread via fingers and mouths are invisible and can be on loo flush handles, clothes, food, hands etc etc etc? You do not need to have played in soil, stroked an animal or touched anything 'wormy' to catch them. In fact you simply need to have been to a place where there are other children. Even the most scrupulous hand washing regime cannot always protect against the odd stray dirty finger in the mouth.

My kids have yet again been infected. I'm absolutely sick of the rigmarole of boil washing all the sheets, towels etc etc and dosing the family with drugs.

Parents and children all seem so aware about headlice - we're all quite happy to admit to that these days, aren't we? - yet mention thread worms and a deathly hush falls across the school playground. No info comes from schools about this although we get termly letters pleading with us to check for nits.

In case you don't know - main symptom is an extremely itchy anus particularly at bedtime. If you check you may actually see the little b#strds on loo paper, poo or anus itself. If one member of the family has them it is highly likely that they've been passed around so treat the others (including adults) even if there are no symptoms, change all the bedding, towels, pyjamas etc

Perhaps going round with a banner 'My kids have had threadworms' is a little OTT? but if just one person reads this thread and thinks 'could my ds/dd be infected?' checks and treats then perhaps it'll prevent a few more of your children having to go through the same thing.

Kelly - my GP prescribed Pripsen for my 1 year old DD2 last year, it worked and she was fine. The GP did know how old she was.

Ovex is better for those old enough as it's a single pill. Boots also have their own pill for thread worms.

My DD1 has just started in Reception and last week bought home a letter about school nurse giving her a sight/hearing test, leaflets about nits and a Nit comb (DD1 loves it and keeps showing people!!) and also a leaflet about threadworms.

Good for the school for publicising it. But this probably means they are infested and after a worm-free year I'll be back to constant hoovering and boiling. Oh noooo!

I have vermox. No dosage instructions for under 2s niether. I hae 30mls, with instructions to reapeat in two weeks. Even if only dd and ds1 take it, that is more tahn half the medication gone, leaving 10mls.

I'd phone the GP on Monday morning - the prescription can't be right if there isn't enough to treat all of you. Ask if he can leave a repeat precription for you to collect and make sure you know what dosage the lo should have.

Still no sign of the creatures. Checked dd's bum an hour after she went to sleep, and poo this morning, both fine.
Paranoia or sensible precaution??!
Still heading for GP tomorrow, and still plan on buying the homeopathic stuff if anyone can tell me what it is.....don't want to end up 40 wks pregnant with threadworm.

orangeblossom, you are my hero: unkeen on wriggly things but still dealing with them - if you can, I can

hi elibean great news,no wrigglers,think you are being v.sensible checking, hope little one is getting better let me know how you get on at gp,thinking of you both ! will be on wriggle patrol later in evening we have our follow up dose 2morrowi know it will happen again at some point but i now know what to expect

kelly, re the licencing thing

(this is a major off topic swerve so appologies to everyone else reading )

You can't do clinical trials on kids. Or you can, but very rarely.

Most drugs that we use on kids haven't had specific clinical trials done on them. But over the years medics have used them and know that they are OK to use.

In order to get the use in kids put on the drug licence you have to have masses of data to support the change in use. For most drug companies it isn't woth the hassle.

If I can give you an eg.

Years ago I worked for a company that made an oestrogen cream for the treatment of vaginal dryness in the menopause, it was a topical HRT. This cream was used, off licence to treat young girls who's labia hadn't separated as they should. It was an excellent treatment, and very often worked perfectly, removing the need to do surgery. Loads of paediatricians had used it with great sucess. But it wasn't licened, since it would have cost a great deal to change the licenece, and the extra income to the company would be a few pennies each year.

Off licence use is also common in adults. For exmple some antidepressants are used to treat trigeminal neuralgia.

We used to be asked about this a lot when I wirked in medical information

MB, thats interesting and useful info - does the same apply to pregnant women?

orangeblossom, good luck
Nothing to report, still checked poos and bums tonight. Much less redness on dd today, though still a little after her bath - she touched herself once during her bath, but didn't complain about it or do it repeatedly like a couple of nights ago. I think the Canesten HC may have helped...
Am still going to go and see gp if I can get an apt tomorrow, I think...and meantime, have stocked up on Ovex for dh and dd and ordered some Cina (homeopathic stuff) for me just in case. As you say, I'm sure we'll need it sometime
Would be a lot happier about dealing with this, if we have to, if I wasn't pregnant and unable to take the meds!

Eli, yes.

But with pregnat women they are even more careful.

That said, we used to give information to doctors on the use of antidepressants in PG and also during breastfeeding. For the antidepressant I worked on, protiaden, there was a reasonable amount of evidence that it was OK to use while breast feeding, but not enough to get a licence, so it could never be promoted for use in bf mothers. But if asked, we would give out the information.

Thought so...its interesting stuff (repeating myself). I've been on trial drugs in the past, and remember how strict the parameters were for acceptance - wasn't pregnant, of course!
Thanks, MB. Had been looking at info on piperazine, which doesnt' seem to be totally ruled out for 2nd and 3rd trimester, though not advised: hadn't a clue what that meant. Doubt the GP would be keen though!

thanks mb, that is reassuring. Tho I still don't have any idea of dosage for the dts.

Eli, you would have to have a chat with the gp and look into the risk/benefit analysis.

Re giving kids various drugs, only under medical supervision. I wouldn't envourage anyone to just 'have a go' themselves

Yes, of course, wouldn't risk it alone

GP doesn't think dd has threadworms at all, as I've been checking poo for four days and not a sign. So have been sent home with some nice harmless antibacterial/antifungal cream and no piperazine chat.

But I've learnt a lot of useful stuff over past few days, veyr grateful for MN!

hi elibean that was great news your dd didnt have the wrigglers hope cream soothes her and lets you relax a bit now

Thanks OB, but see my other thread (2.9 yr old has itchy etc)....am totally unsure whether to trust GP and relax, or not. So dd and dh have taken Ovex tonight and I'll see if her itching (which isn't very extreme, so hard to assess) stops completely. If so, we'll re-dose in 2 weeks and do the non-stop washing/hoovering thing...
Wonder how often people have worms and never see them? He was so adamant that if she had them they'd be obvious...given that she still nearly always poos in the potty...

ive treated my little girl for worms last thur, with the 5ml of banana medication, but i can still see the worms in poo, im pregnant myself and worried that these will be spread throughout have been taking the precations ie cleaning hoovering dusting bedchanging seperate towels little one is now itching witch i didnt notice before. how long was it before you noticed them dissapear from stool?

Thanks for that - yes I am aware of the symptoms and found that my DS had is a few weeks back so I got medication straight away and did all the right things I also sent a letter into nursery to inform them and they chucked out the play dough and changed the sand and they sent a letter out to parents with info.

I think that routine deworming is a good idea for any young family with school/ nursery aged children.