Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Worms are yucky . . .

Talk about being freaked out?  I went to go potty and there was a dark colored worm in my toilet.  It was all wriggly and squirming around the bottom.  I thought I was going to hurl . . . of course, my first reaction was to flush the toilet.  Number 1, because I didn’t want a worm in there while I was using the toilet and Number 2 . . . I had to do a number two.



Nobody had used that toilet for at least ten hours, it had been flushed, and it was clean.  So, where did the slimy did unwanted visitor come from?

Ironically, I hadn't been feeling well for some time so I broke down and went to the doctor.  I usually don’t go to the doctor unless I think I’m dying, so you know I was concerned.  Anyhoo, the doc did all kinds of tests, drew seven tubes of blood and sent me for x-rays.   Thankfully all of my tests came back normal and the doctor declared me healthy . . . although still unsure what was causing my symptoms.

So, the same day I get the results back I come home from work to find the worm swimming around in the toilet bowl. 

I immediately Googled “worm in my toilet” and came up with scads of hits on the subject.  I directly went to the sites that discussed human parasites.  Without getting too graphic, I think I can pretty safely say that the worm didn’t come out of my body.  Parasitic worms don’t look anything at all like earthworms and what I saw looked exactly like your standard garden wiggler. 




It didn’t come from me or hubby . . . I don’t think . . . and the cat is strictly indoors so I know she didn’t drag it in from outside.  So, how in the heck did it get there? 

We had been getting a lot of rain . . . like nine straight days worth . . . and much if it was solid downpours.  There is a possibility that the water levels in the sewers are so high that it made its way into my bathroom.    Apparently, it’s fairly common . . . it’s just a first for me. 


Okay . . . that’s a reasonable explanation.  But the thing was very much alive.  I thought worms drowned in water.  Further research uncovered that earthworms can survive for several weeks under water providing there is sufficient oxygen in the water to support them.

Earthworms don’t have lungs. Instead the blood flowing close to the worm's surface absorbs oxygen and releases carbon dioxide directly through the moist skin.  They can actually live for some time in water if the oxygen supply is adequate. They don't drown per se, but they may suffocate if the oxygen content is low.   But, they do need to eat, so if I had left it there it would have eventually starved to death.


I read one story where a guy had been feeding night crawlers to the Oscars in his fish tank.  Three months after he had stopped feeding the worms to his fish he unearthed a pair of them that had been living happily in the gravel and muck at the bottom of the tank.  They were, in fact, very healthy . . . that is until the Oscars spotted them.
 

As a side note . . . evidently, earthworms don’t come to the surface after a rainstorm to avoid drowning . . . as I had always thought.  But rather to find a mate since their mobility is much better on wet ground.



All of this yuckiness reminds me of a movie I saw at a drive-in as a kid.  It was a 1976 horror flick called Squirm.  Basically, the movie is about a storm that causes some power lines to break and touch the ground, drawing millions of man-eating worms out of the earth, and into a town where they quickly start munching on the locals . . . from the inside out.  Yep, pretty gross, I know.

I distinctly remember the shower scene . . . yeah; all good terror films gratuitous nudity inserted wherever possible . . . even if it’s not plausible or adds nothing to the plot line. Anyhoo . . . the hot babe was showering and earthworms were pouring out of the showerhead onto her unrealistically bodacious body.  I also remember a one particular “sex” scene.  The chick was sleeping in her bed when she feels what she thinks is her lover fondling her . . . uh . . . love muffin.  So she’s moaning and writhing around the bed in ecstasy until she realizes that it’s not her lover but the worms visiting her in her bed.  Uh huh . . . ew!  Who comes up with this crap?

Anyhoo . . . worms are gross.


58 comments:

  1. thank you for your message,
    I found exatly same worm (red and 15cm long) in toilet today and i freak out also..

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  2. This morning i work up running to the bathroom to drain the main vain and i saw the same thing! ive resaerched it up to this point in time when i came across your story, and the releaf is unsermountable. thank you

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  3. same here, strangely its a world wide thing cause I live in israel.
    I wonder if that depends on where is the toilet located cause mine are in ground level so it make sense.

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  4. Thank you for this post! I found a thin red worm in my toilet when the bowl was flushed and clean. I've been googling away and making myself paranoid and freaked out that it came from me even though it did not look like the pinworm images I have seen and I have exhibited no symptoms... until I came across your post! *Sigh of relief*

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  5. At last. A sensible reason for worms in the loo that had no reason to come out of a human body. Much relief. Thank you

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  6. LOL very informative, and funny thnx

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  7. LOL..you have no idea what relief your article has brought to me. I have found three worms over a period of 3 weeks. The most recent one after a heavy downpour. In that period I have been to the doctor twice and self medicated once.I am convinced the worms didn't come from my body.in each case they were found upto 18hrs since I last used the bathroom for a number 2

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  8. Hi I have just had same red small earthworm looking worm found in a clients toilet. When we checked the drains and sewers we found tree roots had penetrated the system grown along the pipes and up the stack the worms appear to have travelled up the pipe packed with roots and into the toilet pan. The call was for the worms and occasional blockages. Might be worth checking.

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  9. Just found the same thin red worm in my bathroom and had the same concerns that it came out of me...so gross...thanks for sharing your story and depriving my concerns..my boyfriend isacontractor and he mentioned there could be roots and vines too and that maybe pipes should be cleaned out

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  10. I, too have found these red, thin worms - about 3 inches long - in our toilet bowl, twice in the last 2 days. These were in the basement bathroom of our older home. Also, no one has used this toilet for several weeks so not a case of parasites. We know tree roots are not present now as we had rooter router in and no roots. Water levels wold be higher in the sewer system as it the snow is melting now, so I'm guessing they are entering the toilet from the sewer....I have to say its not pleasant to see, but I guess harmless. It would be good to be able to identify them to know for sure what their origins are.

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  11. Phew! We also just found a thin red worm in the toilet. A repetition of above - clean toilet bowl which hadn't been used in quite a few hours... massive sigh of relief - we thought they were from us! THANK YOU :)

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  12. I'm from Lisbon Portugal and have found several in the toilet... I thougt they were ascaris... are you sure they are earthworms?

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  13. Exactly the same thing has happened to me. I'm still going to the doctor though (better safe than sorry)

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  14. Same here I have been petrified all day and Ive got it in a jar ready for the doctor on wednesday. Ive been thinking has it come out of me and my partner....I flushed the loo came back couple of hrs later to put tissue in the loo and saw it merrily swimming around its about 10cm long and dark redy brown. I was crying thinking I was getting eating from the inside out. Cant wait for my appt as Im not sure I can believe earth worm worm there way up drain pipes. eeekkkkkk!!!!!!

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  15. So glad read this. I also found a worm in the toilet. Looked like an earthworm. Paniced like hell so took it to the pharmacist who told me it was a tapeworm. Took it to the our of hours doctor who told me to take it to my GP who told me he wouldn't give me any medication unless I can prove it came out of me. So now I'm still paranoid but after reading this I feel better. There had been heavy rain before, I flushed and THEN the worm appeared and the worm was brown. Haven't noticed anything since.

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  16. folks they are probably drain fly larvae and not actually worms.

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  17. I too found thin red worm about 5ins in length , been to chemist with video evidence and she said its not threadworm or tapeworm which i first thought after googling it. Pharmacy says it looks like a earth worm but i still question with no rain for days how did a worm get in my toilet, nobody in the house is holding there hands up to not feelig unwell or itchy anus's (as if you would any way) but still going to ask the doctors next time im there, Best be safe than sorry

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  18. I've also found it in my bathroom about 2 -3 times and it is abt 1 inch long ,,,..i wash my bathroom daily ... i was thinking where these came from.... thanks for yr article... sigh of relief

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  19. I found 2 in the past 2 weeks. The first one was under the plunger and the one today was in my bathtub after I showered with a drain pug in. I'm completely tweaking and this article gives me no relief. I am going to the doctor Thurs. My vag is crawling. Grossss

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  20. found one last night in a toilet - the toilet was replaced two months ago-and never used since as its in the basement! so while I was afraid, I wasn't really concerned that it had come out of anyone in the house! good to read others' accounts!

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  21. Same as everyone else here with the thin red worm in the can. Definitely freaked us out. It was the bathroom in the basement unused for quite some time and there is well over a foot of snow outside.

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  22. Cant be an earthworm. First time i noticed the mf she was swimming in my toiletwater. Second time, 2 dats later i find a dead, flat and dried out one on my shower floor which isnt straight and he was on the higher part. Once i looked at it further i noticed this one had very tiny legs on it.. cant see for sure f the ones in the toilet bowl have it. Freaked me out more then anything. Already been to the doctor last week or 2 weeks ago, and got medicine for it beldazoma or something for 3 days.. these nightly itches were somewhat gone the first days. Then now, this morning again i found another mf and am sure it comed from me, ALTHOUGH weve had a leak, and the plumber guys went thru the pipes and got stuck at the roots of a tree or something.. so it very well MIGHT be an earthworm from the pipes but my head tells me its from inside my body. Ive got itches and sometimes tiny wounds at my lol for like a year now and it keeps going away and coming back but ive never, untill 2-3 weeks ago, seen these mf-ers in mt toilet bowls.

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  23. Its been raining for like a couple weeks non stop here and so that probably explains it. Thanks for posting because seeing a red worm that color scares you at first!

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  24. Its been raining for like a couple weeks non stop here and so that probably explains it. Thanks for posting because seeing a red worm that color scares you at first!

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  25. Hey thanks. I just found like 20-30 small wriggling worms in my toilet and I had been having itching sensation in my ass too, I was so scared! And they don't go after flushing! They are really tiny! Like 1-2 cm max! Are you sure it has nothing to do with my itching?

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  26. Thanks a lot. What a relief!

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  27. Found out that I have Morgellons and severall types of worms are comng out of me. Evacuated apart 6 mos ago. Went back to get my stuff and noticed unused toilet full of clear nematodes. The red ones were in the carpet.

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  28. Found out that I have Morgellons and severall types of worms are comng out of me. Evacuated apart 6 mos ago. Went back to get my stuff and noticed unused toilet full of clear nematodes. The red ones were in the carpet.

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  29. Oh my god thank you for this story! I just came home after a few weeks away and used the restroom when I turned around there were two worms squirming around it terrified me so I Googled it and your story (and picture) were exactly through two gross squirming buggers in there... DISGUSTING!!

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  30. I found my cat playing with one near the bathroom the other day, several in my tub & even one in my plugged kitchen sink today, so like all of u, I got FREAKED OUT.

    But what I gather so far is that they are either 1. Millipedes 2. Earth worms from tree roots in plumbing, esp after rain, or 3. Morgellons or pin or tape worms, aka parasites. Hmmm, I know havig parasites makes u sick & lose weight. In my situation I'm pretty sure they are millipedes, but I have no idea where they are coming from. I found some thin brownish-grayish ones in my tub and carpet. I have a bug phobia, real OCD, so I have all my windows seals taped & sprinkled with diatomatous earth (DM) or I think the problem would b worse. There are probably tons of them underneath house in crawl space that never dries, is always damp from rain.

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  31. Found one in the toilet this morning. Slightly wider at one end than the other and thin. Wider profile as that part of its body was swimming on an angle. Definitely looked tape wormish to me but like these other descriptions. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow but I'm confused. Theres a tummy bug going around at work which I finished early because of, and in a terrible coincidence this worm appears in the empty bowl the morning after my unhealthy bowel movement.

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  32. Found one in our Upstairs toilet swimming happily around in the bottom of thee bowl. I was immediately convincing myself that it came out of Me somehow, so I captured him (I named him Wallace) with a pair of long tweezers and brought him down to my doctor. To me, it looked like a "Roundworm", but what do I know. The doctor sent me to the lab to get tested and everything came back as normal-after a long and disgusting testing of "samples". I've been watching closely ever since but nothing else has ever showed up. So, now I'm baffled...

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  33. How did you get rid of them? coz they irritating me a lot. PLZ HELP.

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  34. When I had moved in an old house(20 yrs), I found one inside the Commode which was some 5 inches long and thick enough. Flushed it off first thing. Again saw a smaller thinner one abt 3 inches long right below the tap and was suspecting if it was coming off the water tank. Today saw the third one about the size of a mini snake abt a feet long with appropriate thickness. The way it was crawling confirmed that it was an earth worm. Probably it came through the bathroom's water outlet. Flushed it off through the same outlet. Will b checking through the night to see if it crawls up back. And of course it was raining on a daily basis for about a month now and there are quite a no of trees around here. So as someone had suggested the tree roots cud be the source. Relieved that they r not coming off the water tank

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  35. Seems these ‘worms in the toilet’ are THANKFULLY very common....I’ve found about 6 now over the period of say 2 months...the long thin red ones as in these images, EXACTLY the same....first few I litterally freaked out for the fear of being inside me. So a doctors check up and stool samples later, I’m 100% clean and not a sign of anything negative!!..relieved but baffled I’m happy again...UNTIL...I start seeing them again!!..now I’m even thinking crazy stuff like my samples were mixed up blah blah and really they are from me!!..I categorically ALWAYS have a ‘quick look’ before flushing...nothing....flush again...nothing but clear water down there....but then can be 10 hours later I come back and there is another!! ...or not sometimes...but just come home to one now after a day out the house ! I keep sayin to myself the flush alone that takes away all the paper etc , how could a little worm swim against the drag of the water to remain in the bottom of the bowl?? And the toilet works on the ‘U-Bend’ system so how does it get back into the bottom of the toilet???? I’ve taken it out to take to the docs for an inspection...someone tell me am I being a drama queen and should just accept the positive test results and believe the worm has found its way FROM the earth outside the house ?? Driving me mad as it’s not exactly the topic you chat to your mates about!!

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  36. How do you get rid of the worms, as found 3 recently in my toilet?

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  37. Found what looks like an earthworm in my loo, loo was clean not been used in a few hours. Took pics and going to doctors just in case... but it was big. Kinda worried right now

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