Mebendazole--Making a New Best Friend

Disclaimer.  I am not a licensed health practitioner.  This is just another post on an item you might wish to have available if needed so that a physician can treat you and your family as best as possible.  No medication, including those available over the counter, should be taken without consulting a physician.  Information shared here is for educational and entertainment purposes only.  It is not medical advice nor a substitute for licensed medical care.  A qualified, licensed physician or other medical provider should be consulted before beginning any herbal or conventional treatment.

Do you remember elementary school and middle school, with the groups of children that were all in the inner circle, as well as the ones often left out?  The ones who weren't totally excluded because they had one thing going for them that was desirable for the group--like a swimming pool, or a means of getting in free to the movies, or something similar?  The one who's pretty much ignored until he's desperately needed?

To me, that is what mebendazole is.  With all the medications we stockpile for an uncertain future--OTC drugs, antibiotics, anti-fungals, other prescription medications, etc., no one really gives any thought to treating worms.  None of the afore-mentioned work to kill worms.  Zero.  Zip.  Nada.  You can have the best medical kit on the planet--all the antibiotics, all the pain meds, lots of anti-fungals, and they will do nothing against worms.

Now, consider the following.   Various statistics from all over the 'net state that pinworms afflict about 40 million Americans.  Another put the figure at 20% of the population, which I think would get us closer to 75 million people (since not all of us are Americans, right?).  They're three times more common than head lice.  In case you are wondering, I am officially grossed out now.  But wait, there's more.  If those numbers weren't bad enough, consider the fact that one-third of people are totally asymptomatic.  They could be spreading it without even knowing. 

We get worms from contact with an infected person or from contaminated food or water.  TEOTWAWKI will provide us the perfect storm of conditions for getting worms--people with poorer sanitation and more options for contaminated food and water.  I can hardly wait.

Pinworms cause rectal itching, especially at night, when the female pinworms migrate to the outside of the body to lay eggs around the anal orifice.  (I wonder how they can tell time.)  The pinworms and clumps of eggs are irritating and make the patient itch.  To find and definitively diagnose pinworms, wrap a piece of tape around a gloved finger.  Stick the finger up the rear end of the patient at night.  The pinworms will stick to the tape.  Pinworms are easily spread from person to person, especially among young children who don't wash hands after using the toilet or who scratch their bottoms and then go play with other children.  ALL close contacts with an infected person should be treated, especially because asymptomatic infection and re-infection often occur.

Roundworms are much larger, like earthworms, and can grow to over 12 inches.  We get them from contaminated food.  Diagnosis usually occurs when adult roundworms work their way out the mouth, nose, or anus.  Yeah, I'm sure you're totally grossed out by now.  Other symptoms of roundworms are abdominal pain, intestinal blockage, and malnutrition.  Also, like pinworm infestations, many roundworm infections are asymptomatic, so everyone in close contact with the afflicted individual should be treated.

The same treatments listed here also work for tapeworms, whipworms, and flukes.

It makes me think it's time to make a new best friend and include him in the circle.

That's what mebendazole is, the new best friend.  Most preparedness-minded individuals and families have a good supply of OTC meds, antibiotics, anti-fungals, and their own personal medications.  However, you'll be hard-pressed to find one that stocks a dewormer, even when up to 20% of the country has worms!  True, worms won't necessarily kill you, but they sure as heck are demoralizing, and health and nutrition will definitely suffer.

Mebendazole is available by prescription only in the US.  However, it can be obtained through overseas pharmacies.  A bottle of 30 tablets currently runs about $9 through All Day Chemist.

Albendazole is a sheep and cattle dewormer that is not FDA approved for human use, but it appears that many physicians would have no problem using it in a crisis.  Because it is for livestock, albendazole can be purchased without a prescription in this country.  As best I can tell, it is also given in a single dose, 400 mg all at once. 

Natural treatments that some people claim to be effective against worms include black walnut, garlic, pumpkin seeds, turmeric, cucumber seeds, wormwood, clove, plumeria, and tobacco.

Contraindications:  Do not use if you are taking metronidazole.  Do not use if nursing, pregnant or planning to become pregnant.

Note:  None of the physician-authors of Armageddon Medicine, The Survival Medicine Handbook, or Survival and Austere Medicine provided dosages for mebendazole.  A few online sites indicated that a single 100-mg tablet is prescribed for children 2 years and up through adults, and the treatment is repeated two to three weeks later.  Of course, you should not use any medication without consulting a physician.  Information herein is provided merely to familiarize the reader with what a physician may do to treat you and what medications you might wish to have on hand.  

For further reading:
https://www.emverm.com/about-emverm/
https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/mebendazole-oral-route/proper-use/drg-20064631
https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/hookworm/health_professionals/index.html
http://deworm.co.za/ 

3 september 2019