Pinworms anyone?

[Anonymous]

OP, get some food grade diatomaceous earth to flush those suckers out, safely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Should we wash our pillows and comforters too? Every single day? I am OK with overkill, but the laundry is killing me!

Yes. We just switched to sleeping with a sheet instead of a comforter to make the washing a little easier.

Clean the house from top to bottom and open up the blinds and curtains to let a lot of sunshine in.

Also, everyone in the family is supposed to take the medication, since it's so contagious.

It's a pain, the silver lining for me is that I lost the last 10 pounds I've been carrying around for the past 4 years. ( I'm short so that makes a big difference).
The constant climbing of stairs to get the laundry done each day, the cleaning, and my lack of appetite due to being grossed out and not wanting to 'feed' the parasites took it right off!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It could be worst...summer of 2012 my three kids all had pinworms AND lice at the same time. I felt like the most disgusting human on the planet. I went through a container of clorax wipes a day. UGHHHHHH

Oh that's terrible!! I feel for you, I think I probably would have gone crazy!

[Anonymous]

OP here. A few days into it, and so exhausted from the cleaning and laundry. If anyone has had success stories please please write in and help make me feel better. I keep reading horror stories in the internet about how the eggs get inhaled, that wiping down doesn't do anything, etc. This is just the grossest, most disgusting thing that ever happened to us!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, get some food grade diatomaceous earth to flush those suckers out, safely.

I second this.

[Anonymous]

Sorry what is "food grade diatomaceous earth" and where do I find it? Our pediatrician (who is excellent and not averse to a holistic approach in addition to medicine) did not mention this. I will ask her.

[Anonymous]

We did the DE and it did not work. Ended up using the over counter stuff 4 times before there were no more signs of it.

Remember to clean the house from top to bottom.

Wash and dry towels, bedding and clothes on hot.

Bag up toys, stuffed animals, decorative pillows.

Vacuum the furniture.

Let sunlight in.

Shower before bed and in the morning. Make sure the kids clean their butt well and wash their hands and fingernails after.

Cut nails short.

Wash hands and fingernails frequently, especially before preparing food and before eating.

If you have a tendency to get constipated, take a laxative. TMI, but you have to poop those suckers out of your system.

Limit sugar, including carbs. I limited meat since my intestines are a bit sluggish.

If your having trouble with getting rid of them, try a tea tree oil suppository.

Use Vaseline at night around the anus, this will prevent any laid eggs from becoming airborne.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

PP,

We are doing all the cleaning measures that you have suggested. Do you suggest cleaning in this manner every day? We are washing sheets, pillows, comforters daily. We are wiping down bed frames daily and vacuuming bedrooms and bathrooms daily. Mopping practically every day. The toys are difficult. All stuffed animals have been bagged and removed. But cannot remove all the Legos etc as the kids need something to play with. Wiped down all the most popular ones but they do have a lot of toys sadly. We took a dose of PinX (kids) and Albendazole (adults) and waiting to take our next dose. Only our daughter had the itching and that stopped. The rest of us did not have itching. How do we know if we still have them? Your post mentions "if they are hard to get rid off" - but to be very practical, please let me know how you know if they are hard to get rid off. TMI is fine. Just feeling desperate to have all the information possible. This seems far worse than lice and not as common?

[Anonymous]

I was told to time the cleaning with the medication. One dose of medication for each family member, a dose of cleaning [just for me ] around the time everyone took his/her pill. Don"t remember exactly how it was coordinated... maybe I cleaned during the day and we all took our pills at night?

[Anonymous]

Anyway (and I'm 22:29 and also a PP who said her DD had pinworms in Kindergarten), we knew it was over when DD's itching subsided and she stopped wetting herself. One dose of (then-prescription) medication did the trick.

[Anonymous]

PP, this is helpful. (This is OP). I just wonder why the other PP had to dose 4 times in spite of all the cleaning. I have seen similar things on the web too. Our doctors say that there is almost a 100% cure rate with the pinworm medications and that they do not see recurring issues as they do with lice. But the internet does not seem to agree. Understanding this better would help me decide how much cleaning I need to continue. Two weeks between doses is a long time, and keeping up continuous laundry and cleaning for that period is just a lot of work. Did most posters here clear their infections easily with the recommended two doses? If so, how much cleaning did you do? What about the daily morning shower to wash off freshly laid eggs? How many mornings after the first dose should this continue for?

[Anonymous]

I'm the 4 dose pp.

You don't have to vacuum, mop, etc each day. Just the day you take the first dose and the day you take the second dose. I did laundry each day. It's a lot to get used to at first, but then it just became routine.

My kid got it last spring and my guess as to why it took so long to get rid of is that he kept getting re-infected at school. The symptoms would go away and then come back. This continued until school let out. On the last day, we all took the last dose and never had the problem again.

When I say hard to get rid of, I'd say that with regards to myself. The medicine didn't work well on me because I have a tendency to get constipated. With the Pin-X the worms are just paralyzed and you have to get them out of your system before they "wake up". Going the route of suppositories and laxatives was necessary for me. But that doesn't sound like an issue for you, so don't stress about it.

It's a pain for sure but sounds like your doing all the right things and they will go away. GL!

[Anonymous]

PP, thanks. This helps. I have been wondering how to approach this with the kids' schools. Was your child's school proactive and taking measures such as informing parents, cleaning up at school, etc? It just seems from a public health perspective that the school should be told. However, I don't want my kids stigmatized.

[Anonymous]

My DD had pinworms off and on until she began her period, inspite of the measures I took,(cleansing, stockpiling the medication, replacing clothing). Her brother never got them, and neither did we. Go figure.

[Anonymous]

I recommend this book for anyone who's kids have pinworms, (or a slew of other common ailments.)

http://www.amazon.com/Dr-Dog-Babette-Cole/dp/067988548X