So GROSS and EMBARRASSING but I know we are not alone. Help!

[DesertBlossom]

A couple months ago I clicked on a thread about pinworms and made a comment about whether or not I should google that. And then the universe laughed and struck me down. 

For a few days my 13DD has been complaining of vaginal pain at night. Honestly, I wasn't sure what to make of it in the absence of other symptoms. Then a couple nights ago she woke me up horrified because she finally looked down there and found worms. I honestly can't think of anything more horrifying for a teen. Hysterical, she was.  I spent several hours in the middle of the night on the internet, learning everything I could about pinworms and then made an Amazon order. I went back to bed, but couldn't sleep and DH was starting to get all snuggly and I was like Heck no! Don't touch me. Not until we get to the bottom of this. (Pun intended)

The next morning I asked all my kids if their bums itched. Most were utterly aghast at the question,  but my 4 year old (too young to know he should be embarrassed) remarked, "yeah, but it only itches at night, not in the day." So we have a 2nd confirmed victim. According to the Google, it's so contagious I have determined my other kids are either lying or asymptomatic. 

Amazon delivered the pyrantel pamoate in less than 24 hours and last night we all got our first dose. So far I have withstood the urge to bathe the kids in bleach after burning down the house, so we have commenced washing sheets for 9 (NINE!) people, vacuuming, and wiping down everything with Lysol.

My questions are:

1) Will the meds take care of the.... uh.... worms that made it into the vaginal area? How will I know for sure? If it was me, I'd stick a clove of garlic up there to make it inhospitable to the little buggers, but my 40 year old vagina is no stranger to things going in or out of there. What can I or should I do for DD? 

2) I did not dose the 9 month old crawler. If he were younger I probably wouldn't even worry about him, but he is just old enough to be crawling all over the floor putting everything in his mouth. (Gag!) What do I do for him?

3) How often should I give the meds? And when do you stop? Because right now everyone will probably get regular doses until the end of time. 

4) How do you know when they are gone? Do you see them in the toilet? Besides not itching your bum anymore, how do you know you (and the whole fam damily) are really in the clear? (I am NOT looking at anyone's bum in the middle of the night if they are over the age of 6, so don't suggest it! And my teens and tween would die if I suggest the tape.) 

5) What else should I do? Somewhere I saw mentioned that GFSE was good for this, so I ordered a bottle of tablets and thought I would give that to the confirmed victims at least. We will take anything and everything at this point.

6) I have sufficiently scared my kids into obsessively washing their hands, but now that they know about *shhhhhhh* the pinworms *shhhhhh* how do I make sure they never ever tell anyone about our dark secret outside the family? 

 

[Tap]

I edited OPs post and questions for brevity.

 

1) Will the meds take care of the.... uh.... worms that made it into the vaginal area?  Yes, they should. Do not have her put anything inside.

2) I did not dose the 9 month old crawler. If he were younger I probably wouldn't even worry about him, but he is just old enough to be crawling all over the floor putting everything in his mouth. (Gag!) What do I do for him? I would use the tape method to check for eggs, or watch for them when you change his diaper. If he shows signs then treat.  Call the pediatrician, to confirm what they would suggest. 

3) How often should I give the meds? And when do you stop? According to package directions, or again call your pediatrician for advice. The peds office will not think twice about you calling. Totally  normal kid thing.

4) How do you know when they are gone? Do you see them in the toilet?  Symptoms go away. And trust that the meds work LOL

5) What else should I do? Somewhere I saw mentioned that GFSE was good for this, so I ordered a bottle of tablets and thought I  would give that to the confirmed victims at least. We will take anything and everything at this point. Just hygiene.

6) I have sufficiently scared my kids into obsessively washing their hands, but now that they know about *shhhhhhh* the pinworms *shhhhhh* how do I make sure they never ever tell anyone about our dark secret outside the family?  Trust that they won't, they are likely embarrassed too. LOL 

Edited February 27, 2020 by Tap

[QueenCat]

Everything Tap said... and I'd get new sheets. I wouldn't be confident that washing them did the trick. 

[Lecka]

My husband got pinworms and they were gone with just the normal pills.  He managed not to reinfect himself or infect us.  He was scared to death he would.  
 

I’m sorry for you guys.  My husband was horrified by the whole thing, and he was an adult man.  It really did end quickly for him, though.  
 

 

[Lecka]

We didn’t do any special hygiene.  I did buy him probiotics afterward but I don’t remember why in particular.  
 

He had directions to do some doses and then — he could tell it was gone.  I think they had prescribed him additional in case he needed it, but he did not.  
 

Iirc he was really better after the first dose.  

[sweet2ndchance]

I believe it was one of the Australian posters on this board that mentioned that in Australia it is a normal and accepted part of childhood to get a piece of worming chocolate, I think it was once or twice a year. Hopefully one of them will chime in to this thread with more specifics on how they do it. I just bookmarked the Amazon link to it in case we ever needed it. lol Sorry about your predicament. I hope everyone gets cleared up soon.

[DesertBlossom]

My post was intentionally dramatic (for effect 😉) and while I am grossed out, I hadn't even considered calling the dr. Especially since there is only 1 confirmed case, and another suspected. And as awful as it feels, I know it's *just* pinworms. I will definitely continue to monitor the baby and check for symptoms. Because the medicine is contraindicated for kids under 2, I will probably just wait to call the dr unless he actually develops symptoms. Just wondering if/what is usually suggested for infants. 

As far as new bedding, it's not really feasible with 9 people. And the child with a confirmed case sleeps on top of her comforter so as not to have to make her bed each morning. Lol. So I have bagged up her blankets for the foreseeable future and washed her sheets and will insist that she sleep with bedding that can be washed very regularly over the next few weeks. 

[DesertBlossom]

2 minutes ago, sweet2ndchance said:

I believe it was one of the Australian posters on this board that mentioned that in Australia it is a normal and accepted part of childhood to get a piece of worming chocolate, I think it was once or twice a year. Hopefully one of them will chime in to this thread with more specifics on how they do it. I just bookmarked the Amazon link to it in case we ever needed it. lol Sorry about your predicament. I hope everyone gets cleared up soon.

This is sounding really smart actually. But I may just be caught up in the moment. I did see that thread about the chocolate stuff and bookmarked it (available on Amazon) but it was after I already bought the other stuff. We all took some and it really wasn't that bad. Some kids actually liked it. Lol.

[Lecka]

I think sometimes they suggest everyone in the house take it, so it doesn’t keep getting passed around.  Not sure.  I think that is what we were going to do if a second one of us got it.

My husband had traveled and had it a night before he got home, so we had hopes we weren’t all exposed.  
 

Edit:  I see you are already doing that except the baby.  I agree with pp — trust the medicine.  

Edited February 27, 2020 by Lecka

[Tanaqui]

Why do the worms on the chocolate box look so happy?

[DesertBlossom]

10 minutes ago, Tanaqui said:

Why do the worms on the chocolate box look so happy?

Because if you're gonna die, at least your last meal gets to be chocolate? 

[Jyhwkmama]

Be sure you wash and thoroughly dry the blankets/comforters before putting them away. If they are still being used, I would wash them daily (a pain, I know).

Get nail brushes (or cheap $1 toothbrushes that you mark with a sharpie) and have the kids use them. Help the little ones. Cleaning under nails is important.

ALL the hygiene/floor cleaning/bathroom scrubbing (which you know).

 

[Farrar]

So... we had trouble getting rid of them. Just fyi. I think treating it like lice or bedbugs to some extent is a good policy. Wash all your bedding and vacuum, sweep, and wipe down the bathroom and bedrooms on the same day you do the meds. I know that's a pain. But just, devote a day to it the way you would for lice.

[Farrar]

Since you don't want to feel alone... when we had to go a few rounds with them, I talked to a naturopathic doctor I knew with a bunch of intestinal expertise. He told me all kinds of crazy things about how difficult they can be to get rid of. But the thing that stuck with me is that he said there aren't a lot of clinical trials about them because it's nigh on impossible to find a control group that has never had them. They're actually super common - more common than we realize. And that a lot of people have them, but then... ahem... expel them all... and aren't necessarily reinfected.

[Arctic Bunny]

After a Christmas trip to the ER because DS just couldn’t stand the itching, poor kid, and I had no idea what was wrong, poor mom..... we all followed the directions on the box and the little pests were never heard from again. Just to give you hope, lol. Oh, and the ship has sailed, but I never bothered telling the kids what it was, just gave everyone the medicine and washed the sheets, etc.

Our single bout with lice was handled swiftly and efficiently by DH. The kids were old enough to be mortified and never tell a soul, lol.

[DesertBlossom]

What's funny (but not funny) is that a while back I commented on a thread about telling your kids to stop picking their noses and I said that my 4 year old's finger was permanently up his nose despite what I said. And then I read that nosepicking is a symptom of pinworms. (How and why that is, I have no idea) Do the pinworms make kids compulsively do that so as to complete their life cycle? Like toxoplasma makes rats love cats? I dunno. But ew.

[DesertBlossom]

38 minutes ago, Farrar said:

So... we had trouble getting rid of them. Just fyi. I think treating it like lice or bedbugs to some extent is a good policy. Wash all your bedding and vacuum, sweep, and wipe down the bathroom and bedrooms on the same day you do the meds. I know that's a pain. But just, devote a day to it the way you would for lice.

Yes, we are still in the process of disinfecting everything. I have lost count of how many loads of laundry I have done today. I think we will be wiping things down daily for a few weeks.

[Lecka]

Oh my word, my husband went to a doctor and he didn’t tell me anything about cleaning.  I did not know that.  I wonder if the doctor mentioned it to him.  

Edited February 27, 2020 by Lecka

[alisoncooks]

Yikes. And here I was feeling sorry for myself because of ringworm on my stomach. But worm worms...you have my greatest sympathies. I know your teen was hysterical! I would be, too!

(And yep, I'm itchy now...)

[Jentrovert]

You know, my mom has said more than once that it used to be quite common to dose kids with dewormer. She said they would do it when a kid twitched and moved a lot in their sleep at night. 

Regardless of how common, you have my sympathies. The thought of it is horrifying, but thinking of how much my kids are in the dirt and how difficult it is to get dd to stop. putting. hands. in. mouth., I should be more aware.

[ktgrok]

We've been dealing with this. It sucks. 

Dose everyone again in one week. The package says two weeks. The package lies. Or we have very precocious worms that come back faster, I don' know. I know I was beside myself to get rid of them until the doctor told me to dose everyone in 1 week instead of two. 

[IfIOnly]

My naturopath recommend this: Kroeger Herb Wormwood Combination Vegetarian Capsules, 100 Count https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000S85H5C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_yFgwEb198EMHW

We have tried pamoate many times. Didn't work for us. We can actually see worms in the toilet with the Wormwood Complex.

The internet is full of horror stories of people being so scrupulous and infections just going on and on. It's so discouraging to read. That has been our experience too and it sucks. We think we're clear and then a kid starts having insomnia or light sleep (our main symptom, not itching). Do the meds, and see pinworms again.

 

Things that we're doing different now  and think we may be finally helping us kick the infection:

Treat all family members AND animals. We're even treating out chickens.

We are taking the meds much longer than the bottle says. My doctor has approved us taking above supplement for long stretches. There are absolutely no issues for us so far doing this.

I read of one woman who finally decided to take an herbal wormer with similar ingredients to what we're taking for a year straight and that was the only thing that helped her finally won the battle. That's almost we're I'm at ifbwe don't kick it this time. With my doctor's approval of course.

 

 

[J-rap]

No advice here, but gosh, yeah -- it would have grossed me out too (and absolutely my kids!).  But I would have tried hard to pretend like it was no big deal.  🙂  You seem to be handling it amazingly well!!  (Better than I would have!)  Hopefully it'll be a quick fix!

But, we have our own worm story.  

WARNING:  STOP HERE if you get grossed out easily.

When we lived in Egypt, my dh used to eat street food all the time.  His stomach began rumbling at one point and after a month or so, he "expelled" a large dead worm about 6 inches long.  He saved it and brought it to the doctor, and the doctor said it was pregnant with hundreds (might have even been thousands?) of eggs.  Fortunately it all had an easy ending because the worm died on its own and everything was fine.  I was absolutely freaked about it though, for a long time.   It didn't bother my dh at all.  Just another day.

[madteaparty]

I haven’t read the responses but just to make you feel better psychologically, in another quite civilized 😂 country I recently spent time in, worms (and lice) seem to be part of everyday school life, at least judging by the  expat mom groups I joined in for info. So much so that some people prophylactically deworm their kids yearly and said medicine is sold OTC. We managed to escape both but bc price of meds terrify me here I even bought some medicine to bring back with me. I’d send it to you but with my ruined karma I bet we all get them the moment I send out the drugs😂

 

[MercyA]

Came across this today and immediately thought of this thread. 😁

[El...]

Gaaaaaah..... thanks for the info, OP.  I really really really really hope I never need it. 

[DesertBlossom]

35 minutes ago, Thatboyofmine said:

Ohmygossshhhhhh!  No!!!   Omg, jar packed?? Son of a biscuit, my stomach just flip-flopped.   🤮🤮🤮

Oh but they're "sanitized." That makes a parasite okay!

[madteaparty]

17 hours ago, Dotwithaperiod said:

 I know they sell otc pinworm meds at  Walmart, it’s right next to the pharmacy counter here. I wonder if it’s the same type drug that people abroad use.

Did not know that. Probably the very same. I don’t have to stash anymore 😉 

[StephanieZ]

1) Dose every 2 weeks for at least 3 doses *everyone in the household*.

2) Hygiene. Wash bedding daily. Fanatical.

3) Single use towels (wash daily, handle carefully) 

Then you should be good.