The Pinworm Thread - Page 4

[Ginny-mommy]

Vermox information

I just wanted to add some information about Vermox (mebendazole). In my experience and from my reading I have found that Vermox has very few, if any, side effects. If your liver is impaired you may have problems, or if your wormload is heavy you may have nausea and/or diarrhea. Otherwise, it is a very safe medication. My children, myself, and my dh have had no side effects. It is helminth-specific, so it does not really do much to us. It works by blocking their uptake of glucose, so they slowly die. The OTC medication (pyrantal) is the one that is reported to cause more side effects.

Also, I recently read in a 2006 medical text written for doctors that it is best to treat 3 times: the first time, at 2 weeks, and again at 4 weeks. However, most docs just treat twice. I think undertreatment is a big cause of reinfection.

Additionally, if you don't have insurance or just want to do extra treatments you can obtain the medicine online from an overseas provider. The ones based in Australia or New Zealand are the best, IMO. Apparently, it is an OTC medicine there and not too expensive.

[mom000203]

i am so glad others understand what i am going through

hi moms- i am glad to see i am not the only one suffering with this pinworm thing- well, i am not putting that correctly because i wouldn't wish this on my enemies- i just mean i am so glad there is somewhere i can read and vent discreetly about what is going on with us !- so to get on with it, i just feel so disgusted right now- at night i feel like i have things crawling all over me just like the mom said about "feeling like the spider is on you"- you see, our 5 yr old daughter woke up crying for 3 nights about intense itching (but no mentions during the day- i inspected during the day and saw no rash and didn't have any idea what the trouble could be)-

until i said to my husband on the 3rd night of upset "well let's take a look right now and try to see what she is talking about"- what i saw has made me so ill and so frightened and so intensely worried and i don't know how to get over it!!- i saw many many worms going in and out of her anus and in and out of her vagina- i was in a state of absolute shock and was so upset- it was inconceivable to me that this could ever happen to me and my family- i was stunned- totally afraid -i sound naive i am sure- but it is just unbelievable what that pinworm scene looked like and it is the most horrifc thing i have ever seen- i am sorry for the graphics but i am wondering: has anyone seen this ?- anyhow, so i ran to the computer (this was all at midnight) and read all about it including taking sticky tape samples to your doctor- the next morning we rushed her to the doctor and the doctor happened to have a job shadow of all days to have one- (a young md nearly finished her training)-the doctor asked "would you mind if she consulted first and i then i will come in after to read her notes and follow through?" - i was like "oh great i am already so upset and embarrassed about this, now 2 physicians (instead of just 1) have to know our story"- but i said "ok" anyway- well the new doctor in training was so repulsed by my "reason for visit" and if you had seen the look of horror on her face from my little stick tape in a baggy... anyhow and she told me "that is very very dirty, you should not touch, go wash your hands, oh my, this is very dirty" etc etc and then asked my daugher if her nose was itchy and then she inspected her hair and scalp! -(i guess looking for lice to see how filthy of a family we really were??? and the nose question i have no idea what that was all about but now i feel like i have an itchy nose all the time!) -anyhow, i was feeling really shameful and even more upset at this point- finally the real doctor came in and said "don't worry it is very common -especially in the slums of iran where i come from, where people's hygeine is very poor- i had it as a young child myself back in iran" he said- i was briefly comforted by his admission but mostly embarrassed that i heard the words "poor hygeine"- aaaaaaaaaah! i am still so upset by all this everybody!! anyhow, he gave us vermox and my husband went later in the day with our 2 older boys (7 yr old twins)- anyhow, i could not help but see what was going on again with my daughter and the 2 boys that night- my husband was saying "let the medicine do the work- don't worry about it- there is no need to do that" blah blah blah- but i COULD NOT HELP MYSELF! i was just so horrified by what i saw the night before and so scared and shocked and worried and upset etc etc- well, this time i saw probably 50 worms going absolutely insane, looking a little less healthy (they were smaller and more curled up) but wriggling like mad in a terrible frenzy all around her anus and vagina- i had read on the internet that "after you take the meds, you may see them in the feces and not to worry, the pinworms are just exiting the body" but i was SHOCKED by the sheer number of them- has anyone else ever seen this many??? i could not find a single post that talked about how many one can see etc- to continue, i took my sticky tape again and taped them all up because i couldn't bear to see them on her- our 2 boys were fine by the way, they both had the pinworms too but just 1 or 2 could be seen at night but 1 of our son's did bed wet for several days last week and we had no idea why (now we know why) and both boys had a few odd behavioural issues that we can now possibly explain- anyhow, but it is my daughter that i am most worried about- i just snuck in again tonight (the 3rd night since diagnosis) and saw a few dead ones around her- like 7 or 8- at least they were not moving- has anyone else had any such experience like mine??? i am reeeeeeeaaally having trouble coping with this- i have not told any of my friends or family and i cannot settle down to sleep- up until 1am feeling like i have things crawling all over me... anyhow thanks much guys-

[mom000203]

i am so glad others understand what i am going through

a

[Panserbjorne]

First of all, I am terribly sorry. I can't imagine what that must have been like, and it was HORRIBLE (cannot emphasize that enough) of that doctor to behave in that way. Pinworms (or threadworms) are VERY common. They have little to nothing to do with hygiene-in terms of how you keep your house, wash your hands etc. and I am in shock that you had to go through that. I for one would be filing a complaint. It is totally unacceptable to be treated in that way.

The reason it's more common "in the slums" is that there is alot more close contact with other people. In "wealthier" parts people lived further apart so when a family got it it was contained. They are highly contagious so when you have a large group of people living together (or going to school together) then you do tend to see a mass infestation. Also, in "wealthier" parts once an outbreak happened they had access to treatment whereas impoverished people would not.

Pinworms are always all around us which is why they are a very common childhood complaint. In fact you don't ever need to touch them....the eggs can be inhaled. You see that many people on this board have been through it and I doubt all (if any) of them are living in the slums.

That does sounds unsettling and I have not seen that many at once....but understand that that does not mean ANYTHING. There are different stages, like anything else. You clearly caught it at a highly active time.

Metasequoia...if you are still out there just email me, I'll 'splain later.
You have nothing to be ashamed of.

[mombh]

I really have no words of wisdom, just to you and your family.
I also think that both dr.'s were outa line and totally unproffesional!!!!
I would also file a complaint, the one in training has no business continuing her training if this is the way she behaves when faced with a very common occurance in childhood.

Where we live, we even get notices from the school every so often about "confirmed cases of pinworms" in some of the classes and then they explain the symptoms advising parents to seek treatment if they notice such symptoms.

hopefully you will see an improvement soon and take all the good advice from this thread

[HarperRose]

bump!!

THANK YOU!!!

[immamama]

My kids have never had them - but I remember having them once as a child. My mama said that you can get them from poorly cooked pork. Not sure if this still holds true. But anyways.

[Ginny-mommy]

Originally Posted by immamama

My kids have never had them - but I remember having them once as a child. My mama said that you can get them from poorly cooked pork. Not sure if this still holds true. But anyways.

I think you are thinking of trichinosis. This comes from undercooked pork.

Pinworms (enterobius vermicularis) are exclusive to humans. You can only get them from another human host.

[chiromamma]

We have had pinworms in our family a few times. We did the pumpkin seeds and carrots with some success, we resorted to OTC tx once or twice with no success. The best and most thorough treatment for us has been gaia herbs parasite blend. It comes in vegetarian capsules and works like a dream.
One of my DC seems somewhat prone to the critters so she's pretty careful with her diet...limiting (you guessed it) refined carbs and sugars.

[rainbowmama]

bump! Thanks!

[moondiapers]

We just got over a case using food grade diatomaceous earth.

[Ginny-mommy]

Originally Posted by moondiapers

We just got over a case using food grade diatomaceous earth.

How exactly did you use it? Does it have any side effects?

[moondiapers]

Originally Posted by Ginny-mommy

How exactly did you use it? Does it have any side effects?

I added it to our smoothies in the morning, every morning to 2 weeks. It's tasteless. I wanted to make sure to use it more than 10 days because that's how long the lifecycle of a pinworm is.


http://www.perma-guard.com/

[kayjayjay]

Originally Posted by moondiapers

We just got over a case using food grade diatomaceous earth.

Wow, I was wondering if this would help...I've been researching diatomaceous earth because we recently got chickens. This is good to know.

[mbravebird]

We're in the midst of treating with food-grade diatomaceous earth. I saw big results around day 9 or 10. Still doing it; it has other benefits besides parasite control, too. Here's a good link that summarizes:
http://www.earthworkshealth.com/How-...arth-Works.php

[BaBaBa]

[heidirk]

Thanks very much, I am now satisfied that DS does NOT have them.

[PlayaMama]

um, so i'm not sure about the toxin idea, my dd 7 months has them, she is exclusively bf (starting some solids now) , so it seems like there would be way more toxins in any other member of the family....


anyway, our doctor wants to make sure that it is pinworms, i'm not certain myself since she hasn't bee acting oddly at all, but there were worms in her diaper, oh yuck, it is so gross! so, i have to take a sample and send it to the lab, i'm bummed about the chemicals but i really can't see myself getting her to eat garlic at this age.

glad to read this thread and realize i'm not alone!

any more ideas about babies and worms? she did eat some dirt the other day, and she chewed on my shoe for about three seconds.

ETA!!!! FINALLY I'VE FOUND MY POST. IT WAS NOT WORMS IN HER DIAPER, IT WAS THE SEED STRANDS FROM BANANAS. i guess the organic ones were really fibrous. i discovered this my looking at one under a microscope (ew i know but i'm a nerdy science person) and i could see the seeds attached to one another.

[mombh]

Thanks for the info and links about the diatomaceous earth.....I had always assume it was only a pest control. Anybody know anything about this stuff and food allegies. I would like to give my ds 5 some, I don't know that he hs worms right now but he does have food allergies, and constipation (which could both be linked to parasites). Iwould love to hear more of your experiences with diromaceous.

[Panserbjorne]

Originally Posted by PlayaMama

um, so i'm not sure about the toxin idea, my dd 7 months has them, she is exclusively bf (starting some solids now) , so it seems like there would be way more toxins in any other member of the family....

not necessarily. If she has imbalanced gut flora from yeast then she could be more toxic. Not saying it's the case, but something to think about.