What is this? DH has worms - gross pic, sorry

[Whydidimarrythis]

Sorry for the gross picture. NC’d because this is disgusting and I’m ashamed even whilst being anonymous.

DH is a big lumbering former rugby player. He eats 4000-5000 calories per day, is 6’3 and 100kg. It’s a joke with everyone we know that he’s a dustbin. Now, he doesn’t exercise at all but has gained no weight. He’s constantly starving and constantly eating - if he doesn’t eat for a few hours then he gets light-headed and irritable. He also has memory issues and can’t focus on things (I’ve posted before about this and was told to look at ADHD and diabetes). ADHD just doesn’t tie in with other things (he hasn’t always been this way) and I’ve been trying to encourage him to get tested for diabetes.

However, he’s just had a tummy ache and thought he might have diarrhoea. He’s gone to the toilet and there’s massive worms in it that appear to be dead. I can’t identify what kind they are - I’m sure as hell not asking someone I know in real life. Definitely not threadworm.

I’ve seen some things online about catching them abroad and we visited SE Asia for a long time but not since 2018!! On top of that, I found an article about Malaysia and whipworm - we spent a lot of time in Malaysia.

Can anyone identify this? Has he really had it since 2018? Do we all need testing/checking/treating? What about the dogs? Can this wait until Tuesday or should we go to the OOH tomorrow?

Happy New Year folks! 😫

Don't bother with Ovex, there's no way that's threadworm.

Could be roundworm from dog poo on rugby pitch?

I assumed as much - having said that, how come I can't even look at food without gaining weight!

It's definitely not threadworm - they're at least 5cm long.

Thanks - I'll try not to freak out then.

@MyCatIsAFuckwit

Christ on a bike 🤢 I wasn't expecting that.

😂😂😂

Roundworm. His symptoms indicate he's infested and possibly has a serious underlying health issue as adult systems are usually strong enough to clear worms without medication. Get anti-parasitic treatment for the whole household, wash all surfaces and bedding, and consider his complete helath picture.

*health picture

That looks like roundworms. My brother got them after eating pork.

Ignore me, I meant tapeworm!

Anyway, this is what NHS website says

We've moved this to the General Health talk area

Malaysia had an outbreak of anisakiasis in 2018. The larvae or worms are usually in undercooked fish or sushi. However it doens't normally last years.

www.cdc.gov/parasites/anisakiasis/index.html#:~:text=Anisakiasis%20is%20a%20parasitic%20disease,humans%20eat%20raw%20or%20undercooked.

Roundworm - they can come out of your nose!

I actually said "urrrrghhhh" when I read this.

How strange! They're much larger than that so I don't think it's that, but thank you

my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/14071-ascariasis

Its pretty easy to treat tho - poor DH

DH is now blaming me (lightheartedly, of course)!!! He says because I lived in Asia for months but he was only there for a few weeks, I must've given them to him. But, no, I refuse to accept it - he's gross and I'm an innocent victim of his grossness. Blergh.

I once had an epic battle to get a working pill down the cat. Afterwards he sat and retched enthusiastically and after a few tries brought up what basically looked like a large portion of tagliatelle on the sitting room carpet.
Of course I couldn't tell if the head was in there so had to go through the whole traumatic procedure (think your thickest gardening gloves) a few days later.

I felt a bit funny about pasta for quite a while after that.

Anyway I do t think it's tapeworm. Probably roundworms as pp have said.

Threadworms you get an itchy bottom don't you? Has he been scratching his bum OP?

If they are tapeworm it needs a specialist treatment so Ovex and the like won't treat it, @Whydidimarrythis.
It's good that there's a picture. He needs to send it to his GP who will then ask for a stool sample so that the specific parasite can be identified.
It's a drawn out process but the relevant treatment will be given in the end.

Does he swim in rivers in the summer?
Many years ago as a student nurse I remember a patient whose appendix was full of worms. The surgeon said they were endemic in Cambridge from swimming in the Cam and he wormed his kids regularly.

I often swam in the river but never worked myself. I doubt I've been carrying a worm burden these many years. But I dare say river swimming can be a source. As well as dog poo on the rugby pitch.

Parasitologist here - not tapeworm, they come as a chain of rectangular proglottids. Not roundworm either, they look more like anaemic earthworms.

Not parasites of any sort, sorry - I vote stalks of some kind of vegetable matter. If they moved it's because something next to them moved.

Can't get worms from swimming in the Cam either - that's a new one!

Sorry, just looking through all the answers - not threadworms as they would be about 1cm long in that case.

@PleaseDontBugMe I bet that is a fascinating job!

@Allmyarseandpeggymartin it is! But there can sometimes be a lot of poo involved so not for the squeamish😂

@PleaseDontBugMe So do you hang about a lab all day working out what people have got from their poo? What’s the most common parasite you see?