To ask you about your experiences with chicken pox as an adult?

[SheWhoShouldNotBeNamed]

DD came out in chicken pox 15 days ago. Absolutely fine with it, no problem, and is now recovered bar a couple of scabs.

Me, on the other hand...

I never had chicken pox as a child according to DMum, and I am inclined to believe her as my sister got chicken pox from her DC in October.

Since Thursday, I have been feeling dreadful. It started with body aches and now I have a temperature and sore throat. Also, the left side of my face is hot and swollen. But no spots yet. I have to say, I feel completely and utterly rotten. And I feel worse because I can't pinpoint exactly what it is

yet, so make myself paranoid.

If you have had chicken pox as an adult, what was your experience like? Was it hell on Earth, like this?

Oops sorry not sure what happened there. I felt like I had the flu for a few days before the spots came. I was on high alert cos the dcs had it so as soon as I got spotty, I went to the GP and got antivirals. Want bad after that, just a few days of intense itching and an annoying quarantine period.

Get to the GP asap op. Chickenpox can be really nasty in adults, especially if left untreated.

You might have shingles rather than chicken pox

OOH have called back and Dr I spoke to said they don't prescribe anti virals unless you're high risk.

I feel absolutely at sea with this. I'm in so much pain. DH said we can't afford for him to take the night off. I'm worried I'll decline in the night and have no one to help me and DD to look after.

I am most likely catastrophising, but I've never really been this ill. And now paracetamol doesn't even seem to be keeping the edge off. It's not even so much the itching (although I'm getting more), it's this profound ache and headache I can't stand.

@Hullabalooo I thought you only got shingles if you've had chicken pox before? I'm fairly certain I haven't but could be!

It was awful. Caught it off DD who had a couple of itchy days but was generally ok and didn't have too many pox. I thought I was two days clear of incubation, went to the theatre to celebrate and could feel the damn things popping during the second act. I have never felt so ill in my life, at my worst I didn't sleep for three nights as I was in such pain and discomfort. I wouldn't wish adult chickenpox on my worst enemy, well I might on my very worst enemy......

I had it as an adult and was I'll for three weeks. It was horrendous

I had it at 21 . I felt lousy till spots came out but then fine . Had a lovely paid break from work.

Can you insist on the antivirals? I had to push for them with the ooh GP, though my own GP said afterwards he would have prescribed them without question.

I remember someone posted that their doctor said something similar to yours and she replied something along the lines of 'I'd rather not end up in a and e with encephalitis' and then insisted on them.

You're right, you can't get shingles until you've had chickenpox as it's a reactivation of the CP virus.
You can't catch shingles from CP but you can catch CP from shingles.

@Fairyboost

I'm going to ring my go surgery tomorrow and ask for a telephone consultation with one of my GPS and insist on it. I need something because paracetamol isn't doing a bloody thing!

Trying to stay hydrated and cool, I'm very hot but the stupid kids thermometer we have is so unreliable so I'm not sure of my temp. I really do just want to sleep but I can't lie still. It's bloody hellish!

op I hope you get sorted. Is there a walk in clinic you could call?

I caught CP off my daughter. Called GP as NHS website says adults should immediately call GPs for medication. Receptionist fobbed me off, asked where I had heard that advice and said it was rubbish, I ended up in hospital having chest X-rays for pneumonia which is one of the potential adult side effects.

Got given steroids after this and started feeling better but spots were horrid, so itchy and I had them from the soles of my feet to my scalp. I put oats in an old sock and sat in the shower squeezing the wet ‘milk’ from that through my hair as it was the only thing that I could get on my scalp.

Spots were itchy for about 4 very unpleasant days!

I had it as an adult and my top tip for itching is bicarbonate of soda tipped into your bath water - soaking in that stops the itching beautifully for a while (lots- a tub per bath?)

Get well soon.....

Yes I got it from my mother. My Mum was even worse than me and needed to stay in hospital overnight and have antibiotics for it

I was not quite as bad but it was still awful and took time to recover from

I got it at 30 from someone who came to work with shingles. The chicken pox came and went without too much trouble, but it left me with post viral fatigue and I was off work for six months, so do look after yourself as best you can.

Might seem odd, but an aunt suggesting using the liquid from the inside of aloe vera leaves on the blisters. It did seem to help with the itching and I came through it without any scarring.

FFS! They should give you anti-virals! You have a small child to look after - it's not as though you can just retreat to your bed for the next week or so! You need all the help you can get to get over this as it can be rotten.
My partner had shingles -we went to the local walk-in centre & the nurse said paracetamol & calamine lotion. My partner got worse, took him to the GP as an emergency and was immediately prescribed anti-virals.
For the record, DP is not immunosuppressed but he does help his mother daily with his post-stroke paralysed father. He was needed for caring duties and the GP recognised this. As it was DP was unable to work for 7 days & I helped him with the caring.
As a mother they should take your caring duties for your small child into account or do they expect your DH to take time off work to look after you both!

I was 18, still at college, went to nightclub feeling a little bit odd. I thought it was too much Dubonnet. It wasn't, the lights came on at 230 in the morning and I was covered in chicken pox.

It got into my joints and glands and I was really ill. It took about four weeks to feel normal. I had glandular fever six months before, this affected my recovery time.

Did you say you have co-codamol? May be better than paracetamol alone.

Also, do you have any antihistamines? May give you some relief from the itching. Have you got virasoothe or PoxClin you can use?

So sorry you’re suffering so much. Are you in a situation where you won’t be able to pay your bills if he takes the night off? If noT tell DH he has to stay home, it’s ridiculous to leave you alone in this state - of course if you really are on the breadline and this would cripple you then he may have no choice, but hopefully that’s not the case. Is there anyone who could help you and take DD for you? I would absolutely take my friend’s little one in this situation, even though I have twins of my own to wrangle!

DH is a senior member of staff, so gets an allocation of fully paid sick days every year. Me being off on the other hand won't be as straight forward as I'm PT and a freelancer. So I will be seeing if I can work from home tomorrow if i feel any better. If not, SSP it is hopefully. I've only been in the job 5 weeks!

DH has categorically said he won't come home unless I'm in dire straits or DD plays up. I'm restraining myself from revealing my utter contempt for him right now, as he is not being helpful nor sympathetic.

I have PIL nearby but they are v. Structured in their evenings and won't waiver. So they won't be able to have her for half the week. I don't have many friends here either who I can call on. One is a DR and works all the hours God sends, so wouldn't be great to ask. My family live further afield and I'm loathe to take DC out of nursery entirely as we will still have to pay for it. So looks like it's shut up for me!

Feeling a little better. Had an ice pop and some more paracetamol, this time with caffeine in and it's perked me up. So fingers crossed I'll get some sleep soon.

My dsis and I took our younger cousins to see Father Christmas at Selfridge's. Our aunt phoned to say they had chicken pox, my dsis had spots while I had a cold and abcess, I was sent to the hospital and when the nurse went to give me an injection she noted I had a spot and it developed into CP. It was very itchy

I felt unwell all through Xmas and wasn't allowed back to work until mid January. I was 23 and married. So around 6 weeks.

I am now over 70 so have had an injection against ahingles

DH (then late 30s) had this and was off work for nearly 3 weeks. Absolutely no way could he have looked after our young DCs! Does your DD normally sleep through the night? If so, hopefully she'll sleep through, then your H can take her to nursery in the morning.

My DH was really poorly with it about 10 years ago. He went on to have shingles several times too.

Poor you I hope you feel better soon x

Thanks for the well wishes!

DD sleeps really well, which I'm thankful for. I'm looking forward to a full day of rest tomorrow!

DH has categorically said he won't come home unless I'm in dire straits or DD plays up. I'm restraining myself from revealing my utter contempt for him right now, as he is not being helpful nor sympathetic.

I wouldn’t be too restrained if I were you. What an absolute shit. Does he not understand how serious this is for adults? I hope he gets really horrible pox himself, the wanker.

Sorry. I just absolutely HATE being really ill and in charge of kids. DH is pretty good generally but there have been a few times where he’s left me holding the fort while really really ill and it pisses me right off. You can bet when he’s ill he gets a rest.

Be sure to return the favour at some point.

@SinkGirl

Oh, I will!

Woke up this morning covered head to toe in the things. Still feel rough as a dog, no surprise there though. Very much need a day of sleeping!