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?

We found Piriton helped, especially at night. And for the bad sore spots Germolene - it has s mild anaesthetic which seemed to reduce the impulse to scratch. Calamine cream for the itching otherwise.

DD had it once. DS had it 3 times.

Experienced me.... Bicarb (big tablespoon fulls) in the bath. With toys so they soak for ages.

Go on them eponymous, explain why it wouldn't apply to viruses. I'm a molecular biologist so you can hit me with your most technical information.

I'm an idiot so if you could simplify it for me afterwards, I would be really interested too. It's fascinating really isn't it.

I don't think every child is really ill with it. My nephew had hardly any spots and wasn't unwell with it. DS2 caught it first in our house and again he wasn't particularly unwell with it. He got tonsillitis a month later (oh how much fun last summer was in our sick house!) and was worse with it.

DS1 however got it just as DS2 was getting better. He was absolutely covered in spots and really unwell with it for about a week.

You're a molecular biologist who is giving medical advice based on personal experience that 'Could be total bollox' to people on a parenting site who are looking for advice on chicken pox.

Colour me suspicious darling.
Or provide a source for your 'theory'.
Tell you what, why don't you fire up your lab that you clearly work at and run us up a study of your own and send us a link when it's published.

Apologies to OP for derail.

Frankly I know nothing of Chicken pox, as it is on the immunisation schedule here and they offer it to parents aswell when the kids get their first shots.

Please talk to a proper medical person, not advice from randoms (myself included) off the internet.

insights.ovid.com/pubmed?pmid=15702036

Where did I give medical advice?

cks.nice.org.uk/chickenpox#!scenario
Here is some evidence based information

A couple of interesting points there.

Younger kids were more likely to be the secondary cases. And younger kids get it harder.
So correlation but possibly not causation. The p values were all quite low. So the evidence is scant at best.

But your basic suggestion that Studies (or one at least) have been done is correct. Just not one that conclusively shows anything.

Medical advice = saying it could be less bad with a shorter exposure? No? That wasn't you?

Our go used to swear by a herbal dose-I think it was something like rusk tox. It apparently stopped the spots from coming out.
It certainly seemed to be the case that children who had 1-2 of the little green tablets seemed to get it lighter.
He also had a herbal remedy for moloscum which cleared it up reliably within a fortnight.

You think that speculating that there may be a relationship between duration of exposure and disease severity counts as medical advice? When I admitted right at the start that it was only a theory? Really?!

You still haven't explained why it wouldn't apply to viruses.

The p values were all quite low. So the evidence is scant at best.

Can you explain why a low p value (and what you define as a low p value) would make the evidence "scant"?

Well, no.
Because frankly I'm not the one using vaguely related qualifications to back up a 'theory'. The burden of proof lies with you.

And perhaps I should have said medical claims rather than advice. As you are now using your qualifications to back up your theory(Which may be bollox) I think you've definitely stepped over that line.

If you are genuinely a scientist, you KNOW you shouldn't be pursuing this conversation. It's bordering on ethically incorrect because people who don't know better will say 'ooh a molecular biologist, she must know what she's talking about' when in fact all you have is some n=1 observations and a potentially shoddy study that doesn't even deal with the basic issue of younger children being a confounding factor.

As you are now using your qualifications to back up your theory

But I didn't use it to back up my theory. I said as a molecular biologist I would be able to understand your explanation about viruses. The one you still haven't given.

funny how your not answering my points about your original statement being incorrect.

Thanks to the people actually replying to my question.....

I don't know if we're on day 2 or 3 as they started Friday night.

But lots more spots today. Thankfully none anywhere too troublesome yet and DD is still very cheery and happy playing/dancing/singing as normal.

She's been having like warm baths with oats twice daily and then we lather on the Poxclin after and I gave her antihistamines before bed and she's stayed pretty comfortable so far.

Hopefully it'll stay that way.

Some of the blisters are HUGE and (I shouldn't say this about my child as I love her) so disgusting. (not envy)

I have a feeling when they start popping we might be in for a less positive experience than we've had up until now. 

I didn’t think there was any link between length of exposure to an illness and severity of infection. Is there? If so that is very interesting.

When my DD had chickenpox, we did:

• piriton
• poxclin
• oat baths
• light airy clothes
• tonnes of fluids
• NO NUROFEN or any other NSAID

They shouldn't pop, they'll dry up and go crusty and scabby but won't actually burst. If any do burst then keep an eye out for signs of infection, DS had a couple that got infected and needed cream from the GP for them.

Sorry that your thread got derailed OP. I'm glad your dd is doing well. The spots can be a bit grim, stroking my toddler's head when he had it was like touching bubble wrap If any do burst, then just try and keep them clean, but as another poster said, they mostly just dry out and scab.