Surely I can’t have chickenpox for a second time

[LittleGreenHearts]

DS6 has got chicken pox.
I have been looking after him all week and now feel really rotten - sore throat, achey, and have maybe four itchy spots on my body.
I have had chickenpox before and am generally quite healthy, the exception being when I had serious complications with one of my pregnancies.
GP said keep an eye and consider it could be chickenpox… but surely not?
and if not, could DS have something else?

I’ve had it twice.

It might be shingles. - Shingles is reactivated chickenpox. I have it now and have been feeling awful. Raise this possibility with your GP.

You can get it twice. My uncle cared for me when I had it as a child, on the basis he has had it before.

Guess who was spotty 2 weeks later

Shingles would just be a coincidence. Being in contact with CP would not cause shingles.
If they are spots spread over the body it's not shingles - the rash follows a nerve. It's usually more painful than itchy.

You can't catch shingles from someone with chickenpox. That's not how shingles works. According to the NHS website, "It's possible to get chickenpox more than once, but it's unusual." https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/chickenpox/ My DS has had it twice

I've had it twice

DH has had it 4 times. He is otherwise healthy and fit. Once as a child, once when DD had it and again when DS had it. Progressively worse each time. We only found out the 4th time as he had meningitis and had a lumbar puncture which confirmed the meningitis was caused by chicken pox. Didn't even get spots that time.

I live in fear of a 5th time.

Yes I have raised shingles with the GP but he explained that you cannot get shingles from someone with chickenpox but you can get chickenpox from someone with shingles.

so it would make sense if I had shingles but then DS got chickenpox however this isn’t the case - and it’s been going round his class so even more unlikely

im not in pain just very itchy and I feel like shit

Yes you can catch it more than once. Most things you can as it depends on how badly you caught it the first time on whether your immune system detects it the next time.

Anyway thanks for enlightening me - I had it in my head you were only really getting it again if you were elderly/vulnerable

at least the calamine won’t go to waste

If you did not produce sufficient antibodies the first time you could have chicken pox again.

I’ve had chicken pox 3 times as a child, was so ill each time. Not sure how bad it is as an adult though. 💐

I've had it 3 times