Anyone know much about shingles?

[BlessedMomOfTwo]

We are 3 days out from leaving for our trip and things are a little rocky. DFIL was admitted to coronary care last Friday with chest pain. Looks as if he needs a repeat angioplasty and perhaps more. They were too booked up to do him until today. Today they noted he has a whopper case of shingles. They apparently came out overnight. So, his surgery is on hold until they clear up some. This means he likely will be having the surgery while we are gone. Sigh....

We have spent a lot of time with him over the past few days. We even snuck the kids in to see him on Sunday since he seemed to be getting worse. (I did wash their hands very carefully when we left). I am just wondering how contagious shingles might be and what I should be on the look-out for.

At this point, we are still planning to go on our trip. My father passed away unexpectedly the week of our last family vacation in May, so this has me pretty shaken. Perhaps I should stop planning trips. We did go on that trip (to the beach), left a day late so we could attend the funeral. I am glad we went, so that is why we are hoping to continue with our plans.

Any info that you might share would be greatly appreciated.

Carol

 

[SueM in MN]

I can help.
Normally, I would make a link to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention website (www.cdc.gov) , which has a lot of good information about things like shingles, but this computer won't let me link.

So, here's a bit about shingles.
Shingles are caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. After you have chickenpox, the virus actually hides out in part of the nervous system called the dorsal root ganglia. When someone is under stress, the chickenpox virus can take advantage of that and cause a rash and burning pain that we call shingles.
Contact with shingles can cause chicken pox in people who have not had chicken pox before. Contact would mean directly touching the shingles lesions. Since most of the time shingles are on the trunk of the body, they are usually covered up, so your children may have not actually had contact with the shingles at all. And having them wash their hands helped protect them too.

If your children have had chickenpox, chances are good that they will not get it again since a case of chicken pox usually gives immunity. The chickenpox vaccine totally protects between 70 and 90 of people from ever getting chicken pox. People who do get chickenpox after having the vaccine tend to get mild cases.

So, you may have nothing to worry about at all. For symptoms to watch for, it would be chickenpox symptoms (beginning with mild, cold-like symptoms). It usually takes 2 to 3 weeks after exposure to develop chickenpox symptoms (commonly 14-16 days).

 

[viluvsdisney]

Hi - I hope your DFIL feels better. Shingles are incredibly uncomfortable. I had an outbreak of them about 4 years ago after I was under some stress and they do just "show up" overnight. If it gives you any piece of mind my DD3 (at the time), and two nieces did not get them after bieng in direct contact with me. They are all vaccinated, which helps. It's best to talk with your Ped. to find out what to do if they have an outbreak while on vacation. I know it's tough not to worry about the possibilities - hopefully our experience may give you a little piece of mind. Have a nice trip.

 

[BlessedMomOfTwo]

Thank you both for replying. I can rest a little easier about the contagion factor now. Thanks for your well wishes also.

Carol