threadworm questions and answers

Infections
1

Hi to all.

Here is my stori

About 6 months ago my daughter caught up threadworm from school, this is a not the issue however as she was treated and cleared within a fortnight.

I on the other hand took the medication mebendazole several times eventually taking it every day for a week, but to no relief.

After doing a lot of reading I upped the cleaning tenfold and took a papayaseed smoothie recipe that I found. This worked and for 2 weeks they were gone. But they came back in great numbers after that.they wouldn't bother so much but my children have been reinfected

So I tried taking the smoothie again and it killed some off but not all. So after a week I started taking de with a bulb of garlic every morning on an empty stomach. I got a lot of die off symptoms but that was 3 weeks ago and they are still laying eggs. They are in less numbers but still there. I put the de all over my bum at night which means I get a better night sleep.

I am currently eating a high fibre low sugar diet mostlyalkaline foods. I also take a papaya seed smoothie daily plus garlic and lots of de as well as cayenne pepper apple cider vinegar oregano vvitamins especially vitamin c.

The problem is they have moved. I can feel them in my legs and arms. I put tea tree oil all over my neck and nose at night to stop them going further than that. My question is should I stop the assault of and tempt them back only to kill them all of when they come back, or keep up the attack.

And don't even mention doctors to me they have been utterly useless saying just keep taking the mebendazole, or you will have to just learn to live with it. They think I'm delutional , they have sent me to a psychiatrist and they called social services saying that I was giving medication to my kids for no good reason and had ocd bollocks I could punch the doctor. If I am delusional then how come I've lost 3 stone was not big anyway bladder a lot weakerbloated stomach cramps I could go on, am I imagining that.

Anyway

Rant over I have learnt a few things.

Garlic kills of the eggs and I think it works better than cloves

I tested the de on them and I think it works better on the younger ones, just hatched worms die as soon as they wriggle older worms can get further.

I also read about using a dust mask but I could still feel them in my hair and ears so now I wear a pair of tights over my head while doing the washing changing beds and hoovering.

2

Feel so alone with this now don't know what to do tried all the cures nothing works just want to cry.

3

You're certainly not alone, there are loads of people trying to find solutions to situations similar to yours so don't get discouraged. 

I think at this point, you need to try a different med. the mebendazole is obviously not working. I've found some success with with Pyrantel Pamoate, however I took the highest dose recommended every day for two weeks. I didn't pay any attention to the dosage by body weight at all. I did experience diarrhea but that was to be expected. 

There are many ways to address issues like this. It just takes finding what is the one that works for you. I went through both Ivermectin and Albendazole trying find a cure and since the doctors here won't treat parasites, I had to do it on my own. You may have to also, but you don't have to "live with it". Chin up, you can find a cure!

4

I know they,re still in there but in smaller numbers, and before they seemed very long but they are certainly smaller now, its been well over a month since I started this diet, however I think there were a lot of them before.

I have been taking a smoothie ever morning with papaya seeds pineapple Garlic pumpkin seeds oregano cloves coconut ginger a colon cleanse tablet a multivitamin plus a vitamin c and zinc tablet. I have this with my high fibre oats in the morning with 2 tablespoons of de.

Also often make veg curry with cayenne pepper and apple cider vinegar. Delicious. I live on veg soup and salad with lots of nuts pineapple high fibre apples and pears.

I often but not daily have syrup of figs, quit addictive its yummy after breakfast.

Have tried every chemist online and high street but cant find pripsen anywhere, and yes I agree the doctors are completely ignorant.

Wish me luck

5

Not entirely sure whether to take this post seriously. Getting quite frustrated with the amount of nonsense I have read in online forums in regards to threadworm. Yes reinfection rates are high so I can fully sympathise with those suffering from repeated infection. In particular it can be difficult for those with small children as it can prove impossible to ensure they're following the strict hygiene measures. However there are a huge amount of discrepancies in your post..

1. Threadworms cannot live in arms and legs. They are almost entirely restricted to the digestive tract although are often found around the vagina in females.

2. Threadworms do not cause weight loss. It would take a much larger worm to result in such a massive fall in weight. They are incredibly irritating but harmless to health.

3. If you feel an itch in your hair it is most definitely not threadworms. You may however have caught nits from your children. 

4. I'm not sure how exactly you're testing the theory in regards to particular methods killing only hatched worms. Surely you cannot see what it going on internally.

If your post is genuine I would like to ask how you know you are still infected? Unless you have seen a threadworm then I would imagine a lot of the annoying itching sensations are in your mind. After such an annoying irritation we are usually super sensitive and aware of any further symptoms. So much so that we may become paranoid. Try to relax and take your mind of the problem. It may also be possible that the itching is due to piles or dry skin which are easily treatable. If however you have definitely seen threadworms (and are sure they are threadworms) then I would continue with treatment and hygiene measures for all the family and insist on visiting another doctor. It is very likely that you are clearing the infection and becoming reinfected from yourself or family. With threadworm so common in schools your daughter may be unknowingly be carrying eggs back into the house.

I do however feel this post is not useful to other suffers who have come across it in their search for further information. Worried mothers or children themselves may read this and get false information about the seriousness of the condition. The medication is extremely effective when followed up by the hygiene measures and the worms themselves will definitely not be as wide spread throughout the body at you have suggested! For more information I would recommend reading the forums on mumsnet etc as the advice shared there is much more realistic.

P.S. I myself have a biology degree and have studied parasites in depth. If you are reading please do not stress over this post!

6

I must state that the meds do work for 90% of people.

However, I am amazed at the amount of ignorant people when it comes to this subject, have you read this forum there are about 20 people who say the meds didn,t work for them. That's just in the UK I have talked to people in USA also having same issues. I previously spoke to a infection control

Doctor who said they can be resistant in some people.

Wikipedia mebendazole

This article can confirm that some parasites can migrate out of the colon if in large numbers to escape the drug or similar. They can not survive there however and travel back up at night. They might not generally causeweight lose but when there are a hell of a lot in there they can. Also the stress and lack of sleep contribute to this.

My kids have never had nits and if they can not hatch outside the body then you would not get retro infection when they go back up once hatched. I agree there is no need for mothers to worry as I imagine the meds will work in the majority of children as there digestive systems and immunity are generally strong, but in adults it can be ineffective as so many people on this forum can confirm.

I have used products around my anus at night. The best being the De. I feel them come out lay eggs but before I would get the horrid wriggling a few hours later now they hatch and as soon as they wriggle the die

I do see them regularly wriggling especially when I started using de there were loads of them coming out dead and alive wriggling like mad.

Piles and dry skin do not move across your skin or crawl into your ears

7

Im new to this site but after experiencing threadworms for two years without any solution i felt i had to write in. I have a daughter whos now five and she had threadworms for two years and also had passed them on to me due to bed sharing> First of all the doctors were saying she had thrush even though the results came back negative and the after seeing a peadatricion we were told that the itching was prob down to hygeine even though i asked numerous times for her to be checked for threadworms!!! anyway the upshot of it all is that after 25 does of ovex, two hundred pounds on anti parasite treatment i was at my wits end. So after some research i found a parasite specialist in great ormond street which we paid for privately and guess what he rid us of the worms within a week. We were prescribed albendazole and mebondazole (there is a difference) my daughter was on two hundred milligrams a week and myself on four hundred we stayed on it for three months in case of re auto infection and carried on with the usual hygiene measures but that was last july and weve not had them since. this doctor is amazing and totally understood that i had turned into a nutcase after two years but has cured every patient he has seen. plesase let me know if anyone needs anymore information i cannot tell you what it feels like to have a worm fre life!!!

8

Hi please tell me his name,

I am feeling so Ill now. I have collapsed a few times recently and getting really bad headaches and nose bleeds ta night. I fear my daughter has got it again now as her appetite has gone up again, I thought we were doing OK because she hasn't shown any sign for months, really worried about her as she doesnt eat at all well normally. I don't want to give her anymore pesticide. I saw a specialist who was completely patronising and dismissed mebendazole as working. Feel like there is no hope. I am fed up of people asking me if I'm OK you run down.

I have always suffered with candida and never really thought it was an issue before but after lots of reading I think it can leave the intestines with bad bacteria which makes the parasites thrive. I have been taking oregano oil garlic and acidopolos and getting die off effects.

I think it might be strongyloides as I have read they can live in the roots of dead teeth. I have these little bits in my mouth constantly which taste discussing like a chemical taste and they come from the left side of my mouth, where I have a root canal because a filling fell out 2 years ago. I really would love my life back and often cry myself to sleep especially when I can feel one come out.

9

Hi Ceri you poor thing you sound like where we were until last july and i cannot tell you how much i sympathise with you. His name is Dr novelli in great ormand street you can google him and get his number and also have a look at him on the net. yes the story of the fungal infection sounds all too familiar . I put my daughter on probiotics to flood her system with good bacteria trouble is as long as the worms are there its a battle between the two and as for passing out the worms take all your nutrients from you and leave you with nothing so it definately goes hand in hand with the threadworms. its mentally distressing and i also had the doctors complaining that we were having too much meds as the maximum dose in hospital is three but my argument was if they would take us seriously and refer us to someone who specialised in this subject we could have had it sorted sooner which is why we took measures to find a doctor ourselves and pay privately.candida infections are horrendous because you wil crave sugar along with the threadworms wanting the same type of foods .My daughter was constantly scraping her throat and would almost act like she was drunk after eating certain foods along with really bad skin on her face and for a three year old to be made to put up with that i found it appallling! I also paid privately for my daughter to have a vega test which if you need more info on i can give you it also was one of the best things we did although the docs laughed when i told them they werent laughting when sge was diagnosed with a fungal infection in her intestines something they all failed to do. but i took good advice on how to cure in and have never looked back since. if you need to talk im happy to private message you with my phone number i got loads more to say about it all just havent got the space to write it all down! please let me know if this helps x 

10

If only I had taken the papaya seeds for longer, instead of instening to the gp to keep taking the meds. I know if I ever get rid of these vile things I will be taking a papaya seed smoothie once a week forever more.

Hope the candida cleanse helps and I might be able to get rid of them.

It had made me really think about food. I definitely will not be having so many carbs in future and since my kids were born my diet is lacking in strong flavoured foods like garlic spices etc which can cleanse and detoxify your system. The kids see, to like apple cider vinegar so been adding that to sauces. I think my daughter might have candida now so hoping the acv will help.

Has anyone got any tips for getting a good sample for diagnostics, as specialist wont do anything without proof. Thinking of staying in the bath until one comes out and floats to the top. Don't think it is strongyloides now as they don't really come out to lay eggs.

11

Morgellons.

Look up morgellons on Wikipedia.

Threadworms live in the gut, irritate the anus and sometimes accidentally migrate to the vagina in females. I don't know how long they can survive in the vagina.

You don't need special precautions to get rid of threadworms. Just spend a fortune on Ovex, take double the recommended dose, and dose yourself twice as often as the instructions say. Don't scratch your bottom with your fingers and never put your fingers in your mouth. Change your underwear regularly. Wash your bottom with a jug of soap and water every time you have a bowel motion, last thing before bed and first thing in the morning. Keep a separate towel for this job (or stack of flannels next to the toilet to use as towels). The threadworms will soon be gone.

Good luck.

12

yes mine did migrate to the vagina and as they often get lost going back in to the anus in women my daughter had this problem also. We took triple doses of ovex for months and no it didnt work as it is only 90% effective and thet are becoming resistant to this type of medication. as there are so many eggs laid per cycle they often become airbourne  therefore you can inhale them rather than just transfering them hand to mouth.we washed every morning and last thing at night and often had to put my daughter in the bath in the middle of the night due to the itching none of this worked. ive done so much research over the years on this and tried all of the above the only thing that worked was albendozale.

 

13

my specialist did it without proof though i will say if your convinced its not threadworms or something else then you need to be tested. a good specialist will do this and it often take three samples to diagnose when it comes to threadworms. diet will get rid of candida we starved my daughter of every bit of sugar for six weeks even fruit sugar she drank only water and no milk as theres natural sugar in that. we repalced cereals and toast for fish and eggs in the morning took her off school dinners and i took her a home cooked meal down every day for six weeks and if you use organic cider vinegar especially if you make ur own homemade stock up out of leftover chicken then it draws the goodness out of the bones. use the stock in as much of your homemade cooking as you can ie soups currys etc  and remember you can freeze it until you need to use the stock. put your family on probiotics theres some excellent companys online that do awesome ones . lots of doctors dismiss candida as not being that bad to live with but it is a nightmare my daughter was constantly scraping her throat and craving high sugar foods and constantly tired not good for a three year old.

14

No honestly the meds didn't work at all. I took it every way pos first thing in the morning last thing at night, with oil because fat helps absorption with hot chocolate because they eat sweet things, I took it everyday twice a day for a week, by the end of the week there were billions of them in there.

Even my kids needed 3 doses once a week, because the first 2 didn't kill them all off. If that happened in cattle we would call it resistance, and use a different drug.

I would recommend the papaya seeds though as that worked the first time however they came back so I took ovex

15

They can survive in other areas for 2 weeks., it is horrid when they migrate to the vagina as you can't really do anything then. You cant put anything there to kill them off however tried putting garlic up there and they soon come out in a minute or 2. You can't really wash them away either.

However I use the DE on my bum at night and this has stopped them going into my vagina, which means my bladder problems have stopped. However if they get in there incidently when they come out the DE won't kill them but it does kill the larvae newly hatched, also tried fix as helped a bit. Even if you have a bath every morning some hatch within 4 hours so will go back up retro infecting yourself its impossible.

After reading a lot I believe bad bacteria mucus and poor immunity. The specialist mentioned an enzyme forget name that fights them. And a nutionist said if your digestion is poor yournimmunity is

It is also not good when they get in your nose as can't do anything then either. Tried tea tree oil cloves allsorts

There was a point when I was having 5 showers a day and getting up every 4 hours in the night to shower. Now just 2 3 times a day. I have a bath as showers spray the eggs everywhere. I use towels single use, got all the old terry towels out.

16

This article is very interesting.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC100151/

Talks about widespread human helminth resistance.

17

Hi, you are not alone there are plenty of us fighting this battle everyday. I suffered terribly as a child, but eventually after mid teens i never suffered again. However, my daughter has now been battling since she started school 2 1/2 years now. 

But not my husband or son.... the link between me and my daughter is digestion issues, ibs, food sensitivities etc. 

Although i have no answer to the problem, my advice to you if you can is to try and calm yourself. I went a bit ocd with cleaning, stressing over the constant washinig etc - my daughter picked up nits aswell which tipped me over the edge. I then itched all over, could sleep, felt like my whole body was infested with something in my hair, ears, nose, private areas....I was a wreck!! i was scrubbing my skin with epsom salts and pure tea tree oil, bleaching/steaming all furniture, walls, ceilings etc but it got worse. I got companies out to check the house for mites, fleas, mould anything that was causing it. NOTHING. 

After this i went to a helpful dr who without patronising told me that when you are stressed, worried, tired all the time the nervous system does very funny things to us... in my case the feeling that something was crawling on me and almost biting me. I thought i was going mad, he was ready to hand out anti depressants to calm me down, when i said no... give me time to try to chill out if not id be back. I calmed down the obsessive cleaning and did enough i.e hoovering and bed/towel changes every day. I really tried to concentrate on me for a while and low and behold the itching reduced and now 6 months later its gone. He was right.

She still has reoccuring worms, but I am owning the problem rather than it owning me. I am no expert, just hoping my experience may help... but am still in hope for a cure for my poor daughter neutral

18

Hi

Caroline

I have calmed down a lot compared to before.  Was spending more time in the bath than out before.  I do believe that poor digestion can be a key issue in this.  Am hoping the candida cleanse will help. 

Really feel for people whose children have this problem though, thats just not fair to let them suffer.  I think it might effect women more than men, maybe becuase of hormones, girls are more likely to get candida than men.  My husband has never shown any syptoms, however he lives on red hot chilli sauce.  Has is on everything, buys ones hotter than tabasco.  It is a well known antiparasite and often used weekly in hotter climates where parasites are more numerous. 

Still changing beds and stuff, but into a routine about it now. Until I get rid of them anyway. 

Wish me luck. 

19

Hi

Caroline

I have calmed down a lot compared to before.  Was spending more time in the bath than out before.  I do believe that poor digestion can be a key issue in this.  Am hoping the candida cleanse will help. 

Really feel for people whose children have this problem though, thats just not fair to let them suffer.  I think it might effect women more than men, maybe becuase of hormones, girls are more likely to get candida than men.  My husband has never shown any syptoms, however he lives on red hot chilli sauce.  Has is on everything, buys ones hotter than tabasco.  It is a well known antiparasite and often used weekly in hotter climates where parasites are more numerous. 

Still changing beds and stuff, but into a routine about it now. Until I get rid of them anyway. 

Wish me luck. 

20

I am not sure but, think candida cleanse is working as there are spots of red on my tongue that have not been seen for about 20 years.  The treatment is supposed to poke holes in the candida and then it cant survive so it dies off.  But let us hope.