....what does this rash look like?

[Icantstopeatinglol]

Ds 10 has had a rash for a few days. Wasn’t sure what it was but now he says it’s hurting and it’s looking more red and blister like. Worried it could be shingles. It’s on his back.

Where on his back?

It does look like shingles.

Right in the middle on his spine. Yea I’m worried it’s that.

Does look like shingles. DS had it when he was about 8 years old. Was fine, not unwell at all.

Yep looks like when dd had shingles. She just said it was sore and itchy, wasn’t sick at all. It went after about 10 days I think

Yea he’s not ill just complaining it hurts when anything touches the rash in bed. Do I need to keep him away from people?

Yep, shingles, and it really hurts (speaking from experience, bless him

Sorry, that posted before I tidied up the grammar etc... but you get my drift!

Yes, he is shedding active chicken pox virus, he is infectious to those who have not yet had chicken pox.

Typical just before Xmas when we have loads of plans. He’ll be happy though if he gets to play on his computer all Xmas!

Tjey are good at that aren’t they? Hopefully if he is not too ill he will still enjoy the festivities! But you will sadly have to be careful around pregnant women (particularly first trimester), elderly, immuno compromised etc...

They

Yea I wouldn’t risk anyone else catching it. Unfortunately I’m immunosuppressed so that should be fun! 🙄

Maybe book a gp appt? You can get antivirals, but they have to be taken within the first 48 hours if IRC...

I’ve had chickenpox though so I should be ok? You can’t catch shingles from someone, only chickenpox from shingles. Is that right?

My son had singles, he was a bit grumpy, I have crohns, I was fine, we were on holiday at the time so no chance of keeping him away from others. It was fine.

That’s correct, it is vanishingly rare to get chickenpox twice. Shingles is a reactivation of the herpes virus type that causes chicken pox, so you can only get shingles if you have already had chicken pox at some point. You cant ‘catch’ shingles from someone with shingles, but if you have not had chickenpox, you can catch that from someone who has shingles... hope that makes sense?

Yea I’m not too worried as he seems ok just complaining it’s a bit painful. I’ll ring gp in the morning but I’m fairly sure it’s shingles. We’ve all been a bit poorly with viruses etc so wonder if his immune system has took a bit more of a hit than ours bless him.

Yea it does thank you Theperfectchangeling Hopefully it’ll be mild for him and he’s ok.

So it is Shingles, ds seems fine though. Got antivirals. Hopefully won’t get any worse.

DS was absolutely fine. He was advised to continue to go to school, but no swimming, keep his vest on for PE, and the pregnant TA was moved to another class temporarily. He's got a little white patch of scars.

Apparently it's more common in children who had chicken pox at under a year old
DS was 4 months.

Yea dr said he’s fine to go out and about as the only rash he’s got is on his back and as long as that’s covered it’s ok. No swimming etc. Ds is fine apart from complaining it hurts every now and then.