Did anyone have measles as a child?

[Daffodil101]

With leg pain afterwards?

Been reading about measles tonight. I definitely contracted this as a child, we moved house a lot, so I can place it to about 1978 given the house we were living in.

I also remember an incident ( in the same house) where I had excruciating leg pains and my mother wouldn’t believe me. It was agony to weight bear. She forced me to walk to the shops on my hands and knees to ‘prove’ I was lying, which I wasn’t.

I’ve never connected the two until I read that measles can cause terrible leg pain. Talk about the penny dropping!

Anyone else remember experiencing this?

I had measles when I was very young. I used to have terrible leg pain as a child but was always told it was growing pains. It wasn't a weight bearing thing but down my shin bones. Your mother also seems to be from the same school of child rearing as mine! I didn't realise until recently all the long lasting harm measles does to the body and immune system.

It’s very interesting, need to google it. I had measles when was 8 and something. I don’t remember it as such but I had it badly and my parents always told me that my eyesight worsened exactly after it.

60s child, we all had measles as there wasn't a vaccine. We all knew someone who went blind/was really ill with it. Ditto German measles, my mother made me sleep in my brother's bedroom but I didn't catch it. Vaccine came out in the early to mid 1970s I think, because we were given it age 15

Exactly the same as JaneJeffer I can’t remember the timeline but do know I had measles and later remember the leg pain being put down to growing pains

That's what my mum told me too greenlynx
Apparently I only needed glasses after I had measles. Though since both my parents were short sighted and I had measles when I was 4, I suspect that my short sightedness is genetic and was probably only discovered at my Reception year sight test which coincidentally was shortly after I had measles. My Mum was certain that the measles caused it though.
I do recall having leg pains which were attributed to "growing pains" though. It seemed to be quite a common thing when I was a child in the 70s. I can't say I have heard of any children complaining of that kind of thing in recent years so maybe it was measles related?
Another thing my Mum told me is that a couple weeks after I had recovered from measles I was very unwell again with a high fever and mouth ulcers for another week or two, and that a lot of my hair fell out. Apparently I was hallucinating and unable to eat or drink much for days. I never thought much about it, but reading the information on Kawasaki disease that has been circulated recently I wonder if I actually had something like that? If I did, it sounds like I was bloody lucky to just get better, as I definitely didn't get taken to hospital. Mum said she was frantic with worry but the GP told her it was just a virus, and in those days of course there weren't really any alternative sources of information and my Mum would never have questioned what a doctor told her.

I had measles and I don’t remember having any complications. I would get in the 500s
My grandsons got it about 6 years ago and they too have been fine

50s

I had it in the early 80s, I was unwell enough for the Dr to visit twice but never had any leg pain.

I had it and my mother blamed it for me eyesight too although again she’s very shortsighted.

I was born in 76 and I think I was immunised; despite that I had whooping cough (def immunised), measles, rubella twice, mumps abd chicken pox as a child; then when pregnant I still had no rubella immunity AND I caught chicken pox off the kids 🤷🏻‍♀️

I don’t specifically remember leg pain from measles but I do remember leg pain in general I’ll try to ask my mum when I talk to her next.

I as me measles in the 80’s and I remember suffering terribly from leg pains at night time mainly it was also put down to growing pains. I remember being in tears from the agony a few times. I don’t recall now whether it was around the time I had the measles or not tho.

I was ill with it as a small child , all I can recall is 1 traumatic hallucination about being chased round a ship by pirates!

I had measles as a child and again as an adult. I remember having awful pains in my legs growing up and I was always told it was growing pains.

I contracted measles and mumps at the same time in the 60's when I was about 2. Apparently I was very unwell and for a year afterwards was seen at a Children's Hospital for ongoing abscesses in my neck I think.
I've obviously got no memory of this and have never had any further issues

It does sound as though it was quite a nasty virus, unsurprising really because they vaccinate against it now, but I just don’t remember my mum being overly worried about it.

I almost died due to encephalitis because of measles when I was six. But I also had a lot of leg pain and was told it was growing pains.

I had 'growing pains' in my shins but I didn't have measles. I had the vaccination in the early 70s. We had a family member who had died from measles complications so my mum was keen on the jab.

I wonder why I didn’t have the vaccination?! My mum wouldn’t have objected.

Yep. No biggie. Chickenpox was significantly worse for me.

(you'd have to go to the States thou to get the same level of hysteria over chickenpox as we do over measles - proof it's all just a big con imo)

I was wondering the same thing so just did a quick Google Daffodil and found several sources stating that measles vaccine was first introduced in the UK in 1968 but that the uptake remained low until the mid 80s. I couldn't find any clear explanation for the low initial uptake anywhere though. I guess that in those days, without the information technology we have now, it was harder to inform people and they would have been reliant on manual paper records to call people for the vaccine and to chase up those who didn't respond. I imagine it would have been a lot harder to do it all efficiently, so maybe the message just didn't effectively get out? Possibly there was also an element of people just viewing it as a mild childhood illness and not thinking it was worth bothering with? Obviously we now know more about it, again partly because of better access to information but I suppose in the late 60s and the 70s most parents would have known lots of children who had measles and got better quickly without serious complications so perhaps didn't view it as a serious illness unless they were unfortunate enough to know someone who had been badly affected. People still give that reason for why they don't have some vaccines nowadays of course. Or something else that occurred to me is that I remember there being a scare about the whooping cough vaccine causing brain damage in the 70s. Lots of parents therefore opted out of that one. I wonder if there was a knock on effect on other vaccinations as well?
I was born in 1966 so maybe I just missed out on being offered it, but if it was available I am also surprised that I wasn't immunised. My Mum was always very compliant with medical advice by my recollection. I certainly had everything that was offered when I was at school, so I am sure that had she been told that I should have it, I would have done.

I had measles, don’t remember any complications. Tested as an adult and still immune 30 years later.

@StarUtopia measles is a big con???

Yes of course it is.

I had measles in the late 60s as a very young child, before the vaccine was available, with no complications at all as far as I'm aware.

I don't remember it at all, but I do remember vividly having chicken pox aged 8 or 9 in 1973. I can still smell the calamine lotion when I think about it.

I was surprised to see when I looked at my vaccination records that I was vaccinated against smallpox in 1966 when I was two. I still have the mark on my upper arm.

I had measles when I was 3 I don't remember it though and when I was 9 I had measles. my parents never let me have any immunisations.
had legs pains was always told they were growing pains never linked to measles.

meant to say mumps at 9 not measles

Measles is a "con"? Tell that to the families of the 70 children who died from it last year in Samoa, whose tiny population was hugely impacted by the disease.