DD has chicken pox quite bad please please offer advice when pharmacists disagreed whst i should use!

[daddy21]

Long story short: i go into a chemist and explain dd's chicken pox (2.5yo) 30+ spots on her face alone (day 5) she still has more appearing. Calamine is working but I asked chemist to advise what to give DD when she's itching as calamine is seeming to make the crustier ones itch more, and we are very worried she's going to scratch her face and end up with scars (calamine is working great for the oozing ones though). She says ditch the calamine and put E45 itch relief on EVERYTHING. I do this and within 4 hours most of the spots on her face are a weeping mess, really upset DW goes back into another boots nearer to our home and tell them whats happened the pharmasist tells her she should NEVER use bloody E45 itch relief on chicken pox DW v upset & pharmacist tells her Eurax for the itchy ones and calamine for the rest.
Does this sound ok?
We are doing bicarb & oatmeal bath and this too is helping. DD has then one under her eyelash (on pink bit) which is a bit worrying and also one on her tongue, in her ears, one up her nose and a couple around her mouth. Please can someone give us some kind of advice if you have dealt with what i think is quite a nasty case of chicken pox, we had a shite day and would really really appreaciate some reassurance, tia.

Oh! Poor DD.

If it's any help, it will only last for a few days.

I would be inclined to use calamine (though I've heard of people using Sudocreme) topically and give her some Piriton (anti-histamine liquid.) It may make her drowsy, but it will help, especially at night.

You could give her an anti histamine like piriton syrup or zirtek syrup which would ease the generalised itching, try calamine crem which is more soothing than the lotion, i would ditch the E45 eurax is ok but will make the spots soggy.

If any look particularly sore or a weeping pus then take her to see the GP as sometimes they can get infected, but get some antihistamine this will make her generally more comfortable.

agree with bubble99. tell your dw not to feel bad aswell, it was the pharmacists fault for telling her to use e45 itch. hope dd feels better soon.

cx

Oooh sympathies! We only used Eurax on DS on all his Chicken Pox spots itchy or otherwise and it worked a treat - minimal itching no scars. I'd read about it on here and I think I also read on here that Calamine can actually be quite drying and therefore prolong itching longterm. Dont know how to deal with eye/nose/mouth ones though I'm afraid.

Not sure if you can get hold of it but caladryl, contains clamine and benadryl and soothes the itching better than calamine alone. I would deffo stick with the calamine lotion, and bicarb baths. what does it say on the eurax packet???

Don't know if this has been suggested but I used porridge oats in the bath water for my dd- it really helped with the itching. You put some in a pair of tights and attatch to the tap so that the water runs through it - when you squeeze the tights you get a thick milky substance. Once the bath is run you can use the tights with the oats in like a sponge and rub it into the skin. It works really well with eczema too.

Other than that I use calomine lotion in aqueous cream (not so messy) and Piriton.

Whoops - I'm sorry I just ready your OP properly - you're already doing the oatmeal bath. That'ss teach me to reply in a hurry.

DD2 had it really badly when she was just 2 and spent most of the day playing in a bicarb bath IIRC (we kept topping it up with warm water). I think she had calamine on at night. It is awful while it lasts but it doesn't last too long, thank god.

I found piriton syrup to be fab.

Piriton is the way forward IMO. And the others are right, this bit doesn't last too long.
With regard to the one near the eye - as long as the actual white of the eye is not inflammed or discharging, it should clear up along with the other spots. If white of eye is inflammed, it could be a conjunctivitis secondary to chicken pox.

thanks so much for everyones advice, we are giving Piriton every 4-6 hours, and we have just checked on her in bed and her spots are looking so much better since reverting to calamine lotion, her scalp has so many crusty scabs these are proving the most itchy at the moment so DW has just been rubbing eurax into them whilst DD is asleep. Oh and how awful for little DD down below, they are just one mass of swollen blisters, I hardly dared to change her nappy earlier. I just can't believe how nasty chicken pox can be, especially after someone said today "its only Chicken Pox" !!?! Its like people dont take it seriously because 'everyone' gets it.

Kerrymum - she does have excema, not a lot though, and it usually only flares up when she is ill

thank you all again for posting

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Kerrymum, that is interesting, I didn't know that - DD2 did have eczema when she was little, and her chickenpox was far worse than her siblings.

we had no idea if only we had looked into this earlier, but then why would we I guess. neither DW or I have ever seen anyone with CP before, and i will be honest this is way way worse than either of us could ever imagine.
Dior,when you say scarred, did he scar from the sheer amount of spots? Or was it from picking? Or both?

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I have to say i think this is going to be the problem with DD, she picks at everything, scabs, her finger nails etc... I am guessing the real itchy stage will be when they are healing & scabby?

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Don't worry too much about scabbing, regardless of picking tendencies - IME (4 kids) only the very first, very few, huge spots scab, the rest disappear

scar, not scab, sorry!

Bicarb in the bath worked really well here

I found that calomine ointment dried out the skin less than calomine lotion - so better from the eczema point of view...