Today, I’ll be sharing my views about deworming. Why this particular topic? It’s because for a time, I really thought Zeeka had worms in her tummy.
I thought she had that because of the numerous things and assumptions that I formulated in my mind (of course, as a mom, you’re concerned about a LOT of things — even things that shouldn’t worry you).
One was the fact that she’s a little bit on the lighter side. Ever since Zeeka was a baby, she was always on the lighter end of the weight spectrum. Other people would say that she was too skinny. The next thing that bugged me was that she thumb sucked until she was 4 years old. It was just when she turned five that she stopped thumb sucking. This always causes panic, because little kids would touch everything. She may not be cautious and aware of what she touches and when and what she puts inside her mouth.
The third thing was that she would always complain of tummy aches. And last but not the least, she often said that she had an itchy butt. Read online that this may be an indication that she had worms.
So these things would actually cause any mom, like me, to think and panic that their child, too, might have worms.
So I did what any worried mom would do… I googled worms and deworming and researched more about it.
I was a bit familiar about deworming. I was first introduced to deworming more than a decade ago. This was the time I was a dog breeder (yes, I was a dog breeder in my past life… haha!). I used to bring my puppies to the vet to get them dewormed.
For those not too familiar with what to do and how to go about deworming, let’s start with the definition. According to WHO, deworming or preventive chemotherapy is the process of using either an annual or biannual single-dose albendazole (400mg) or mebendazole (500 mg) as a recommended public health intervention for kids aged 1 to 12 years old (in some areas even up to 14 years old) who live in areas where the baseline prevalence of any soil-transmitted infection is 20% or more among children. This is done in order to reduce the worm burden of soil-transmitted helminth infection.
My recent discovery is that worms can be obtained from everywhere [1]! It’s not only because you have poor hygiene. Worms can be in what you eat and what you drink. Adults can also have worms in their tummies and intestines! These worms cause us to feel tired, lose weight, have diarrhea, feel bloating in the abdominal area or abdominal pain.[2]
Walang pinipili ang worms kasi napa-pass on. In our family, the dewormer that we trust is Mebendazole (Antiox). We like it, because it’s choco flavored. But most of all, it’s an effective dewormer. There are two forms: 1) 10mL suspension (equivalent to 500mg) and 2) a 500 mg chewable tablet.
To take the suspension, pour the entire content of the bottle and take it one time. The same dosage applies to adults and kids. For the chewable tablet, just take one tablet and chew. So simple and hassle free!
After we “dewormed”, we felt a lot better and we felt clean. I’m not sure though if there really worms (because I didn’t check the poop… hehe). But to know if there are worms, you’ll see little white threadlike stuff in the poop or sometimes, it may be invisible, too.
So now, we feel more active. Zeeka’s tummy pains and her itch in her butt are gone. Weight is still low… haha (so I don’t think this has anything to do with her having worms, really). We are now one happy and active family!
So mommies, pass the message! Be informed and be aware. Let’s live in a worm-free community.
Share with us what steps do you take to remain “worm-free”. We’d love to hear about it!
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