5 year old screaming in pain - vulva/vagina area

[Kimya]

My 5 year old daughter keeps having episodes of screaming in pain at night saying her privates are sore (yes she knows the anatomical names but this is what she is choosing to call them in this situation)

It doesn't look red or irritated, the pain seems to be around the vagina although she is complaining of "sore wees" and has now started saying her bottom hurts too. I haven't seen any sign of threadworms and no, there is no possibility of abuse.

It only seems to arise at night which is why I thought worms but as I say, I've seen no sign of them. I've no idea what to do to stop it as giving ibuprofen, sitting her in the bidet before bed, applying sudocrem don't seem to be helping.

Best way to check for worms is with a torch at night. Keep looking and you might see one wiggling out. They don’t tell you about this stuff in NCT classes. 🤦‍♀️

I vote threadworms. My dd has had them twice now and both times she was screaming in the night and crying. Did eventually spot some after a few nights of not knowing why. After treatments it took two nights more of crying then she was fine again.

Sounds like worms to me. They sneak forward into the vulva and they make it red and sore. Everytime my daughters have had symptoms like this, it's always been worms.

Good point actually. Don’t expect the treatment to work immediately. We found it got worse for the couple of nights after treatment. A doctor told us the tablets make the worms angry. Sitting in a bath helps, and copious amounts of sudocrem (big blobs that they can’t get through).

My dd is exactly like this with a UTI, worse at night and early morning, probably because she’s holding pee in during the day? Definitely get wee sample checked with GP.

This. Its not for MN with this level of pain your poor DD.

Just to say that we had this and in the end we worked out it was a reaction to eating tinned pineapple.

Wow exactly the same symptoms my daughter had at age 7, always at night always the pain, it was worms, had loads of tests and visit to doctors. Treated for worms never had it again.

Would this not be accompanied by temperature, generally unwell feeling and/or abdominal pain? She's not needed to wee more frequently either which is what I would associate with cystitis or similar.

Rule out UTI's etc. My DD used to always ah e 'sore bits' when she was little. We realised it was because she didn't wipe when she went for a wee. Sudocream really helped.

Worms give a really horrible stabbing pain and their gunky trail is itchy. Wash gently, sudocreme liberally and treat with ovex or equivalent.

My daughter had this. I didn't find out what it was. I'd run a shallow tepid warm bath and she'd sit in it for ten minutes or so and after a while she;d feel better. I don't know if it was worms, thrush or what it was. Sorry but this was all that I could do for her. I remember how upsetting it is. Book a GP appointment as hopefully they will know. Sending you hugs.

Bless her. It sounds like a UTI or cystitis. Get a urine sample from her and take her to a doctor. Has she complained of pain when seeing? Not all infections come with a temperature.

weeing sorry, not seeing.

Every time my DD has been like this it has been threadworms - you don't always see them. For tonight try putting a blob of vaseline or sudocreme round her bum, thick enough that they can't wiggle through.

I’m my professional experience, this is almost always worms, but you need to get her seen and checked out to confirm/consider other problems such as UTI, etc.

She does at night but only when it's already sore, if that makes sense. So it's difficult to tell if the pain is in the urethra like when you or I would have if we had cystitis or if its the wee irritating an already irritated vulva (due to vulvitis/worms as suggested) when it comes out. If that makes sense.

DD suffered with vulvovaginitis frequently before puberty although this is the first time I've ever heard the name. Dr prescribed Epaderm cream for washing and when it got really sore, we used to use a dab of nappy cream.

I'd treat for worms immidiately regardless and take her to GP. Poor thing

Stop trying to diagnose this yourself and go to a doctor. This is a doctor situation 100%.

OP, I haven’t read all the posts but I was told many years ago when my kids were small to categorically not give Opex unless you actually see worms because it’s so toxic. A doctor told me this. Make sure it’s worms first. My eldest child had worms quite a lot (he sucked his finger) and they never hurt, just came out when he did a poo with the occasional tummy ache. They wouldn’t make your child’s privates hurt.

Poor, poor kid. and with a broken arm on top of all of that. Get her sorted at the docs (hope you can even though it is the weekend) and when she is all better plan a lovely treat day for you both.

No one knows for sure what’s that in your case but it’s 100% the symptoms my daughter had with threadworms. They wiggle from anus to vagina, they cause irritation in a genital area and often cause pain during urination. You will not always see them, they can be quite deep if you know what I mean.

I'd put money on it being worms. My daughter had the same symptoms. We couldn't see any worms but after treatment with Ovex she was fine. What you are describing are classic symptoms.

@billycorn
I thought so too until my child woke up screaming and I saw a tremendous amount of them crawling all around the private area that looked red and sore. They definitely can cause irritation. Sometimes threadworms can be detected easily, sometimes not