chickenpox help!!

[mamita]

My DD ( 17) has chickenpox, we are doing the acyclovir and the calamine lotion as prescribed but she feels and looks absolutly horrible...I mean her face is horror movie bad. ...none of us ever had it so I had no idea it could be this bad....how long will she look like this???? ...and to top it all of everyone in the house is trying to avoid her...I feel so bad for her!!

anyone had this at home??..what can I do????

 

[rt2dz]

I hate to tell ya', all you can do is wait it out. To avoid scarring as much as possible, she needs to not touch her face.

 

[RMulieri]

It can last awhile 9-10 days sometimes more before she looks better.The older you are it seems to be worse.She needs to avoid touching her face at all costs till they scab up and fall off.If she picks she will scar.Just keep doing what the dr told you and ride it out.I know it is tough.as for the rest of the family avoiding her, they may get it anyway since her incubation/contagious period was probably before she knew she had it.

 

[Reagan&Co.]

Hey, I got my chickenpox when I was 17!

I think you are only contagious when you have the initial fever, and then maybe if you touch the pus inside the pox?

Poor thing. Do NOT let her pick- some of mine popped anyway and left scars for a good while.

 

[laceemouse]

Wow! NO ONE in your family has ever had it and no one had the vaccination? I can hardly believe that. I hate to tell you but it is HIGHLY contagious. I would be shocked if no one else in your family gets it. I would plan on everyone getting it. The older you are the worse it is, many adults end up in the hospital. That is why most people (those who don't do the shot at least) TRY to get their children to get the chicken pox when they are younger, the younger the better. Even at her age I would call the doctor and tell him/her what is going on. There are secondary infections you need to watch for. And look out, if you and any other adults in the house get it it will be even worse than hers!!

Some people are immune to getting it, start praying you are one of them!

I had them in college, it was awful......

 

[of2dbeach]

oh gosh poor thing i got them when i was 17 or 18 also i was teaching at a pre school OMG it sucked what wasworse i got my monthly at the same stinkin time!! I had internal chicken pox oh god was it bad!! I had them in my mouth,ears "girly parts" etc ..I literaly lived in the bathtub.Its very contagious even if you dont touch her and avoid her like the plauge.Not sure if everyone got the shot now if it would prevent you from getting it or not?? i would wear socks on my hands at night to prevent myself from scratching .Oral benadryl seemed to help at plus it made me sleepy which was a plus for me because i kept scratching. My heart goes out to you both.. man it sucks though !!

 

[DevilDuckie]

My DD ( 17) has chickenpox, we are doing the acyclovir and the calamine lotion as prescribed but she feels and looks absolutly horrible...I mean her face is horror movie bad. ...none of us ever had it so I had no idea it could be this bad....how long will she look like this???? ...and to top it all of everyone in the house is trying to avoid her...I feel so bad for her!!

anyone had this at home??..what can I do????

Poor baby! I had CP as a teen and it was horrible.

She needs to not scratch. You might even get her cotton gloves for nighttime or if she's having trouble with scratching involuntarily. 20 years later I still have a CP scar on one hand that I scratched.

I covered the mirror in my room when I had it. Looking at myself was too depressing.

Best wishes to her for a speedy recovery.

 

[beavismom]

I avoided getting chickenpox for 37 years, but they finally caught up to me. I had more than 50 on my face alone. It was pretty miserable, but there were no other complications. The Aveeno oatmeal baths were the most soothing for me. I think the meds should shave a few days off so hopefully she will be better after a week or so.

 

[mamita]

thank you all !!! her doctor says that the vaccine came out by 92`or 93`and since kids get it at 1 years old that`s why she and her brother missed it we also have a 4 year old DS so I guess he`s mostly covered plus she`s had shingles before so we thought she could not get chickenpox.
I`ll probably get it since I can`t avoid her for sure ,she may be a teenager but of course at times like this she wants her mommy
Thanks for all the advise

 

[Rora]

Aww poor baby!! Make sure she doesn't touch her face.. CP can last awhile and I know its hard, especially at her age. It's hard enough being 17, then add chicken pox= whew!! I was 4 when I had CP and took lots of oatmeal baths! Good luck and I hope she feels better!

 

[ncmtnmom]

I got the chickenpox when my older kids got them. I was 27 and home alone with 3 kids with the chickenpox. Husband was a long distance truck driver. Dr wanted me to go in the hospital. I had no one to keep the kids.

Anyway, he said to help avoid skin infection and scarring I should shower with betadine wash. I was covered everywhere and he was sure I would be scarred badly. Even said he would refer me to a plastic surgeon after I was over them.

I used the betadine and kept myself from scratching and I only have one or 2 marks.

 

[mars315]

"mamita: thank you all !!! her doctor says that the vaccine came out by 92`or 93`and since kids get it at 1 years old that`s why she and her brother missed it we also have a 4 year old DS so I guess he`s mostly covered plus she`s had shingles before so we thought she could not get chickenpox. "

The vaccine was released in 1995. I know this for sure because it was being talked about, and we were considering whether to get it for our 2 DD, or to let them get Chicken Pox, and they both got Chicken Pox. Younger DD was just less than 1 at the time, which was 1995. Also, I don't know how your daughter could have had shingles if she never had chicken pox, since my understanding is that shingles is caused by the Chicken Pox virus which is left in the body after contracting chicken pox. Did your daughter have the vaccine for chicken pox? Even though your daughter did not get the vaccine as an infant, it has been available for a while, and I am surprised that your doctor did not recommend vaccinating your children once they got to be 10-12 and had not contracted the disease since the severity of the disease seems to worsen as individuals pass into early adulthood and on.

I hope that the worst has passed. When my daughters had it, I would say to myself, "One day down. There can only be 4 more really bad days so I have made it through 20%!"

 

[minkydog]

Your family doesn't have to avoid your DD--they're all exposed anyway. Chicken pox is a respiratory virus, so it's highly contagious. If your family is breathing the same air as your DD, they may catch it. The incubation period is 10-21 days. She is contagious from the day before she breaks out until the last scab is dry--roughly 7 days. Definitely keep her at home during this time. You wouldn't want to accidentally give this to someone else.

About all you can do is treat the itching and take the medicine. And you might want to consider having your un-immune kids vaccinated now.

 

[GoofyFairie]

Is it possible that neosprin will help witht he scarring once they scab over? I have used it on pimples on my face and have had bad ones that I would put it on and didn't get a scar. Hope things are going better for you and your family.

 

[adell557]

I avoided getting chickenpox for 37 years, but they finally caught up to me. I had more than 50 on my face alone. It was pretty miserable, but there were no other complications. The Aveeno oatmeal baths were the most soothing for me. I think the meds should shave a few days off so hopefully she will be better after a week or so.

That was my suggestion, oatmeal baths, they soothe the skin.

 

[mamita]

first of all, I should say that since she was one we have been dealing with her shingles a.k.a herpes zoster she got a tiny spot when she was one and from then on she got outbreakes that have gone from her forehead to eyelid and in the last two years inside her eye..we do know this is very dangerous and have been to many specialist to treat her ,we live outside the u.s but we searched one of the best eye specialist in the u.s and took her to the bascom palmer clinic in miami and saw 2 doctors who just agreed to what they told us before here...basicaly this virus stays in your body and flares up at it`s will all you can do to fight it is take the acyclovir. we just thought that since she`s had this already for years and it`s the same virus that she was free from chickenpox...I mean she`s had it bad enough already with this freking herpes zoster (excuse my vent) anyways thank you all, I did give her some benadryl and she feels a little less itchy and fever has finaly gone

 

[mommycrawford]

My daughter got them at age 4....I knew she had been exposed at pre-school, so when she complained of a headache, I went to the healthfood store and got homeopathic " RHUS TOXIHEDRON" (I may have spelled it a bit wrong.)

She did develop the pox, but they were not terribly widespread, and only lasted 3 days, so I think the remedy really helped!

To help prevent scarring (she was too young to resist scratching) I covered pox with bandaids where possible. She didn't want to be touched, so calamine lotion was difficult to apply.

I wish you all the best!

 

[TiggerStac]

My DS is in the end stages of CP now. Really not too much you can do. I gave him benadryl and tons of rest. My DS is a lot younger, but they still aren't fun. He seemed to be most uncomfortable at night. He had a real hard time sleeping!!

 

[of2dbeach]

my smallest DD(5) got the chicken pox shot then got the stinking chicken pox UGHHH

 

[RMulieri]

my smallest DD(5) got the chicken pox shot then got the stinking chicken pox UGHHH

Unfortunately , it happens all the time.Supposedly, they get it a lot worse if they were not vaccinated.