Chicken Pox

Chickenpox is one of those things that we all anticipate. Most of us will remember having it as children. I had it when I was about ten. I felt hideous and picked my scabs. Not ladylike at all! I believe that some people take their children to "Chickenpox Parties." Well, who am I to judge? But personally, I just don't think I could do it. That would be a party bag with a difference wouldn't it?

A couple of weeks ago I brought my twins home from nursery, they were in good spirits as I bathed them that evening, but I noticed a couple of suspicious looking spots on Pudding's back... Hmm, that's the Pox I thought. Sure enough, the next morning, she had developed multiple fluid filled blisters and had a mild fever. I thought I knew the drill, Calamine lotion and Calpol.. Easy! But Calamine is very out of vogue, it's too drying so don't waste your money. Oh, and it makes your sink smell like burnt tyres when you tip the whole bottle down it in disgust.

My dear friends on WikiMum suggested 'Virasoothe' (other brands are available). It is a bit pricey, but it's a nice clear and cooling gel and to be honest, she didn't scratch anywhere near as much as I did. Other tips I gleaned from the net were Sodium Bicarbonate baths (I never did figure out the exact quantities and whether it was soothing or not).

During the course of the day Pud's temperature was really very high (about 38.5-39) and I noticed that she had a very angry looking spot between her shoulder blades, that was raised and very red. Later on that afternoon (it was a Friday) I thought I had better call the GP. To cut a long story short, the GP saw her and sent us off to the local hospital where she was admitted for intravenous antibiotics for four days. The area between her shoulders had become infected (Cellulitis). Poor little thing. She was very stoic, but obviously it wasn't ideal. Luckily I was able to stay with her the whole time (in isolation) while her Dad looked after Pickle at home (though she was able to visit).

Fortunately, she is absolutely fine. I even thought that Pickle would escape the dreaded Pox. I was really hoping that she could avoid it as she suffers with quite bad Eczema, but exactly a fortnight after Pudding was stricken with it, Pickle developed the same. Luckily, her chickenpox was of the straight forward variety. Pudding was just very unlucky. It seems that only 1-10,000 have a complicated chickenpox. In certain countries like the USA, children are routinely vaccinated for chickenpox. I'm not entirely sure why we don't here in the UK. The official line is that it's nearly always a mild illness (I suspect there is a financial reason). You are able to access the vaccination yourself through your GP or you could ask a pharmacist. With the benefit of hindsight, I would have had my two vaccinated had I known how poorly Pud's would become with it. But now it's out of the way, so big sighs of relief all round! I am adding an link to the NHS website which gives more detail about the chickenpox vaccine

(Varicella) --Pinky (talk) 23:00, 28 April 2013 (UTC)

NHS: Chickenpox (varicella) vaccine

The official line on a possible Nationwide chickenpox vaccination programme (for children) is that this would cause an increase in Shingles in the elderly, with clear financial repercussions. Apparently, the elderly get a booster to their system from infected children, which helps prevent Shingles. However, as you say, various countries have now had the Vaccination Programme under way for some years, without a noticeable increase in Shingles in the Elderly. There is light at the end of the tunnel, in that a Vaccination against Shingles will potentially be available soon and this would clear the way for a chickenpox Vaccination for children. Unfortunately, the current thinking is that vaccinations for new strains of Meningitis are more important and it may be a very long time before this happens. See below for the full article.

BBC News: Why don't we vaccinate against Chicken Pox?

--Mad Margaret (talk) 06:52, 3 May 2013 (UTC)