A TikTok user pooped worms after eating prepackaged salad and suffering abdominal pain for months.
The TikTok user named Jacqui, who is from Montana, shared a photo of what she said were worms she pooped out after eating prepackaged salad.
“I have struggled with eating disorders my entire life and I was going through a phase where I only ate salads,” said TikTok user @jquelly. “My job required me to bring a lunch every day so I would bring one of these prepackaged salads.”
Jacqui said she started getting “really sick,” and she felt tired all the time, taking naps every day.
One day she went to the bathroom and she realized something was moving in the toilet bowl.
She warned squeamish viewers to look away, before sharing a photo of what was in the toilet bowl. “No poop. Only worms,” she said in the video clip.
In a follow-up video she explained that her insurance didn’t cover expensive medication that is usually prescribed for de-worming animals, and she ended up with a $3,000 bill.
Theresa Fiorito, MD, an infectious disease specialist at NYU Langone Hospital—Long Island, tells Health that ascaris worms are rarely seen in the northern part of the U.S.
“It’s a roundworm that’s found in warmer climates, in the soil, and you can get sick when you ingest the eggs,” she explains. “But it’s more a disease of the tropics that’s sometimes seen in the southern US — it’s unusual to see it in Montana.”
Salads can be infested with worm eggs if it is prepackaged in warmer climates outside of the U.S.
Dr. Fiorito said the most effective medication is a one-time, one-dose of Albendazole, which is usually prescribed by veterinarians.
“Within 2–3 days, I didn’t see any more worms in my stool,” she told Buzzfeed. “The stomach aches went away within that time as well.”
To avoid ingesting worm eggs, doctors suggest common sense practices such as washing your bagged salad — even if it says “pre-washed” on the bag.
Watch the video here.
