Feeling particularly hungry yesterday, despite having just had lunch and various supplements, my Thai girlfriend exclaimed, "You must have a tapeworm." She proceeded to suggest that I take some medicine, "Just in case." I was rather surprised by this advice, but then again her mother does have a wooden dic* in the store cupboard, for good luck, so nothing should surprise me. I digress. Anyway, she proceeded to explain that her doctor had once recommended that she herself takes tapeworm medicine once every six months, "just in case."

Any comments?

it is very easy to pick up intestinal parasites here but taking medications "just in case" is not a good idea.

Tape worm is normally evidenced by frequent itching around the rectum and, often, white worm segments visible in the stool.

Best to see your doctor who will have a look see and perhaps arrange for a stool sample to be tested.

If you think you have worms. Go to the local pharmacy 'raan kaay yaa' and ask for a worm tablet. they have a couple of different ones but they do basically the same thing.......attack a range of worms. You can see the little pics of worms onthe pack. It costs about 35 baht and they are chewable and taste ok. I do it once or twice a year just as precaution. I am sure it cant hurt.

I believe that if you actually had worms then it doesn't make you feel hungry. If anything it will make you lose your appetite.

A person with a tapeworm typically shows no symptoms. The appetite may well be increased, as the body is being deprived of a great portion of food intake by the worm. A couple hundred years ago women used to swallow worm segments in an attempt to infect themselves, with a goal of weight loss or prevention of weight gain while eating large quantities.

The itchy anus, particularly when going to bed, is a symptom of pinworms.

I'd go ahead and take the worm pills. The odds of having been infected are just too high. All you have to do is eat undercooked beef, pork, or fish that was infected. They all have their own type of tapeworm. Paranoia is good.

... and they are chewable and taste ok.

My God, you mean those 4 cm diameter things are chewable? You should have told us earlier

ASIC

No they are'nt that big. About the size of a 50 satang coin in diameter. There are maybe four different types onoffer these days.

Did anyone ever read Huckleberry Finn ? In it, the author describes how a tapeworm is 'got out' of a childs stomach. They starved the kid for a few days and then cooked up a nice big plate of food and made the kid sit in front of it and breath in big gulps of the aroma from the food. Eventually the tape worm shows its head as its squirms it's way out of the kids mouth.........lovely !! Then they grab it and pull it all the way out....all 6 feet of it !!

Right.....I'll just go and throw up now...........

No they are'nt that big. About the size of a 50 satang coin in diameter. There are maybe four different types onoffer these days.

Did anyone ever read Huckleberry Finn ? In it, the author describes how a tapeworm is 'got out' of a childs stomach. They starved the kid for a few days and then cooked up a nice big plate of food and made the kid sit in front of it and breath in big gulps of the aroma from the food. Eventually the tape worm shows its head as its squirms it's way out of the kids mouth.........lovely !! Then they grab it and pull it all the way out....all 6 feet of it !!

Right.....I'll just go and throw up now...........

I am on a diet tonighr ....yuk

Eventually the tape worm shows its head as its squirms it's way out of the kids mouth.........lovely !! Then they grab it and pull it all the way out....all 6 feet of it !!

And then they realized that it was the poor childs intestine!