Me too!

Actually I do buy into the theory that the female worms die off while still in transit to the outside and the eggs are laid inside of you. If this is the case then it gives me hope that the rest of my family arent necessarily infected too, which gives me some relief. I initially caught it off my kids but they seemed to respond at the time to medication. The thing is that for 3 years + it's been constant for me but none of them have any symptoms. Every 3-4 months I give them all a couple of doses of mebendazole with a 10 day gap just to make sure. The GP prescribes a massive dose on 1 single prescription so it doesn't cost me the earth, and I can spread it out sporadically for all of us over several months. I read the same info as you and although it sounds pretty hopeless, there's a tremendous relief in thinking that at least my kids / husband may not have them. It seems it's just me. Also it means there's no cycle to break if it's all happening internally and all the OCD house cleansing / boiling knickers etc etc isnt going to help. Why shouldn't threadworm evolve so the eggs no longer need oxygen to hatch? If they all hatched externally then at some point, due to the regularity of medication I've taken, the last egg would be laid and get washed away in the shower - cycle broken - worm free... NOT! Yes I'll keep you posted.

Yes, I'm thinking the same as you. None reason they lay eggs outside the body is so that they can infect another host and keep the population down in their own host's body so there's less competition for food.  I don't believe they need oxygen to hatch.   I seriously hope that they can't hatch within 4 - 6 hours as jean suggests.  That would mean that an egg could be laid, hatch and crawl back up you all while you were asleep.  So all that hygiene and washing would be a waste of time.  

 

No Kay, threadworm eggs need oxygen to hatch, which is why they are laid outside the body. They can hatch in 4-6hours and sometimes the young worms go back into the bowel and reinfect. Which is why they can be so difficult to get rid of I guess. I am taking large doses of mebendazole, 5 at a time as well as Albendazole, and tonight for fun I will take Pyrantel instead. Am eating no sugar, except what is in fruit, which is tough. Don't know what else I can do to be honest. Think the GP probably doesn't believe me as they don't show up on tests. 

I know this is the info we've been given Jean, but all our experiences suggest otherwise. The young worms would be killed by the medication before they had chance to mature and lay more eggs, and the existing eggs would all be washed away, which is exactly how the medication is supposed to work with the 10 day gap - but this never happens unfortunately. I wash externally several times a night each time the worms wake me and shower every morning. Who's to say the blighters havent evolved to not need oxygen to hatch? Or have they become immune to the treatment? Hasnt the Albendazole worked for you? Is Pyrantel different to Piperazine? 

The medications don't actually kill the worms unfortunately. Mebendazole and Albendazole both prevent them absorbing glucose, and the idea is they are weakened and passed out in the stools. Pyrantel pamoate is supposed to paralyse them so they lose their grip and get passed out. I think it may depend partly on how quickly everything passes through a persons bowel, as I have a problem with constipation so it is all rather slow. So I'm adding a laxative to the mixture. Piperazine seems to have been withdrawn everywhere, can't find it online. After 2 years of taking Mebendazole I think my little darlings are completely resistant now.... Never knew till recently one could take more than a single tablet. So will be trying 2 tabs Albendazole a night, with occasional Pyrantel to keep them guessing. If I succeed will shout it from the rooftops, you bet!

Oh my God,nth is is so confusing.  Everyone has different viewpoints.  Jenny - where do you get your albendazole and  pyrantel from?  

I got Albendazole and Pyrantel online, from Turkey and India (I think). Would have preferred to get them in this country, but apart from 3 doses of Al from my GP, can't. I just have to hope they are OK.