[doganjo]

For goodness sake don't be so stupid!  Go to your doctor.  You will not waste his/her time, in fact you may save our overstretched NHS money and time if you self medicate and become ill as aresult

[InternationalNumpty]

As a retired medic, I would definitely advocate seeking medical advice - 1). You are not sure you have worms 2). Dosage needs to be accurate to treat you correctly. You say you travel overseas for work - does your employment provide health insurance? Can you use this to seek help from a travel clinic, which may well be more equipped to deal with illnesses brought back from foreign climes? Please do not try treating yourself, in my experience this often does not end well!

1) Fairly sure I do/will/have but as I have continuous stomach problems whilst travelling it's also reasonable to assume they are periodically cleansed... if not, they're the only things not coming out.  It's not unknown to live on coke for a fortnight to get through a trip.  Alcohol gel to wipe the can as it's probably cleaner than a glass, enough sugar to keep you operational and the fizz prevents it being tampered with in locations where bottled water caps are often reconnected with superglue so you don't realise they've been refilled with tap water.
2) True, but I thought from memory the doses and chemicals were the same as for dogs... I'm not completely sure though.  Fairly sure I could work it out based on the fact sheets available online if I really set my mind to it.
3) Yes, but that meant waiting until after the break rather than self medicating in the comfort of my own home and dealing with the problem in my time to be fully up and running by the time I returned to work.  I'm back on the road next week so will wait until the next visit to one of our locations with onsite medics and then drop in there to pick something up; they'll pretty well prescribe anything to keep us working so I can't see it being a problem.  Just didn't really want the symptoms of taking a worming tablet whilst travelling.  You'd think by now I'd be used to the indignity of dumping my guts (one way or another) in a hotel toilet or a hole in the ground or whatever passes for a latrine wherever I am, but if I'm going to deliberately replicate the usual 'Delhi belly', it would be nice to do it in a bathroom that has seen Domestos since the millennium.  I wonder if I really am the only one that packs a sleeping bag whenever I travel so that I always have clean sheets to sleep in regardless of the hotel 

[InternationalNumpty]

Yes, I felt the same way when I enquired about giving our tup the snip. £60 to be done at home seemed like a bargain!

I think you're probably on your own for that one... although the may have been happy if he got the 'spoils' afterwards...

[InternationalNumpty]

Treating worms in humans can be complicated. There's even a chance that making the bowel inhospitable to some species forces them to migrate out of the gut and end up in other organs.
Having worms may make you healthier, reducing asthema symptoms and allergies. GP for this, test before treatment, funny as it is.

Yes I watched a programme on that not so long ago about the doctor that went to Africa to get some infected cattle meat in order to swallow tapeworm eggs and grow them.  It was very interesting.  Nonetheless at the end of the experiment he took a wormer to cleanse!

[InternationalNumpty]

I’m taking the OP as a bit of fun/satire, tongue in cheek.

Interesting points alluded to:

- it’s legal to self-treat, but not legal for other than a registered vet to prescribe or treat an animal
- sheep keepers frequently turn to the broad-spectrum wormer when there’s a sheep with a mucky bum

As to

The GPs are overworked and don't want to see us... we all know that.   

That’s not my reading of it.  The GPs would, in general, always rather see someone than not (although willl probably be very pleased if you tried the pharmacist first).  Their receptionists, however, are sometimes a tad over-zealous in weeding out the non-urgent / trivial...

My GP will probably turn green and lecture me about food hygiene, travel arrangements and all the rest of it.  People who don't travel to these locations don't really understand there's more to it than not drinking the water.  I remember how horrified the GP was when they asked what I had in my medical kit and I explained that along with the prescription that covered 'everything in this medical pack' there were the usual diuretics, laxatives and antidiarrheals, plasters, bandages, water purifiers there were strong painkillers, condoms (in case I wanted to go swimming and no that's not a euphemism), thread, needles and vodka and that yes, I had been given instructions on how to use all of them if needed and a list of all the hospitals I shouldn't use if I got shot which ran to 47 pages... I didn't understand why they didn't just give me the 2 pages of hospitals I should use.. but I guess that's why they gave me an emergency phone number, and phonetic words to use that said 'get me to the nearest beach', along with written instructions in several foreign languages in case the driver could read which apparently said 'get me to the nearest beach and phone this number then say where you are and who your passenger is' oh and of course the needle, thread and vodka!

The company medic won't ask too many questions and will just give me a prescription at a guess.  It's probably not the first time he'll have been asked and I'm just surprised they're not included in the medical kit.  I probably should have detoured via the medics on my way home last trip but just couldn't be bothered to add a couple of days to the trip.

[InternationalNumpty]

For goodness sake don't be so stupid!  Go to your doctor.  You will not waste his/her time, in fact you may save our overstretched NHS money and time if you self medicate and become ill as aresult

Nah, I'd be back on the road before any symptoms kicked in then it would be an international bupa case rather than the NHS...  I don't see why the NHS should have to pay for this.  I'll see the company medic at some point over the next few weeks and get sorted that way.  Or I could take the sheep wormer with flukicide that Fleecewife mentioned... that might get me out of the next trip   

[InternationalNumpty]

You can have such fun in a long queue at the Pharmacist 


Seriously, I would go and see your GP as just guessing what would be appropriate for what you could have, and guessing an appropriate dose for a human, are both pretty dodgy strategies.  You won't be wasting her or his time - that's the folk who think they might have sprained a little finger last week, or who demand antibiotics for their colds.  So don't be a tough guy, just do it properly and get along to the surgery.


It sounds like you have a very mysterious job.  I bet there are lots of tales you could tell 

I could tell you all about it, but then I'd have to kill you!  "The names Bond; Basildon Bond; some people say I'm a card!" 

[Backinwellies]

Internationalnumpty    what are you doing round the world?    what is your connection to smallholding?

[Womble]

Backinwellies - He's an International Man of Numptiniess. It's best not to ask specfics - loose lips (and possibly also bowels?) sink ships and all that  .

[SallyintNorth]

Still think it’s a wind-up. 

[doganjo]

I'm sure my bithday was just last week - we haven't jumped to April 1st have we?

[Fleecewife]

Still think it’s a wind-up.

A non-smallholding new member and    ?


Perhaps we should lock this?

[Penninehillbilly]

Still think it’s a wind-up.

And no other posts under his profile, yes lock it, it's stupid.

[Foobar]

Hmm, my boss has mentioned getting wormer for himself from his GP without any issue....honestly!

[landroverroy]

Still think it’s a wind-up.

And no other posts under his profile, yes lock it, it's stupid.

I don't think it's a wind up. 
Because it's outside your realm of experience or comfort zone doesn't make it fantasy. I can feel the OP's frustration when actually  seeking help and constantly coming up against a brick wall. I have encountered similar ignorance when consulting my doctor about a sheep acquired illness and actually being told to ask my vet about treatment because the doctor didn't have the knowledge and couldn't be bothered to find out!
Not all health professionals know everything   That's why I said that a well researched individual is more likely to find the answer than a poorly motivated professional.
All the information is there on the internet if you bother to spend the time and I'm sure IN is just as capable of looking it up as anyone else. He/she doesn't sound like a complete moron, so should be credited with enough commonsense not to do anything stupid.
By the way IN - I too read that the dog dose for such as Panacur is suitable for humans also.   But DO get it verified by a doctor (who will have read the same article) or it is most likely have dire consequences.