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How OLD is your son?
When you give medical advice on the phone, or over the Internet on WebMD, one of the most important bits of information is the age of the patient.
Many years ago, I responded to a phone message from a worried mother. "I think my son has pinworms", she said. Pinworms are relatively common pediatric infestations, the predominant symptom being a very, very itchy butt. Pinworms live in the lower intestinal tract and have a nasty habit of emerging at night to lay eggs along the anal ring and socialize with other worms. I was once asked by a student, "How do pinworms know it is night?" --- an unanswerable question to this day. Pinworms are harmless, but very socially undesirable.
There are three ways to diagnose pinworms: 1. Send a stool specimen to the lab and have the lab tech dig through the poop and physically look for them. 2. Use a "Scotch Tape" test where a sticky plastic paddle is tapped around the anal ring hoping to find some microscopic eggs. 3. Having the parent physically LOOK for the live pinworms crawling around the anus...a task that must be done at night (when pinworms emerge).
I told the parent that she would have to go into her son's dark bedroom at night while he is sleeping. She would carefully pull down his underwear, spread his butt cheeks, and use a flashlight to search for these tiny, white, thread-like worms around his anus. Our phone call became a period of uncomfortable silence.
"He is 16 years old!"
It is very important to always ask the AGE of your patient before answering phone questions.
Related Links: Contagious Creepy Crawlies, Pinworms: Symptoms
Technorati Tags: pediatricpractice, pinworms, parasites
Many years ago, I responded to a phone message from a worried mother. "I think my son has pinworms", she said. Pinworms are relatively common pediatric infestations, the predominant symptom being a very, very itchy butt. Pinworms live in the lower intestinal tract and have a nasty habit of emerging at night to lay eggs along the anal ring and socialize with other worms. I was once asked by a student, "How do pinworms know it is night?" --- an unanswerable question to this day. Pinworms are harmless, but very socially undesirable.
There are three ways to diagnose pinworms: 1. Send a stool specimen to the lab and have the lab tech dig through the poop and physically look for them. 2. Use a "Scotch Tape" test where a sticky plastic paddle is tapped around the anal ring hoping to find some microscopic eggs. 3. Having the parent physically LOOK for the live pinworms crawling around the anus...a task that must be done at night (when pinworms emerge).
I told the parent that she would have to go into her son's dark bedroom at night while he is sleeping. She would carefully pull down his underwear, spread his butt cheeks, and use a flashlight to search for these tiny, white, thread-like worms around his anus. Our phone call became a period of uncomfortable silence.
"He is 16 years old!"
It is very important to always ask the AGE of your patient before answering phone questions.
Related Links: Contagious Creepy Crawlies, Pinworms: Symptoms
Technorati Tags: pediatricpractice, pinworms, parasites
33 Comments:
Im positive i have this. I havent told my parents because im embarassed, but i cant sleep at night cause i can feel them. Is there any way to get rid of this without medical treatment?
I think it may be a tape worm. I wanna know how you get a tape worm and how much the blood test costs to find one, as well as how much the procedure costs to remove one. Please post back because I am worried about some unwanted visitor eating all my food, but I do not have insurance and cannot afford to be a hypocondriact and go get tested. Also, if so, clarify if biting your nails is a major catalyst of catching a tapeworm, or growing one. However you look at it.... THANX!!
Hopefully PurmAwurM-free,
Will
anonymous:
Here's some information on tapeworm.
Hi there , wel i dotn have comment but i rather need help and dont know where to turn cause my son dr feel he jsut need more wates in his diet , but for a last month or so he been pooing little pices and it kinda paste like and smeels very high. can someone help me.
Anonymous,
Please visit our Parenting message boards to post your question.
Thank you!
my step daughter has told me that she has worms agian. this is the third time in three years. can it be caused by her letting her dog lick around her mouth? her mom blames it on the kids she goes to school with, or her chewing her nails. i have three kids of my own and need to know how contagous this is. is there anything i can do to prevent it from spreading, or advice for her mother so she doesn't get it again?? thanks
i really think i have pinworms!?
what do i do to get rid of them, please help i am gettin married soon and don't want my new husband knowing this.
alright, I'm really worried. I have had symptoms of upset stomach after I eat , bloating, and gas for the last couple of weeks. I thought it was menstrual related, but that came and went and my belly still churns after I eat....And then I guess I passed something in my stool today. It looked like an undigested piece of celery string about 2 inches in length on the toilet paper when I wiped. It was clear and flat, almost like dental floss too I guess...I'm so worried about this being tapeworms though I did eat celery 3 days ago! I read elsewhere about vitamin B12 deficiency (which helps hair growth and I have a really hard time growing my hair better despite other vitamins I take). I also re they take 3-4 months to mature and pieces of them are broken off and released in the stool. About 4 months ago we ate at a really nice seafood restaurant when we were on vacation in Florida...I thought I'd be fancy and order something I never ordered before, so I ordered a tuna steak, cooked to medium. I want to know if I have tapeworms, so do I go to a Dr., which will be embarrassing or could I treat it myself with home remedies? What's the best thing I should do?? please help!
when pieces of the tapeworm comes out in your stool, are they transparent and 'gooey' or 'wormlike' in appearance or touch OR are they more fiberish? Are they big enough to see with the naked eye?
Why is it that people keep constantly asking questions on this topic but no one replies with an ANSWER??
anonymous above,
For answers to specific questions, please visit our message boards.
Thank you!
Just a reminder to all that our terms and conditions require that you be over age 13 to use the site.
Thank you.
About pinworms.... I haven't an itchy bum, but Im pretty sure I saw some worms in my stool... in anycase, I have white stuff in my stool that looks like the white vegetable stuff that sometimes comes in fried rice. I've read discripions of these worms and it doesn't really seem to match what I have, but upon looking at pictures, it might. I'm really confused and need help.
i'm totally positive that i have this. I have told my parents about it after i saw 1. what should i do till i go to the docoter's?
i am totally positive i have this. i told my parents about it when i saw 1 ,but i still can't sleep at night because i can feel them. Is there anyway to get rid of this without medical treatment?
To the commenter above: Here is some information about pinworms.
Hey, i've been eating a lot lately. I just ate three frozen dinners that are meant for 2-3 people each, I'm still starving. I'm thirteen so i thought that this may be due to a growth spurt, but I'm worried that it may be somehting else like a tapeworm. Can someone please help me?
Are Tape Worms and Pin Worms the same thing? Does either cause you to gain weight or loose weight? And if a person has had them for a long time unaware what side effects would you expect?
I'm no medical doctor, but I have heard that tapeworms are pretty much harmless. There are medicines that kill tapeworms, so if you think you have one, see your physician. They usually break off in sections (they look like thin ribbons) and once the head is excreted, you will no longer be infected. This may take several days.
It is true they eat some of the food your body should digest, and this may does cause weight loss, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, or irration around the anus, but again, tapeworms are potentially harmless. I have even heard of people using a pill or something that contains a tapeworm egg to lose weight, though this is no longer common.
Tapworms are contracted by eating undercooked pork or beef from an animal that had a tapeworm infestation. If properly cooked, it should not be an issue.
If any of the above pertains to you or you still fear you may have a tapeworm infestation, see a physician; that is my best advice.
I source my info from this:
Kuns M.D., Jeffrey. The American Medical Association: Family Medical Guide. New York City: Random House, Inc., 1982.
i'm so ashamed doing this but i gotta ask... i see a somewhat pink area at one side of my anus. it is itchy especially at night. is this a fungal infection or a worm infestation? please answer... thanks..
Anonymous,
your post on 9/11 sounds like a hemorrhoid rather than worms or a fungal infection.
Hi im a 24 male about 6'3'' and only weigh 150 lbs. I'm worried i might have tapeworm. I eat constantly all day at pretty large quantities and still dont gain any weight can u tell me what my problem might be.
My friend denny said that if you bite your nails, you can get a tapeworm. But I dont know if he is telling the truth. I have been biting my nails FOREVER!!! and I am so freaked out. So can anyone tell me if a worm is crawling in me right now getting ready to eat my internal organs and come out my rear!
Rod, I just wanted to thank you for this 2 year old post. I was pretty sure my 6 yo daughter has pinworms, has all the outward symptoms, but few pages discussed the "home diagnosis" methods you mentioned. Her anal area is red and irritated, she says it itches terribly, but ... I did the "sleeptime visual inspection," and that clinched it. Again, thanks for your post so that I didn't get the OTC remedy with only 90% certainty.
Pin worm @ home cure. When I was little I had pin worm. It's a really odd fix, but putting vasaline around your anus hole prevents them from coming out and laying more eggs. It's uncomfortable and a little gross, but if you do it for three months. It all goes away. It really does work. No medicine, no doctors, just good ole vasaline
this is the second time i have pinworm the first time my whol intyere family had to take a pill but i do not rememeber if i had to stay home from school should i?
I had pinworms several months ago. I used medication, and they went away. At least, the symptoms stopped, and I didn't see any more of them. One or two months later, I started seeing them again. I know the eggs hatch two weeks later after treatment, even, but this was more than two months. They won't go away, and the itching is unbearable. Why do they keep coming back, and NOT going away? Is my infection worse than average? Please help.
I think I have pin worms. I've had that unbearable itchy sensation at night for the past 2 weeks or so. I don't know how to get rid of it. I tried preparation H, but then I saw the little things sqwerming on the toilet paper. I often have the urge to pass a bowel movement, but when I sit down all that happens is maybe some gas and like a white fluid. How do I get rid of them. It's happened a few times before, usually after my menstrual cycle, but I never noticed the worms until this time. I'm a clean person, I eat right, exercise, I don't bit my nails or anything like that. I'm a compulsive hand washer. I just don't have a clue how I could have gotten them. Is it contagious.
I can answer this. You probably do have them, because the same thing happened to me when I got it. It is very common, and they're harmless, so don't worry too much. The eggs can get onto you and be transfered inside of you somehow. Even if you wash your hands twelve times a day, it's still possible to get it. It's very easy to receive. I guess it could be classified as contagious, because the pinworm eggs are easily transferred from person to person. But don't take my word for it; see a doctor.
Dear Doctor or informed reader, lately I have been having the strangest sensation in my but (anus), it feels like I have a worm wiggling around. I'm not to sure if I should just brave it and go see the doc or just wait and see if my body will take care of it; but it's very unnerving to have this feeling of something moving around in me especially in this particular area. Can this be related to any other more common medical condition that I'm not aware of or is it pretty obvious? Either way, I'm kinda scared and nervous and just wondering if anyone can help (especially a Doctor). If it helps I'm a 25 year old male. Thank you!
I am very sure I have this, and I cannot get to sleep. I can't take it! It is getting to the where it is affecting my day. Please, is there a way to get rid of this without telling my folks?! Please help me.
to above anonymous! dont worry! just tell them. I told my mom and my fiance in the last couple of days and believe it or not it wasnt as freaky as one might think. theyre understanding people and were just concerned. i imagine the same will happen with you too. I just discovered what the worms are recently and im coming to realize that ive had them for YEARS! i just always dismissed the little white things on the toilet paper and rolled up bits of toilet paper or something UNTIL just a couple of weeks ago! the little white thing...IT MOVED! then i googled it and realized... ive had these buggers for years! i just thought all the discomforts were just constipation or regular body things. WRONG.
So I started to have itching on one side of my anus a couple weeks ago. When I put stuff on it, it goes away for a while but of course the itching comes back. I haven't seen any worms and I can't feel anything "crawling around"? Could this just be some classic skin irritation, these worms, or something else?
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