Threadworms - getting rid for good?

[Wormie]

Have changed my name for this post as a little . I am fairly new to MN but have posted a bit to people so would appreciate some help.

I have threadworms (or am sure I have). Really itchy/wriggly bum Mon night so went to chemist on Tues and got Ovex pill for us all. DH says he doesn't have any symptoms and DD doesn't seem to have any either (she is still in nappies at 17 mo) but treated us all.

I have changed bedding and towels endlessly since Tues - vaccumed, disinfected, handwashed, undies in bed, the lot. Felt much better during the week but last night and today bum itchy again so think they are still around/back. Interestingly enough chemist said no need to change beds every day, only once on first does and then 7-10 days later but have done it more often for peace of mind!

I know I can retreat us all in 2 wks from original dose but how the hell do I get rid of these bloody things for good?

Should I be having itching again now? Does that mean the first dose has not worked or new eggs hatching etc? How long after the first dose should you start to feel better/clear?

Have just ordered some papaya herbal thing which is meant to help but DD can't have it.

Help please! I am at my wits end and feel too embarrased to discuss with anyone else. PS have read other threads on this too.

[Elibean]

Well done for getting to GP, Michael

And I tend to agree with your GP, too - piles ARE itchy, twitchy, and feel like something is coming out of your bum (because it IS, ouch). Last night I had some crawly itchy sensations, did the torch/mirror thing, and all I saw were piles of piles (sorry ).

dd on the other hand started itching again a bit in the evening, then woke up at 2am and was clearly troubled by something...I stayed with her till she went back to sleep (took half an hour of her twitching and kicking her legs). She didn't try and scratch at all, but my guess is it was physical rather than a nightmare - from her behaviour. Worms, wind, who knows. But I'm being vigilant and she's getting the second dose at the weekend. She did try and scratch her bum a couple of times this morning (after it was washed, without soap due to the eczema).

And finally...I saw OB today, who said she'd do a stool sample for me for peace of mind (though I've seen websites stating that those are unreliable) and that Piperazine would be fine in the third trimester. I totally trust this woman re drugs in pregnancy, so thats a big relief - I might take it anyway, then I'm treated too.

I do NOT want to go into labour with threadworms on board, or even thinking I might have...

[Wormie]

OK have seen the GP and she doesn't think it's threadworms. Although she didn't 'investigate' . I am going to take the second dose of Ovex and she has given me some ointment for my ahem behind! I never had piles before I had my daughter but certainly have them now so it could be causing the problem I suppose .

I am still not sure but I am trying to be scrupulously clean and hope when we take the second dose that one way or another it will go!

Incidentally, I said to her that I thought TW were quite difficult to get rid of unless you were like Mrs Muscle cleaning everywhere etc and she said that as long as you wash your hands regularly and take the meds they should go anyway - again she wasn't keen on all the frequent bed changing etc just like the chemist! (Obviously they've never suffered from them ).

Thanks to all of you for your help and graphic representations . Right got to go, O
off to vacuum, change beds (equipped with Michael Jackson mask), damp dust - you get the picture .

[Elibean]

That was a timely post, Louii....I got up to pee, decided to have a last check, and got the shock of my life seeing bright white little bits scattered over my nether regions.... Not a wiggle in sight, not moving, just - very white.

Then I realized I'd cleaned myself with wet loo paper after having a pee earlier, because I felt a bit sore and pile-y and didn't want to use Kandoo Think they were just bits of old paper, but no way I can go straight back to sleep after that - scared myself! So, no wiggling, no worms...I'm holding on to your description and heading back to bed. Thanks.

[louii]

If you had worms, trust me you would have seen them.
They are very very wiggly and very white.
The eggs are minute so dont think you would see them.
If you have not seen white wiggly things in your poo then its doubtful you have worms.

Lou

[Elibean]

Deal. See you post-gps

[Wormie]

elibean - thanks Yes, I would go back if you are not sure - see a different GP. It prob is just 'pregnancy' itching but it can't hurt to follow up again if you still don't feel 'right'. Will let you know how I get on. Don't imagine I'll get an appointment until the end of the week!

[Elibean]

Wormie, good luck tonight - hope you feel nothing, or that if you do, your checks are wormless

Think I might take a leaf out of your book and go back to a (different) gp...can't hurt. I'm fed up with looking at my backside, checking poos, and generally obsessing about TW

[Wormie]

Foxy -that is what I feel like - the emerging thing- or maybe like elibean I am just starting to imagine it too - infact I am itching all over now! ewwwwwwww

PS - I too hope we never meet (in a nice way) glad I changed my name tbh ha ha.

[Elibean]

And yes, ewwwwww - disintegrate! I guess that would explain why people don't find them on loo paper. Ugh.

[Elibean]

Foxy, if I ever meet you in real life, I will give you the biggest worm-free (hopefully) hug of gratitude. Not likely though, because I shan't be showing my face at any MN meet ups after some of the things I've posted recently

I can't say I've really ever felt an 'emerging from bum' feeling - but as I've read others say that, I can easily start imagining it. I mostly feel either just a passing itch, or like a hair is tickling my skin - which it might be, of course And I'm VERY itchy all over in the evenings and at night, in late pregnancy - never thought twice about bum itches until I posted about dd's itchy/sore vagina (which is fine now, I think).

[foxinsocks]

often with worms, you feel a kind of 'something is emerging from my bum' type feeling and generally, that's when they're around

I always had that feeling when I had worms and not when I just had itchy piles

(gawd, I hope you never meet me in real life!)

[foxinsocks]

I wiped them off with a tissue - they are v soft and sort of disintegrate when you try and pick them up eewwww

[foxinsocks]

my itchiness (bum area) in pregnancy was def pile related

[Elibean]

OMG, Foxy, just in case I ever do see one....what did you DO when you saw them? I don't think I could just leave them there...

You are a star for posting all this, by the way, its the nitty gritty stuff that really helps.

[Elibean]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE that people can be graphic on MN - thank goodness

DH has actually offered (he's a scientist manque, missed his vocation - should have been studying gross things under microscope but didn't) but I have refused on grounds our sex life is dodgy enough as it is with me being pregnant and exhausted.

So I have done the staring at my own behind with small mirror under bright bathroom lights (no mean feat at 30wks pg, trust me) and have never, ever seen anything move. Must have done this almost a dozen times over the past week, just to help me go back to sleep if I feel twitchy, itchy, or wriggly (all I see is piles, horrible, but at least they're not moving ).

Not seen any egg cases or worms or anything else in my own knickers, but then not taken Ovex as pg. dd is still in nappies at night, which helps - no chance of itching then (though she's never woken at night, or itched then anyway, as far as I can tell). No sign of anything in her knickers in the day, and she did take Ovex last Monday night.

I don't imagine for a minute that dd has had a bad infestation (if any) because her itching/discomfort has been pretty mild, very recent, and never woken her at night...so might as well stop checking poo. Could easily have missed the odd one, if dead - pre-Ovex, I was checking her poos in the potty for about three days, and nothing wriggly or white then.

Is the mirror-under-the-fanjo thing reliable? Can I trust the lack of wrigglies and put it down to general pregnancy itching/paranoia?

DH thinks I'm mad to still be checking, and washing stuff, but he humours me...I honestly have lost all perspective and have no idea

[foxinsocks]

it could just be itchy piles

good luck for your GP's appointment!

FWIW, I have always been able to see the little wriggly blighters when I'm itchy so I wonder if you couldn't see them when you were itchy, then maybe you don't have them??!!

[Wormie]

FIS - I've tried that on me . I too couldn't get Dh to do it - even if I'd paid him. He said he'd be scarred for life! I couldn't see anything.

I have been wearing black knickers and have seen the minutest of white specks in the morning but nothing long and thin (i.e. like speck of dust size really rather than 0.5 to 1 cm). I have seen very, very small brown empty 'shell' type things a couple of times on white toilet tissue. Like an empty round cylinder but v v small.... could these be empty egg cases? I am really sorry if this offends anyone - I just want to go armed to the GP really. Sorry if I make anyone feel sick

[CJinSussex]

Well done Fox, that's even more graphic than I was

[CJinSussex]

Most worming treatments prevent the worms from feeding - so in desperation they migrate out of the anus and then die. Which may explain why you feel itchy after taking the Ovex. You should be fine in a few days (although it's possible that just thinking about it is making you feel itchy!).

If you want to check your TW situation, wear black knickers to bed, remove carefully in the morning and you may see several dead ones (sorry - a bit gross but if a girls gotta know...). They are almost as thin as cotton (hence the name) and about half a centimetre long.

TW in nappy poo are very obvious if alive as they move a lot. If the infestation was heavy then dead ones are easy to spot but if only a few worms were present then it might be missed or as you say, mistaken for 'fibres'!!

IMO it is actually quite easy to clear a child still in nappies of TW because they don't scratch their bottoms and reinfest themselves. So there's some good news...!

[foxinsocks]

ok brace yourself

best time to see wrigglers is when you are itchy. If you can't persuade dh to look (I couldn't) then you have to do the following - lie down on bed (with no knickers), position a mirror opposite your fanjo at the end of the bed and try to aim a bedside lamp/torch pointing towards your fanjo (or do this under a very good light). Lift legs up so bum is pointing towards mirror and get mirror as close as you dare.

If you are itchy, normally it is because the worms are out of your bum and wriggling. They look like white cotton threads - around the length of your fingernail and the width of a thread of cotton.

I only saw them in dd and ds's poos once when we were all really badly infested - ds did a poo and quite honestly, it looked like it had so many worms in, it could have got up and walked away on its own. You couldn't miss them.

However, on other ocassions, I've only seen live worms when they've told me their bums are itchy (or shining a torch on their bums late at night) or when I've given them the Ovex and the worms seem to all come out and wriggle at once!

[Elibean]

Wormie, they're not very long - about 1cm tops, I think. Probably a bit of undigested celery best laugh or we'll go mad(der).

Thanks Eve, thats good to know - wonder if its ok when pregnant? Do you happen to know?

[Eve]

grapefruit seed extract.

its a natural anti parasitic and when mine show symptons some of this clears them up

[Wormie]

Yes it's awful. As DD is still in nappies I thought I would have seen worms but I don't really know what I am looking for (as you say you see fibres etc anyway - certainly haven't seen anything moving). I've even looked at my poohs and saw something which was long/threadish but wasn't moving - suppose it could have been dead. I even tried the sellotape thing in the morning (on myself) and did see some white things but tiny specks so wasn't sure?? OMG this is just an awful conversation isn't it -feel v sick at the thought tbh. Children should have a health warning ....

[Elibean]

Wonder if I'm deluding myself, but as dd still doing 99% poos in potty maybe I would be more likely to see any worms, alive or dead.

Grim indeed, its doing my head in - maybe I'm just hormonal, but it really is.

[Piffle]

Nope she is toilet trained Elibean.
Yep grim task indeed