What a topic!
As an herbalist specialising in Family Health, I tend to get asked a lot about worms. To clarify, I’m talking about threadworms here, (Enterobius vermicularis, also known as pin worms). These are those little white ‘thread like’ worms that are commonly known to be the source of itchy bottoms at night time. They are gross, yes, but they are also part of life, and most children will experience a worm infection at some time during those young preschool and school aged years. However, this is NOT just a kid thing, many adults can also be infected with threadworms and some have next to no symptoms! Threadworm infection can also become chronic in children and adults and can be very hard to clear. It is not uncommon for clients to report to me they have been suffering with reoccurring threadworms infections for years. Yes, YEARS.
Firstly, a few myths:
We don’t get threadworms from our pets, or from the soil. The only host that threadworms live in is humans. They need us and only us to live and reproduce.
Threadworms aren’t just something that happen to dirty kids.
Threadworms also infect adults (possibly way more than we realise!) and you don’t need to have kids to get infected as an adult.
You don’t have to have an itchy bottom to have threadworms. Some of the other common signs and symptoms include bedwetting, poor sleep, fatigue, mood disturbances, growth and developmental issues and changes to appetite.
Ok, now that we have cleared those things up, when it comes to dealing with threadworms, we need to understand a little bit about their life cycle. Infection occurs when we swallow (or inhale) threadworm eggs, which are tiny…like teeny tiny. The eggs travel down into our small bowel where they turn into worms and live in the gut for 4-6 weeks. The females then crawl out of the anus, generally at night or other times of rest, and lay their eggs (bloody thousands of them!). This migration of the female and the sticky eggs themselves causes the common itching around the anus. Scratching this area then transfers the eggs onto the hands and under the finger nails and also on to underpants, bed sheets, clothing etc. and then the eggs get transferred back into the mouth or inhaled.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t always end there. Female threadworms can also easily migrate to the vagina in young girls and women, where they can live quite happily. Believe it or not they can also live in the ears, eyes, salivary glands, up the nose, basically anywhere they can find a warm, moist spot on the human body.
Dealing with these little nasty critters can be… well ….nasty. For many, a double dose split by 10 or so days of the over-the-counter (OTC) drugs available for threadworms (vermox, combantrim etc) is enough to eradicate them from the home as along as everyone is treated. For some however, these OTC drugs just don’t seem to cut it.
The active drugs found in these medications are pyrantel and mebendazole. Both of these drugs work directly in the digestive track where they kill or stun the female and male worms. The do not kill eggs that have been laid around the anus (or anywhere else on the body). Hence, the second dose is given 2 weeks later to ensure that if reinfection has occurred from these eggs, that they are also killed. BUT, and it’s a big but, these medications do not reach any worms or eggs that are living anywhere else in the body, including the vagina, which makes reinfection actually really common and the cycle continues.
This can be SO hard to navigate and so very frustrating for all involved and I have sat across from many a parent who is at their wits end with worms!
My approach with these chronic cases is truly holistic. We consider not only how to eradicate these little f*ckers but also how to prevent them coming back. Depending on the client, their age and their presenting case and symptoms, I consider many different options to help with eradication including medication or herbs, barrier creams, nasal sprays, ear oils, nail biting serums etc. Then we begin to focus heavily on supporting the body to become less hospitable to worms in the first place which may include increasing stomach acid, supporting the microbiome and focusing on key herb, supplements and nutrients to prevent future infection. It’s definitely a multi-pronged approach that spans far wider than a double dose of OTC meds and in my clinical experience, it’s effective which is, of course, the most important thing.
So, if worms have become a problem for your family please know that there are options. It's also nothing to be ashamed of, waaaay more common than you think and seeking help is cruicial to get you out of the cycle.
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