to take out my dc who has the pox?

[sleeplessinseatle]

Obviously not to playgroups etc, but I've got a baby at home and don't think I can cope otherwise. Is there anywhere we can safely go where there won't be lots of kids/pregnant women?

NL - but the '15 minutes in a room' is the last on the list of possible ways that CP can be contacted - your post made it sound as if you absolutely had to spend that length of time with an infected person to become infected yourself. And that's clearly not the case given that sneeze or a cough can pass the virus on. If people think that they need to be exposed to someone for 15 minutes in order to infect them, then they are not making an informed choice about risking exposing others.

Loudlass - your story is devastating. The complacency around CP and it's potential consequences is crap

Loudlass

I had no idea how dangerous CP (or measles) could be until my DD was diagnosed with leukaemia at the age of 3. I was told that I should do everything I could to prevent her coming in contact with either illness as she would have no immunity to them and they could prove fatal to her.

This meant keeping her away from children who looked as if they might have these infections (not easy to tell) and keeping my other children away from school if they might have come in contact with them. Parties and outings also had to be cancelled at short notice because of the risks.

When she did inevitably have accidental exposure to CP, she had to have extremely painful intra-muscular injections of antibodies to help protect her (thankfully they worked but were very distressing for her).

Please think about the risks to other people when your child has an infection - it may be minor in your case but could be fatal to another person.

NorthernLurker - I caught chickenpox from a child I babysat. I only looked round the bedroom door a couple of times - I didn't even bend over him, and was in the room with him for a couple of minutes maximum.

Loudlass - so sorry for your loss, and fingers crossed for a happy and healthy pregnancy this time.

please don't go out.

Loudlass, I am so sorry to hear you lost your baby through CP in pregnancy. I too have a dire CP story.

When I was 38wks pregnant with DD3, DD2 ame down with the pox. I have never had pox, and told the nurses at the hopsital (DD2 was that poorly she was hospitalised with it). Blood tests confirmed I had no immunity, and so, due to me being so heavily pregnant, and therefore, such high risk, they vaccinated me in hopes of it helping.

It did somewhat.....DD3 was born with it, and was extremely ill. She was born 7th december, and altho she seemed initially ok, she became so poorly by 7dys old that she was taken back into hospital, sleepy and unresponsive, and then spent her first xmas in hospital.....along with me being very ill with the pox too (the vaccination didn;t prevent us catching it, but at least saved our lives as I have since found out we had a 99% certainty of me losing DD3 to it had we not had the jab).

anyway.......we have both since been tested again, still no immunity to it, never will have, and DD3 has a severe immune deficiancy because of it as she never had a chance to develop one, and is now on life long anti-B's because of it.

she also gets it every time it does the rounds, ending up ill, altho thankfully since the age of 7, not been admitted with it anymore. she spent so much time as a pre-schooler in hospital when she had it as she was so poorly.

we were one of the lucky ones, loudlass wasn;t, and there are many more people out there who it affects....you really do need to be more aware.

full scale vaccination, in my understanding from talking to DD3's consultant, will never take off in this country due to a) cost, and b), it doesn;t take well enough to warrant it.

besides anything, right now, it might just be your toddler with it, but your baby may well be incubating it and therefore be even more contagious.

Yabu. Do the decent thing and stay in. I once saw a family at a kid's theme park with 2 dc both infected with chicken pox. They were going on the rides and the toddler sat in a highchair in the cafe. I told the mother that I thought she was selfish and inconsiderate. She just looked sheepish and failed to respond!

Stay in until scabbed.

DD got it night before we were due to fly home from holiday. Needless to say she couldn't fly - she was classed as fit to fly 7 days later with a letter from a Dr confirming she was not contagious.

Think it took 5 days to scab but we were in florida not sure if sun speeds process!

"tc, but I've got a baby at home and don't think I can cope otherwise"

I was stuck indoors, in a small flat in a foreign country, with nothing to do and nobody to talk to for 10 weeks, not once leaving the flat. I had a 6m baby. 'H' couldn't be bothered to take us out in his country... I couldn't get out on my own.

Only got out when I was having a MC and nearly bled to death.

I think therefore that anyone can handle a week to 10 days.

Sorry, but this is hardly an original thread.

most of us have CP ( i had mine at 30) or have had DC that have it/have had it etc.

DS had it last year we were stuck indoors literally all week without going out, my mum dropped food parcels....

You are risking the health of others cos you are bored.... get a dvd, order online, whatever, but don't think about exposing others to something that may really harm or kill them.

As long as you avoid playgroups,shops, buses etc etc I think you should be ok to go to the park/outside space and keep away from other people. Also playdates where the children have already had it or the parents don't mind them being exposed to it are a good option.

It is inconsiderate to go somewhere highly populated with any contagious illness, but I think not leaving the house is a little OTT even in light of some peoples terrible experiences.

Yabu- my sisters both suffer with shingles and have to stay in for two solid weeks, avoiding everyone (even my BIL as he works with children)
it's shit but you'll last! Can't you do baking/arty crafts/cinema nights etc?

Sorry but it is unreasonable to expect people to lock themselves in the house for days on end because of a small risk of serious complications to a small number of people. Particularly as it's more contagious before you actually know that the child has it. I was more concerned when DS had it, about the other mums and kids at the playgroup we had been to the day before the spots appeared, and did ring the group leader to ask him to pass the message round.
We did a lightning dash to the supermarket as I am a single mum and we had no food/nappies, we also went to the park a few times when I knew it would be empty - saw one mum with a small child and called out to her from a safe distance that DS had chickenpox and she might not want to approach us.

SGB- have you read some of the awful stories that have happened on this thread? It's not worth it.

I sent round a message to absolutely everyone I knew to find the people whose kids hadn't had it yet but were keen to get it over with. I then drove from my front door to their front door (or they came to mine). We interacted with no-one else but those slightly wierd playdates worked for us on the sanity saving front.

While understandably boring for you, I don't think it's fair to go to other places- as you can't tell whose immunity is compromised, better boring for us that life-threatening for them.

Stay inside. We have to be considerate of others, even if it does make you a bit stir crazy.
Hope your child is better soon. Meanwhile, time for a tv marathon!

It's ok - it's perfectly ok to risk killing other women's unborn babies (who might not be pregnant enough to look visibly pregnant for you to steer clear of) - as long as your sanity and your children are ok. Doesn't matter the horrific pain and loss of your hopes and dreams that losing a pregnancy can have, doesn't matter the horrible permanent health implications it can have in the event of a happier ending - long as you don't have to watch Cbeebies.

Utterly disgusting - I would never ever forgive anyone who did that to me, and I'd probably be looking at a future behind bars to be honest.

The CP vaccine is about 80-90% effective in completely preventing it and, in those people who get it after having the vaccine, it's very effective at lowering the severity and risk of complications.

It can also work the same way if given a few days after exposure. I was tested and found to have no immunity to it at all and was able to get the vaccine a few days after my son got it. I did not get it.

Only a few groups of people can get the CP vaccine from the NHS, but it is easily obtainable privately although it does cost (£60 + you have to pay for lab tests to check immunity before)

The vaccine is given routinely as part of the vaccination schedule in Germany. Both of my DC have been vaccinated, DD I had to pay for - iirc, it was about ?80.

The problem with Chicken Pox is that it is seen as such a mild, but irritating illness but it can cause serious complications. The risk of complications are low, but then you would not know until you (or your child) have been exposed to the illness how your body will react.

Loudlass
So sorry for your loss. I hope that the telling of your tale will persuade anyone who is considering taking their infected child out, to think again.

To be fair to the OP, she did ask whether it was ok, and has taken on board that many find it unreasonable.

Whoops, forgotten that I name changed. That last post was me.

Other countries including the USA vaccinate against CP. I know Singapore does too. I hardly think they would do so if it was a massive waste of time.
There are some very difficult stories on this thread because CP can have serious complications and it's sadly inevitable that some people will be seriously affected. However afaik there is no way to tell exactly who you caught the infection from. Many people can trace contacts who had it at the relevant time but CP is endemic in the population, peaking in the Spring and autumn, so there is always someone who is about to come out with spots. The hidden risk from those patients is far,far greater and the liklihood of infection greatly exceeds that from a child on the verge of spots scabbing over whose parent keeps him away from people but still goes outside. Nobody can say for certain how they contracted CP and I think it's very unfair to guilt trip mothers of small children who choose to go out. The problem here is the unpredictable virulence of the virus.

LittleMissHissyFit '
Sorry, but this is hardly an original thread.'

Why on earth are you having a go at me for that? Nearly everything on this entire website is people rehashing the same topics - that's the reason we come on here, for the shared experiences and knowledge.

OP, please remember it is not just children who are affected. My cousin, who is recovering from cancer, was exposed to it, came down with it very seriously and ended up in hospital for over a week with pneumonia and off work for several weeks after that recovering. He was very seriously ill and we were all desperately worried about him, especially as he can no longer eat solid food and is pretty vulnerable health wise. For the sake of others, please grit your teeth and do the time. And for those who advocate lightning dashes round supermarkets, etc. FFS - because you are moving quickly, does that mysteriously remove your DC's infectious breath from the air, or their germy handprints from shop items, trolleys etc.? Am I trying to guilt trip mothers? Absolutely yes - we all know that it is impossible to avoid all infections, but this post is about going out when you KNOW your child is infectious - quite a different matter. And as others have said, even for those adults who've had CP before, shingles is a risk and is horrible, painful and can lead to weeks off work, just because you want to do a little light recreational shopping.

Loudlass that is so awful. The trouble is, people haven't got a clue what this virus can do to vulnerable groups. When my DS was 3, he had a bone marrow transplant for aplastic anaemia and was severely immunocompromised for 12 months. If he was known to be exposed, we had to rush him to GOSH for an immunoglobulin shot. On his first day at nursery, a dumbarse mother was laughing that she was covered in it - ha ha, he couldn't go and had to wait six weeks to start :( I understand that ppl don't know how serious it can be for anyone who has had chemo, but they should realise that lots of ppl are very vulnerable.

When DS was just a baby we were in the doc surgery for a routine check up. I was waiting at the desk to arrange another appointment when the grandmother of the patient next to me said, "We think he may have chicken pox".

I have never seen a receptionist move so fast. She was out of her seat, hussled the child and granny into a different room and had all the windows and doors open before I had even blinked. She was so angry that the woman had not phoned - most paediatricians in Germany have separate entrances for suspected infected children and he should have come into the surgery that way.

We were lucky that I had left DD and DS in the waiting room while I spoke to the receptionist. It really made it clear how easily the disease can be caught, her reaction was so extreme.

CP is very nasty for adults esp the elderly who are at risk of complications from any kind of infection. Best to stay in. Also it's getting colder so keep your DC wrapped up, hope they recover soon