How Do You Know You Have Worms In Your Stomach

How To Identify Human Intestinal Worms

One of the scariest things you can face is finding something in your feces that you dont remember eating, especially when that something is moving. It is a fact of life that even the cleanest of people can pick up an intestinal worm. You can become infected with these parasites from infested animals, tainted food, water and even walking around barefoot. While many types of intestinal worms are invisible to the naked eye, others are quite easy to identify.

If you are experiencing serious medical symptoms, seek emergency treatment immediately.

Complete the process of having a bowel movement in your normal manner. Do not flush the toilet.

Put on your gloves, remove your feces from the toilet and place in your clear container.

Pull your feces apart and search for worms.

Identify the worm. Pin worms are white, thin, and look like a thread or string. Roundworms are long , thick and off-white in color. Two types of worms are invisible to the naked eye: Hookworms are dark in color and have a hooked mouth, and tapeworms are long and flat , and over 14 feet long.

Contact your doctor if you find a worm in your stool, or if you think you have a worm. Worms like Schistosomiasis and Toxocariasis can only be identified by microscope or a blood test.

Tips

Where a mask over your mouth and nose if you feel that you will be ill from the smell of your stool sample. Throw away the clear container when you are done examining your stool sample.

Warnings

Intestinal Parasites: Signs You May Have One

Amy Myers, MD

Amy Myers, M.D. is a functional medicine physician, trained and certified by The Institute of Functional Medicine. Dr. Myers earned her Doctor of Medicine at the LSU Health Science Center, and completed her Emergency Medicine residency at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Dr. Myers retired from her functional medicine clinic, Austin UltraHealth, where she served thousands of patients, to empower those who were failed by conventional medicine. Shes a 2x New York Times bestselling author, and the founder and CEO of the health & lifestyle e-commerce brand, Amy Myers MD®.

Having intestinal parasites can be a scary thought. However, you are not alone! The idea that intestinal parasites only exist in underdeveloped countries is a myth. In fact, I often saw them in my thyroid and autoimmune patients.

In this article, Ill cover the ten most common intestinal parasite symptoms. Then Ill discuss how to get the proper testing and treatment, as well as how to make the most of a Parasite Breakthrough® Kit.

Stomach Parasites: Do You Have Them

If you asked most non-health conscious people about parasites, they’d probably shrug and insist it’s something that happens to other people, in other countries but certainly not to them, in their country.

Unfortunately, parasites are not just a problem in the developing world. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden, parasites are “more common in the US than people realize.”

According to the CDC, more than 60 million people in the United States have a chronic toxoplasma gandii infection. That’s just one of many stomach parasites and it affects 60 million people in the United States alone.

Now consider the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of parasite species out there.

So, do you have parasites? To put it mildly, the odds are not in your favor.

What’s more, parasites could be to blame for your sugar cravings, which highlights the importance of doing a sugar detox.

Recommended Reading: How To Stop The Anxious Feeling In My Stomach

How Do You Know If You Have Parasites Symptoms

Image source:

Intestinal parasites are known to cause a variety of illnesses, some of which can be fatal if not treated as soon as possible. Some of the common intestinal parasites that cause illnesses in the United States include Enterobius vermicularis, Giardia lamblia, Necator americanus, Entamoeba histolytica, and Ancylostoma duodenale.

You are at high risk of getting these intestinal parasites if you live in or visit an area known to be infested with parasites, travel abroad, lack proper hygiene and sanitation, have a weak immune system, visit institutional care centers, or are infected with HIV/AIDS. Here are some of the most common signs and symptoms of intestinal parasites:

Abdominal pain Dysentery Feeling tired Rash or itching around your rectum or vulva Stomach pain or tenderness Weight loss Presence of worms in your stool

While most of these symptoms are directly associated with the presence of intestinal parasites, sometimes they can be caused by other abdominal complications. Therefore, the surest way to know if you have intestinal parasites is to go for a medical test.

Before you undergo any tests, your doctor will ask you a few questions just to have an idea of your situation. For instance, theyll like to know if youve recently traveled abroad or to an area known to have parasites.

How Is Ascariasis Transmitted

Ascariasis spreads through hand-to-mouth contact when a person touches and swallows fertilized Ascaris eggs.

In places that lack adequate sanitation, people infected with ascariasis may defecate outside. In some areas, people use human feces as fertilizer. Contaminated feces containing Ascaris eggs can lie in fields, streets and yards. The eggs can survive extreme temperature and humidity, often for years.

People may swallow the tiny eggs when they:

• Touch contaminated soil and then put their hands in or near their mouths.
• Eat fruits and vegetables grown in the infected soil without washing, peeling and cooking the produce.

Recommended Reading: Why My Stomach Feels Full All The Time

What Are The Causes And Symptoms Of Pinworm

Pinworm is the most common roundworm infection in the United States. It most often occurs in children and can spread easily in school or daycare. The infection starts when eggs enter the mouth and travel to the intestines. The eggs hatch and develop into adult pinworms.

A female pinworm then lays her eggs in and around the anus . Without realizing it, people touch the eggs with their fingers. For example, a small child might touch or scratch their bottom or not wash hands after using the bathroom. Parents may not wash their hands properly after changing a diaper of a child with pinworms.

After touching an infected area, people may put their fingers in or near their mouths or touch surfaces. Pinworm eggs can attach to bedding, clothing, toys, doorknobs, furniture and faucets for up to two weeks.

Those with pinworm infections may experience mild symptoms or none at all. The most common symptom is itching around the anus or vagina. The itching can become intense after a pinworm lays eggs.

Recognizing Signs Of Roundworm

Recommended Reading: Do Stomach Ulcers Cause Diarrhea

How To Get Rid Of Intestinal Parasites

Intestinal parasites attach themselves to your intestinal walls, so it seems only logical to starve them out by being a bad host and eating the foods they hate.

Preventing Another Pinworm Infection

Suggestions to prevent another infection during treatment include:

• All family members should wash their hands and nails thoroughly with soap and water, particularly after going to the toilet, after changing nappies, before preparing food and before eating food.
• Discourage scratching of the bottom and nail biting.
• Keep fingernails short.
• Daily bathing and showering.
• Wash all sheets, bed linen, pyjamas and sleepwear in hot water to kill any pinworm eggs.
• Clean toilet seats and potties regularly with disinfectant .
• All family members should take the medication, regardless of whether they are experiencing symptoms.

Read Also: Why Does My Head Hurt And My Stomach

Conventional Ova And Parasite Stool Test

Conventional stool tests can identify parasite eggs or a mature parasite in stool. Yet this test comes with many limitations. It requires three separate stool samples that must be sent to a lab for a medical technician to view under a microscope. Parasites have a unique life cycle and can rotate between dormant and active, meaning a technician wont always be able to see a parasite in stool.

To identify intestinal parasites in this conventional test, a stool sample must contain a live parasite, which remains alive in transit to the lab. The technician must be able to see it moving. While this can certainly be a useful test, it does not identify dormant parasites. I often saw a high number of false-negative tests with this type of stool test.

Okay What’s With The Papaya Seeds

As random as they seem, the idea that papaya seeds can treat stomach worms didnt come out of thin air. But, they arent a scientifically robust treatment for stomach worms, either. The evidence comes from two sources, Dr. Lee says. Farmers have been using papaya seeds in livestock feed to fend off parasites for several years. According to the University of Delaware’s Animal Science program, evidence suggests that ground-up papaya seeds could be an effective treatment for parasites in goats.

Now, does that translate to humans? Dr. Lee says. There’s really little to no data. There is one human studywhich is being cited on TikTok. In this study, published in 2007, 60 Nigerian children who were asymptomatic but had evidence of parasites in their poop, were given either a spoonful of honey or a spoonful of honey with four grams of ground papaya seeds mixed in. The study claimed that 71 percent of the kids who got the papaya seeds had stool cleared of parasites following the treatment. Still, theres too little scientific evidence to warrant papaya seeds use, especially for people who have not confirmed a stomach worm diagnosis with their doctors and in a country where other, FDA-approved medications are easy to access, Dr. Lee says.

Don’t Miss: How Can You Tell If You Have Stomach Cancer

How Are Worms Diagnosed

Threadworms can be diagnosed by a sticky tape test available from your doctor. The test detects threadworm eggs that are deposited around the anus at night. It involves using special sticky tape to take a sample first thing in the morning. The sticky tape is pressed onto the area around the anus, causing any threadworm eggs present to stick to the tape. The doctor or a laboratory will examine the tape under the microscope to look for the eggs.

Other types of worms may be diagnosed in the laboratory from a fresh stool sample. For example, tapeworms are diagnosed by finding worm segments or worm eggs in a stool sample. Other worms are diagnosed by the presence of eggs, larvae or the parasites themselves, in the stool sample.

Dog hookworm may be diagnosed by finding the parasite on a gut biopsy specimen. The characteristic rash of larva migrans on the skin can also indicate infection with dog hookworm. If this rash moves very quickly, e.g. 2-10 cm per hour, then it is known as larva currens, and indicates infection with Strongyloides.

Infection with some parasites, for example Strongyloides, may cause eosinophilia, an increase in the type of white blood cells known as eosinophils.

How Are Roundworms Diagnosed

Your healthcare provider will ask you about your medical history and symptoms. Then you’ll probably need a blood test. Your provider may also ask for a stool sample to test it for eggs. To get a stool sample, your provider gives you a sterile container. You place a poop sample in the container and bring it to your provider or a lab.

You May Like: What Causes Pain In The Lower Part Of Your Stomach

What To Expect At Your Doctor’s Office

Your doctor will ask if you have traveled out of the country recently and whether you have recently lost weight. If your doctor thinks you have an intestinal parasite, you will probably have one or more of the following tests:

• Fecal testing can identify both helminths and protozoa. Stool samples must be collected before you take any anti-diarrhea drugs or antibiotics, or before x-rays with barium are taken. Several stool samples may be needed to find the parasite.
• The “Scotch tape” test identifies pinworms by touching tape to the anus several times, then looking at the tape under a microscope for eggs.
• Your doctor may use x-rays with barium to diagnose more serious problems caused by parasites, although this test is usually not required.

How Can You Avoid Getting Worms

Good hand hygiene and keeping fingernails short is the best way to avoid threadworms.

Aside from threadworms, most worm infections in Australia occur in rural and remote communities, or in travellers returning from overseas. They are more common in tropical or subtropical areas. To avoid these types of worms:

• always wash your hands after gardening and before eating, drinking and smoking
• always wash fruit and vegetables before eating
• cook beef and pork thoroughly
• wear shoes when in areas of moist, sandy soil or that may be contaminated with dog faeces
• wash your hands after handling dogs
• supervise dogs so that they cant feed on dead stock animals or wild animals
• do not feed offal to your dog
• ensure dogs are regularly de-wormed, with worming tablets

Don’t Miss: What Foods Heal Stomach Lining

How Are You Diagnosed

If your doctor suspects you have pinworms, they may ask you to do a âtape test.â As soon as you wake up in the morning, youâll place a piece of clear tape around your anus, then gently peel it off. Any pinworm eggs will stick to the tape, which your doctor can see under a microscope in a lab.

A tapeworm infection is usually diagnosed by finding eggs or tapeworm segments in the stool. Your doctor may ask you to bring in a sample so a lab can look for eggs, larvae, or tapeworm segments. A blood test can spot antigens, foreign substances that let your doctor know your body is trying to fight the infection. Sometimes, an MRI or CAT scan can find cysts formed by the pork tapeworm.

How Do You Know If You Have Worms In Your Stomach

I’ve been losing and gaining weight for a while now..I’ve been feeling nausea, I’ve been coughing a lot, I also feel like it could be my dogs hair in me..what could it be? worms? dog hair? what else?

before I go see a doctor…

• Answer #1

  Don’t listen to Fowler..an old trick to get tapeworms out was to put sour milk outside of your anus, not mouth… they would crawl out eventually. Worms don’t live in your stomach, but your intestines. Only specially developed bacteria live in your stomach… your stomach acid will kill anything else. Even very large worms will not kill you – they do not eat your bodily fluids… They get the food as it is being digested in your intestines.

  Chances are you do NOT have worms, you perhaps have a virus . Either that, or you’re 13-25 and your body is going through a lot of changes which result in fluctuating weight. See a doctor, but there is no way to tell over the internet.

• FUNADVICE HEALTH
• What are the consequences of hearing deterioration and hearing loss?

You May Like: What Causes Pain In The Lower Right Stomach

Supplements For Eliminating Parasites

Sometimes, however, the parasite could not be identified. Thats why I formulated The Myers Way® Parasite Breakthrough® Kit to help promote and maintain a healthy and normal population of probiotic bacteria in your digestive tract. I designed this kit specifically to help tackle the issue of microbial imbalance, as well as help populate the digestive tract with beneficial probiotic bacteria that are normal residents in your digestive tract.

You can treat your intestinal parasite symptoms at home with the two powerhouse supplements I include in my Parasite Breakthrough Kit. Microb-Clear® creates an inhospitable environment for parasitic microorganisms and the most common pathogens present in the human GI tract and stomach while sparing the beneficial gut bacteria.

Probiotic 100 Billion CFU restore and maintain healthy levels of the good bacteria that keep infections in check, support a healthy immune system, and repair your gut.