SHINGLES!

[expatinscotland]

DD1's got a moderate case of chickenpox.

It came out Thursday evening.

When DH, a smoker but otherwise healthy, went into the shower, he noticed a red rash on the back of his right hand and high up on his right arm.

I've Googled pics, but they're all of shingles that has gone on to big blister stage.

What does it look like at the beginning?

It's red and a bit raised.

I had it in october and it was a raised red bumpy patch Looked like a big burn and was really painful adn I felt v rough HTH

yeah, that's how it looks.

right now, it's just itching him.

he needs to go in and be seen.

my landlord got it, and they gave her some anti-virals, but you have to get there in the first 24 hours.

i told him to quit fucking smoking!

Expat - DM and DH have both had shingles. It looked like small chickenpox blisters but (importantly) with shingles they go in bands around the body.

Has he definitely had CP?

The anti-virals work best takes asap but will still be effective up to 7 days after the onset of symptoms, IIRC. Even if it is CP, in an adult they will still usually give Zovirax, as they would do for shingles.

i had herpes on my back looks like fluid filled blisters on a 10p sized red patch ...v itchy and sore

Oh and shingles tends to reappear at times of stress! So lay off him about his smoking or you might make it worse

yes, he definitely had chickenpox!

he was 7 and remembers it. his mum especially remembers it, because he had it together with his younger sister and it was over her birthday.

he didn't get a fever, but he had them everywhere, including between his toes.

he's going to go in and to the open surgery tomorrow.

oh expat....things just get better and better!!!!!

have YOU had CP?

I think you have haven't you?

get yourseflf some antivirals too.....you are so run down and low yourself this is the last thing you need for you!

many hugs for your entire family....what a rotten start to the year!

yeah, i had it, too.

not as severe a case as DH, i was younger than he was, though, when i got it.

but my two nurse pals assure me it has nothing to do with how severe a case you've had at all.

You cannot 'catch' shingles from chickenpox - it is the other way around incase that is of any reassurance. It is an old wives tail that children give adults shingles.

Hope your DH is feeling better.

ah yes, but once you have had cicken pox, the virus lives in your body and then at times of stress it can trigger into shingles.....is that not right???

and as expat IS under a lot of stress right now, would it possibly make sense to get some anti-virals just in case anyhow???

I may be way off the mark on how people get shingles tho of course, so feel free to ignore (or even put me straight.....kindly!)

he's been washing his hands a lot, mears, as he's been caring for DD1, too, and we've both been washing up after creaming DD1 up, bathing her in oats, etc, and he refuses to use lotion (Scotsman alert! )

so he may have excema.

he had it REALLY badly in edinburgh, and of course he didn't finish using the oinment they gave him.

Yeah, but psycho, DH is Mr. No Stress.

I mean, seriously, he is the least stressed individual I've ever met - that's why I married him .

Expat's okay, FWIW, mostly due to 40mg of Prozac a day .

i don't want to take any more drugs than i already am!

point taken

and yay for the non stressed man.

my mr psycho is also non stressed, unless I am on here till all hours and then complaining of tiredness all the next day

i don't know how he does it.

he just finds it all a piece of piss.

The antiviral tabs are very good. My mum took them for shingles and it cut short the illness. She was back to normal pretty fast.

My 7mth old nephew has just had shingles which I was at. Apparently, he and his twin both caught chickenpox from their older siblings when they were a month old, poor wee things!

she's had a moderate case, dd1.

she didn't get a fever and a smattering of pox on her legs, arms and face, but her trunk is covered even now.

you can't get shingles from chickenpox. If he had shingles at the same time as your dd having chickenpox it's no more than a coincidence.

no one in his work has been ill, that he knows of.

he says, 'ach, it's just dry skin. i'm fine.'

but he says that all the time - like i said, Scotsman!

Sorry forgot to add, yes it looks red and a bit raised and he will feel flu-ey too (dh had it in his eye some years ago, not had it myself)

suedonim-apparently if you have chicken pox before you are a year old you are more likely to get shingles while still a child. My DS4 had it last year when he was 13. But 7 months-poor little thing!

If it is shingles then def. worth a visit to the GP. Because dh had a complicated case, he was under medical care from the word go, and the meds helped restrict the shingles. My mum, when she got it, left it too late to take the meds and really suffered with it for several weeks.

he's not fluey at all.

my landlord had shingles and she said the same thing. she said she felt 'gurney' but she wasn't sure why, about two days before the rash came out.

i'm waiting for dd2 to come down with chickenpox, but man, dd1 incubated that forever before coming out with it!

we thought she'd escaped it.

she wasn't in nursery from 21 dec. till 8 jan.

then she was gurney for a couple of days, then the rash on thursday.

she's so fair-skinned, i've been dosing her up on piriton and slathering her with calamine cream because i don't want her to scar.

luckily, the ones on her face haven't been so bad.

my folks are in the US, and they routinely vaccinate over-65s for shingles.

she and my dad had their jabs back in july.