Is intestinal worms a myth?

[georgegeorgia]

I remember talking to a farang in Pattaya who told me he was taking every once a  month the fibre pills from the 711 

Apparently once a month he would take the whole fibre pills  box  forget the name could be sennox?

 

But anyway he would  fast for the day and drink water to get rid of "worms" caused by the Thai street food he ate 

He would go to a bowel cleanse with water 

Don't ask me I didn't ask him what that involved but I think it was water in the bowels with a hose I think it called colon water irrigation??

 

I did doubt him but he told me something interesting,and I want to know your opinion.

 

Not every month but he said about once or twice a year during his once a month fast and bowel cleanse that out comes a..... long white coloured worm.

 

Is this possible a long worm would be inside ??? 

 

Is that a myth do you think ,?

 

[connda]

You live in the tropics.  Intestinal worms are a reality, although Westerners who tend naturally be germaphobes and "clean-freaks" go into complete melt-downs over the thought of worms in their gut.  And it has nothing to do with "street food."  It has to do with the tropical bio-system you live in this close to the equator.

Take Alben (Albendazole) twice a year then don't worry about them.  Alben can be found in any Thai drugstore or even Big C for that matter and is dirt cheap - 30 or 40 THB.  Thais unlike Westerners understand that intestinal worms are just a fact of life in the tropics.  The other medicine that works is Ivermectin but it got such a bad rap during Covid that it's about impossible to find anymore.  At one time it was easily accessible to buy and was dirt cheap as well.  Difficult to find now and expensive if you can.  So?  Alben.

[digbeth]

if you walk barefoot everywhere on the dirt, eat salads, quite a possibility

 

cooked foods are mostly fine 

 

if you start having itchy rectum especially at night that's a sign , but most westerners used to toilet paper stuck to their unclean <deleted> might not be sensitive enough to notice 

[phetphet]

intestinal worms are a fact. They vary from small to large. Tapeworms can be several metres long.

[Dcheech]

I picked up liver flukes years back. I assume from Lap Gnu or Laap Mu (with the uncooked blood) consumed with copious amounts of alcohol, back when young & dumb. I'm older now. Can you get worms from street food? Sure, and a lot of other places. However excellent chance you will not get them if you pay attention to what the heck you stuff in your face. Over a decade, no worms or parasites. 

They are out there though, and parasites can be tricky little f--k-rs.

[Gottfrid]

1 hour ago, georgegeorgia said:

Is that a myth do you think ,?

We just make it easy, and say like this: No it´s NOT a myth!

After that, just Google and learn. 🙂 


If you don´t believe what you find, then I suggest you try eat 2 kg uncooked pork, illegally imported from Myanmar.

[georgegeorgia]

But can anyone confirm the report of a "long white worm" coming out ?

 

[georgegeorgia]

2 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

After that, just Google and learn

No !!!!

I have stopped googling 

I was abused by my GP and his nurse the other day for googling heart attack symptoms!

 

Stop googling symptoms the old  nurse nastily said to me as she took my blood pressure 

Stop googling she shouted 

[couchpotato]

6 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

No !!!!

I have stopped googling 

I was abused by my GP and his nurse the other day for googling heart attack symptoms!

 

Stop googling symptoms the old  nurse nastily said to me as she took my blood pressure 

Stop googling she shouted 

This is true. I was nearby in the Waiting Room and heard this outburst by the nurse🤪

[marin]

First off,  "Are intestinal worms.......?"

 

Yes they are.

 

https://thethaiger.com/news/national/18-metre-tapeworm-comes-out-of-thai-man-doctors-suspect-he-ate-raw-beef-containing-parasite-eggs#google_vignette

 

 

 

[connda]

1 hour ago, phetphet said:

intestinal worms are a fact. They vary from small to large. Tapeworms can be several metres long.

Tapeworms come from undercooked meat and raw fish for the most part.  However if you eat fresh vegetables and salads or ground tubers like ginger, turmeric, carrots, etc and eat them raw - yeah, you can end up with round worms just like your dogs and cats. 

So?  Don't freak out - just take Alben (albendazole) a couple of times a year and don't worry about worms.  They are just a fact of life here in the tropics. 

[connda]

7 minutes ago, connda said:

Tapeworms come from undercooked meat and raw fish for the most part.  However if you eat fresh vegetables and salads or ground tubers like ginger, turmeric, carrots, etc and eat them raw - yeah, you can end up with round worms just like your dogs and cats. 

So?  Don't freak out - just take Alben (albendazole) a couple of times a year and don't worry about worms.  They are just a fact of life here in the tropics. 

Just speaking for myself (don't consider this medical advice as I'm not a doctor).  I used Alben (albendazole) as a deworming prophylaxis which means that I'm asymptomatic but deworming because I eat a lot of salads and ground vegetables raw.  And I have a lot of dogs which get dewormed every 6 months too.

So every 6 months I take one single 400 mg dose of Alben followed by another 400 mg dose two week later (the first dose doesn't kill the eggs). 

If you're really paranoid, go see a doctor and have a lab do a fecal test for parasites as dosage is dependent on what wormy critters are in your gut.  The Alben insert will give you that dosages required for specific infections.

 

Or look here.  Also be aware of contraindications.  Any questions - ask a medical professional
https://www.drugs.com/dosage/albendazole.html
 

[Lorry]

Contrary to what @conndasays, intestinal worms have nothing to do with the tropics and have everything to do with poor hygiene, usually due to poverty and laziness/resistance to education (people in Thailand - including foreigners -  are educated about hygiene, but often they don't follow what they have been taught).

 

Rich places like Singapore (right on the equator) or Darwin have much less worms than Myanmar  ( @Gottfrid's recommendation is spot on)

 

The usual rules of hygiene are mostly well known, eg:

- don't eat feces, especially human feces, so please wash @ss and hands after visiting the toilet, wash hands before eating, wash or peel fruit and vegetables, clean food utensils

- don't walk in feces, ie don't walk barefoot on a beach, they are all full of dog šhit

- don't eat raw meat or fish

- don't eat home-made fish sauce!

 

Because medicines are not candy, contrary to @connda 's advice,  you shouldn't take albendazole without a medical indication. 

If you have symptoms like diarrhea or abdominal pain get a medical examination,  it will often include a stool examination

You can also get a stool examination maybe once a year, but you shouldn't take medicine without a reason. 

 

[PPMMUU]

Intestinal worms are real. The idea that people need to get rid of them regularly without symptoms is a myth. The belief that fasting can get rid of worms is also a myth.

[Burma Bill]

5 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

Is this possible a long worm would be inside ??? 

 

Yes indeed. There are several parasitic worms that live in the gut, most hatching from eggs ingested from "host" animals such as pigs, dogs, cats, etc.etc.  Eating raw meat and fish is a common source of infection, along with unwashed salad and vegetable products. Very common in the tropics and not just Thailand. In fact, worms can infest guts throughout the world. Countries where human and animal faeces are used as fertiliser, eggs are re-deposited on the growing crops ready to be ingested again - full circle!!

 

 .

 

Dibothriocephalus latus, and related species (belonging to the family Diphyllobothriidae, also called fish or broad tapeworms), are the largest tapeworms to infect people. They can grow to up to 30 feet long. Most people infected with fish tapeworms have no symptoms. (google)

[Gottfrid]

5 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

But can anyone confirm the report of a "long white worm" coming out ?

 

Is this some kind of silly pervert thing? Do you want a live video?

[xtrnuno41]

No, it isnt a myth. When I was way much younger then today, I made meatballs for soup and I would sometimes take the raw meat, to eat. Mom already taught me then, not to do, due to worms. Also later when we had a dog, not to have the dog lick especially your face, due to worms. SO education long time ago by mom, wonder where she got the wisdom from, as there was no internet. Of course the hygiene to wash hands every time, very common from especially moms to educate in that time, today not that much? How many still now and perform? I did to my sons as well, educate about hygiene. 

And yes, I experienced them, many people do. Thought maybe 2 times in my lifetime still. But those are the tiny ones and give your anus a real itch. But there are way more other parasites and more harmful.

 

At one point they could lay eggs in your body and those eggs can go anywhere by blood transportation, to hatch, even in brain. You have for instance brain eating amoeba's, chicken meat salmonella and way more others.

A spider can bite you and put eggs in your skin, a fly can do so the same.

At some places, there is a tiny fish, if you swim in that water and pee, they detect it and swim right into your penis.

They attach themselves there and you will have problems peeing. Need surgery to get rit of them.

 

There are really a whole lot of tiny bugs, which can make you real sick.

Just go to youtube and see "parasites in human body"

Here is nice one

 

 

[pavlo]

Giardia , 

that was the one get in my guts.

Start as diarrhea, get better some days, full waterish/oily in others.

Imodium+ used often while need to visit outside home, was only thing to let me get myself to next place where to find toilet.

Lost more than 10 kg in 2,5 months.  Stool samples and finally coloscopy in hospital in my home country.

They say it was not destroy my guts intestinal lint nor done more problems than was on that period of its activity.

Got one big pill to kill it before coloscopy, they found nothing alarming in my intestine, even say no need to do this inspection, was so clean pipes 😉 .

Anyway, advices from my health team was, clean hands, clean your raw veggies/fruits even before pealing, no raw meat/fish, NO homemade fermented fishsauce !

Got sick from that too but its different story.

[Freddy42OZ]

10 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

I remember talking to a farang in Pattaya who told me he was taking every once a  month the fibre pills from the 711 

Apparently once a month he would take the whole fibre pills  box  forget the name could be sennox?

 

But anyway he would  fast for the day and drink water to get rid of "worms" caused by the Thai street food he ate 

He would go to a bowel cleanse with water 

Don't ask me I didn't ask him what that involved but I think it was water in the bowels with a hose I think it called colon water irrigation??

 

I did doubt him but he told me something interesting,and I want to know your opinion.

 

Not every month but he said about once or twice a year during his once a month fast and bowel cleanse that out comes a..... long white coloured worm.

 

Is this possible a long worm would be inside ??? 

 

Is that a myth do you think ,?

 

Little white worms in poop could be pinworms, also known as threadworms, which are parasitic worms that live in the human large intestine. They are about 1/4 to 1/2 inch long and as thin as a thread, and can sometimes be seen in bowel movements or around the anus.

I remember having these when I was a kid.  

 

[Sheryl]

13 hours ago, PPMMUU said:

Intestinal worms are real. The idea that people need to get rid of them regularly without symptoms is a myth. The belief that fasting can get rid of worms is also a myth.

As above.

 

Also a myth that colonic irrigations or use of laxatives will get rid of them.

 

The "white strings" seen after a colonic is not a worm. It is mucosal lining of the colon which is best left in place.

 

Sennokot/Senna  is not fiber. It is a laxative. 

[JackGats]

Is the fact that capsaicin from red chillies can rid you of worms also a myth?

[Lorry]

1 hour ago, JackGats said:

Is the fact that capsaicin from red chillies can rid you of worms also a myth?

Not proven afaik.

If it were true, Thais (and Indians,  Indonesians etc) should hardly have any worms. 

It may depend on the dosage. It's possible to kill people with capsicain (= capsaicin), once the host is dead, the worms will die. 

[how241]

I asked about taking worm meds with 2 different pharmacists, when I have no symptoms.   There are 2 types of meds, both very cheap.  Both pharmacists told me they take worm pills twice a year. 

[Lorry]

11 hours ago, how241 said:

I asked about taking worm meds with 2 different pharmacists, when I have no symptoms.   There are 2 types of meds, both very cheap.  Both pharmacists told me they take worm pills twice a year. 

Thais do this with dogs, they give them worm meds without symptoms every couple of years. 

I still have to meet a Thai stupid enough to do this to himself. 

[fredwiggy]

On 8/7/2024 at 8:27 AM, connda said:

You live in the tropics.  Intestinal worms are a reality, although Westerners who tend naturally be germaphobes and "clean-freaks" go into complete melt-downs over the thought of worms in their gut.  And it has nothing to do with "street food."  It has to do with the tropical bio-system you live in this close to the equator.

Take Alben (Albendazole) twice a year then don't worry about them.  Alben can be found in any Thai drugstore or even Big C for that matter and is dirt cheap - 30 or 40 THB.  Thais unlike Westerners understand that intestinal worms are just a fact of life in the tropics.  The other medicine that works is Ivermectin but it got such a bad rap during Covid that it's about impossible to find anymore.  At one time it was easily accessible to buy and was dirt cheap as well.  Difficult to find now and expensive if you can.  So?  Alben.

Some food does have worms. Raw pork and fish are two. That can surely happen by under cooking. Many intestinal worms come by touching surfaces with eggs on them, and not washing your hands is the reason many et them, especially children, who are quick to put their hands in their mouths without washing. Children playing in the dirt where animals can leave  feces is a prime area.  Also contaminated water. Developing countries with poor sanitation are major areas, and many of these happen to be in tropical areas.

[fredwiggy]

22 hours ago, Lorry said:

Contrary to what @conndasays, intestinal worms have nothing to do with the tropics and have everything to do with poor hygiene, usually due to poverty and laziness/resistance to education (people in Thailand - including foreigners -  are educated about hygiene, but often they don't follow what they have been taught).

 

Rich places like Singapore (right on the equator) or Darwin have much less worms than Myanmar  ( @Gottfrid's recommendation is spot on)

 

The usual rules of hygiene are mostly well known, eg:

- don't eat feces, especially human feces, so please wash @ss and hands after visiting the toilet, wash hands before eating, wash or peel fruit and vegetables, clean food utensils

- don't walk in feces, ie don't walk barefoot on a beach, they are all full of dog šhit

- don't eat raw meat or fish

- don't eat home-made fish sauce!

 

Because medicines are not candy, contrary to @connda 's advice,  you shouldn't take albendazole without a medical indication. 

If you have symptoms like diarrhea or abdominal pain get a medical examination,  it will often include a stool examination

You can also get a stool examination maybe once a year, but you shouldn't take medicine without a reason. 

 

Correct. I posted answering a poster earlier before I read all of the replies. Beat me to it.

[Middle Aged Grouch]

If you can't peel it, cook it, boil it...forget it.

[connda]

https://www.who.int/news/item/02-02-2018-deworming-every-girl-and-every-woman-has-the-right-to-be-treated

https://www.medicinenet.com/how_often_should_you_deworm/article.htm

@Lorry 
 

"Worms are a very common source of illness for both adults and children, so experts recommend that deworming should be done two times a year, or every six months, beginning at the age of two years.

Deworming is the process of eliminating intestinal parasites, such as worms, using medication. In places where soil-transmitted helminths are prevalent, the WHO advises periodic medication treatment to deworm all children. This suggestion is supported by research suggesting that helminths transferred through soil harm children's growth and development, as well as their cognitive growth and future economic possibilities."

[connda]

On 8/7/2024 at 2:03 AM, Lorry said:

Contrary to what @conndasays, intestinal worms have nothing to do with the tropics

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 24 percent of the world’s population is infected with soil-transmitted worms. Infections are most common in tropical and subtropical regions, in particular, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Americas, China, and East Asia.
Source: Healthline and WHO

 

[Sheryl]

2 hours ago, connda said:

https://www.who.int/news/item/02-02-2018-deworming-every-girl-and-every-woman-has-the-right-to-be-treated

https://www.medicinenet.com/how_often_should_you_deworm/article.htm

Heck Doctor @Lorry what the hell does the WHO know about periodic, prophylaxis use of deworming meds.  Stupid people at the WHO, huh? 
 

"Worms are a very common source of illness for both adults and children, so experts recommend that deworming should be done two times a year, or every six months, beginning at the age of two years.

Deworming is the process of eliminating intestinal parasites, such as worms, using medication. In places where soil-transmitted helminths are prevalent, the WHO advises periodic medication treatment to deworm all children. This suggestion is supported by research suggesting that helminths transferred through soil harm children's growth and development, as well as their cognitive growth and future economic possibilities."

This recommendation is specific to children under the age of 5 years in areas where soil-transmitted helminths are prevalent. As noted these include non-tropical locations such as East Asia and China as well as the tropics.

 

WHO does not recommend routine deworming of older children, much less adults. Exception in the case of pregnant women in areas with high prevalence of hookworm infection.