Worms...!!!

[Halifaxmum]

Youngest (age 11) has worms...yuk I know...but we all had a dose of Ovex last night when she first told me, but she says she still has them today. I've given her another dose of Ovex this evening, but if she still has them tomorrow, can the GP give us anything more effective? Or should I just buy another bottle of Ovex? Are they something more sinister than 'normal' worms?! TIA x

[237SJ]

I think you are supposed to take one dose of Ovex and another one two weeks later.

[anneasquith]

contact gp surgery or health visitor,any idea where they came from ?

[Halifaxmum]

thanks...no idea where - i'm obsessed with hygiene, but she has loads of friends and visits their houses a lot, i'm bleaching and anti-bac-ing everything as we speak!

[237SJ]

You will have no idea where they came from. They could come from anywhere. The eggs can live anywhere. You did the right thing in treating the whole family. Mebendazole (ovex) should be used to treat the whole family, then again in 2 weeks` time. It`s a good idea to wash all bedding, towels, underwear and PJs in a hot wash to kill off any eggs otherwise re-infection can occur. Apparently scrubbing under the fingernails with a nail brush is a good idea (I always wondered why my mother told me never to bite my nails) as the eggs can live there. If you can treat it and manage it I personally don`t think there is any point in going to the GP

[Halifaxmum]

Thank you 23 - what a great answer!

I'm just worried that she's still got them having had a dose of the medicine that's supposed to get rid of them - does it mean it's something worse?

[karenmac60]

Surely they need time to get out of her system - the human gut is pretty long so I would imagine it'll take a few days to expel all the worms that are in there.

[237SJ]

Halifaxmum - presuming they are threadworms, then no there isn`t anything else to do. Prevention is better than cure and the damn things are a bit of a scourge - especially with kids.

[237SJ]

By the way, I believe the cycle of the worms is two weeks so you kill the live ones with the ovex but that doesn`t deal with the eggs, so when the eggs hatch after nearly two weeks the second dose of Ovex deals with them as well

[Halifaxmum]

Thanks to you all - I will get another bottle of Ovex in for our 2 week anniversary!

[society]

Where are the worms? Are they exposed on various parts of the body? The way I'm understanding the original post it appears so to me.

Sorry if I misunderstood, not trying to be funny or anything. I've never heard of this before.

[lotsafun]

worms are very common, you can be the cleanest of people and still get them. I concider my family to be very hygenic but somehow my kids seem to get them quite frequently. TBH i think the only way you can assure that you'll never get them is to never put your hands in your mouth. Just put all your bedding on hotwash and use seperate towels and repeat treatment in 2 weeks, apart from that theres not much you can do. Although they arw very unpleasent there not deadly.

[tigwig]

society the worms come out of your bum! Nice isn't it? Halifaxmum, don't worry these are so common with kids, usually younger children more though. I would be giving your daughter a strict lesson in personal hygiene lol and tell her never to bite her nails etc if she does.

[Brinjal]

you should deworm your pets at the same time.