shingles contact

[mummyzoe2012]

hiya im 16 weeks 3 days pregnant and have not had the best of pregnancys so far.

we found out yesterday that the farther in law has got shingles and ive had a blood test today to check im ok and that baby is too should i be worried ive had chicken poxs but doc said i could still get shingles realy bad.

I thought that you couldn't catch shingles, it was just a flare up of the chicken pox virus.

if you've had chicken pox there won't be any serious consequences to the pregnancy, as your antibodies will protect the baby, but as your dr says, if you were to get shingles, it might be quite bad.

however, shingles is much more common in older people, as antibody levels only drop quite afew decades after you've had it, so i'd be quietly hopeful that you'll be ok. If you have ANY signs of ANYTHINg, go to your GP quickly, as there are medications that can prevent it getting too bad.

thanks for the reasurance i dont get the blood results till friday and am going out of my mind with worrie.

Soupdragon you are correct you can't catch Shingles but you can develop Chicken Pox following an exposure to Shingles. However if you have had chicken pox as a child you should be immune. You've had the blood test op so you have done the most sensible thing to get peace of mind

Just read your OP again - your Dr is incorrect you cannot catch shingles.

Also wanted to add, that you can only catch chicken pox from shingles by coming into DIRECT contact with the shingles site....

You can catch chicken pox from someone else with chicken pox just by the infected person sneezing in your direction. However, the shingles virus is only shed from the shingles site.... so, if your FIL has shingles on his back, for example, and his back was covered over when you saw him, it is highly unlikely that you would have come into contact with the virus.

My sis had shingles a few years ago when I was preg with DC2. It was christmas time & we were all planning on spending xmas together. We took advice from doctors & she basically put a sodding great plaster over the shingles site (which was like a big rash on her back), we were careful to wash hands lots and didnt share towels etc. 8 weeks later I gave birth to a perfectly healthy baby girl.

Try not to worry, chances are you havent even come into contact with the shingles virus, and even if you did you're prob immune to Chicken pox anyway seeing as you have had it before.