Bugger. DH been diagnosed with Shingles. What can we expect (how ill will he be?) and can the children catch chicken pox from him?

[ghosty]

Poor DH
We thought he'd been bitten by something. On Thursday there was a painful spot on his shoulder near his neck. Being the paranoid arachnaphobe I am I always assume it's a bite of some kind (I thought I had been bitten a while ago and it turned out I was having an allergic reaction to something else).
Anyhoo, this spot turned into 5 spots then they merged together. He went to the doctor on Friday as he had an eye infection (he has been working silly hours and always gets conjunctivitis or styes when run down). She said his swollen glands in his neck were to do with his eye and to take antihistimine for his 'bite'.
The spot got bigger, got raised and angry looking and about the size of an old style 50pence piece - but you can still see the 5 spots within it. This morning he could hardly move his neck, the gland is HUGE and red, the spot is big and angry.
We found an open doctor (long bank holiday in Melbourne) who diagnosed Shingles.
Poor DH - he feels like crap.
What can we expect - how ill will he get? He seems to think it won't affect work ...
I am not the most sympathetic of nurses with him (he can do the Man Flu thing quite well when he gets a cold ) so I need someone to tell me how bad he could really feel ...
AND ... can the children catch Chicken Pox from him now????? They are 8 and 4 ....

TIA ...

You can catch chicken pox from shingles, but I think (not sure on that bit) only from physical contact.

Oh dear - shingles can be pretty bad. Has he been given any anti-virals? My mum had it - it was painful and could have lasted a while (a couple of weeks apparently) but the anti-virals seemed to help with it a lot. Pain killers might be necessary too.

Unfortunately, you can get chickenpox from shingles if you haven't had it before. Doesn't work the other way round but I know from experience, as I caught it from somebody at school who had shingles.

I think the nurses outfit and a sympathetic face will be needed on this occasion.

Good luck

Keep the rash clean and dry as possible. Wearing loose fitting clothing. Take painkillers (if paracetamol or ibuprofen aren't touching it, GP can prescribe something stronger). You can get antivirals prescribed (may help to reduce the severity of shingles, particularly if taken within 72 hours of rash appearing) but may be too late for that at this stage.

Shingles can be bad enough that they prescribe antidepressants to help the patient cope with the pain, so it can be really quite nasty.

Oh dear
Poor poor DH ... He looks absolutely terrible
Should I send him to bed?
The spot appeared sometime on Wednesday we think. It is Sunday now ... he has gone off to pick up his prescription for an antiviral so hopefully that will help although we are past the 72 hours.
He has physical contact with the children - so it is likely they can catch it isn't it?
Too late for the cp vax? Not that I was ever into the idea of chicken pox vax anyway ... they could have caught it at any time.

So has it gone to his eye? If so he should be on eyedrops specifically for that, typically acyclovir.

Maybe not too late for cp vax. Tbh, the only reason I did vax my dcs was to prevent shingles later on. I wasn't so worried about the initial chicken pox rash.

Don't know about the CP vax - we don't generally have it here in the UK. I didn't even know it existed until recently!

I suppose the only consolation is that if the children do get CP they will probably not be that ill with it - children seem to deal with it well, it is just adults that are wiped out by it.

I wouldn't send DH to bed but if he wants to go, I think he would be justified. Is he sleeping OK?

Your DH has my sympathy I got Shingles (unusually from a child with Chicken Pox) but hey I'd already had CP as a child, when pregnant with DS2. Luckily I didn't have badly. Please tell him to get his eye checked just in case like jabberwocky said that could be very painful. Oh and get some calamine lotion in too.

His eye thing has been there ages ... a kind of stye that has been lurking - never come up properly and not gone away, for at least 2 weeks ... I don't think the two are related - is it possible they are? ... he has antibiotic drops for that. DH is very fit and healthy usually but when he gets run down he gets an eye infection, happens about once a year. Work has been nuts for him in the last 6 months ... really really busy and stressful - we have had severarl rows about it . He finally decided to take a couple of days off (Thursday, Friday and this coming Monday, to add to the bank holiday on Tuesday) and this happens
He is currently outside playing with DS but looks like shit and can't move his neck. I have told him not to be a hero and to lie down but he won't.
Ho hum.

The CP vax is common in Australia but I hate vax anyway (do them but never feel at one with them iykwim?) and didn't see the point in a vax for CP really.

Well, herpes generally shows up when one is run down. Some people will get it only/mainly in the eye, some get shingles. In my case it attacks my facial nerve and I get Bell's Palsy

I think the two are suspiciously close together and his eye doctor should be alerted that he has been diagnosed with shingles in case she decides to do a follow-up. It can be frustratingly hard to diagnose in the eye in the early stages.

Oh, and he really needs to take it easy. Shingles can get quite nasty. If he is already run down overdoing it is not a good idea.

The playing outside hasn't lasted long jabberwocky - he lasted 10 minutes and is now on the sofa watching the cricket.
I will tell him what you said about the eye. Is a stye a herpes type thing then?

It's hard to say, but the worry is that his cornea will become infected. The only way to know if that has happened is to put fluorescein dye in and take a look under the biomicroscope.

Here is a US link to a very good description of shingles. It can be extremely painful at times and although I'm with you on the 24 hour sympathy limit in normal circumstances...this may warrant a little extra. Kids CAN catch cp from him, so maybe you should look into getting them vaccinated.

Thanks for that sofia - that was really helpful. Especially the bit about staying away from pregnant women ... There are 2 girls in DH's office who are in their 1st trimester of pregnancy (they have all told him as he is the manager) ... and one in her 2nd trimester.
He thinks he will be fine to go to work on Wednesday (has Monday and Tuesday off holiday anyway).

Sympathy ghosty - dh was diagnosed with Shingles today. He's been feeling rough for nearly a week but has been too busy to go to the GP until today.

ghosty - he would only be able to pass it on to collgues by direct contact with teh rash...so (unless there is something untoward going on) they should be safe. There is no need to quarantine someone with shingles according the UK hpa advice. Chicken pox is a more serious problem within 2 weeks of the birth.

Chicken pox can be spread from individual by aerosols so is very contagious and quarantine is advised. Although shingles can spread chicken pox it is not the same route of transmission. To catch chicken pox from someone with shingles there needs to be direct contact with a weeping sore. So you can protect your children without the need for vaccination. Obviously you need to ensure they don't come into contact with his sore or any infected clothing/flannels/towels etc.

HTH

here is the HPA advice