please help!! we have pinworms in our house.

[oliversmomma]

oh mommas.  i am in a panic.  a literal panic...shaking hands and all that.  a relative's child has been battling pinworms for a month or so and i thought we'd gotten lucky and missed the boat, my DS plays with their children almost every day....   and then tonite, they call to tell me they have it in their house again, and lo and behold i check MYSELF and i have it too.   aaaaaahhhhh.  that is about as literate as i can be about it.   utter exasperation. 

here's the thing.  when they first discovered it, i put myself and DS on a daily diatomaceous earth smoothie supplement and we were in the safe zone.  i skipped a couple of days.  harumph.  so that's probably how it happened to me.  and we bed share...i haven't checked him tonite, but i am SURE if i have it, so does he.    but the biggest issue is that i also have a nearly 7month old DD. 

i am going to call the ped tomorrow (please, no flames) for a prescription for DS and myself.  ...but what to do about the baby??  i REALLY don't want to give her a prescription like this, and i haven't confirmed she even has it...  but like i said we do all bedshare and she is learning to crawl so she is always on the floor...putting EVERYthing in her mouth.  the odds are pretty high she has it too. 

i think i know what i am going to do (western medicine), but i just need some support.

i also need to know how to avoid reinfection!  with DD rolling all over the floor all day long....  putting eveything she finds in her mouth... and DS is just as bad (he's nearly 4) with putting everything he plays with in his mouth. 

to top that off, i have a chronic health condition...i already take a slew of meds that i am currently trying to get off of and i think this is going to set me back with that, not to mention just making me feel crappy.  well, at least now i know i'm not having a lupus flare and my body is under attack by critters.  there is some humor in there somewhere, i'm just having a hard time finding it.  sigh.

how do i get rid of the eggs that are without a doubt in every nook and cranny in my tiny little hobbit house??

and how do i get myself out of this panic so i can deal with this?!    aaaaaaaargggghhhhhhhh.

[oliversmomma]

oh my...  13 views and no one has any advice?   i am panicked about how to keep my 7mo old from getting this since she's nearly crawling...i can't live in a vacuum, eh?      anyone?

[MoonWillow]

I'm going to move this over to Health and Healing to see if we can get your thread some more traffic.

[PNWmama]

I don't have advice for you (we've never had pinworms), but I though I'd bump this up so maybe someone else will see it and help.  Good luck! 

[Calliope84]

I'd get the prescription for her! I draw the line at WORMS in my body / kid's body / house. I probably also draw the line when it comes to head lice, but I'd be more likely to try natural stuff for head lice first... worms are worse in my opinion. 

[McGucks]

Bleach the doorknobs and other surfaces that folks touch a lot.  I would do all sheets, towels, etc.  on hot + a kettle of boiling water or two.  And I would follow the doctor's orders to the letter.  I am VERY sorry you are having to deal with this and I would NEVER flame you for getting a prescription or whatever's needed to take care of this problem!  Much good luck to you and I am SO sorry! 

ETA:  You may want to check with a dr. about eating d. earth.  I have used it for many things, but never intentionally internally.  Be careful!

[lookatreestar]

yeah, just clean everything really well (doors, bathroom, floors etc) and wash all sheets on hot everyday (they can come out at night- creepy!). def get the medicine. growing up my mom was pretty natural minded but my little sister brought these home from preschool too many times to count. i remember just rolling our eyes and taking the medicine to get them over with. it really is pretty common - gross but common.

[lookatreestar]

oh and i am not sure about baby... my youngest sister was in preschool so no baby. as long as the doc said it was safe for baby i'd give it.

[oliversmomma]

sadly, the baby does have it.    she is 7 months and i'm waiting on a call back from the doc.   sigh.    i have  been cleaning cleaning cleaning like a madwoman.  put our stuffed animals and pillows and other non washables in bags for 3 weeks til the eggs are dead.     all i can do is clean the bathroom after every use, wash hands, wash linens in hot, and vaccuum every day i guess.   it's so hard when she's learning to crawl and putting everything in her mouth.  she is miserable.     DS seems ok, but i am miserable too.    now the catch is that my cousin's house has it too and we see them everyday.   i'm thankful they started the med the same time we did.

as far as th D.E, it's just me and DS taking it, and we are using food grade.  the health benefits i've seen, aside from this issue, are way too numerous to list! 

thank you for the support mommas.  this just really sucks.  it really really does.   i am terrified i will never rid my house of it bc of all the eggs and the crawling babe.

[HolisticMamas]

Hi there,

First of all, I am so sorry you are experiencing this. It cannot be fun whatsoever.

Secondly, I'm a Master Herbalist and in my studies, there were 3 herbs recommended for pinworms that I would suggest you look into: Black Walnut (Juglans nigra), Pumpkin Seed (Cucurbita pepo), and Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium). However, we also learned not to recommend giving herbs to children under 2 years old, since they don't have the liver enzymes to properly process the herbs. So while I wouldn't give it to my 7 month old, I might try a few drops of a tincture (I think Black Walnut is probably the best candidate because I think it's the easiest to get - I've seen it at a lot of Whole Foods stores) on my 4 year old. Or, if you're a breastfeeding Mom, maybe you can take the tincture and it will pass through your breastmilk to the 7 month old indirectly? Just some thoughts.

For your 7 month old, I might seek out a professional homeopath. I have a one-year-old that I can't give herbs to (can you imagine how frustrating that feels to a Mom who is a Master Herbalist?), but I have been able to solve many of her problems with homeopathy. Also, it is your call whom you seek out for help, whether it's a pediatrician or anyone else. No judgments here. I just wanted to provide you the information so you could do your own research.

Best,

Mare

http://holisticmamas.com

[1stTimeMama4-4-10]

Yuck, pinworms are super gross. Fortunately, as far as I know, they aren't really dangerous.  I had them once as an adult (mortified to get a prescription from my doctor) but I've never had them while I've been a parent.  Good luck!

[oliversmomma]

thank you for all of your responses!    i am still dealing with this; it seems like my 7month old may be on the mend.  i think the 3 year old is getting better but it comes and goes, maybe on the upswing, his appetite has returned and he's not sleeping as much.    i am still having trouble...seems they've migrated to a *sensitive* area and i'm not sure how to get them out.     the meds the dr gave me don't seem to work on that part of my anatomy.    i am considering using a clove of garlic, i've read that works.   i also picked up some tea tree vaginal suppositories and i'm going to use one tomorrow when they are less active during the daytime.    i am hesitant to use wormwood or black walnut while nursing, but i did pick up an herbal for the 3year old recommended by a homeopath...it is a mixture that includes the herbs i can not take with many others.   i started using a crisis dose of probiotics and am still using a tbl of DE every morning.    

any suggestions for getting the pinworms out of my female bits?   i am afraid to use a douche, tho it seems like it might work, but i am afraid of sending them farther up.  LOL.  

so so sorry for TMI.  but i really need some help!!