Chicken Pox

[EMom]

You can get chicken pox more than once, especially if you only get a light case. My cousin had it 3 times as a child, each confirmed by a doctor. I also had a light case, when every other kid around me had it BAD. I was always concerned that I might get it again, but the doctors scoffed at that. Since I was trying to get pregnant, I finally insisted on having titers run. The doctor did it just to shut me up. He had to eat his words when the test showed I had no immunity. How I kept from getting it all those years I taught jr. high is beyond me!

I had the 2 shot series and thought I was all good. But about 3 years later, I got shingles. That is hell on earth, let me tell you. Now our district is requiring a chicken pox booster at around age 7-8 due to the large number of outbreaks last year. I have no idea if this is statewide in Texas, or just in our area.

 

[tazdev3225]

I remember being miserable with them as a child and my poor mom had 3 of us sick with them at one time. My kids all had them at least twice. I am thrilled that all of my grandkids have gotten the shots and will hopefully never have to experience them. While you may have gotten them at Disney it could have been just about anywhere and with the amount of visitors there on any given day I don't think that they would even be able to begin to figure out where the exposure occurred.

 

[KPLC]

I got chicken pox when I was 39 weeks pregnant! I was covered in spots and not very comfortable! Luckily my son was all OK when he was born and doctors think he will have the immunity!

 

[CarolA]

I am 33 and never had them either, and I lived in the same house as my 2 little brothers, who had them at the same time. I was certainly exposed at that point! My Dr once told me that sometimes people do get exposed, but don't break out or have very mild (one or 2 pox)--so that is likely what happened to me and possibly some of you too...

I was a one or two pox person. My mother was never convinced I had them but the doctor was.

I have had shingles but as they go it was a VERY mild case. (And I know I didn't get shingles at Disney unless the incubation period is several months! )

 

[Marnm02]

I have shingles right. now.

It is soooo horrible. I had chicken pox when I was five, but I don't remember it being like this. All I remember was being excited to get a week off of school.

My Dr. told me about how the virus (herpes zoster) that causes chicken pox stays dormant in your nerves and then can just suddenly appear in the form of shingles.

I was also told that chicken pox is contagious through both touch and airborne. Shingles is only contagious through touch, and the actual Shingles don't get passed on, you can only pass on chicken pox from it.

 

[starbox]

Get the shots!! Get the shots!!!

I escaped CP all throughout childhood and teenage years in the unvaccinated 1970's and 80's. Got them my senior year from a kid I babysat and was so incredibly sick - I had third stage CP which meant that they were covering the inside of my throat and stomach lining and I could not eat. Scary stuff.

It's so much more dangerous to get as an adult.

We were at a resort a year ago and were in the elevator with a family whose kid had just come down with the pox. I think people may think it's bug bites or something at Disney - or perhaps they're just unwilling to end the vacation early.

 

[jess98ac]

DH got them 9 days after we came home last year!! He was 32 at the time, and it was the first time he had them. It was MISERABLE!!

 

[bumbershoot]

There's a good reason to make sure your kids are vacanated.

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

I would have thought that by now, with all the vaccinations that are standard and/or required by school systems, that there'd be fewer chances of being exposed. Someone told me that there are people who never get their kids vaccinated for the childhood diseases and get away with it!!

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!

 

[intricatejewel]

When I went to Disney in June '06, I came back with Viral Meningitis- it was awful! My DR was quick to catch it and considering the length of my stay, there was no doubt I got it while on my 'magical' vacation. LOL. Really though, I consider myself VERY lucky that it wasn't the bacterial kind, which is the deadly version... I just make sure to wash my hands often and use hand sanitizer religously from now on!

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

I got chicken pox at Disney World when I was 15. I broke out about 2 weeks after I'd been there for Spring Break with my church youth group.

What was really bad was that when I was at WDW, I had a stress fracture in my foot and was in a cast. Then came home, got my cast off the next week, and came down with chicken pox the next week.

I had a miserable sophomore year in high school!

 

[Shmily1]

I'm one of those that have never had them at all. My brother had them really bad and all my friends had them. Then later on, I had DS and DD and I tried everything possible to get them to catch them when they were little. They were exposed over a dozen times and I was worried they would be like me (especially since I was with them each time they were exposed and I still didn't get them!!). DS had them his first week of school and DD caught them from him. Then about a year later, she got them again. Then in the 8th grade, she had them again!! Each time, we went to the doctor so it was all confirmed..... I still haven't had them. Now, my SDS has little kids that have had them and DH had the shingles a few years back and I still don't have them.... I'd call that lucky!!

 

[pigletto]

Ugh,
Add me to the camp of people who STRONGLY suggest getting a vaccination as an adult.
My now dh caught them from my dd when she was 4 and we had just started dating. They are much more severe as an adult.
I don't want to gross anyone out.. but I have to explain.
My dd had maybe 8 actual pocks and was quite comfortable. My dh however had AT LEAST 80-100 pocks.
And to top it off he got a secondary infection on top of them so they were all yucky and and infected.
We went to the emerg and called his doctor. Everytime he was told he couldn't come in because he was too infectious and he was sent home
My mom who is a doctor finally drove down to take a look at him and told us to take him to the Emergency and she would call ahead.
They finally brought him in and instantly gave him anti-biotic shots in his shoulders.
To this day 7 years later he has at least 20 scars. Some of them are faded... some on his back are pretty prominent.
I realize this is a worst case scenario but it bears repeating.. get vaccinated. And if not... if you catch it early enough as an adult you can get a shot that is called "prevnar" here that will reduce the severity. If only we had been more pushy

 

[EMom]

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

That theory doesn't necessarily hold true when you consider that several people on this thread alone have posted saying that either (a) they or someone they know had chicken pox more than once, or (b) they had it as a child, but when tested as an adult, were found to have no immunity.

How many people who believe they are immune because they had chicken pox as a child are REALLY not immune at all, but have instead just been very lucky and have not contracted it a second time during their teen or adult years?

 

[Narnia]

Just to let anyone know who plans on getting the vaccine that they need to stay away from elderly, pregnant and newborns for 6 weeks. They could still spred chicken pox. Not to mention the need to revaccinate. It's not a win win situation.You can still get shingles and you can have serous side effects (like bell's palsy) with the vaccine. All my kids have had chicken pox naturally when they were young other then being snotty and scabby it really didn't affect them at all. Mt dr tried to vaccinate them and I had done my resurch but he actually had the nurve to tell me I was putting them at risk of having babies with amputations and they could get the flesh eating bacteria nice!

http://emc.medicines.org.uk/emc/assets/c/html/DisplayDoc.asp?DocumentID=17494

I hope no one has newborns or is pregnant Dr's rarely tell you of the real side effects. I basically told the dr if my children didn't have them bythe time they were teens then sure we'll talk about it but no I felt natural was better.

 

[eeyoreiscool]

Our DS got them a few years ago and we think he got them at Disney as well. We were happy that he had them as a kid but had a hard time keeping him from scratching.

 

[winterman]

I was a one or two pox person. My mother was never convinced I had them but the doctor was.

I have had shingles but as they go it was a VERY mild case. (And I know I didn't get shingles at Disney unless the incubation period is several months! )

You do not 'catch' shingles from someone else. Shingles develops when the chicken pox virus that has been dormant in your body for many years, comes back to life. You can catch chicken pox from shingles but you can't catch shingles from shingles and you can't catch shingles from chicken pox.

As for people who are exposed to chicken pox at WDW, there really nothing that can be done except vaccinations. If it is becoming more of a problem, its because more and more people are choosing to not get their kids vaccinated. Chicken pox will be where ever there are lots of unvaccinated kids and where are there more kids than at WDW?

 

[Nikki_Mouse]

My son was vaccinated and still had the pox this November- he had a bad case- at least 75-100 ALL over his body. Our pediatrician told us that the shot does not always work- well duh!!! My DH has never had them and did not get them either. I had them twice- go figure! DD was also vaccinated and did not catch them. Our school district requires the shot.

 

[disnut8]

The Chicken Pox (Varicella) is a airborn disease. People are most contagious 24-48 hours before symptoms (pox) appear. So there is really nothing anyone can do at Disney or anywhere else for that matter to prevent an outbreak.

You can disinfect everything in your reach but can still get it. An airplane for example is a prime environment to spread the Varicella virus because of the closed space. On our unit (Pediatrics) we have a special room just for Varicella patients that is airtight as to not infect the entire unit.

The best thing you can do is get vaccinated for it if you are not immune.

Thank you for posting that. A lot of people don't realize that if you see a pox on you, it's already too late to go around telling people to stay away from you.

 

[starbox]

Thank you for posting that. A lot of people don't realize that if you see a pox on you, it's already too late to go around telling people to stay away from you.

Chicken Pox starts with a fever and remain contagious until all blisters are crusted over. You'll know you're sick when they are first contagious - just not that it's chicken pox.

"How long is a person with chickenpox contagious?
Patients with chickenpox are contagious for 1-2 days before the rash appears and continue to be contagious until all the blisters are crusted over (usually 6-8 days)."

I do think people tend to not realize kids have chicken pox at Disney - they just figure that they are hot and tired and have gotten bit by bugs.

 

[thomas998]

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)

I'm not sure I understand what your doctor is talking about. Shingles happens when varicella-zoster virus particles that were left behind from an early chicken pox infection are are reactivated.... Those particle were dormant in your nervous system and for reason that aren't clear come back later in life to cause shingles.... So if you had chicken pox as a kid you could later get shingles... if you have never had chicken pox you couldn't get shingles... but it there is no data to support a theory that a mild case or a severe case as a child makes you more or less likely to get shingles as an adult.... I just don't understand what your doctor is talking about.