Very quick question - Is excessive dribbling a symptom of chickenpox of is poor DS teething as well as poxed?

[FerminaUrbinoDaza]

'tis all in the title... Any replies / advice greatly appreciated.

Is it a very silly question?

Could he possibly have hand, foot and mouth disease rather than pox? Sometimes the rash looks quite similar, but of course with HFM they get mouth ulcers as well.

You know, I think you might well be right. Is that better or worse than chickenpox? Will DD now get it too?

He doesn't have 'pox' on his torso but mainly on his knees, lower legs, lower arms, hands and round his mouth. On closer inspection, he does have something going on the roof of his mouth too. Mmmm.

He's not eating well at all and is drinking just enough...

Oh, but the rash does seem to itch. He's 16 months so can't say

Does sound like it might not be 'typical' (or actual) chicken pox....This usually starts on the torso, and then works out to the extremities until they are pretty evenly covered all over. H, F and M is doing the rounds at the moment so this does sound quite likely. Has someone confirmed chicken pox with you?

All this aside, C'Pox can also affect the mucus membranes in the mouth and spots/ulcers can be present in the mouth and throat, so it could be causing him to be more dribbly than normal. My DS was 3 when he had Chicken pox and had really foul toxic breath when he was at his illest - I could not work out if this was because he was a bit dehydrated or whether his mouth was badly affected by the pox.

Either way, I hope your DS gets well soon. MPD

Thanks misspollysdolly. His breath was pretty foul yesterday.

The doctor was happy to confirm chickenpox over the phone yesterday but I'm still not sure so have demanded a RL appointment and we'll be seeing the doctor just before lunch.

I'm not in the UK so not sure if H,F & M is doing the rounds here or not. He was probably exposed to chickenpox about 10 days before he got ill, hence the original assumption that it was that.

He still has no pox on his back or tummy. Thankfully he's not actually very ill IYSWIM just reluctant to eat and drink and a bit unsettled.

Well, we see to have a case of 'undefined-pox'. The doctor couldn't pin it down and called a second doctor who wasn't sure either. Could be anything really, or even just a simple atypical presentation of chickenpox.

The second doctor decided to show off his English, rattled on a bit about various viruses and then said it could be SMALLPOX [faint]. Obviously that isn't what he meant but it did give me quite a shock. Needless to say I don't think he'll be showing his English off to patients again in a hurry.