Any threadworm success stories out there?

[spectacled]

Discovered my eldest, six year old nail biter, has worms at the end of last week. My youngest also but a notably smaller infection. Told the school because I’m fairly certain my child isn’t the only one, but got a once sentence reply thanking me for letting them know…. Anyway, I really struggle with this stuff mentally. We did as big a clean as possible on the day we took the treatment but there were some places we just simply haven’t been able to get to. Dusty under cabinets etc or bookcases. I’m washing everyone in the morning and evening, changing bedding every day, cleaning bathrooms and trying to hoover and damp dust everywhere. It’s been five days and I’m exhausted but I can’t seem to clear everything. There’s so many tiny toys they have and I can’t keep up with four loads of washing each day!

My question is….do I need to do this for six weeks really?! Does it matter that I’ve missed some spots? Will I disrupt a load of eggs by cleaning them now? Can anyone tell me their experience of getting worms and getting rid of them - preferably nail biters…? (So so so many people saying they have a chronic problem with this) Any ideas for stopping the nail biting too? Have I lost the plot…? (Already know the answer to this one.)

We had this a couple of years ago. I feel your pain as I was vacuum cleaning everything constantly and had constant washing too from changing sheets and making sure everything was washed on a hot wash every day. I think we did that for a month. It was hard as it was late autumn and hard to dry the sheets outside due to rain (we have no tumble dryer) so our entire lounge was covered in washing constantly! I washed (and vacuumed using the brush attachment) all their toys and then put most of them away and just left out a couple of small boxes. They had to get used to playing with far fewer toys than normal for a month, but it avoided having to clean or risking eggs getting into the boxes without realising. Once the infection was over we gave them back the rest of the boxes of toys.
We took some tablets recommended by the pharmacist for threadworm - I can’t remember what it was called but it was one initially then a follow up dose I think a couple of weeks later. I also used to put a face mask over my face when cleaning (and especially when removing clothes and the bed sheets) as apparently inhaling the eggs means they can get into your system that way too. I have OCD and the idea of being infected with worms really pushed me to my limits, so I completely understand that you’re struggling mentally.
If you’re able to leave some time for self care it might alleviate the feeling of being overwhelmed. I found this helped me. Once we were all officially clear of it I treated myself after with a few nice toiletries as a present to myself 🤣
In terms of the nail biting - luckily my two aren’t nail biters but I believe you can get something to paint on the nails to deter nail biting.
All the best - I hope you manage to get on top of it and get through the other side 😊

With multiple mail biters and thumb suckers amongst my children we single handedly kept our local pharmacy in business through buying ovex. Regularly. Often.

At first I would clean all the bedding, steam clean the mattresses and carpets, damp dust everything. Change the towels daily for a few days and so on.

With each infection I did a little less yet the effectiveness of the treatment and the reinfection rate didn't change. I therefore concluded that flinging ovex at them plus normal hand washing did the job just fine.

My 5yo has them at the end of last year. I boil washed everything in the beds including soft toys every other day for about a week or so but only changed the bed pad and clothes and pjs/ pants and clothes daily. Did the really regular body washing and boil washed the cloths used for this daily and the 2 doses of medication. I bleached door handles and all the easily accessible surfaces daily. Bathed the favourite hard toys then put most away in the cupboard for a couple weeks and only left out a few so less to clean. We also did lots of under nail scrubbing and cut nails as shoet as I could without being painful and had lots of talks about nasty bum worms and getting rid of them. I definitely missed spots and didn't clean everything as that would have been impossible but they didn't come back! I also really struggled with the idea of them, I felt so unclean and it bothered me but we survived and you will too. Just do your best! Good luck

Christ, that all seems excessive. I've only ever just dosed the whole family with ovex and then got on with things as normal.

Same here!

@PianPianPiano and @YourSpleenIsDamp - out of curiosity did you ever get it checked to see if everyone in your family got rid of them and they definitely didn’t come back?
if so I’m impressed (and feeling a little more relaxed in case we ever have another threadworm episode in the family!) but I was under the impression you had to get rid of all the eggs etc which the medication alone wouldn’t have done. The meds even take several days to kill off the worms (I believe it works by making the worms unable to process sugars so effectively it starves them to death) so they continue to lay eggs even after you take the meds. As the eggs can spread anywhere and everywhere over the house as they go into clothing and bedding etc I’m really surprised that just the meds were effective. As I said I’m asking more for my own reassurance as I did find it all really intense, so would love to hear that people were successful without going to town with washing and vacuum cleaning etc 😃

@PianPianPiano yes same with us. We all just had the tablets then the second dose and that was it. Obviously changed bedding and nightwear after first dose but carried on as normal.

My 10 year old was prone to getting these all the time. I now treat her with ovex every two weeks and she hasn't had them for a while 🤞🏼

And here! I read all that stuff on the OP and worried about what all this obsessive behaviour is doing to OP 's kids, never mind OP.

I stripped the beds the day after the Ovex and washed the bedding at 60 degrees, made sure we all scrubbed our nails every morning. And that was it.

No way was I going to give my kids a complex about worms or nits. Calm and matter of fact, and let the Ovex do it's thing.

Yup - we take two doses a few weeks apart (the second dose catches any that hadn't hatched - they take a few weeks from being swallowed to hatching and maturing) and that does the job for everyone. They do come back at some point, because I've got a thumb sucker and a nail biter in the family and you can literally catch them anywhere (particularly places where children are!), but usually not for a good 6 months or so.

Apparently on average 50% of children will have them at any one time, so the chances of your kids getting them outside the home is pretty high. But ovex alone always works for all of us for getting rid of a current infestation!

You give Ovex to your child regularly every two weeks?

I give Ovex to all my kids once a month - all nail biters in primary school. No worms for about 2 years thank god.

Same

And no issues not doing mega clean

Seriously @spectacled , this issue is yours. The amount of cleaning you think is necessary is absolutely insane. Worm eggs do not lurk in dust under the furniture for goodness sake.

Where on earth did you get the idea that you had to do this for six weeks? Ovex kills the worms and their eggs in 24 hours. Scrubbing everyone's nails and laundering all the bedding next day, gets rid of any that were lurking there. Within 36 hours you're done.

Don't give your kids your problem. I worked with a teacher who was like this about nits. If they were found on a child she'd run out of school screaming. I know that sounds like something made up, but it's absolutely genuine.

You are worrying too much. Threadworms are extremely commonplace. Give Ovex. Wash bedding and pyjamas. Give repeat dose after two weeks. Encourage good hand washing. Keep Ovex in the house in case if future outbreaks.

I don’t think all the extra cleaning really helps. It’s pretty rare for eggs to be inhaled through dust etc. Bestbthing is just Ovex. Two doses to make sure. Second one will kill any juveniles off before they lay.

Dd brought them home from the sandpit at nursery, many moon ago. Ovex twice for the whole family, scrub fingernails. Hot wash for bedding and towels, for duration and freeze cuddly toys for 48 hours. Knickers on at night and sudocream or vasaline around anus to trap and live worms and stop itching. Gone in a week.

I mean, obviously I changed bedding and made sure we didn't share towels etc, plus vigilance with hand washing - but yes, the meds worked nicely. You're right that Ovex doesn't kill the eggs, but that's why you dose once, then dose again two weeks later: any worms which have hatched between the doses won't be mature enough to have laid more eggs by the time they get the second dose. And the eggs really, really can't get everywhere - as long as you wash bedding and towels and clothes etc then you really don't need to go overboard. It did the trick here - mine are teenagers now so thankfully haven't needed to deal with worms or nits for a while! Although actually, the vast quantities they eat these days, maybe they do still have worms 🤣

I thought we all had them in our gut, it’s only when there’s too many they overcrowd and wriggle elsewhere. We used Ovex, repeat after 2 weeks as it doesn’t kill eggs so get the remainder when hatched.
Yes to wash bedding, towels and undies at 60.
Was regimental about hand washing and nail scrubbing when coming into the house.
Always had an Ovex pack in the first aid box for immediate treatment.
Nappy rash cream for bum holes to stop the itching whilst waiting for the tablets to do their thing
Had repeat events probably twice a year for about 10 years - mud loving nail biters!

Same here! And we got rid of them and that was that.

Or you could just take the tablet, hot wash bedding towels, cut nails and wash hands and be done with it.

Worms are grim but kids have them a lot and it's more common than you think. My 16 year old at college had them a few weeks ago. I did the above, took another tablet two weeks later and we're worm free!

Yup, just over dosed here, wash sheets of detected and use sudocrem on their bums. This always worked for us (4-5 occurrences through childhood and teens now so out of the other side!

Yes @saraclara the problem definitely is mine! I have ocd (probably won’t surprise you to know!). One of the themes I struggle with is parasitic worms and so now that it’s happening within our family it is, for me, a big deal. I would love nothing more to just not be worried about it but that’s not the way my brain works. I’m well practiced at not letting my condition get in the way of family life so thankfully, they’re not aware of all the extra stuff going on.

Re the six months thing, the NHS inform site! Says scrupulous hygiene measures, along with meds, should be followed for six months. At least. I don’t have the time, energy or funds to continue this and I am feeling pretty low about the whole affair and potentially dealing with this for a long time, so I was hoping people might be able to give me some positive experiences about dealing with it more quickly and easily. ✌

Thank you @bichinho i have OCD also and although I wouldn’t wish this hellish condition on anyone, it reassures me to know there’s someone else out there similar to me.

Mine had it a few times. We already did pants under pjs and daily bath. Went crazy with the first outbreak washing things. Then just gave the 2 doses of ovex and made sure I had a supply to treat them quickly. I had 2 thumbsuckers. But even so, they don’t catch them from mud or sand! Sorry. It’s actually an incredibly clever parasitic cycle. But they need human hosts.