Is this chicken pox or something else?

amother

Sun, Jan 02 2022, 6:06 am

amother [ DarkYellow ] wrote:

In the ear is a place chicken pox can start.
If she had only a few when you took her and they have now spread, go back to the doctor!

If there were only 2 Friday it's very possible he misdiagnosed.

Here is a picture showing the progression.

This is really helpful, thank you!

I just noticed that the picture with the pearl is showing just afternoon of the first day. So does that some point every single spot will have a "pearl"--but it will be for less than a day before it scabs?

amother

DarkYellow

Sun, Jan 02 2022, 6:13 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

It fills with pus and eventually scabs. It doesn't stay looking brand new for more than a day, and you have multiple spots all in different stages of healing and more spots keep coming out while others are a few days or even a week in.

Jenmom

Sun, Jan 02 2022, 8:15 am

How to find bedbugs - if your child has that many bites, there should be bedbugs all over the bed and it would be strange to not have them on your bed or other places in the house, but start with the child's bed. CAREFULLY take off the blankets and sheets and put them into a ball to keep them from touching anything else, and with a flashlight look around all the corners of the bed. Look for very small black/reddish bugs or darkened areas around the corners (bedbugs leave darkened/reddish waste). If there are light colored walls or curtains near the bed, also look at the walls or the tops of the curtains. They like to climb the walls and to the top of curtains near the bed at night, if they are within 2 feet.
It does sound like chicken pox to me. Chickenpox is very contagious and they could have just caught it at the store, not from anyone you know.

amother

Sun, Jan 02 2022, 12:20 pm

I'm really really leaning towards chickenpox. New spots have been sprouting all day including now on my daughter's face/cheeks. Pretty sure scabies doesn't do that and neither do bedbugs.

We have an appointment with a dermatologist for Tuesday but I'm definitely holding off with the scabies medication for now. I've been treating as chickenpox. Lukewarm bath etc. which seemed to give some relief.

I'm wondering, if my daughter is really "patient zero" for her school (meaning she caught this in a grocery store or bus somewhere, not from someone else in her class), is there something we need to be doing to protect or warn others? I assume that most kids are vaccinated, and that those who aren't, their parents are happy for them to catch chicken pox. So is there anything I need to do? Obviously now that I know she is sick, I am keeping her home now till she's done being contagious. But my understanding is that she already spent some time in school once she was already contagious, before she had symptoms, and her siblings likely also have already caught it...

Of course there's a good chance that she's not "patient zero" at all, that some of her classmates have been home with chicken pox and just didn't say anything.... I think that's more likely than her catching it in a bus or store on her own (I think?).

amother

Dodgerblue

Sun, Jan 02 2022, 2:50 pm

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

If she has any in her hair, than it is.

They do wake up in the night from the itch.

amother

Ghostwhite

Sun, Jan 02 2022, 3:34 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

It's already spreading. This started with two spots on Friday and now there are many all over her trunk/arms/neck (maybe legs but she hasn't mentioned that to me yet).

And pus--does that mean blisters? Because some of them are definitely doing that already!

you said she is not vaccinated so it most likely is chicken pox. If they get filled with fluid in about 2 days since onset and then scab over, it is chicken pox. They keep appearing in waves over about 5 - 6 days.

amother

Aquamarine

Sun, Jan 02 2022, 3:49 pm

As a parent who has had children with chicken pox:

We had chicken pox in the house when we didnt know anyone else who had it.

Chicken pox has mutated a lot over the years so even an unvaccinated child does not always follow the "typical" progression of chicken pox. My child did not start on the trunk.

You may need an "older" pediatrician to recognize the pox. The 48 year old pa in my pediatricians ofice called in the 70 year old dr to diagnose the rash.

IF you have pox with a head, specifically show those to the dr. Those are the pox that are defined as chicken pox and bring on the specific diagnosis.

My child did not develop fever and none of my other unvaccinated children caught it from her. Bloodwork after the rash confirmed that she had immunity to chicken pox and did not need the vaccine.

amother

Obsidian

Sun, Jan 02 2022, 5:05 pm

amother [ Aquamarine ] wrote:

As a parent who has had children with chicken pox:

We had chicken pox in the house when we didnt know anyone else who had it.

You may need an "older" pediatrician to recognize the pox. The 48 year old pa in my pediatricians ofice called in the 70 year old dr to diagnose the rash.

IF you have pox with a head, specifically show those to the dr. Those are the pox that are defined as chicken pox and bring on the specific diagnosis.

My child did not develop fever and none of my other unvaccinated children caught it from her. Bloodwork after the rash confirmed that she had immunity to chicken pox and did not need the vaccine.

Very interesting about the difference in cases now. I'm just going by what I and my friends had as kids.
I dont think you need to tell the school. You weren't officially diagnosed by the Dr so it's still very possibly not chicken pox. Maybe another virus anyway, most kids are vaccinated and it's not dangerous to get. I would rather not an email every time a kid in the class gets fifth disease or impetigo or the flu or bronchitis or roseola

amother

Outerspace

Sun, Jan 02 2022, 5:29 pm

amother [ Obsidian ] wrote:

That’s because you don’t have a child that’s immunocompromised...
Last year my child had “2 red macules” oh my gosh. What a upheaval happened because of that... and thank my kid was not exposed to any other kids that time, because that was the only way we were able to go ahead with a scheduled procedure...

amother

Outerspace

Sun, Jan 02 2022, 5:31 pm

amother [ Chicory ] wrote:

Assume it's chickenpox. Give Oatmeal baths (buy the packets on amazon) and pure vitamin E oil all over so it doesn't scar. Give meds if child can't sleep. It should be over in a few days. BTW the contagious period is before the spots show up so that damage is already done. I wouldn't email the school.

You’re contagious as long as new pox are popping up till they crust over.
Please notify the school. I can’t tell you enough how as a parent that would’ve been helpful to know what’s going around in school so many times...

amother

Mon, Jan 03 2022, 3:18 am

Thank you everyone!

My child is 8. Kinda discouraging to hear that my other kids may NOT get it from her! I WANT them to!

Yes one of the first ones she had was on her scalp. Ironically, the pediatrician we went to IS older. And when I asked him how he knows that these are bug bites rather than chicken pox, he just said something like "after 30 years, I can tell!" I am okay with a pediatrician being occasionally wrong, but his attitude really bothered me. It was like he was upset at me for asking a question and just needed to assert his authority.

He didn't ask any questions about where the first spots were or ask where all of the spots were so I don't think he knew that she had some on her head.

(Not really relevant, but I also didn't like how he just lifted my daughter's dress to look at her belly/back without discussing it with her beforehand, especially in light of all the recent discussion and teaching kids that if something makes them uncomfortable they can say something... I don't think we are going back to him.)

Very interesting about chickenpox mutating over the years!

I still haven't told the school. I feel like I want to because it MIGHT benefit some people to know, but maybe you guys can help me out here--what are the costs of doing this I haven't considered? I'm a little worried about being berated for not vaccinating... But I think I could handle that if it does happen. Is there another cost I'm not thinking of?

Also if she spent a few hours in another family's house on Friday (the same day that the first spots appeared, later the same day)--would you tell them?

For now she's doing pretty well BH. She was up a lot in the night. My husband gave her a cool shower and she slept half the night in my bed. We also gave her an anti-itch medication that the doctor prescribed for bug bites (but internet research that it would be good for chicken pox too) but I'm not sure if it did anything. Today I was able to stock up on oatmeal and calamine lotion, so hopefully tonight will be better.

I didn't know not to bathe her till they start crusting? Does it really change the pattern of where they spread?

Bisque, I'm not sure if you were asking me, but at this point she does have them spread all over pretty uniformly. I don't know exactly cuz she's mostly been showing me one limb at a time, but they seem to be going all over at this point and doesn't seem they are clustered in any one spot