Pinworm (was grinding teeth)

[Guest guest]

Someone just asked me how to know if their child had pinworm and my

return message keeps bouncing back, so here goes:

I would first consider if there was a " route of infection " . My

daughter, who attends two preschool settings, started putting her

hands in her mouth a lot (she had never even sucked her thumb in the

past) because she had molars coming in. Pinworm infection happens

through ingestion of pinworm eggs which are in minute amounts of

fecal material (sorry to be gross!!) such as under fingernails of

other preschoolers.

If you fish about on the 'net, you will read about a couple ways to

diagnose pinworm infection. One is to shine a flashlight at the anal

opening shortly after the child has gone to sleep (this is when the

female worms come out to lay eggs). Another is to apply a piece of

stick tape to the anal opening in an attempt to trap some of the

pinworms as they try to migrate. Pinworms are about a centimeter

long, thinner than a hair, and have a dark, yet translucent

appearance (a magnifying glass might help here).

Neither of the above worked for us. I caught the pinworms from my

daughter and it became " itchingly obvious " what was going on. We

wound up treating the whole household just to be cautious.

FYI#1: The herbal remedies I read about had no effect.

FYI#2: The OTC medication had a wierd psychotropic effect on me---

made me very crabby in a PMS sort of way---very odd.

--Lissy (she who hath defeated the worm!!