Chickenpox - how quickly do the spots appear? what happens next? how long do i have to keep dd1 inside for?

[nailpolish]

every other child at playgroup has had chickenpox, and i have just noticed dd1 has about 6 spots on her upper torso (red blotches) one that has been scratched and is bleeding

she is otherwise fine

is it CP?

what happens next please
thanks

I would think you and dp will be ok to see FIl but I am no expert - I would get him to ask his doctor. I think you're wise to keep dd2 away, sadly.

Sorry she can't go to playgroup, np, it stinks if she was looking forward to it and you were probably hoping for a break as well. :(

i would steer clear, just in case

FUCK

dd1 is devastated she cant go to playgroup

i think i will put dd2 down for her nap and spoil dd1 with stickers and ice pops and cuddles

i am going to phone FIL and he could call his McMillan nurse for advice maybe

we were so looking forward to everything

was a f*cking PITA

thanks guys

:(

You are smart for having stocked up with stickers and lollies, NP.

Hope it works out.

My ds has chickenpox too. I am 13 pg and my parents were a little too vague for my liking on whether I've had cp. My dr's did a blood test to test my immunity and I just found out half an hour ago that I am immune. phew. I had a mc earlier in the year which I put down to ds getting slapped cheek just as I conceived so I am particularly anxious about these infectious diseases.
Ds's spots have quadrupled in the past 24 hours. They aren't really bothering him at the moment but is there anything I should put on them anyway (calamine?). Should I just leave them be? Am worried about scarring as well as his discomfort.

ds' cp appeared first behind his ears and dd on her face and shoulder blade then they spread everywhere over the next day or two. If you and dh have had c'pox then don't think you can carry it as such. Could dd2 have caught it at the same time (ie be going down imminently with it) or would it only be from dd1 in which case you may have a week or so's respite ? If unsure keep her away from fil too.

with regards to pox and people on chemo....they HAVE to stear clear as much as poss because of the immune system is suppressed.

chicken pox and pregnant women.....under 12 weeks pregnant can be dangerous, as is catching it within 2weeks of giving birth.

my DD2 had chicken pox when I was 38wks pregnant with DD3. because of DD2's immune deficiancy she had to go into hospital for the sduration of the illness:(. I had never had it, which a blood test confirmed within 5hrs, and so had to be vaccinated (at the cost of £360 to the NHS as the grumpy midwife informed me!!!). was then assured that baby and I would be ok....

two and a bit weeks later, I had DD3. she was born with chicken pox, and so shocked everyone.:(
she was born just before xmas, and because it is so dangerous for newborns to have chicken pox she was kept in hospital while she recovered on drugs to combat possible encephilitus(sp?) etc and so over xmas, and low and behold I also came down with it:( so was very sick too. we had to be taken to the childrens unit instead of scbu because of the contagousness which at least meant us both together in isolation.

DD3 is now 7 and the repercussions from it have been huge. neither of us still have any immunity so not only did the jabs not work, but neither did our bodies at making the antibodies (so basically we are wierd), but everytime we come into contact DD3 has a reaction normally ending with her being admitted. her immune system is dire, and she has been in hosptial over 40 times now:(.

all in all, chicken pox isn't a happy thing in our house.....altho DD1, DS1 and DS2 have had it now with no issues so fingers crossed for us things are on the up there.....

sorry for the length....didn't mean to turn into our life story

psychomum - that's so scary. And it really reinforces why people shouldn't be so relaxed about passing cp on through their infected children (nailpolish, I am not talking about you!) with the philosophy that 'everyone has to catch it at sometime'.
Am so glad that my immunity has been confirmed this pm.

I know....has been.still is scary from what we went and have been thro. I really do wish sometimes that CP was taken more seriously, but there is a fine line between the fact that is often is just a normal childhood illness and scaring people because sometimes in isn't IYKWIM.

I think it must still be rare to be this bad which is why they don't advertise the risks so much, but I also think that in america they regularly vaccinate against chickenpox so they must feel that it is a big enough risk.....

Maybe I am just too scared of it and aware of things going wrong because of my experience, because to be fair I don't know of anyone else out of my circle of friends who has been thro it, apart from having just the normal reaction in their kiddies.

and there i go again....rambling.

a chicken pox thread, just the thing! one of DS1s friends has it so was wanting to know what to look for!

Thats awful Psychomum. I don't have a deficient immune system but I did catch chickenpox through a carrier when I was 17 and it was horrendous. All over my body - including up my nose, down my throat, on the soles of my feet - my dad had to carry me up and down to the loo - very when you are 17. I still have lots of CP scarring. The Dr told my mum that if I had had it like that in the 60's I would have been sent to the isolation hospital!

MoM....missed you:(

went out straight after I replyed last time with flame..(was just the thing I needed too!!:))

many hugs for today......thinking of you lots and lots. xxxxxxx

psychomum i ws so sad to read your story

i was really annoyed that we had to cancel FIL's birhtday party, but after reading your story i am not annoyed any more

at least we know he is safe

we can plan the party another time

i am again so sorry to read your story. i am

i also wanted to tell people (because this was news to me) that you can give your children from 1 year old, Piriton syrup for the itch. it says on the bottle that it can be used for cp itch, and i double checked with the pharmacist

i gave it to dd1 a couple of times during the night at the worst bit of the cp and it helped a lot. she managed to get some sleep, therefore feeling much bett er during the day

Sorry to hijack your thread a litle but was in supermarket on Monday and a little girl was there with her mum and she was completely covered in chicken pox. I know it was cp cos I overheard the mum talking. Just how contagious is it and was it really bad of her mum to take her out in public?

.

Nailpolish, how is your dd1? Any more spots?

My dd1 was sent home from nursery today with 4 spots. I wonder if she's the next with CP. So many kids at nursery have had it recently too.

Dd2 (11 months) is still being bfed in the mornings and evenings. Does anybody know if she will be still sharing my immune system?

We're due to go on holiday a week on Sunday and I so don't want to have to cancel so I'm hoping she won't get it before we have to fly. I don't mind if she gets it whilst I'm away 'cos then I'll have to stay on holiday until she's no longer contageous.

Physcomum, your story is so sad. There's not enough information about how serious cp can be.

there isn't enough, it's true, but then I guess it must be a fine line btween when we have too much info and so panic people, and too less and then not enough people being aware of how serious it could be to those with suppressed immune systems.

I never realised how serious it could be until we had the unfortunate experience that we had.....all I had thought was that it was just a simple childhood disease that could be unpleasant, and that was all. I was so shocked when the midwives spelled it out to me....., and then of course when things turned the way they did was then terrified....

I wish there was more info, i really truly do....but at what cost? YES, it can kill, but those cases are so very rare....YES again...it can cause the awful problems that we have been thro, but then the other 'childhood' diseases (ie, measles, mumps, rubella) can cause so many other problems and at much higher statistics, that I guess it boils down to which is the biggest risk........

and then.......you get into the next issue of yet more vaccinations and of course all of us mummies worry isanely enough about the vaccinations we give our kiddies already, without adding yet more to the list!!!!

We were unlucky, yes, but then had I caught chicken pox as a child we would never had had this happen anyway. I guess that I must have been one of the few that had some weird type of immunity to it as a child, which then only while I was immune suppressed anyway (which all pregnant mums are to some extent just to be able to be pregnant and not let your antibodies fight the 'foreign body' as it were) did I catch it myself. And of course allow my body to pass it thro to my unborn baby. Plus, it just shows also there in our story that vaccines are not foolproof....

Think of it this way (which is the only way I had at the time to keep me going), had I not had the vaccination, both Natasha and I most likely would have died, or at the very least then Natasha would have been severly brain damaged. I guess then, that I am thankful that altho these past few years have been bloody hard, I would rather that than the possible other outcome!

Anyhooo.....there I go again......long long longsorry

all I will say tho is....if you have a child with chicken pox, try to stay home as much as possible while they are contagious as you really just don't know who you may pass in the street, or stand next to in line in a supamarket....they may just be the person who it could be dangerous for!!!!

you could meet my dh.

when my dd's got chicken pox at christmas, we stayed away from harefield for 4 weeks in total, just to be safe.

Just wanted to qualify pyschomum's advice - sorry to contradict pyschomum, but cp is not infectious until the 'last spot dries up'(that's old discredited advice), it is infectious for 5 days after the first spot appears - so nailpolish's dd can be in circulation from Tuesday

Nailpolish - was trying to be sympathetic about your dd's disappointment at missing playgroup, but we had to cancel a fecking holiday because of it (last month) so my sympathy is muted! (noticed dd's spots in the bath the night before we were due to travel)

see...there with misdee for her DH....it it dangerous

Can I ask misdee.....after your DH has his transplant (I assume he hasn't yet has he...I haven't as yet posted on your threads, but I don't recall one saying that he had??)
and of course he will then be on anti rejaction drugs...will he then also forever be immune suppressed??

Sorry to ask if it is a painful subject (I sometimes don't know how to say/ask things with hoping terribly that I am not offending someone), but I often wonder just how many people out there who look totally healthy, yet obviously aren't!

my rant

he will have to take immune suppressant drugs for the rest of his life. so yes. any childhood illness will be potientally lethal i guess. I am glad the girls have all had chicken pox now, but am dreading how its goign to be afterwards.

HMC.....not contradicted at all

I just thought that it was the case, I and know that I try to follow that for me only really!

I do know tho that you are infectios before any spots actually appear, so some people obviously unwittingly pass it on, without meaning to in the slightest. and then of course that means yet more guilt on us mummys who carry so much anyway

hey ho......I am often a scare monger with chicken pox bacause of my experience, and I hate being so sometimes....but then, like I have said.....it is such a fine line, where do you draw it???

Tis not helped today by me being low, DS2 having his hospital appointment looming with regards to his allergies/ceoliac and his other gastro probs, and me just feeling like the hospital has got its claws out to get us again cos of the last months with the family. Grrrrrr

AND the bloody sodding PMT hormones raging from my preteen girlies who have just hit pubety with a huge great thump!!!!!

psychomum, what a horrible experience - so sorry

I had a chickenpox scare when pregnant with ds2 (ds1 had it) - I'm also not immune and it was a very very scary time.

Psychomum - the jab you got in all probability wasn't the vaccination but VZIG - basically "borrowed" antibodies from someone's blood donation - it won't necessarily prevent chickenpox, but it can reduce symptoms if given within 72 hours of exposure.

The immunisation I've had - way before I got pregnant with ds2 - has about 90% chance of taking, I believe. Mine didn't, hence the panic when I was pregnant and I ended up having the VZIG as well - fortunately for me and ds2, the VZIG did the job for us. Those 3 weeks waiting though (ds2 was due to be induced 2 weeks early due to OC - so it was a really really close call) were hellish, and I spent pretty much every day in tears for 3 weeks.

So yes ... please don't take any risks if your child has chickenpox - it may be a mild childhood illness, but for at risk groups the repercussions can be immense.

Meant to say - VZIG won't mean that you keep the antibodies either - it only gives you a little immune boost for a short period of time (hopefully long enough to protect you).