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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

Original poster

Nail biting and threadworm... on repeat!

14 replies

smallgreyelephant · 07/10/2019 09:35

Help!
One month into the school year and DD (13) has threadworm. Again. She is a fidgeter/ fiddler and bites her nails. She's been medicated (we all have!) and the sheets are being washed with extra rinse and I'll do an extra vacuum. Again.

BUT she is not engaging with the subject enough to stop it. When I talk about it she is in denial. She begged me to let her off school today because she didn't sleep due to the threadworms. However, when I say that she MUST wash her hands before lunch at school she says there's no time and if she washes her hands she will miss her place in the canteen queue. Then she tells me it's difficult not to bite her nails when her best friend does it too. We are using the yukky tasting nail stuff but she is not consistent in applying it and I have to make sure that she uses it. I have shown her how to wash hands properly and I encourage her to scrub her nails in the morning. But I have to monitor every stage. (If she washes her hands by herself it's soap on, soap immediately rinsed off, done. )

I'm going nuts from having to monitor everything. And she is resenting me. But if I don't monitor everything she gets threadworm on repeat. And that's worse.

Does anyone have any words of wisdom? Is there an app that could help her and not put me in the firing range?

Should I contact the school? Threadworm must be endemic in the population and apparently some people have them and don't feel it.

(Sorry the post is longer that I expected)

OP posts:
juicyjuicymangoes · 07/10/2019 09:38

What about giving her a small bottle of hand gel to use before lunch? They're only about 40p in aldi and might do the trick if she's refusing to wash her hands. You can get a strawberry laces flavour in Superdrug/boots too I think. Super tiny and discrete

I really sympathise, it took us ages to shift them.

Original poster
smallgreyelephant · 07/10/2019 09:50

Hello Mangoes and thanks for the response but the advice is that alcohol gel doesn't kill the eggs. Sad

OP posts:
Ratbagcatbag · 07/10/2019 09:53

I still bite my nails at 36 and have had threadworm once as a 7 year old.
Can you just give regular doses of the threadworm medicine? I know lots of people that do that.

Original poster
smallgreyelephant · 07/10/2019 10:01

Hi Ratbag, The distress that DD goes through with threadworms is awful. She is very sensitive and cries and doesn't sleep and I am desperate to help her. When she has it on repeat it's awful. So I'd love to help her stop the nail-biting because it leads to threadworm so often for DD.

OP posts:
Flippetydip · 07/10/2019 12:27

I feel your pain massively. DD (now nearly 9) had them constantly and then everyone in the family got them. I paid her to stop sucking her thumb - £50. It worked, I could not believe it. I could also not believe I sunk so low as to bribe incentivize like this but it worked. She has now been "clear" for six months.

However, DS also sucks his thumb (nearly 11 - and he is obviously not as money motivated) - he has stopped in the day, only for it to be replaced with nail biting...… And so we start again.

bowtieandheels · 07/10/2019 13:40

I have no idea where I heard this but I did it with my boys when they were little. Chop up raw garlic very finely and put it in Vaseline then put it around the entrance to the bum. Cleared it every time and seemed to stop the discomfort. But mine were little, not sure you could get a 13 year old to do that...she could also eat raw garlic. This isn't an answer to your question but is a much healthier way to treat the condition as the meds are pretty toxic...and may put her off doing the things that spread it. Also chop her nails right down so there's nothing to bite?

Ratbagcatbag · 07/10/2019 13:49

I get that. That's why I give my daughter a dose of the medicine every couple of months anyway.
So she doesn't get them.

dementedpixie · 07/10/2019 13:52

Is she wearing pants at night and washing her bottom in the morning? Do you do the follow up dose of medication 2 weeks later?

lumpy76 · 07/10/2019 14:49

Are you absolutely sure she has thread worm as they aren't very common in teenagers. There are other things that can cause itching in that area.

lumpy76 · 07/10/2019 14:50

That said my 9 yr old seems prone to them! And certain places definitely seem worse for picking them up!! Maybe speak to the GP if you are certain it's thread worms and she's getting them regularly.

PullingMySocksUp · 07/10/2019 14:52

Agreed about the two week later retreat to break the life cycle. Are you doing that? Should be all you need. Smile

tornmum1 · 07/10/2019 15:35

If the biting is what needs to be stopped, try some of that nail coating stuff that is really bitter to the point the habit gets broken

PullingMySocksUp · 07/10/2019 15:38

Also, another approach would be to let her be in charge of washing her hands, and so tough luck if they don’t go. Don’t let her have a day off school, for example. Did she sleep today, while she was off?

Original poster
smallgreyelephant · 07/10/2019 17:47

It's definitely threadworms and it comes from school. So many kids and so few of them washing their hands.
Yes, I'm doing all of the right things in terms of medication and cleanliness. Although haven't tried the garlic thing Shock. Or the incentive, but would happily pay for it to go away.
And we are enforcing a regime of yucky nail varnish twice a day.

An app would be good?

OP posts:
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