# Chicken pox-advice please



## kayg (Aug 20, 2007)

I'm due to be going to a friend's house for a curry tomorrow night. Her 1yr old son has chicken pox which is at spot stage (since yesterday).
I've had chicken pox but my 6yr hasn't so my question is-by going to my friend's house, will I bring nasties back and pass it on to my daughter?
She's off school with a headache and slight temperature at the mo anyway as are most of her school chums.


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## GerryD (Sep 20, 2007)

Best for her to get chicken pox now rather than later. Schools do not consider chicken pox a reason to not attend.
Gerry


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## Suenliam (Mar 22, 2006)

Don't want to worry you, but I know people who have had chicken pox more than once (even if it's scientifically not possible :wink: ) and the adult version is, I think, shingles - nasty!

Best to get all the "children's" diseases as children - the older they are the worse they seem to suffer.

Sue


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## locovan (Oct 17, 2007)

Chickenpox is an infection caused by the varicella-zoster virus. The immune system makes antibodies during the infection. These fight the virus and then provide lifelong immunity. Therefore, it is rare to have more than one bout of chickenpox in a lifetime.

Most people have chickenpox as a child. About 9 in 10 people have had it by the age of 15. It is uncommon for adults to have chickenpox.

What are the symptoms of chickenpox?
Symptoms are usually more severe in adults than in children. You can expect to have a few uncomfortable days. 


Fever (temperature), aches and headache often start a day or so before a rash appears. 
Rash. Spots appear in crops. The spots develop into small blisters and are itchy. They can be anywhere on the body and sometimes also in the mouth. Several crops may develop over several days. Some people are covered in spots, others have only a few. 
Dry cough, sore throat, and feeling sick are common. 
Let them mix and get it over with :lol:


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## kayg (Aug 20, 2007)

Thanks everyone-better stock up on calamine lotion and calpol.


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## timbop37 (Jun 28, 2006)

The infectious period lasts from about three days before the rash appears until all the blisters have formed scabs.

The incubation period between being infected with chickenpox until the disease breaks out and symptoms appear is 10 to 20 days.

Hope this helps. By the way, I had chicken pox when I was 24. I wished at the time that my mum had taken me to a "pox party" when I was a child. It was hell. 

If your daughter is not going with you, do not worry. She will not catch it. The virus will not live long enough for you to take home. However, there is a slim chance that, although you cannot get chicken pox, you may develop shingles, which may infect your daughter with chicken pox.


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## richardjames (Feb 1, 2006)

I had shingles three times in one year. I work in superstore so close contact with the public is unavoidable, plus the fact I was on a course of steroids, to combat temporal arteritis, which reduced my immunity - very painful experience
Richard


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Chicken pox*

My advice is not to go.

Your little one might get the virus, but so might you. I had chicken pox at 16 and was very, very poorly. The doctor said the older you are, the worse it is. Every inch of me was covered. I mean every inch, including eye lids.

I later had shingles and still have pain in the same area now - and yes it is 15 years on. I was told that the "nerve endings are beggered" and stress/anxiety etc can cause the pain.

Russell


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## 104477 (May 13, 2007)

My younger brother had a bad case of Chicken Pox 4yrs ago at xmas time, though we had both had it as youngsters, he was 36 at the time.
The spots even appeared in his mouth and throat, his xmas dinner consisted of ice cream even though he had cooked the full works for Mum, his partner and me.
I escaped a recurrence of it so I suspect my antibodies are more efficient than his. 
Anyway get it over with ASAP and hopefully the child will not have any further problems.


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## ChrisandJohn (Feb 3, 2008)

My OH caught chicken pox from my grandchildren 3 years ago at the age of 58. It was extremely unpleasant as well as being potentially dangerous for an adult. Just as OH was recovering he heard of a student, 28, with chicken pox, who nearly died..

Chris


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## TinaGlenn (Jul 7, 2006)

My kids had chickenpox when they were about 3 and 7, my friends with youngsters brought their kids around to play, unfortunately Glenn managed to catch it too, after his mum cheerfully told us he had never managed to have it as a child....... Ohhhh much worse than Man Flu, a 30 something man covered in an itchy rash, total nightmare :roll: at least the kids settled down to play in a cool bath and got covered in germalene anasthetic cream and dosed on disprol and didn't fuss, unlike Glenn who was a real pain for a couple of weeks :roll: 

Tina


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## Imbiber (May 11, 2007)

I know the following might sound rather extreme; but having had the pox myself (in recent memory) I can speak from first hand experience!

If you do endure your junior member contracting the Chicken Pox virus take the following as you see fit :!: 

When the scabs first start to appear I found that dabbing them with cotton wool dosed in surgical spirit did wonders for soothing the irritation; furthermore it appeared to accelerate the rate at which the scabs dried and then subsequently fell off!

Like I said...take with a pinch of salt if you wish...but it certainly helped me out :wink:


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## 107088 (Sep 18, 2007)

Its a funny old thing, parentage. When our boys were nobut knee high to a wombats ear, we actually sought out any child with anything thats they could catch, mumps, chicken pox, colds, leprosy,...well maybe not that.....we got them all ill, and anitbodied up for the rest of eternity, 


I saw a pretty impressive documentary last year, and was curious enough to read the experiment details. Basically the premise was, that we're making ourselves and our children unable to combat illnesses and allergies as we're making the environment too clean. 

This blokey, who was a very severe asthmatic ingested tapeworm eggs, and within a week, he had no asthma..Tried it on a poor unsuspecting woman, who was, if anything worse than the experimenter, she had the same result. Within a week, she had no S&S nor were meds required. As soon as the tapeworm rejected, the subjects were back to their old conditions within the same short period of time. 


I thought it interesting tho'. 


My boys were just about clean, most of their waking hours, even after a daily baff, they were soon pretty grubby again. Their babies bottles were clinically clean and not sterile, but.....see them now...never ill, never sick, very healthy. My mates son, everything sterilised, never eating anything not washed....( my boys used to stuff themselves with anything off a bush or a tree that was vaguely edible) that lad is a thin, sickly kid, who was always on some med or another throughout his childhood. 

Dunno, maybe I'm just a poor parent. :wink:


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## 96299 (Sep 15, 2005)

I had chicken pox at 29.man flu dont even get close 8O 

steve


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## annetony (May 1, 2005)

I had chicken pox when I was about 34--I was working in a video hire shop at the time and after feeling crap for a couple of days, aching everywhere, even my hair and toenails were aching.

I went to have a bath before I went into work and screamed
" Ive got spots" 8O 8O yep chicken pox-- kindly passed on by my children
I must have been lucky as that was it-- I felt better and luckily only had a few spots, 

I had more than lilely unknowingly passed it round the whole of Chorley   

I would probably let the children catch them now and get it over with, If I remember rightly Caladryl lotion is good for the spots if they are very itchy, it has a mild anaestetic in

Anne


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## suedew (May 10, 2005)

well well anne always wondered where my boys caught chickenpox, seems you might have been to blame. (lived in chorley for 20+ years, still have a son living there now.)
both boys had chickenpox twice, uncommon occurrence, but not exactly rare.


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## dcmo (May 19, 2005)

Just to add my voice to those above... my family assure me I had chicken pox as a small child and I definitely had it again as a student and very unpleasant it was too! A doctor confirmed it was chicken pox the second time so either it wasn't when I was small , or you can get it twice


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## SpeedyDux (Jul 13, 2007)

There seem to be a surprising number of MHF posters who have contracted chicken pox as adults.

Me too, at 30. I was very, very ill for 10 days, with spots everywhere from head to toe including unmentionable places. Ghastly. This was contracted from a colleague at the office whose young daughter had chickenpox. He also got it a few days later so I must have met him when he was infectious but his symptoms hadn't yet appeared.

It's all very well seeing it as a nuisance to be got over in childhood but if you missed getting it then it can be a serious infection in adulthood and seems very easily spread. Would routine mass vaccination be a better solution? I understand that if you get it as an adult you are more likely to get it again, which is a bit worrying.


SD


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