chicken pox

[weathermom]

Just got my daughter out of a baking soda bath. (thanks skywatch!) and then read your post (not until after i dotted her with caladryl) Do you think I should hold off on any benadryl for a while because of the caladryl?

Trimmed the nails yesterday and she slept with gloves on. So far mouth isnt an issue.

[isobar]

wxmom - I know this sounds weird, but you ought to do all you can to make sure your other kids catch it now and get it over with. In fact, tell your friends and invite their kids. Have a chickenpox party with lots of hugs. Make sure you put calamine lotion in their party favors.

[Skywatch_NC]

wxmom - I know this sounds weird, but you ought to do all you can to make sure your other kids catch it now and get it over with. In fact, tell your friends and invite their kids. Have a chickenpox party with lots of hugs. Make sure you put calamine lotion in their party favors.

I was in Kindergarten and my sister in pre-school in Cincy...our best friends' mother (out of the "graciousness" of her heart) suggested to my Mom that she bring her kids over to get my sister and I exposed...well, yep you guessed it...and as a result some miserable days of heck...~sigh~. Oh well, at least now there's no concern about getting it in adulthood.

Eric

[hurricanedude]

Im 33...and still havent had those darn things!

[Persepone]

While most people who get chicken pox as a child don't have permanent problems (except for unsightly pox marks in some cases), for some children they are very serious! Someone on this board was hospitalized.

Also, keep any children with chicken pox away from older adults, people with compromised immune systems, etc. as can have very serious consequences.

Adults get shingles instead of "chicken pox" in many cases and this can be a very painful/debilitating disease for some people. If your case is mild, it may be "funny," but for many it is NOT funny at all.

Weathermom mentioned not wanting kids to have to have an other shot when they are adults. Why not? If you had a tetanus shot as a child, wouldn't you get another one as an adult? What about typhoid shots? Flu shots?

There seems to be a confusion between chicken pox and german measles with the reference to pregnancy and shots. If you are pregnant and exposed to various illnesses, you cannot get the shots (but they may give you gamma gobulin (spelling?) instead to try to ward off the illness).

However, like German Measles, the reason for immunizing children against chicken pox is as much to protect adults who are around the children as the children themselves. With chicken box, German measles, etc., by the time the symptoms appear, you've been spreading the infection to others for days if not weeks! Same thing for the immunization against mumps, by the way! Horrific consequences for adult males.

However, even if immunity "wears off" (and no, they do not know in any cases, how long immunity lasts because it is probably based on the individual's health, etc. etc. etc.) having had the shots probably means you get a much less severe case of the illness.

Immunize your children against these diseases. With one possible caveat. They used to (e.g., 35 years ago) immunize babies when they were a few weeks old--and now they do so while the child is in the hospital. The reason they do this is not that it is better medically (and it may well not be a good idea) but because so many people did not bring their children back for the doctor visit where they would normally get the shots. From an epidemeologist point of view where they care about "public health" this prevents lots of problems with unimmunizated infants--but from an individual child point of view, this may be a really bad idea. Talk with your pediatrician about the issue and see if he/she recommends holding off on the immunizations until the baby is a little older....

There are arguments that giving a whole raft of immunizations to newborns can cause some serious medical problems. So it might be a good idea to wait until the 6 week checkup to get immunizations. But blowing them off entirely is much too dangerous.

[Guest]

The cool baths with Aveno or baking soda seemed to help the most.

The calimine was helpful too. I gave my daughter a small, soft ( new) paint brush and a bowl of the calimine lotion and suggested she have some "fun" painting herself. It got it on her without a fuss and distracted her from scratching a bit.


Trim nails as far down as possible - they will scratch in their sleep.

[alicia-w]

those little white cotton gloves are good for the scratching thing.

[weathermom]

Persepone, My concern with my daughters is that I want them to be immune by the time they reach their childbearing years. I do not want them to be in need of a booster and not get it ( at that age many young adults dont go anywhere near a doctor unless absolutely necessary). I wouldnt want them to be exposed to chicken pox while they are pregnant and not be fully immune, as this can cause serious complications also. My children have had all their other vaccinations.

[Amanzi]

OOOOOOOOO three of them huh! I dont envy you!

Just to reiterate... dont give them anything containg ASPRIN! Or even medication such as pepto (something in there that is similar to asprin, but for the life of me I cant remember the chemical name)... Just read all the lables of everything you give them.

My mom got the chicken pox at the age of 40, and the doctors concern was shingles. She never did get shingles, but she did have chicken pox 3 times during her life time, and the adult version was nasty! Better to get it now as a kid than later in life.

Best of luck, and I hope they all recover quickly (for your sake!)

[weathermom]

The first one is done and back in school. She is anxiously awaiting her sisters spots and the chance for payback ( her sisters called her our puppy, spot!)

[breeze]

While most people who get chicken pox as a child don't have permanent problems (except for unsightly pox marks in some cases), for some children they are very serious! Someone on this board was hospitalized.

Also, keep any children with chicken pox away from older adults, people with compromised immune systems, etc. as can have very serious consequences.

Adults get shingles instead of "chicken pox" in many cases and this can be a very painful/debilitating disease for some people. If your case is mild, it may be "funny," but for many it is NOT funny at all.

Weathermom mentioned not wanting kids to have to have an other shot when they are adults. Why not? If you had a tetanus shot as a child, wouldn't you get another one as an adult? What about typhoid shots? Flu shots?

There seems to be a confusion between chicken pox and german measles with the reference to pregnancy and shots. If you are pregnant and exposed to various illnesses, you cannot get the shots (but they may give you gamma gobulin (spelling?) instead to try to ward off the illness).

However, like German Measles, the reason for immunizing children against chicken pox is as much to protect adults who are around the children as the children themselves. With chicken box, German measles, etc., by the time the symptoms appear, you've been spreading the infection to others for days if not weeks! Same thing for the immunization against mumps, by the way! Horrific consequences for adult males.

However, even if immunity "wears off" (and no, they do not know in any cases, how long immunity lasts because it is probably based on the individual's health, etc. etc. etc.) having had the shots probably means you get a much less severe case of the illness.

Immunize your children against these diseases. With one possible caveat. They used to (e.g., 35 years ago) immunize babies when they were a few weeks old--and now they do so while the child is in the hospital. The reason they do this is not that it is better medically (and it may well not be a good idea) but because so many people did not bring their children back for the doctor visit where they would normally get the shots. From an epidemeologist point of view where they care about "public health" this prevents lots of problems with unimmunizated infants--but from an individual child point of view, this may be a really bad idea. Talk with your pediatrician about the issue and see if he/she recommends holding off on the immunizations until the baby is a little older....

There are arguments that giving a whole raft of immunizations to newborns can cause some serious medical problems. So it might be a good idea to wait until the 6 week checkup to get immunizations. But blowing them off entirely is much too dangerous.

And, TRUST me - those shingles aren't the least bit funny, when
they come back at you, as an adult! It's the most painful,
burning, itching, aching-to-the-nerve miserable Hades that
you'll NEVER want to wish on an enemy! (*breeze is waving
her hand - "ME! Been there, done that!") Get the immunizations,
as Persepone advised, so that it won't come back at them,
later in life. It seems that once the Varicella Zoster
is in your system, it's in it, for life. It can lie dormant in the
nerve tissues, for years, after the Chickenpox attack.

[Skywatch_NC]

I had a small area of shingles one time under my left breast area...that ITCH but OOOH the PAIN, too!!

Eric

[breeze]

My initial area broke out on my left arm, Eric. Tormented
me from the tips of my left fingers, all the way up to the
side of my head, left side - hurt to brush my hair! Now,
it breaks out, periodically, on the left arm, and left side
of my face, just my ear, in stressful sitations. The docs
prescribed meds, but, I've found that dousing the area
with Tea Tree Oil (Melaluca), works just as well to dry
up the area.