chicken pox as an adult

[LimesMum]

Has anyone had experience of this? My daughter has it and husband has never had it. Been reading horror stories and starting to really worry!!

I had it my early 20s, gave it to a mate who had much worse spots than me (I got to GP in time to get drugs which limit it a bit). SIL had it a few months before her wedding, poor thing.

Can't say any of us had fun with it but we're all ok!

oddly, DM (in her 70s now) has never had it, despite loads of contact - your DH may be immune like her.

What are you worrying about in particular?

I was very ill for 2 weeks felt like flu but no lasting effects. Scars on face. Wish I'd heard about piriton as itching was unbearable. All I could bear do was jigsaws m

y neighbour caught them from me. He was very bad. Whole face swelled up. His daughter got them horrendously bad though only a little girl 😞 Very badly scarred.

My dh caught it two years ago from dd and was very ill he had sits everywhere even in his mouth and on the soles of his feet.!it took him weeks to recover and he still has scars

Spots not sits bloody phone

Not scaremongering but it can be a very nasty illness & need hospitalisation (& worse)
I had it at 39. Seriously ill for a month; on massive dose of antiretrovirals. Please contact GP by phone urgently- ill adults need meds & non-immune adults can potentially have protective meds (can't remember name, a GP friend told me that it is possible)
Best wishes.

I was 50 and felt unwell for around 10 days - no scars at all. I used Calamine Lotion which I understand now is a no-no, but it did help the itching.

I got it at 24 (thanks DN) and was really ill, delirious with a high temperature. I had spots everywhere, including my mouth, eyelids and lady bits! I was also living alone and did lots of wrong things like cold water baths and scratching till I bled. My lovely neighbour sent round bowls of nourishing soup and Calamine lotion.
I had a week off work and still had red scarring when I went back. My "king pockmark" was on my cheek and it's still visible 20+ years later as it doesn't tan.

Oh yes, Chicken Pox is nasty for adults.

A flat mate had it when she was about 25. Awful. Spots everywhere and I mean everywhere. We called the doctor who sedated her. I took a day off work the following day and then her parents arrived, stayed overnight and took her home for ten days the day after. She said she'd never complain about a zit ever again.

It is serious in adults. My colleague's husband laughed it off when their little girls had it - a young, fit, healthy mandy in a physically and intellectually demanding job. He got it from them and was off work for 6 weeks, in and out of hospital with blackouts due to the high temperature.

My auntie had it so bad that the doctors said that had they not known it was impossible their diagnosis would have been smallpox!

I would call the doctor tbh.

Man not mandy FFS

Thanks all have called the GP - she didn't seem to know that much about it! She has said she will "look it up" and call me back!

Any progress, Limesmum?
Seek another opinion asap if you haven't had a serious response (but please don't go to A&E cos they're so highly contagious!)
Hope everyone has a comfy weekend

My dh got it at 29 and was floored. He suffered really badly and usually works through/ignores most ailments. Sorry if TMI but we had to change the bed everyday because of his fevers! (I slept in the spare room for two weeks!!!)

I've just seen a pp has mentioned blackouts. Dh had those too and was delirious quite a few times. We still talk about it 5+ years on

So in the end she has given him acyclovir but I've since read that should be used after the onset of the actual rash??! Wonder if it will help at this stage or not? Guess we will only know in the next 3 weeks!!!

I had it age 26, completely non event. I took antihistamines for a day because I was told to. The antiHs knocked me out but I felt perfectly fine in myself, esp. when I just went straight back to work 2 days later (private office, and the nurses told me it was fine to do that in the early 90s).