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Children's health

Does this sound like chicken pox?

20 replies

Auntierosemary · 09/02/2014 21:20

My 14 month old has been mildly unwell for almost a week. She has had a phlegmy cough, been clingy and for the last few days has also been off her food and milk. She has been sick three or four times over the last five days or so, usually after a coughing bout, and has had 3 or four spells of diarrhoea. She hasn't had a temperature. Today, she has developed about 10 red spots - some on her face, some on her arms and some on legs. About three of these are raised, red and a bit like blisters. Overall she is in pretty good form, just a bit bad tempered at times and not sleeping as well as usual.

Pox? Something else familiar to you?

She has a few food allergies and always has a bit of eczema, which is definitely worse than usual at the moment, so my other theory is that she is a bit dehydrated and her eczema has become inflamed.

Any comparisons or suggestions appreciated!

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AnAdventureInCakeAndWine · 09/02/2014 21:24

It does sound quite like pox. If it is, I'd expect a lot more spots tomorrow and for more of the existing spots to have blistered.

Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme · 09/02/2014 21:28

Yes it does sound like cp to me as well. My two had it differently. Dd1 was ok, just mostly spots, dd2 was quite poorly. Calamine lotion helps.

Auntierosemary · 09/02/2014 22:39

Thanks for your responses. I bet it is the pox - I am due to have a day off for the first time since September tomorrow (last one before that was November 2012). Might be one big poxy pity party!

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AnAdventureInCakeAndWine · 09/02/2014 22:48

Yes, if you have actual plans that would be disrupted then that pretty much settles it 100% in favour of pox...

A friend of mine described the pox as

Day 1: Hmm, I wonder if that could be chicken pox?
Day 2: Yup, that's definitely chicken pox.
Day 3: Bugger me, HOW many spots?

and I think that sums it up pretty well...

Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme · 09/02/2014 22:50

Oh dear. Much sympathy! My two had it in succession over one summer. We were virtually housebound for a month.

We'd just ventured out for the day after dd1 had got over it. Dd2 became a bit lethargic and I noticed a suspicious looking spot on her neck. She obviously wasn't feeling well. By the time we got her in the car she had some on her face. It took us about an hour to drive home, thankfully she slept most of the way, and by the time we got home she was covered in spots. They appeared really quickly. You're not supposed to let them near anybody until all the spots have scabbed over. Takes several days.

Hope your little one is better soon!

campion · 09/02/2014 22:53

err diarrhoea x 3, being sick x 3, coughing bouts, off food and not sleeping well wouldn't be my definition of 'pretty good form'. And that was before the spots!

IME the spots were the first sign of anything wrong (including for me when DS1 infected me and DS2 as a job lot).

I'd be having a word with a doctor before making assumptions.

AnAdventureInCakeAndWine · 09/02/2014 22:59

I was going largely by the description of the spots. There's a nasty cough thingy going around here that would have accounted for all the other symptoms in the OP, so I'm inclined to see that (apart from the last couple of days of being off food) as a separate issue from the spots. If I'm going in for armchair Internet diagnosis, I'd say the mysterious unnamed coughy virus (DD2's audiologists say that nearly all their paediatric patients have had that over the last 6-8 weeks) with query chicken pox on top, the chicken pox being responsible for the spots and the OP's DD being off food.

Auntierosemary · 09/02/2014 23:10

Campion - where I come from "pretty good form" relates to mood, as in she seemed pretty happy and unbothered.
And most of the other symptoms are pretty run of the mill for her and otherwise unremarkable over the course of five days, certainly not anything I would go to the doctors for on their own.

Dog lover, the speed of your daughter's reaction is amazing! Might go up and check on my daughter now to to see if she is similarly smitten...

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Auntierosemary · 09/02/2014 23:11

Cake adventure - I'm thinking along the same lines, while hoping it is still not the pox.

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yellowflowers · 09/02/2014 23:14

When my dc had the pox aged 2 and aged 6 months they went from one spot to about 300 spots a few hours later. We didn't realise at the time but in retrospect they had been grumpy for the week prior to getting it.

Ds got similar looking spots that came v quickly that turned out to be hand foot and mouth.

BeaWheesht · 09/02/2014 23:19

Sounds poxy.

anadventure god this bloody cough thing is a pain in the arse! Ds and dd had it October - Christmas and I have it now. So annoying!

Auntierosemary · 09/02/2014 23:20

Thanks yellowflowers, was thinking of hfm too, and it is always going around our nursery... Just checked on her and she has no more visible spots so far...

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Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme · 09/02/2014 23:20

Oh yes, hand foot and mouth, that old favourite. We've had that too. Dd1 had it in her mouth, dd2 had it on her hands and I had it on my feet. We had it between us. The doctor said it was quite unusual for an adult to get it.

We are the poxy family.

Auntierosemary · 09/02/2014 23:22

But did your dog catch it?

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BeaWheesht · 09/02/2014 23:27

They always say hand foot and mouth is unusual in adults - I think this is bollocks because entirely anecdotally I know more adults than kids who've had it.

When I had it nobody else in the house caught it.

Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme · 09/02/2014 23:51

No the dog didn't get it. Well, unless I just couldn't see it under his fur.

Auntierosemary · 10/02/2014 19:08

So it doesn't seem to be the pox or hfm. No more spots and ones that are there no longer like blisters, more like small scabs, and she is still in a good mood with no temperature or anything. So unless it has just been a really mild dose of the pox I'm putting it down to an eczema flare up, following a mild virus.
Thanks for all the tips and help!

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Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme · 10/02/2014 19:35

Well that's good. Might well be a mild dose though and she might get it again. Keep an eye out.

Auntierosemary · 10/02/2014 19:59

Will do! I have a three year old as well so if she gets it that would be decisive. Shame I have no dog to invite to our pox party. But at least I got my day off! You'll be relieved to know I put it to good use... By sleeping and then watching the Winter Olympics. It's amazing what becomes entertaining when you are not used to having any free time!

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Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme · 10/02/2014 22:32

I know! It's like you don't know what to do with yourself.

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