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.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/threadworms/ It seems like threadworms can move to vagina at night and cause children pain.

@billycorn ovex is not toxic. I had this very conversation with a GP last week. My ds keeps getting them (thumb sucker) and I was concerned about repeated treatment but told it was fine and not a problem at all. Possibly your GP was referring to a different drug which has been withdrawn due to safety concerns.
And worms absolutely can cause pain. My ds was also screaming in pain, to the point I called 111. They sounded like they thought I was a lunatic and asked if I’d treated for worms.

Agree it’s most likely to be threadworms. Practically every time my children wake up at night screaming (usually 10pm-ish) or complaining of a pokey bottom or sore vulva/vagina, it’s worms. I don’t always see the threadworms either but it resolves two days after I give them Ovex.

I used to suffer this terribly as a child - it’s a bladder, urine or kidney infection.

A little off topic but how common are worms in kids? I don't think I'd ever heard of a single case when I was little and my mum doesn't remember it either. And I was a thumb sucker...

Had many bouts of UTI’s, they always flared up badly over night and woke me up in the early hours. Few went away by themselves.
I wouldn’t rule UTI’s out.

Ffs you if she's waking up in pain you should take her to a doctor rather than searching and having people guess on the internet. Get a proper expert opinion, you say she's had it before and it went away - now it's back suggests it didn't fully clear up so please get her seen to reduce the pain and clear it up properly

This. My DS has just started school and I'm now terrified of this happening. I'm sure I never had it as a child...

My 5 year old daughter complained of pain in her vagina and tummy for a few weeks and the pharmacist took all the systems and treated for thrush and we were also treating it as though it may be vulvovaginitis.

However, it was becoming more red, to the point of becoming a deep purple red, then she developed blisters around her vagina and up towards her anal area as well as burnt looking skin on the outside and discharge in knickers!

Took her to the drs and he also assumed thrush but said he wanted to swab it anyway just in case and it came back as streptococcus auroras which is a nasty bacteria and she’s now on antibiotics.

It could be a number of things but I think if you’ve tried to treat at home for a little while and nothing is working, book a drs because if it’s strep bacteria down below they can turn nasty if left xx

Absolutely this. The first time my kids was actually screaming in pain I would have went straight to a&e - wtaf???

As others have said, sounds very like threadworms and definitely don’t always see them - get the medicine as early as possible in the morning and it may work for tomorrow night, if not will be the night after

My daughter had this when she has a bath weird I know but if any chemical goes in her foof as she calls it she will wake up saying its sore. She seems to be highly sensitive. I dont put anything in the bath but even a tiny bit of shampoo from rinsing her hair can do it. I buy special ones low and it doesn't happen so often.

Similar experience recently, with DD waking up in the night distressed. I've never seen worms, but I did read somewhere that lots of people have them and never even realise it. Treated her with Ovex, warm baths and Sudocrem and it seems to have completely gone.

Definitely treat for worms, be aware it can make things worse the first night after but then will likely clear up. Consider treating the whole family, hot wash towels and bedding. Then GP if not improved.

This. I have a thumbsucker too. Worried he already has them now and has passed them on to all of us including his baby brother. Urgh.

It sounds exactly like my DD when she had threadworms. If you can't treat tonight then you can ease the pain with Calpol and a bath (the pain is caused by the worm secretions so you can make it more comfortable for her by washing it off carefully and putting a barrier cream of some kind around her bum).

Then treat tomorrow and wash all of her bedding and toys from her bed, make sure you're encouraging really thorough handwashing to prevent reinfection.

I had this as a child came and went turned out I had something serious which I won’t go into, think genetics not abuse or anything.. make an appointment with the GP

And that's why A&Es are so overcrowded. I'll take her to a GP but this is not an accident or an emergency.

This sounds like worms.

However, we went through something similar causing great pain in that area and we ended up in pediatric gynecology before it was diagnosed as the result of a virus. Very stressful time and as it was a virus only time was the cure - so by the time they'd worked out what it was it was almost over.

So treat for worms and if it doesn't help go to the doctor.

Took months of similar with DS before I finally saw a worm. It was cyclical so he wasn’t waking up in pain every day for months but I even took him to the gp insisting it wasn’t worms even though main symptom he had was itching.

Might also be worth reading up on lichen sclerosis.

Very painful, especially at night, comes and goes, not always much to see. My daughter was diagnosed at 5 yrs old by a GP who knew what they were looking for.

Bicarbonate of soda in a warm bath for 10 mins. Has worked every time with similar symptoms for my daughter. Possibly vulvovaginitis, can’t remember what I found exactly when I looked it up but it works every time.

Make sure you treat everyone for worms and do repeat treatments. Minimum once.

my DD was diagnosed with “thrush” when little for 18mths. It was threadworms. In fact she once ended up in hospital and they thought appendicitis. Nope worms.

To reassure pp, I was a thumb sucker and only had worms once as a kid. I remember drinking the treatment several times though, my brother had them fairly frequently!

@Fuuuuuckit but seriously though, how common is it these days? I feel like I see it all the time on mn when the only time I ever heard of it as a kid was when we joking asked if someone had worms because they seemed extra hungry?! (Different, I know)