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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To ask about chicken pox

38 replies

hippoherostandinghere · 03/04/2013 18:19

And is their seriousness underestimated?

DS had chicken pox about 7 weeks ago. He had what I now realise was a mild dose. He has about 5 or 6 scars on his whole body now, 2 quite deep ones. DD caught them next and had a horrendous dose. She's was absolutely covered from head to toe and was very feverish and sick. She's been left with 8 scars all over her nose, 4 pitted ones, and her whole torso/ back is still covered in faintish purple marks.

So in your experience it it normal for kids to be left with so many pox scars and how long did they take to clear? And why encourage pox parties when chicken pox can be actually quite dangerous?

OP posts:

LIZS · 03/04/2013 18:22

Noone actively encourages cp parties these days , those that do are sadly misinformed as to the risks. dd has scars from her bout 7 years ago, some on face quite evident still as either pits or feint white marks.

sensesworkingovertime · 03/04/2013 18:24

Hiya, first don't get me started on the pox parties thing, if they are going to catch them they will catch them, what's the point in forcing it? We don't force any other illness do we?

My DS, now 13yrs had a mild dose age 2 and a really severe dose age 6, he very nearly ended up in hospital. Needless to say he ended up with lots of scars as he had them on every cm of his body. They have faded over the last 7 years but some noticeable ones mainly on the top part of his back.

Kveta · 03/04/2013 18:27

My DD also had a bad 'dose' of chicken pox, she is just finishing the antibiotics she needed as so many spots got infected. We are hoping that scarring will be minimal as she is so young, but she has been very unwell with it too.

DS had a mild dose before her though.

I still have a couple of scars from when I had it aged 9 though.

dyslexicdespot · 03/04/2013 18:27

I still have scares from CP. I got it when I was about 14, and was horrendously ill.

Original poster

hippoherostandinghere · 03/04/2013 18:28

Dds scars make me a little sad. She's only 20 months but has quite a few very prominent.

My friend brought her 3 DCs over to my house hoping they would catch them. I thought she was mad tbh as they could have all had them at the same time and that would be a nightmare. But why encourage them getting an illness that can leave these nasty scars?
My DCs then spread them all round the childminders and I felt pretty guilty about that too

OP posts:

sparkle12mar08 · 03/04/2013 18:37

Ds1 got it relatively mildly at 2.6 years old and was not a scratcher, but has scarred quite badly nonetheless. Nearly six years later his back is still mottled with some tiny silvery scars and there's three deep pits right between his eyebrows. Ds2 got it at 5 months old and was covered from head to toe, hundreds and hundreds of spots and his scalp was just one massive supperating mess. Because he was so young and vulnerable we were given an anti viral for him and it cleared within days (I kid you not) and he hasn't a single scar. You just can't predict scarring and it's still a very dangerous disease in certain circumstances.

Happy247 · 03/04/2013 18:43

I really don't think some people realise how dangerous CP is! CP parties...that's just mad. My DD has chronic disease and can catch several times over....inflammation of the brain and 5 month hospital stays are horrid!!

LIZS · 03/04/2013 18:44

tbh scars are the least of the wrories. A child died near here a couple of years back from complications which were misdiagnosed - given the right circumstances it can kill.

ariane5 · 03/04/2013 18:46

Dd1 had c pox so badly that we saved up and paid privately for ds1 and dd2 to have the vaccination and ds2 will have it when he's old enough too.

Dd1 was so ill and all the spots got very infected it was horrible.

Original poster

hippoherostandinghere · 03/04/2013 18:48

Yes I do agree that scars are minor in comparison to some outcomes. I've heard of so many children having very serious effects. I wish people would take chicken pox more seriously and not see it as a harmless right of passage.

OP posts:

LadyApricot · 03/04/2013 22:35

Sorry to jump in with another question but I'm worried about this too. My dd has just come out of hospital after suffering a bad virus and my dh now has shingles. Could she now catch chicken pox from him? I'm so worried :(

HorraceTheOtter · 03/04/2013 22:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HollyBerryBush · 03/04/2013 22:40

I could show you a photo of my two - both covered without a hair between them.

One picked himself to buggery - not a mark.

The other good as gold and never touched a spot - two deep pox marks on his face.

It depends on your skin type>

Re the shingles things - you can catch chicken pox from shingles, you cannot catch shingles from chicken pox. Shingles is a dormant herpes virus (that's what CP is) that is triggered through several things, usually stress or extreme temperature changes.

Sandie79 · 04/04/2013 00:14

LadyApricot, to catch chicken pox from shingles you have to physically rub against the shingles rash, so should be quite easy to avoid.

It's how I got it at 25, dp came down with shingles. One reason to be happy for kids to get it is its so common it's v rare to avoid altogether, an it gets worse the older you get. I wish I had it younger, I missed nearly a months work and have a couple of scars I hate despite never scratching my face as I was old enough to know better! I am delighted to have got them before getting pregnant though, when I had them but before i knew two women in my office were less than 3 months pregnant.

Thankfully they'd had it before. I'm glad I dot have to have it hanging over me.

bruffin · 04/04/2013 00:23

One of dcs friend had a stroke from chicken pox when he was 6, its the number one xaue of childhood strokes.

bruffin · 04/04/2013 00:26

One of dcs friend had a stroke from chicken pox when he was 6, its the number one cause of childhood strokes.

eskimosoup · 04/04/2013 11:00

Sorry this is slightly off topic but I spent 3 hours in out of hours on Saturday where my dd was diagnosed with chickenpox. But she literally has 8 spots on her whole body, has anybody else's dc had this few? She has no other symptoms other than these 8 spots. They're not itchy.
I can remember been covered in them, screaming because they were so itchy.

HaplessHousewife · 04/04/2013 11:17

DD has it now although I think they've all scabbed over now. She doesn't have a huge amount of spots and they've not been itchy. She had one on each of her lower eyelids that bothered her a bit but luckily didn't get any on her face.

I have heard that if you catch it from a sibling you get a worse dose which was certainly true when I gave it to my sister so not looking forward to it if DS catches it from her .

ladythatlunches · 04/04/2013 11:21

All my 4 have had them in the last 6 weeks its been horrible.

First child 6 yr had tempature ..glands all swollen. Scalp covered body had a good few not loads.

Second child 20 months. Had a slight tempature had loads of spots and got infected.

Third child got them at weekend. Ee are on day 5 and yesterday only had 8 spots started scabbing then woke up with loads but we'll in her self. She is 9 months.

Fourth child has woke up with 1 spot so far well in her self.

I have had enough to be honest. I feel so sorry for them

crossparsley · 04/04/2013 11:42

hear, hear, happy. Chicken pox can also lead to fatal complications in adults with suppressed immune systems. Post-CP party children may share public transport and public spaces with immunocompromised adults without knowing: there are a lot more about than people seem to think. Following a bone marrow transplant I was on immunosuppressants for a couple of years and my doctors seemed more worried about CP exposure than almost anything else. I have just had a look and the wikipedia page on chicken pox and now I see why. Anyone who has had a solid organ transplant is likely to be on suppressants for life; and lots of treatments for chronic conditions involve suppressing the immune system, eg with high-dose steroids.

grimbletart · 04/04/2013 12:00

It is barking to underestimate chicken pox, and to deliberately expose your children to it is even more barking.

Apart from the potential complications of chicken pox itself, it means when you get older your are quite likely at some point to get shingles. Shingles can be a real bastard leaving you with months, and sometimes years, of post herpetic nerve pain.

ginmakesitallok · 04/04/2013 12:05

eskimo - you took your child to oohs because of a few spots with no other symptoms We were lucky - DD1 had a mild dose, no scarring. I think deliberately infecting a child with what could potentially be a dangerous disease is madness.

jamdonut · 04/04/2013 12:11

My dd had chickenpox at 4 months old! She was covered n blisters all over. She still has prominent scars,particularly on her forehead where the first huge blister came, and on the lower back just where her nappy rubbed.(She's 16 now) God only knows how she caught it. I didn't know anyone with it,at the time, so can only assume it was while we were out shopping or something.

jamdonut · 04/04/2013 12:14

On a side note, when I was 6, I caught the measles. We had just gone on a camping holiday to Wales, and the local GP told my Mum and Dad that they should stay and not move me because I was so poorly!! So I spent nearly two weeks tucked up in a sleeping bag in a tent on a campsite!

NorthernLurker · 04/04/2013 12:17

I think your dds scars will improve a lot Op. It's still very early days.

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