Healthy kids sometimes get shingles?

[RandomTyping]

I'm not asking anyone diagnose anything via the Internet, and I know that just because one person has a particular thing happen doesn't mean it will apply to everyone in the same scenario - but having a mini panic and hoping for a little bit of reassurance.

DD (9) has shingles. Apparently this is pretty uncommon in healthy kids (unless maybe you had chicken pox under the age of 1 - she didn't, she was 5). It's more common if you have some kind of immune issues...which has sent DH, who has form for gravitating to the worst case scenario whenever anyone has a sniffle, off panicking about cancer and leukaemia and survival rates for every kind of terrible illness you can imagine. He's actually medical (although works in an area where he sees the worst case of everything, so I think it skews his view) so it's hard to stay calm when he's imagining all the terrible things it might turn out to be!

Perfectly healthy kids sometimes get shingles, right? It's not so vanishingly rare that it's likely a sign of some sinister underlying condition - right?! Anyone's kid had it without anything else going on?

Our GP told us it used to be very uncommon in children but this has changed. The pharmacist I asked first said it's literally impossible for children to get it, but if this was ever true it's very put of date.

Both my children had it, around 8- 10 years ago, and plenty of their friends around then too.

My sister got it aged about 8. Quite random, she was very healthy and had had chicken pox aged about 3. She felt rough when she had it but soon bounced back. 30 now and never had it since

I had shingles when I was a child, I can’t remember exactly when but it was primary school, maybe age 9 or 10.
I had a painful rash in a ring around my stomach. Apart from the rash I was fine.
Im nearly 40 now and it wasn’t linked to any other health conditions.

My child has shingles. Doctor told us that post Covid they had seen an increase but that the research wasn’t clear why.
it was a small rash on his spine. He had no issues and carried on as per normal

My 9 year old had it in the summer. A rash consisting of about 10 red blistery dots on his upper ribs. I took a picture of it and sent it to the GP, she rang back and said 100 percent shingles. But he wasn’t unwell with it at all. Not a sniffle. She said as he seemed fine, and as the rash is the end of the virus, just leave it. I hadn’t thought of it again until I read your post. He’s super healthy.

Healthy kids can get shingles and hope your child feels better soon. PPs mentioned covid - covid doesn’t cause shingles, but can affect the immune system and reactivate viruses, hence the rise since covid.

I had a bad case of shingles when I was in primary school. No underlying health issues that I know of and no issues as a result of them. Never had them again since whereas my mum, sister and husband have all had recurring episodes over just the last few years alone. They all tend to get them when they've been stressed and run down. Hopefully it's just had luck for DD and she recovers quickly without too much discomfort.

Another healthy 10yr old here with shingles didn't know about the age they had chicken pox being a factor, interesting, she was pretty young when she had it.

Me too. I had shingles around when I started college, bit of an unsettling time and run down. Never had it again, didn’t think it was anything to worry about.

I actually went to the GP at the time, who explained it was shingles and wasn’t concerned.

I got shingles and was perfectly healthy. I just had a bit of a shock/stress which I guess made my body panic or something.

My sister had shingles ages about 15. She had a nasty itchy rash on the side of her breast. She didn't feel unwell so doctor said she could go to school as long as the rash was covered.
Shed gut very worked up about something else a couple of days before and had a teenage strop which we think was the trigger for it to appear

Are children not vaccinated against chickenpox these days?

I had it aged 14, doctor who diagnosed it told mum I had to not go into school until it scabbed over, which took me to the end of term. I wasnt ill with it just remember it being incredibly itchy. I do remember one of my teachers refusing to believe it was shingles despite the Dr confirming it, as I was "too young" to have it.

Havent had any serious illness until 10 years ago when was diagnosed with MS but isnt likely that caused my shingles as that was 30 years before the MS.

Children will only start to be vaccinated against it from September I think it is. It wasn't available on the NHS before that, private only.

Exactly the same with my DD when she was the same age. All fine, now almost an adult. No issues.

I had shingles at 12. I had had chickenpox twice prior to that. I think I was just susceptible to that virus. Perfectly healthy in any other respect though!

My son had shingles at age 9, he’d had chicken pox about age 3. He felt ok with shingles, doc said it’s much worse for older people. He had a few days maybe a week off school, it was summer he spent it in the garden. He’s 13 now, seems fine!

That would explain it. My son was jabbed privately.

We occasionally get posters worrying over herpes simplex, but it is HSV’s big brother, herpes zoster, that is the megacunt.

Please get your children vaccinated against chickenpox.

It's why it should've been available on the NHS a long time ago.

My son got chicken pox badly when he was 2, he was covered and still has a scar on his nose from it. Thankfully shingles was no big deal for him.

I got an outbreak in the trigeminal nerve on the left side of my face. The pain was so great it was like someone had rammed a red hot needle through my left eyeball, and all I could do was hold my head in my hands and weep.

It permanently altered my vision, too.

Not all things that depress your immune system are serious. It’s common to have a depressed immune system after a virus. Also something called IGa deficiency is very common and not serious but can make you more prone to this type of stuff.