r/Parasitology

I’m sorry this will probably be long.

my 6 year old daughter was complaining her butt was itchy last Tuesday. I have never heard of pinworms so I just assumed she wasn’t clean down there, so I cleaned her up. Friday night, she’s in tears for being so uncomfortable. luckily my mom was over, because she told me to check her for pinworms. after my baby went to sleep I checked and sure as shit. there were pinworms. next day; Saturday, we all take OTC medicine (me, dad, little brother and daughter and my mom). Saturday night, they are in her vagina. I’m wigging out, so Sunday I take her to urgent care, doc prescribed her the chewable tablet. she took that Wednesday when it was finally available for pick up. Tuesday night, my 13 month old who usually sleeps thru the night, woke up a ton, and was up until 3am. I checked him and thought I saw one but husband thought I was just paranoid. Wednesday night, baby is up again 1-3am, I for sure found one on his butt. cleaned him off, put on Vaseline and cortisone. next day, Thursday, take him to the ped, he got the same medicine (taken same day) as his sister, the chewable tablet.

yes, we are doing ALL THE THINGS to keep clean. high heat laundry every day, morning and even night showers, I’m wiping down everything constantly with Clorox (I read that doesn’t kill them just today so now I’m even more paranoid…), I wiped down the toys and they are sitting outside in this hot ass sunlight, and I washed all her stuffed animals and put them away (probably for a long time), and vacuuming our mattresses (we cosleep. no I can not and will not put my child on another sleep surface, please don’t suggest that, it’s not possible as he is nursing).

so now the last few days I have been seeing dead ones in my stool. ever since Saturday I’ve been taking Benadryl at night to mostly help calm me down, but I’m wondering if I do have the itchiness symptom at night but just can’t feel it bc of the Benadryl. I have also been giving my daughter a safe dose since Saturday, and last night was the first night I didn’t offer it, she went to sleep fine and didn’t complain about itching. however today her poop was FILLED WITH LIVING pinworms. it’s been 6 days since we all took otc, and only 2/3 days since she took chewable tablet from the doctor.

my daughter is the one most infected and she is handling this better than me (thank god). I mean, on the surface I am okay because I need to be strong and positive for my children, but internally I am so fucking anxious, and paranoid. I walk outside to cry my eyes out multiple times a day. I made my husband call off work (he works night shift) because Im having bad anxiety.

im worried they will never go away. yes I know we will all take a second dose in two weeks. and I will continue to be rigorous about cleaning.

can someone on here ease my worries? I have red Reddit horror stories of it never going away. should I keep treating us after the two week dose??

also, it could’ve been picked up from school in May, or her first week of summer camp, gymnastics, karate, cheerleading, a friend, dirt, sand, swimming, who knows. but it makes me never want to do anything again.

it’s hard too because my 13m old puts damn near everything in his mouth, and goes straight to the dirt to play in outside (I have been washing his hands after). I feel like I can not control this, and I dont like feeling out of control.

I recently came off my prescription prozac after being on it for 4 years, and now I feel like I need to start again because if something triggers my anxiety, I unfortunately spiral.

im not sure what I’m looking for here, guidance anything I missed, most of all peace of mind. thank you.

If you believed that you might have a parasitic worm inside of you would vomiting help remove it? I figured that it might. Maybe not just once but a few times might get them out, though I'm not an expert obviously 😭

And if it is possible even by a small amount, what type of foods should you eat before vomiting to help? I'm a little desperate right now.

Are there foods that parasites are drawn to? Again, just curious.

Any comments and advice heavily appreciated! This isn't asking for medical advice, just curious about DIY ifykyk

(This is in no way condoning pseudo science. I am not talking about that. This is for peace of mind, I am not telling people to copy this stupid idea)

If you believed that you had a parasitic worm inside of you would vomiting help remove it? I figured that it might. Maybe not just once but a few times might get them out, though I'm not an expert obviously 😂

And if it is possible even by a small amount, what type of foods should you eat before vomiting to help draw them out? I'm a little desperate right now.

Any comments and advice heavily appreciated! This isn't asking for medical advice, just curious about DIY ifykyk

My thoughts are that it's probably food outbreak related. Not sure why it's booming so much but I'm sure they'll figure it out soon enough

So months ago i started experiencing itching around the Anus, one nighht it was so bad i couldnt sleep. I searched a bit and somehow didnt find anything about parasites, all i saw was maybe i was wiping to aggressively or stuff like that, so i just tried to be more carefull and went on with my life, the itching mostly stopped, but it still popped up every no and then. Today after shitting i looked at it, which i dont do often, and there were super tiny worms on it, which after i did some research seems like its pinworm. Honestly i just feel disgusted, even thinking about the fact that those things are inside me. Tomorrow i am going to a farmacy to get meds for it, but i wanna know, is it worse because i let it go for so long?

if you've seen any of my other posts i bet you're really annoyed with me for being so needy and pestering online but i just need to get this out.

I'm really worried that my dog has a hookworm infection and doesn't show any symptoms. I guess the only weird thing about her lately is that the skin around her neck is a bit red. A friend said that it might be from the dye of her cooling bandana rubbing off. I don't know.

I've been insanely itchy lately and on no specific area, mostly my legs, stomach, and arms though. The more i think about it, the itchier i get. I have randomly developed an odd obsession with worms and parasites living inside of me and everyone i know, sometimes it's all i can think of. I just picture piles and worms all squirming and blocking up my insides.

I don't actually know much about this because i burst into tears every time i google it but i think she could have given me something because i've picked up her poop using poop bags and she's pooped in my garden on the paving and i've walked over there.

Is this possible at all? I really need some help with this! :( I'm not in any way asking for medical advice. I just want to stop my worries.

I mean if there was a gun to your head and the question was “Get rid of Toxoplasma gondii in the world or die!” What would you say.

Give me theories or hypotheticals or studies and hope.