My Melissa has......

[carole]

Chickenpoxs, yep she has been a bit off colour all weekend and last night there they were those nasty little red spots, not much fun for a teenager, but at least she gets a week off school and the weather is so stormy and yuck, best place at home all tucked up warm and cosy, she was exposed to chickenpox so many times as a little one but never caught them, we figured where she may have picked them up, she went to a friends birthday party two weeks ago, who just happen to have a four year old sister who had chickenpox, they thought she was not contagious, but i guess they were wrong, it is 5 to 7 days after the spots appear that one is still infectious.

I have given her an antihistimane tablet and so far so good,but i guess they will get worse, it sure has been a while since i have had to deal with any childhood illnesses.

So please wish my girl well again soon,thank you.

[luvofallhorses]

I hope she is better soon!

[carole]

Thank you.

[Tollers-n-Dobes]

That's awful I hope she starts to feel better soon, I had them when I was young and remember being absolutely miserable with them...not fun at all.

[caseysmom]

I hope she feel better soon, tell her not to scratch. Most kids here don't get them anymore, all the kids get vaccinated.

[carole]

So far she has been really good, i hope it is not the calm before the storm, yes vaccination was an option, but i decided against it, even though i am really for vaccinating my children, this one i tossed with and i hope i do not live to regret my decision,it was not one offered by schools or the goverment in NZ, and i really could not make my mind up about it, because she is nearly 14 i guess i figured she just was not going to get them at all.

[AbbyMom]

Hope she gets better soon! And yes, make sure she understands not to scratch. I learned the hard way. Tell her she can be smart about it and resist the scratching!

[catnapper]

Poor Melissa! I hear its a terrible illness for teens and adults. Good luck and I hope for as little itchiness as possible.

[carole]

Yes well i can report Melissa is doing very well , she has resisted scratching and i really believe the antihistimane pill has worked wonders, some are nastier than others, the ones behind her ears especially, so far she has been lucky and has not been too miserable at all, i hope the worst is over and she does not get any worse, so far she has been lucky i think.

The vaccine was never offered here in schools or like the other vaccines like MMR which of course she has had as a toddler, so it was never really promoted much, i doubt that many people knew about it, oh well too late now, i think there may be a few more teenagers going down with it in her class, as some have not had it either, but it won't be too many , as most have, we traced where she picked it up, went to a friends birthday party two weeks ago who had a four yr old sister, who you guessed it had chickenpox, said she was no longer contagious, i guess they got it wrong.

Now i wish to ask a question , my son has of course had chickenpox, but he also had shingles a few years ago, i heard it is the same virus or the chickenpox virus that lies dormant, we are keeping him away from her, as i thought i heard once that contact could flare up an attack of shingles, does anyone know if that is a fact or not, of course he did have contact when she was contagious previous when we did not know, but we just have to hope that it won't affect him.

Thanks from Melissa and myself for your get well wishes and kind thoughts..always appreciated.

[MariaM]

Ah, I got them in grade 5. It was horrible..I remember coming to school with a great big scab on my forehead, and I picked it off. Well, the scar is still there. I have so many scars, I hate them.

[carole]

Yes i am concerned about scarring especially on the face area, as Melissa is rather pale skinned, but hopefully if she does not scratch too much, she will be lucky enough not to scarr too badly, she does not have heaps on her face, but enough i guess.

[caseysmom]

Carol, I am not sure about the shingles, I will look it up in my medical book.

Okay I looked it up in my Kaiser book, this is what they have to say:

"shingles is caused by the reactivation of the checkenpox virus in the body years after the initial illness.

No one knows what makes the virus active again. Shinges is more common in older adults and people who have weakened immune systems, but can affect snyone who has had chickenpox"