Pinworms - may be TMI

mysweetpeasWil&Wes wrote: Have your kids ever had pinworms?

My sister has three girls and she called me yesterday to tell me they just got over having pinworms. I had never even heard of them. Her middle DD was constantly scratching her tush, so my sister put some Desityn on it, thinking it was just a rash...well the cream obviously didn't help, so after about three days, my sister woke at night (because you know us moms, we do the MOST thinking in the middle of the night) and went into her DD's room and found little white worms crawling around her tush. I know, gross. She took her out of school and took her straight to the ped the next day. The ped said it was COMMON, but it's just something people don't talk about. Same with lice. The ped said it is VERY contagious and prescribed the whole family a med that basically paralyzes the worms so that you can poop them out. Apparently the worms stick to the side of the colon otherwise. And they like the dark, that's why they come out of the tushy at night and lay their eggs around the opening. Which is how they are spread...A kid itches down there, the eggs get under nails and then spread to other people.

Anyone can get them, just so you know. They are spread just like lice or really any virus. They aren't really harmful, but like lice, irritating. And it has NOTHING to do with cleanliness...I know this for fact because my sister is super clean and healthy, so are her kids. Just one of those things that kids spread to other kids.

I had no idea............................

Anthony275 replied: ..ew

Calimama replied:

My kid's going to school in a zip lock baggy.

redchief replied: ~~~ shudder ~~~
I have heard of them, but have never encountered a case. I know they aren't common here because of the temperate climate, though it is possible for children in temperate regions to contract pinworm infestation.

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied:
I know, I thought the same thing, but they can even get it from the park playground. My mom said I had it as a kid too.

I've been checking the boys tushies just about every hour after I spoke to my sister! And it's hard, because boys scratch down there ALLLLLL the time!

redchief replied:
That's cuz boys itch down there all the time. I doesn't get better with age.

Hillbilly Housewife replied: lol

i read an article a while back about how some guy purposely re-infects himself with them, it helps with his Chrones disease or something like that.

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied:

redchief replied:
Oh, man! I don't think I could do that no matter how much "good" it did me. I know Crohns is painful, but I just don't think I could set worms to work in there.

Anthony275 replied: this is why i wash my hands and dont scratch myself

MoonMama replied:
Ditto!

Cece00 replied: Oh ick. So far, none of this for us....I hope I dont jinx us!

Maddie&EthansMom replied: I remember having them as a kid. It was awful!! I probably got them on the playground. Who knows, really. I was a nailbiter and my mother is convinced that's how I got them. My dr told her to shine a flashlight on my tush while I was sleeping. I only had them once for a short time. Gross.

eta: my kids have never had them....thank goodness.

mom21kid2dogs replied: We all had it when we were kids. I remember the taste of the medicine as incrediably disgusting! My parents tried to mask it by putting it in red kool aid. I can't drink red kool aid to this day because of that!!!

Nina J replied: I've heard of them, we just call it worms. My whole family gets worm tablets, lol. You can buy them in packs of different flavours like chocolate or orange, and every couple of months you have one.

I always thought that lots of people got it, they just don't know they have them because the infestation doesn't always get really bad. And usually kids get it. Theres probably heaps of parents whose kids have had it and they just never realise. I think I got it once or twice when I was a kid but we always got the medicine and I've always done that too.

I just read this:
it being estimated that over 200 million people are infected annually. It is more common in the temperate regions of Western Europe and North America, (it being relatively rare in the tropics) and is found particularly in children. Samples of Caucasian children in the U.S.A. and Canada have shown incidences of infection of between 30% to 80%

boyohboyohboy replied:

thats to cute!
but can i have a baggy too?

luvmykids replied: I'd heard of it but never known anyone who had them. Does not sound like a fun thing to deal with!

bawoodsmall replied: That's just nasty. Totally grosses me out to think of stuff on my skin at night. Gosh I hope Em and Aiden never get it...I will be so grossed out. NASTY!!!!

MyBrownEyedBoy replied: Ha, you all crack me up. I work in a lab, believe me, pinworms are among the least of my parasite worries.

My3LilMonkeys replied: great....now next time my butt itches I'm going to be asking DH to shine a flashlight on it at night....he'll think I'm nuts!

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied:
That's how my sister knew to look, because a friend was staying the night a few months back and asked for a flashlight to check out her son's butt. My sister was like "what do you need a flashlight for?"

DH keeps joking with me and saying "Do you want to look in my butt?"...Gross!

It's true, the ped told my sister that most people don't even know they have them.

lovemy2 replied:


You are too much

Crystalina replied:
No doubt!

holley79 replied: Yep due to the extreme moisture here in the south and being on the Gulf coast it's nothing for a Pedi to see them. I had them as a kid and Annika had them this past Spring. I was totally mortified and thought I was a bad parent. My pedi says she sees about 15 kids a month during the spring and summer with them.

grapfruit replied: I was on a nature hike and some Amish people were talking about how they had a worm in a pop. And just calmly talking about how they were pretty sure they had worms...

I'll admit, that was my first experience w/the subject. I guess it's more common then I thought. They weren't bothered by it too much...

kit_kats_mom replied: I had them a couple of times as a kid. I bit my nails and probably picked the eggs up someplace at the playground then ate them. (barf)

They are nasty little things and they can get really irritating if they go in the wrong place if you kwim. I recall my ped saying that you can put a piece of tape on their butt at night and if there are any, at least one or two will get stuck and you can get the meds then. Not only does the whole family have to take the meds, all sheets and stuff need to be washed in hot water.

I am constantly telling the girls that they will get worms if they put their fingers in their mouths.

moped replied: It is very common - and i have heard sandboxes are the worst

I remember my mom treating us every spring with somehting so we didn't get them