Is it chickenpox?

[Pondering1]

Pharmacist confirmed suspected chicken pox with DS (23months) a couple days agony we have treating according but a friend is now questioning if it is chickenpox as he has none on torso.

Pretty bad all over his legs, arms, nappy area and has them on palms and soles of feet. On his bum and a couple around base of spine.

Does chickenpox always happen on the torso??

Oh dear, it looks poxy but I would got to docs if I was you as that looks really nasty... chicken pox season is in full swing. Is it itching x

I'm not sure if it always happens on the torso... my oldest had it reall bad. It was in her mouth, ears, bits, hair, eyes, bum. Any where you could think it was....

Poor soul looks awful! 2 of mine have had chicken pox and was all over torso & elsewhere, all 3 dc have had HFM and only place they haven’t had any blisters with that was torso... main areas with that were legs, hands & nappy area.

The treatment (or lack of) is the same for both Pox & HFM but would be handy to know what he’s had for reference. Hope he recovers soon!

Sorry, that should say *and we are treating accordingly. He isn't in agony as typo suggested- after calpol and piriton is quite happy in himself. Snotty nose and not eating much though (other than ice cream!!)

Does he have eczema? We had suspected chicken pox but after a week no better or worse and only on patches of his body . Went to the doctors and his eczema had become infected. Took a week of anti-viral medication to clear it up

No eczema. I've requested a call back from the doc to ask rather than taking him into the surgery. Hoping they confirm chickenpox as at least then we have had it over and done with!

Poor sweetheart.

What did the Docs say?

Sound like hand foot and mouth rather than chicken pox

He reckons it is chickenpox, says it can pop up anywhere/everywhere so just because it's not on his core doesn't mean anything.

We are out the worst I think, been running around like a little lunatic today so nearly back to normal then 

CP doesn't normally appear on palms of hands/ soles of feet. I'd still be inclined to think hand foot and mouth

Looks like chicken pox to me. And no, doesn't always appear on torso. I had a friend who's child had a grand total of 2 spots!

@dementedpixie - I asked about palms and soles for that very reason but doc says it happens and there is no area of the body that can't be affected! The virus hides/travels in nerves so can go anywhere apparently!

If it is HFM rather than CP then the skin of the fingers/toes can peel afterwards apparently

I'll keep an eye out for that!

@PenApple - if you don't mind me asking, how did you know it was HFM if the blisters were on more places than just hands/feet?

It’s rare (I believe) that it only stays to hands, feet & mouth. I read somewhere it should be called HFM & everywhere else disease .

With my last dc (a couple of months ago) I had to take him in to dr to get it confirmed as we had been in contact with a very poorly little girl before dc showed symptoms and if it was chicken pox she had to be admitted to hospital. When I described it on the phone the Dr said it was chicken pox, to phone the little girls consulant ASAP to get on her on IV. Thankfully he ended the call by saying he’d be happy to look at him to double check, as soon as he saw him he said HFM.

He did add they can’t be 100% without swabs etc but he said the spots were too concentrated, so instead of spots evenly all over him, it was more like spots all over him but more in clusters that makes sense. He did have them in his mouth too. His toes are still peeling now months later!

He wasn’t anywhere near as bad as your ds though.

My DD got very few pox on her torso. They were mostly on her scalp, arms and legs. She got them in some very strange places though - soles of feet, earlobe, one on her lip (that was the first one, which made me think it was a cold sore until they appeared on her scalp).

It varies from person to person. One of my nephews was covered from head to toe. The other had a handful of spots on his face and a few more inside his nappy. That was it.

Well I'm going to go against docs advice and say that DS has HFM. I started feeling rubbish yesterday and today got 2 spots on my fingers and 1 on sole of my foot 🤨 and I had chickenpox as a child!

Oh dear, hope you all feel better soon

Apparently there are a lot of HFM cases just now

www.nwemail.co.uk/news/17215189.warning-as-hand-foot-and-mouth-disease-which-poses-risk-to-pregnant-mums-sweeps-country/

www.which.co.uk/news/2018/11/parents-warned-to-look-out-for-hand-foot-and-mouth-disease/

He is on the mend but just gutting to think we still have chickenpox to come! Hopefully not as severe as this was 😬

It looks just like the HFM my DS had a couple of months back. It was a thoroughly miserable few days and only recently have his finger and toenails stopped falling off.

Hope you and your little one feel better soon

One difference I was made aware of was that you can have Nurofen for HFM but it is not advised for chicken pox.