(not fetish) remedies for pinworms

Ever had pinworms? If so, what was the treatment?

Had them as a small child, my grandmother would make me lay over her lap and she would use a bobby pin to pick them out

I have never had pinworms, but wouldn't they just use oral mebendazole or a similar drug?

I had them as a kid in the 40’s and multiple SSE were given over a week...it must have worked so I’m 72 now and no worms. No memory, stamina, hair, looks....but hey “ no worms”.

I had them twice. When I was a child, maybe 5 or 6, and my mom took a paper tissue and a gray cream on it and before sleeping she layed it between my buttocks , the next morning everything was fine. And about a year ago, where ever I got them, and I made an appointment to meet the troop doctor. He had a look at my abuse and put his finger in, but he could not find a worm, so he sent me to a proctologist. After getting that proctoscope in my bum he wrote a receipt for a red liquid to drink which was really ugly. But it worked, luckily. After few weeks the proctologist told me, the therapy was successful because he does not see any more worms or eggs inside.

Had them as a small child, my grandmother would make me lay over her lap and she would use a bobby pin to pick them out

Yikes. I think they are treated with a pill that you take 3 or 4 times. I'm not sure picking them out does any good but I have seen monkeys pick lice off each other as well.

I never had pinworms. But my husband said if he had an itchy butt as a kid, his mom would assume that he had pinworms and the treatment would be a q-tip full of Vicks late at night. In the evening he would be given a saline enema until returns are clear then he would bathe then go to bed. He would be sleeping and his mom would come late at night with a flashlight and a q-tip full Vicks and insert it into his bottom and hold it there for a while. He remembers the burn in his bottom and telling her to take it out. She would do this for three consecutive days.

I never had pinworms. But my husband said if he had an itchy butt as a kid, his mom would assume that he had pinworms and the treatment would be a q-tip full of Vicks late at night. In the evening he would be given a saline enema until returns are clear then he would bathe then go to bed. He would be sleeping and his mom would come late at night with a flashlight and a q-tip full Vicks and insert it into his bottom and hold it there for a while. He remembers the burn in his bottom and telling her to take it out. She would do this for three consecutive days.

Sounds like another urban myth for treatment. That is the first time I have heard the Vicks part, I wonder if there is something to it. The menthol might have an effect I suppose.

The classic remedy for pinworms (threadworms) was an infusion of quassia wood given as an enema. Potter's Materia Medica (8th ed., 1917) indicates "Quassia, gr. x in Oj aqua, as injections against the Oxyuris vermicularis (thread-worm)" - this translates as 10 grains (one grain being approx. 1/5 gram) in one pint of water). Squire's Companion to the British Pharmacopœia (17th ed., 1899) states "the infusion is also used as an anthelmintic enema in threadworm."

Squire's indicates the preparation is "Quassia wood, finely rasped, 88 grains; Distilled water, cold, 20 fl. oz. infuse in a covered vessel for 15 minutes; strain. =(about 1 in 100).

Quassia is described as "the wood of Picrasma excels, or of Quassia amara, trees of the nay. ord. Simarubaceæ. The former is known commercially as Jamaica quassia, and the latter as Surinam quassia... it contains a bitter principle, Quassin, C₃₁H₄₂O₉, which is crystalline, soluble in hot alcohol and in chloroform, slowly in cold water, faster in alkaline or acidulated water. ...Quassia is a simple bitter, having no flavor, but is intensely bitter and less agreeable than either gentian or chiretta. It is fatal to flies and fish, and makes an excellent anthelmintic enema against the thread-worm..." (Potter).

I remember having pinworms as a child in the early 1960s and remember the diagnostic procedure involving application of Scotch tape between the buttocks, but never got any sort of enemas as a remedy. I believe the medication used at the time was an oral one called Delvex. John Eichenlaub's book A Minnesota Doctor's Home Remedies for Common and Uncommon Ailments (1960) mentions this drug. Eichenlaub recommended enemas for lots of conditions (every enemist ought to read it!), but not for pinworms.

PS - 1 grain is approx. 1/15 gram, not 1/5 gram as in my earlier comment. Not that anyone is going to try a quassia enema, but I did want to be correct!

As was said the treatment is mebendazole as a one time oral dose. I would like to relate a case I saw once. The parents of a four year old had a zillion complaints about the child. As I was leaving to see another patient they stopped me to say she was constipated as well. I was in a hurry and ordered a pedi Fleets without examining her. When the nurse gave it a herd of pinworms came pouring out the child’s rectum. The nurse wasn’t happy with me.

In the early to mid 40's I can remember Mum and Dad coming around after we (my brother and I) had supposedly gone to sleep. One of them parted our cheeks and with a torchlight, decided we had worms. The horror of even admitting that. I can remember Dad taking me to the family GP and the DR's directions to Dad was to give us boiled garlic enemas. All new to me, I had no idea what an enema was. I can remember Mum boiling this 'stuff' up on the stove and then Dad summoned us, me first, to come to the bathroom and totally strip off. "Bend over", how humiliating but I did as I was told. I loved it but made out that it was an invasion of my privacy. Worm problem over but I was hooked from that first insertion of the nozzle. That was over 70 years ago and I still have that original can although the red rubber hose is useless these days and only kept as a keepsake. What a memory to retain. 😃 regards, irrigator333.

I had pinworms when I was about 6 years old, that was in the about 1957. It was diagnosed because I saw them on the toilet tissue when I wiped my butt and I showed them to my mom. The Dr prescribed an oral medication that the entire family had to take. I also had to have a suppository every evening for 3 or 4 days, no one else in the family was prescribed the suppositories. It was my first and only memory of getting a suppository, and it was embarrassing for me to lay on my belly and have them put in my butt. I began getting oral temps when I turned about 4 so my mom had not looking at my butt for some time. For some reason the suppository also made my stool purple when I used the toilet. My poor mom had to wash all the sheets, blankets etc. in the house too. In those days sheets were not “permapress” and they needed to be ironed after washing and drying them on a clothesline.

Hello,

I had pinworms and there is a medication. Ask your drugstore about it, some oral medicament can be ordered without prescription. You have to take one pill for two weeks if I remember, the first one kill pinworms actually in intestines, the second one will kill the "newborn" pinworms. Maybe a third pill would be taken to clean safely the intestinal system.

In Switzerland and in France, there is a medicament called FLUVERMAL.

As far as I know, I never had pinworms. When I was a child, I did have a doctor look for pinworms since I had an itchy butt one time.

One of the neighbor boys mentioned that they had pinworms in their house and everyone was treated with enemas. This was in the early 60's so there was probably some oral medication being taken as well. That was not mentioned as I remember.

I was wondering

Just want to know how things evolved.

I have to add this because it is a little funny. The girl who started me on enemas was talking to me one night and told me that her daughter and her were itching in their anal area. She said that she thought it was pinworms because a kid her daughter plays with had them. She said her insurance would cover the treatment if she had them. She called them because the price of OTC (over-the-counter medication was expensive. She asked me how to tell. I told her to get some clear Scotch Tape and put it over her daughters and her anal area. She laughed and thought I was joking. She was looking at the kits at the pharmacy which were expensive. Well, She called her doctor's office. They told her that they could order the test kit for her so her insurance would cover it or she could just use clear Scotch tape and put it over the anal area at night then bring it in the next day. Yes, they had them.

Pinworms sneak out of your butt to lay their eggs around the anus and perinium. So the tape picks up as to whether there are eggs present or not. “To treat pinworm infection, your doctor may recommend over-the-counter pyrantel pamoate or prescribe medication to all members of your household to prevent infection and reinfection. The most common prescription anti-parasite medications for pinworms are: Mebendazole. Albendazole (Albenza)”

Apparently they are very easy to spread. Enemas won't cure them. My son had some kind of worm infestation when stationed in the mid-east (Jordan or Syria) and was treated with a prescription medication (not sure which).