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Do I have a parasite/intestinal worms?

During my last few bowel movements, I've noticed straight, string-like objects in my stools a about 2-4 inches long. I observed a few of them in one bowl movement in particular in which I had experienced moderate abdominal pain that was relieved upon passing the stool. Over the past few weeks I've been nauseated, had painful gas and have had trouble sleeping at night. This feeling isn't particularly uncommon as I've had issues with nausea and gas for most of my life, but lately it has been more frequent.

I haven't eaten sushi/uncooked/undercooked meat recently. I'm not sure what this means but I'm concerned and would like to know if any of this matches up with a particular kind of parasite. I aim to talk to my doctor about this if it happens again. I figured I'd ask here to make sure I'm not jumping to conclusions first.

2 Answers

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  • Anonymous
    7 years ago

    What you saw in your stool may simply be partially digested fibres from something you ate. Pineapple and other fruits or vegetables are often passed partially digested and may be observable in the stool as string-like objects, especially if they're the same colour as the stool. Parasites may only occasionally, or even rarely, be observed in stool depending on what type a person is infected with and the severity. When observed in the stool, a parasite is usually a bright white or pinkish colour and isn't likely be confused with partially digested food. A tapeworm infection may be observed as translucent/bright whitish segments in the stool that may resemble large rice grains. In any case, if you discuss this with your doctor you will need to be more detailed in telling him/her what you saw.

  • 7 years ago

    Have you had any anal itching...? If you do I've heard you can put tape when you sleep, because the worm comes out at night when you are warm in bed and lays her eggs. But you have to wake up and check to see if you caught the worm. If you do not have anal itching you might want to see a doctor, see if you can request a stool sample. In the meantime make sure you are washing your hands very well, especially under your nails. If you live with others and prepare foods for them, they may need to be checked also.

    You can get this from eating out anywhere, somebody may have touched or prepared your food and not washed their hands well enough and you may have gotten a worm egg in your food.

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