Chicken Pox

[boldlyreal]

Or try to help your little kids GET the disease, which offers a much stronger, longer lasting, natural immunity.





Which means that for people that didn't gain immunity from the vaccine (happens often with ANY vaccine) will get it later and later, and it will be nastier.

Vaccinations aren't required in any state (they *say* required but every state has exemptions), and the people I know who had no vaccines have much stronger immune systems than anyone else I know!



OP, hope you feel better soon. Try to not medicate yourself too much; quite a lot has been written about how the disease is worse the more you try to reduce the symptoms, so try to not reduce symptoms more than you have to!

Not gonna make this a debate about getting vaccinated vs not getting vaccinated but I to thought it was better if my kids simply got them. WRONG!!!!!
My middle child caught them the last day of school in the first grade. Two weeks later bingo he was covered. Two weeks after that my oldest not only covered but had them so bad he ended up getting staff infection. Two full rounds of antibiotics and two skin problems, two years later that were induced by the pox. These problems lead to plastic surgery. Of course two weeks after his pox my youngest got them and had lymphatic overload to the point she had to take anti-viral medication. Our entire summer spent ill, for no good reason.
The chicken pox of today aren't the chicken pox of our youth they are stronger, nastier, and more dangerous. If I could do it over again I would have got them the shot, but I can not, I am just blessed it wasn't worse and I can share my experience and advice with others.

OP feel better soon (passing you the Aveno Oatmeal lotion and a box of Epsom Salts)

 

[slduck]

Dd and Ds were exposed to shingles when they were younger than 3 months thanks to DH and my dad. Fortunately, neither of them got chicken pox. Here's a question about the shot. My doctor said that after you have the vaccination, it is good to expose your children to chicken pox if possible. He said it strenghtens the body's immune response to the virus.

I know that this is one of the vaccines that wears off over time. There are others that need a boost. We had whopping cough in our area a few years back. I was about to deliver my youngest at the time. I teach high school and got exposed. It was VERY scary! If you belive in vaccinations, don't forget to give yourself and your older kids the boosters. Just my 2 cents.

... OPHope you are feeling better!

 

[rt2dz]

My younger two came down with them over Christmas. From the incubation period, we know they picked them up in WDW. They had been vaccinated, but they hadn't had the second vaccine yet (which is when the immunity is supposed to kick in). Neither ran any kind of fever. One was covered head to toe in spots and itched like crazy. The other had a few dozen that barely bothered him. We learned a few things regarding Chicken Pox:

• The UK does not routinely vaccinate
• You are contagious 2-3 days before the first symptom until all the blisters crust over
• Chicken Pox works in a cycle, you can continue to break out for up to 2 weeks (although this is rare); the blisters disappear about 8 days after that break out
• Chicken Pox in vaccinated people react differently; they are still studying what the differences are. Yes, my kids were seen regularly with results going to The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta
• If you get them after being vaccinated, the case is usually lighter (spots and/or fever/other symptoms) than if you had not been vaccinated
• Those who are vaccinated and get chicken pox are not anywhere near as contagious as though who were not vaccinate and have chicken pox
• you can catch chicken pox from people with shingles

 

[DisneyMim]

I just wanted to wish the people who just came back from Disney with the chicken pox well and hope everyone is feeling better. I had them when I was 18 and had a very bad case. My kids are older and there wasn't a vaccine when they were little. They both had them when they were little and I can remember how worried I was because it was about a month before we were going to WDW Thank God everything was OK and they both were fully recovered well before we left for vacation. I have too often worried and wondered over the years how to prevent illness on vacation, but you know there really isn't any good way. I bring really strong wipes and wipe down everything in our room and always carry wipes and use them ofter. Other than that there really isn't much else to do. I hope everyone is feeling better!

 

[MollyMoo]

Hope everyone is recovering and won't suffer any long-term effects from their "WDW-born illnesses" but keep in mind that you can catch anything from any crowded setting. Years ago my DD contracted scarlet fever (a strep-related infection) after visiting Santa at a local mall ... as she recovered we found out that three other children in our neighborhood were sick with the same infection ... all had visited Santa on the same day!

Also consider the fact that it is not unusual to come down with some sort of viral illness (specifically colds) after travelling ... we develop immunities to the viruses that we are exposed to regularly but viruses change and mutate so the viruses in another geographical area are different and our immunities may not help. DH always comes home from trips and within a week has a cold.

 

[Conan the Librarian]

What is apparent is that this is a very insidious disease. It takes up to 2 weeks of you being contagious before you even know you are sick, then, you get the nasty bumps (I was lucky in that, while I had about 100 bums, I didn't have too much discomfort), then you realize that there were all those other folks you passed it along to! I did manage to pass it along to one of the ladies here at work. I was not happy at all.

 

[bytheblood]

There is a test you can have your doctor do to see if you have any immunity to them. My mother in law never had them until about 10 years ago and when my husband and his brother were little they had them and she took care of them. Then about ten years ago, her niece came down with them and she had been over the house for about 30 minutes and came down with a mild case of them. Who knows?

Yes, it is a blood test that allows them to get results in about two days which tells if you have ever had the virus or not.

There are 5 of us (brothers and sisters) and none of us have ever had chicken pox.

I was tested when my daughter had them and I was told by my doc that I had them. I told her I didn't, none of us did, but the blood tests for all ofus show we had chicken pox. She said that means we are immune to the virus.

 

[bdcp]

Chicken pox used to be a very common childhood disease. While the vaccine is good to protect those that have immunity issues, it's not really a big deal for most children who catch it. My sisters and I all had it and my boys had it. No one was very sick with it and I never knew anyone as a child who had a severe case. I do know an adult who almost died from pneumonia as it had gotten into his lungs. The two biggest time periods of outbreaks in this country is spring break time (usually early April) and Christmas break time. My boys both had it within two weeks of Easter in 1990. A lot of people used to get their kids together with kids who had them so they would catch them and get that out of the way. Growing up I had Mumps, Chicken Pox and 3 day measles, all of which I recovered from quickly as did every child I knew. The biggest issue with the vaccine is if you don't keep up with it and catch them as an adult it can be very dangerous. My kids had no fever, just bumps all over their torso which spread. If it wasn't for the fact that the sun makes them worse, they would have been outside playing. I think people need to not panic over this childhood disease. Very, Very few kids get secondary infections or really bad cases. The flu causes more secondary infections.

 

[Doc CW]

I've never gotten the CPs at WDW, but I did get the Norwalk virus in x-mas of "02" and we had to got to the hospital in Celebration and it was pretty bad, but I havent gotten sick since so hopefully I wont get sick in WDW anymore

 

[mickeysmyboy]

My sisters and I got them along time ago, 21 years ago to be exact, shortly after we got back from WDW!! We got full blown, pox allllll over, terrible Chicken Pox! It was awful.

There so many people at WDW, a lot of whom are not from the US, that you can't shield yourself from the germs. My 2 DS's got very sick on our last trip. Luckily we were able to have a DR come to our room to see them, he gave them antibotics and they were goood as new very quickly!

 

[knovak]

Never had them and never caught them on my many trips to Disney. Ive seen kids galore with them in my youth and as an adult. My sister had them, I never got them, all my friends did. It makes me kinda worry now when I see kids with them but oh well. My dad never got chicken pox either, all my exposure to them makes me wonder if I'm somehow immune.

I've had the same experience as you. Exposed many, many times and never had them. My doctor said I'm probably immune to them. None the less, before I got pregnant with my 2nd daughter I got vaccinated to be on the safe side.

 

[my_try]

About a 10 days after our two week trip to WDW, I noted that I was feeling poorly and then I discovered why. I broke out in a large amount of Chicken Pox! Going by the traditional timing of 10 to 14 days after exposers, I would have had to have been infected while there. All is well now, but, that is not the odd part.

The odd part is that I was talking to a co-worker just this afternoon and she told me that a friend had just returned from a 10 day stay at WDW and has also come down with the CPs!

Anyone else had this unwanted surprise?

Yes, I did have them as a child, but, it was a very mild case. My Doc says that this should limit my chances of getting Shingles, but, we shall see.


(This also reminds me that I need to finish up my Trip Report)

How scary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I got the chicken pox for the first time at age 24 and I had to be hospitalized. They were everywhere. I had an MRI and they were even covering my internal organs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am glad that they were not a bad case for you. Getting a childhood disease as an adult could be life-threatening.
Kathy

 

[Feralpeg]

I had them as a child. I was miserable. There wasn't a part of my body not covered. DD had them when she was five. She had about four blisters and ran a slight fever. This was before the vaccine was available. I was so happy she had such an easy time with them.

As soon as I turn 60, I'm having the Shingles vaccine!!

 

[Melora]

I got them 14 years ago as an adult.... got them from my kids!

I was miserable! It was recommended that I use Tea Tea Oil on the blisters and lo and behold it stopped the itch and they healed up really fast with no marks.