Family member may have shingles. My kids haven't had Chicken Pox.

[loveulotslikejellytots]

So a family member possibly has shingles, my kids haven't had chicken pox before. Family member has a swollen eye and small sore patch so gp has said either excema or shingles. They will know Friday. But we are supposed to get together for Christmas Day. If it turns out to be shingles, would you still go? Is it something that won't spread if we limit contact? Don't know if I'm sounding daft here.

Family member has already said they won't go Christmas Day if it is shingles but I don't want them to be alone.

One of my children caught chicken pox from a relative with shingles. They were in contact before the shingles was diagnosed, not sure how easy it is to avoid if you're in the same house, though.

Tricky decision, good luck and fingers crossed it turns out not to be shingles.

My dd had shingles as a child and I think you can only catch chicken pox from shingles if you touch the fluid/weeping shingles.

You have to have contact with the fluid to catch I think

If they have shingles on their face then it's very likely to be spread to your children if they spend time with this relative exposing them to the risk of coming out with chicken pox.

If it is shingles then the family member is correct to stay away and you'd be bonkers to go and risk your children getting chicken pox.

A 5 second google advises you only catch chicken pox from the Shingles fluid

My DC had shingles and gave it to their swimming partner - it is contagious. However I didn’t catch it til my 30s despite many kids I was friends with catching it at school and elsewhere.

Shingles can be horrific for people, can give nerve damage and everything and advice is to stay away (unfortunately)

I've got shingles on my face at the moment though I'm not OP's relative. It can only pass on chicken pox through contact with weeping blisters and only if folk haven't had chicken pox already. It's not airborne, as long as physical contact is avoided or carefully managed and hand hygiene kept up by the sufferer, there should be no risk. I'm sorry for the shingles haver, it's horrible!

I would suggest that a few previous posters actually Google shingles..

I've had shingles I don't need to Google it. If it was a location that could be covered and unlikely to be touched I would have answered differently but the face is a different matter, it can't be covered and the relative will inadvertently touch it.

If the relative is happy to stay away I would respect their right to do so. To be honest if they feel anywhere as shit as I did with it chances are they will just want to be alone anyway.

Shingles is not contagious in that way.

You can get chicken pox from shingles if you touch the fluid from the blisters, but you can't catch shingles from chicken pox or someone else with shingles.

If finances permit, get the children immunised. Many private GPs and some pharmacies offer the vaccination. It’s routine almost everywhere in Europe, the US and Australia. The UK is an outlier in not having it form part of the childhood vaccination schedule.

If it's shingles then as others have said it can only be caught by contact with the fluid from blisters. I had it on my face previously, 2dc at home who have never had CP and neither caught it, good handwashing, not touching it and warning them to stay clear of face. I wouldn't have been inadvertently touching it, it was fucking sore, it wasn't something I'd have forgotten was there and touched.

Well as bad as this sounds, your kids will get chicken pox at some point unless you vaccinate them.

I would either take the risk and accept that time could be now, or if family member is happy to stay at home ( they might, shingles is really unpleasant) then let them make that decision. Arrange for someone to drop things round to them for the day.

How old are your kids?

If they have shingles it is likely they will just want to be in bed anyway, I had it earlier this year and would have been in no state to socialise let alone eat a meal and drink. I could hardly do anything, it was so bad. For weeks and weeks.

And when I was better I didn't socialise, as I didn't want to give anyone chickenpox, even though it was on my back. If it was on my face, and the fact that the fluid is easily released by just touching it, I'd not be anywhere near anyone else either.

Missing one Christmas isn't the end of the world.

Don't let your kids lick the blisters on relatives face.

Honestly shingles is not contagious.
You can only catch chicken pox from direct contact with the fluid in the blisters.
So don't lick the blisters!

And if relative touches face...they need to wash their hands.

Absolutely no need for quarantine

Though shingles can make you feel very fatigued and or low...and it's painful so they might prefer being on their own

I'm a GP...I just say "theoretically you can catch chicken pox from shingles but you'd need to lick the blisters"

The DC are 7 and 4. I'm surprised they've not had CP yet, we've had texts from school nearly every 2 weeks about it.

I'd googled it and know that shingles can cause the kids to get CP. I just wondered what the likelihood of this is if we keep a bit of distance. The Kids won't need to be near relative and relative was a nurse so is well aware about hand hygiene.

I just didn't know if it was a 100% chance or only if certain contact was made etc.

@Theredjellybean 😂 noted. I'll stop letting the kids lick faces now, just to be safe.

They've had shingles in the past and felt awful. At the moment they are getting over this winter virus that's going around. So they may not feel well enough anyway.

If you don’t want to vaccinate, might it not be not the worst thing if they got it now? Given they’re likely to get it at some point (and isn’t it preferable to get it before you’re an adult?) and if you’ve got nothing fun happening in January that they would miss… otherwise Sod’s Law is when they do get it, they’ll get it before an important exam or holiday or whatever!

Unless you're going to vaccinate your DC I wouldn't hesitate to socialise with someone with shingles or chicken pox. It is infinitely better if they catch CP while young so that they're immune when they are exposed as adults. CP is far more serious for adults than it is for children.

My Dad was in a lot of pain with shingles, so wouldn't have wanted company, so they might cancel anyway. I don't know what the chances of catching chicken pox is, but I didn't catch it off my Dad he had it and he was 14 (maybe better if I had as it's meant to be worse for adults and I literally hurt all over, couldn't swallow when I got it at 25).