Is this chicken pox or something else?

amother

Tuberose

Mon, Jan 03 2022, 9:19 am

amother [ Burlywood ] wrote:

I don't see purpose in telling school . She's not going back till she's not contagious. If she already exposed others, whta's the point in telling? It's not like they can now know to be careful. It's over. They'll just get mad at you.

If someone is immunocompromised and knows they were exposed, they can take prophylactic acyclovir or varicella zoster igg that will prevent them from coming down with it.

amother

Tuberose

Mon, Jan 03 2022, 9:21 am

amother [ DarkYellow ] wrote:

And this is the exception and not the norm. I know people who caught it by walking into an entryway and if you read up on it you will see. So op should not expect to be an exception.

Lots of parents of unvaccinated children will tell you that catching chicken pox is harder than the journals and websites make it sounds. I know plenty of kids who were extensively exposed, close contact with a very contagious child, and didn’t catch it. They were not immune. Most will end up catching it after several exposures. If covid has taught us anything, it’s that there are a lot more factors that go into deciding if someone will or won’t get sick at any given point in time from being non immune + exposed, other than just being in a room with someone and not having antibodies.

amother

NeonPurple

Mon, Jan 03 2022, 9:24 am

amother [ Tuberose ] wrote:

My son was exposed over and over and over, think chicken pox parties, and he never caught it.

amother

Buttercup

Mon, Jan 03 2022, 9:55 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I already took the child to the doctor and he said it's not chicken pox but looks to him like some sort of bug bite--but when I asked him how he determined that, he just got all huffy and said 30 years of experience...

The thing that makes me think it IS chicken pox, or at least that we can't rule it out...

1) the first day, before the first spots started to appear, she had a very severe headache and also complained about her stomach that she was "constipated" (but that was more mild). in general very moody, not eating, not herself.

2) looks like chicken pox to me... started with a few on her neck/ear/face, now on her trunk and starting on her hands and arms... there are many spots, and it does not look like bedbugs (which the doctor suggested). I am less familiar with scabies but it doesn't look like what I see online for scabies either.

3) if it's NOT chicken pox--shouldn't we know what it IS? bedbugs OR scabies (and the doctor not seeming to care which it is)--isn't that kind of weird for the doctor not to determine that? okay that's not really a reason but it makes me not just believe the doctor.

why NOT chicken pox:

1) we don't know anyone around with chicken pox. maybe classmates had and just didn't say... my child did say many classmates were absent recently.

2) no fever anytime we checked.

3) she woke up at night crying from the itch--actually I don't know, maybe this is consistent with chicken pox?

anyway... what do you all think? I got the scabies medication but I would really like to be sure of what I'm dealing with. if it's chicken pox, I won't send her to school till it's better. if it scabies, I'll use this medication. if it's bedbugs, I'll freak out! Smile

thanks

when my son got chicken pox he caught it from someone tht had shingles. and he was vaccinated. so maybe ur child was near someone with shingles? or maybe it isn’t chicken pox! I’m with the get a second opinion idea

amother

Crystal

Mon, Jan 03 2022, 10:46 am

amother [ Ghostwhite ] wrote:

Vaccinated children are getting shingles at younger ages because the immunity isn't as strong as natural immunity. The vaccine in no way prevents shingles at any age. Once the virus is in the body, you can get shingles

I had chicken pox as a child and then shingles at 35, I know a few other of my friends also did.

amother

Outerspace

Mon, Jan 03 2022, 11:32 am

amother [ NeonPurple ] wrote:

My son was exposed over and over and over, think chicken pox parties, and he never caught it.

In that case who is to say that

Quote:

And because they aren’t being exposed to active chicken pox , which historically acted as a natural booster for titers.

Obviously they can still be exposed and not boost their immunity...

amother

Tuberose

Mon, Jan 03 2022, 11:51 am

amother [ Outerspace ] wrote:

Obviously they can still be exposed and not boost their immunity...

Very different mechanisms at play but even following your logic, if someone’s immunity isn’t boosted the first 3 times they’re exposed, then it will be at some other point. People used to be exposed regularly, all the time, throughout their lives. In fact, this is precisely the reason the UK never included cp vax in their recommended schedule. Because shingles.

amother

Wed, Jan 12 2022, 12:06 pm

I'm sorry, I realized I never came back to update! Yes, we did go to a dermatologist... I think by then it was Wednesday of that week? After her first symptoms started on a Friday and the doctor told us I think on Sunday that it was NOT chicken pox (don't quite remember the full sequence now).

Yes the dermatologist immediately and with no doubt said this is exactly what chicken pox looks like! My daughter was itchy a few more days after that, though better and better each day, and went back to school just in time to be exposed to someone corona-positive and go into quarantine with the rest of her class Smile

I have to thank whoever described putting oats in a pantyhose sock for baths. We did that. Between that technique and calamine lotion, we got through it. She spent a few nights in my bed with me and days reading on the couch and all in all, I think it will actually turn out to be a good memory for her.

And I am definitely switching to a different pediatrician.

Moonlight

Wed, Jan 12 2022, 4:38 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Wow!
Thanks for following up, I was wondering what happened

amother

Crystal

Wed, Jan 12 2022, 4:50 pm

amother [ Ghostwhite ] wrote:

Vaccinated adults are less likely to get shingles than those who had chicken pox as children.