To wonder if we can cure chicken pox before they appear?

[SpotsAreAppearing]

Morning.

We're on day 1 of the chicken pox and so far so good.

Only a few on torso, most are watery blister looking.

DD is very happy in herself.

My concern is this is early days and we've got a rough few ahead.

I have plenty of supplies.

But are there any steps we can take today that could limit how many spots may appear, or help with the speed of healing etc?

Not really. you can ease itching with piriton antihistamine and various lotions and potions e.g virasoothe, poxclin, etc. Oats/bicarbonate in the bath are also supposed to help

I don't think you can stop them from coming but I remember people telling me to put the kids in the bath and the heat would bring the spots out. The logic being the sooner they're out the sooner they're gone.
I remember feeling really anxious about what was to come when mine got it, and DH was working away at the time so I was on my own for the week.
In the end it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be. I hope yours passes as easily.
I found oats in an out pair of tights in the bath, squeezed out over the skin really helped soothe. And the cooling foam available from the chemist rather than the cream. I used piriton too.

Give regular oat baths (oats in a sock) to ease itching. It really helps. Don't rinse off after just let the skin absorb the oats.

If you can find a private GP to give her the chickenpox vaccine today that may attenuate some of the symptoms and could prevent siblings getting it

Nope. I don't think so.

Where did she catch it do you think? IME how badly they get it depends on how big a "dose" they get in the first place. So, my kids who caught it from a child outside the family and so only have brief contact with them got it pretty mildly, whereas those who caught it from their sibling and so had a massive exposure to it, got it much worse.

Could be total bollocks, but that's my theory and seems to be true for friends whose kids have had CP too.

I would be amazed if the vaccine did anything-she already has the infection,
Her immune response is reacting as fast as it can. Giving it extra to deal with won’t speed up immunity developing?

Put some oats and water in a mug and spread the gloop on the spots through the day too.

She may not be 'unwell' with it.

My 2 dd's had them apart from the itching neither were 'ill' in themselves while having chicken pox.

Thanks all.

She's an only child so I don't have anyone else to worry about.

Caught from a school friend who had it exactly two weeks ago and came to play after school the day before the spots appeared. So not a huge long exposure which I guess could be a good thing.

She's already had an oat bath. Was the first thing she mentioned when she learnt she had them 😂 and have put poxclin on her after.

Less than 20 spots so far. Was excepting to see them multiply while she was in the bath but nothing of note really.

It's that balance of not wanting her to feel awful but wanting to be sure she gets enough of a "go" that she's immune.

She's happy playing at the moment. So I guess we just see how we go.

More may appear over the next couple of days. Hopefully she doesn't get a bad dose of them

I think bicarb in the bath helped them dry up rather than blistering, dd has loads of spots but they didn't get angry like her friend, many never blistered and I think because of this.

She may not get it badly, DD had 10 spots, wasn’t unwell and didn’t itch at all

NO! Avoid hot baths! Keep her skin as cool as possible- remove as much clothing as possible/decent or just have a very thin cotton nightie.
There was a paper in the BMJ manny years ago that showed that the warmer the skin, the greater the number and severity of spots, and consequent risk of scarring.

Many, not “manny”!

Length of exposure?? Seriously?? Go read some proper nhs health advice and don't listen to this rubbish.

Darwinism in fucking action.

Epon - you just made me spit my tea out through laughing 🤣🤣🤣🤣

"Darwinism in fucking action." Love it! And agree with you 😂

There is evidence of a link between infective dose and severity of disease with other pathogens @Eponymous

So maybe not such a hilariously stupid idea after all.

I can't tell if you're being disingenuous by using the word pathogens to muddy the water. reallybadidea.

You've obviously done at least some research but carefully worded your findings to make them sound like they applied.

That applies to parasites ( yes fewer bugs are better) and bacterial infections( yes less salmonella is better).

Not viruses.

If it were true, drs would recommend measles parties. Really short ones.

Not AFAIK. Chickenpox is viral. There is only one medication I'm aware of that will treat it and that is usually reserved for severe cases - which it sounds as if DD thankfully does not have.

I don't think the vaccine will do much for her at this point and if she has had a fever in the last 24 hours they won't give a vaccine anyway.

The most you can do is treat symptoms as they appear, keep her from scratching, and speak with her provider if you are concerned.

Why didn't you just vaccinate?

Don't give Nurofen.

Day 3 is the worst in my experience.

What Babdoc says: keep as cool as possible, whilst not letting her get cold. Loose clothing, no ‘hot’ baths, no snuggling in thick duvets etc. Obviously don’t freeze her

I had heard that children get a worse dose from siblings because it mutates. Could that be true? I know so very little about viruses. Apologies.

Vaccines for chicken pox are not part of the scedule here, getting it would be unusual here.

Why didn't you just vaccinate?

Because it's not part of the vaccination programme in the UK and is only available privately at a cost of £65-£80 per injection, two are required.

IME how badly they get it depends on how big a "dose" they get in the first place.

If you can find a private GP to give her the chickenpox vaccine today

I see some posters were absent for a couple of science lessons in Year 8....and people say term time holidays don't do any harm.

Day three also the worst in my experience, it's when the second wave of spots arrives with a vengeance.

If she gets any in her mouth then ice pops and ice lollies are good for easing it.