Chicken pox

[Kmg]

I was rather surprised at today's "tip" encouraging you not to avoid people with chicken pox. I just want to point out that chicken pox is not always very mild. My boys had it last summer, ages 1 and 3, so relatively young - it's supposed to be easier. And they were both utterly miserable, and quite ill, with high fevers etc., for quite some time. We knew we had been exposed, so avoided contact with others before the spots even appeared, and then the illness lasted so long, it felt like it completely wiped out the summer. It was an 'ideal' time for us - we didn't miss any major events or any school or nursery time, but if I had deliberately exposed them at that time I would have felt dreadful at inflicting that upon them.

So you may want to think again before deliberately putting your child through this.

oh - and instead of calamine lotion, my pharmacist suggested aqueous cream with calamine in it, less drying & she might even enjoy you dabbing it on her - with a bit of help from her too

Rhus Tox can be got from Boots or or larger chemists. It usually comes in tiny pillules that you are meant to suck - crush them for dd. The carrying agent for most homoeopathic remedies is sucrose, so the powder will taste sweetish (not nasty).
She sounds as though she is quite poorly with it. Ds had it about nine months ago and was also pretty miserable after the spots came out for about 48 hours. However, he was older and not refusing fluids. I think it is worth getting a doctor to see her. I hope she feels better soon.

Ouioui,

If you have had chickenpox yourself it is unlikely that you will not be immune. If you are found not to be immune then you will be given an injection of immunoglobulin. If you have had booking bloods taken already, they can be tested because they are stored at the laboratory ( well they are at our hospital).

You can alternate Calpol and Neurofen to keep control of the temperature. Phenergan is a better antihistamine at this age which is best given at night when your wee one will be more itchy. Bicarbonate of Soda in the bath reduces itching and the calamine cream is better than the lotion.

As the spots dry up things will improve. They tend to appear in crops and there are usually 3 crops before new spots stop appearing. You'll notice a difference in 2-3 days. HTH

I was in contact with CP when I was pregnant- and i hadn't had it. I turned out to be immune anyway. The danger time is the end of pregnancy as you might pass it onto your newborn. Also you yourself are more likely to be quite ill with cp is you get it during pregnancy. Most people are immune by the time they're adults anyway.

It's no more serious in early pregnancy than any old viral illness. Fever etc can cause problems- but cp itself shouldn't be any more likely to cause problems than a heavy cold.

thanks for all your helpful messages. am seeing dr again this afternoon, am giving Calpol and Nurofen and have bought the Piruton, Also have jsy given her a homeopathic pill as recommended by homeopath in local health food store so cross fingers xxx

Ouioui, if she sin't taking any fluid then ahve you tried syringing it down her with a medicine syringe? Eurax is good for the itching too, but get the cream instead of the lotion. If the cp is very sever then zovirax can be prescirbed (despite dr's saying there is nothing to give). All four of mine had chicken pox and quite badly too, so it was given , and reduced the amount of time they had it thank goodness. Hth.

OuiOui could you try ice cubes to get some fluid down her? Suggested to me by NHS Direct a while ago.

went to the docs yesterday and they were thinking of admitting dd to hospital for IV fluids. What a drama!. Luckily she started drinking a little again when her daddy came home from work. Was the same until this afternoon - has had nothing all day but just took 4 oz milk so I think the hunger wone out. Poor little thing is stumbling as she walks but is struggling valiantly on despite the empty stomach. Calpol and Nurofen is becoming a hysterical nightmare so I'm not surprised that she doesn't want me coming near her with her bottle - but she won't even drink it herself.
Have thought of both ice cubes and syringe - think I'll skip the latter as she'ss think it's more medicine (altho she normally loves medicine??) Its now day 4 of the spots and the initial ones are starting to crust over so does this mean we're over the worst? DD's normally such an easy baby .

Oui Oui - what a nightmare, hope both you and she are finding things easier. Just a thought, but what about fruit juice ice lollies - you can buy organic ones, or make your own. Might be a way of getting some fluids down her.

Then again, maybe she's a bit young? What about watered down fruit juice ice cubes?

Thanks Willow, luckily dd had 2 full bottles yesterday evening so fluids much better. However is still refusing water bottle which she normally guzzles down. She had diarrhoea this morning so hope it's a one off. Seems a lot cheerier though. Cross fingers.

hi my son has just got the spots they came up yesterday he is not upset about it is there any thing i can do to stop him scratching and how much drinks should i give him he is nearly eight

HI Anoushka
calamine lotion for the skin and I also went to see the homeopath. Read the previous conversations on this thread for itching remedies. I swear by homeopathy! Good Luck!

ouioui - did you see there's a Horizon on homeopathy tonight on tv?

excellent - thanks bundle - will tune in

DS1 has erupted in spots. It looks like a bad case of acne but they're on his tummy as well as his face. They don't look like I was expecting CP spots to look like so I'm not sure whether it is CP or not. Any ideas what else it could be?

He's not ill at all!

My DS's haven't had CP but the spots have white heads on...if I remember correctly. My DS1 came out in a terrible rash when he was about 18 months which the Doc said was his body getting rid of the remainder of a bad cold....he'd had it for weeks and it was like a normal bad cold when it peaks but for about 3-4 weeks. Appartently when they are little their bodies can't fight virus's for so long so thats why the rash came up. I'd never heard of anything like that before but the above is a quote from the Doc so it could be that......mind you I di d say that he isn't ill at all so maybe not.
Hope it helps anyway.

My DS's haven't had CP but the spots have white heads on...if I remember correctly. My DS1 came out in a terrible rash when he was about 18 months which the Doc said was his body getting rid of the remainder of a bad cold....he'd had it for weeks and it was like a normal bad cold when it peaks but for about 3-4 weeks. Appartently when they are little their bodies can't fight virus's for so long so thats why the rash came up. I'd never heard of anything like that before but the above is a quote from the Doc so it could be that......mind you I di d say that he isn't ill at all so maybe not.
Hope it helps anyway.

Opps didn't mean to do that twice.!!

Thanks, I'm hoping it is CP but they don't look blistery enough to me. I think it's going round his nursery again at the moment.

A question about the Rhus Tox - which strength pillules should I get? 6c or 30c? Wellbeing.com have the cream as well. I'm stocking up just in case...

Loads of chickenpox going about in Croydon atm SoupDragon, so I wouldn't be surprised... I think the white parts fill up later? We're still waiting to see if we've got it... by my reckoning probably in the next couple of days. Saying that, since then we've played with one of ds' friends who has chickenpox just to make sure we get it - just want it over and done with now!

emmatmg - that sounds like scarletina to me? Isn't that when a streptoccoccus infection gets a bit more serious?

Yes, that's something else it could be - have you tried ringing NHS direct or using their website at www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk? Image of a chickenpox rash is here: www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/SelfHelp/gfx/photos/b_im001.asp

DS1 has been exposed knowingly to CP about 4 times already! It's about time he actually caught it

I'm more concerned for DS2 as the sibling often gets it worse as they have prolonged exposure to the virus.

Same here, dd's spots started as small, flat red spots on the chest/back, just a few the first day, the next day lots more, with the first ones becoming fluid filled.