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Hi Aunt Vadge,
I’ve had pinworms (threadworms) for more than 13 years. Sometimes I feel them migrate into my vagina, always at night, with irritation and pain. What should I do?
Sincerely,
Wormy
Somalia
Dear Wormy,
Thirteen years isn’t because you’ve done anything wrong, and it’s not because the worms are unkillable – it’s almost always because the reinfection cycle never got fully broken, and once you understand that cycle you can finally close it.
The trap is this: at night, the female pinworms crawl out to lay thousands of eggs around your anus (and yes, they can wander into the vagina or urethra, which is the night-time irritation you feel).
You scratch in your sleep, eggs collect under your nails and on your bedding and underwear, and you – or your family – swallow them again; the worms hatch, and round and round it goes. Most people treat once, kill the adult worms, and get reinfected within days.
That’s the whole 13-year story.
To actually break it, you have to hit the worms and starve the cycle at the same time, and do all of it together.
Treat everyone in the household on the same day. This is the step people miss, because one untreated person reinfects the whole house (the usual medicines are mebendazole, albendazole or pyrantel; your doctor or pharmacist can advise on what’s available to you).
Repeat the dose after two weeks, because the medicine kills worms but not eggs, so a second dose catches the ones that hatch after the first, and without it they come straight back.
Break the egg cycle for two to six weeks by showering first thing each morning to wash off overnight eggs, washing hands and scrubbing under your nails after the toilet and before eating, keeping nails short, trying not to scratch, and changing underwear daily – and hot-wash bedding, towels and underwear without shaking them out (eggs become airborne), wiping down surfaces too.
Done thoroughly and all at once, that’s what finally ends it, even after 13 years.
For the vaginal irritation, once the worms are gone the night-time symptoms should settle. While you’re clearing them, soothe with plain-water washing and avoid scratching the area, which can cause infections in already-irritated skin.
If, after a proper round of all that, the vaginal symptoms linger, it’s worth a closer look. And you can book an appointment with one of our practitioners for support alongside your doctor’s care. You can close this chapter – it just needs the full cycle broken, not another single dose.
Warm regards,
Aunt Vadge
This is general information, not a substitute for personalised medical advice.
