Have any of you bitches ever had adult-onset chickenpox?

Also known as MonkeyPox.

Also known as SlutPox. I think OP is not telling us something.

Hi Sylvia, I've enjoyed your posts and Elder Lez's all throughout this covid thing. I caught chicken pox when my boys were young , maybe twenty years ago. I'll never forget that week. I felt like this gross feverish monster with spots all over everywhere. No energy. Then just like that - gone. Good luck. Hope it's over before you know it.

If it is chickenpox, when you're feeling better consult your doctor about how soon you can have the shingles vaccine. There'll probably be quite a wait before it's medically advisable, but worth doing when you're allowed. A person can only get shingles if s/he has first had chickenpox. It doesn't mean you will, but the virus does lurk in your system waiting for the day your body is stressed enough to let it power up as shingles.

Thank you R3. They gave me an anti-viral, I hope it helps. I'm really kicking myself for not getting the vaccine years ago; I'd thought about it a lot since I used to work on a university campus, but there were a lot of hoops to jump through to get it. You couldn't just waltz into a drugstore for it.

I have so much calamine lotion on, I feel like my face is going to crack.

I really wish the chicken pox vaccine was around when I was a child.

Not that the case I had when I was about 10 was bad it's just waiting for the shingles to hit one day out of the blue that scares.

Sorry to hear that OP. Chickenpox as an adult is no joke and shingles is really horrible.

Hope the anti-virals help and you recover quickly.

I feel for you. Get all the good meds you can. Take it easy, too. Oatmeal baths are nice too.

I had chickenpox when I was 6 or 7 and my mother made me sit in a tub with a high concentration of baking soda in the water. It must have worked. I recovered quickly.

Well stop waiting, R6. You can get a shingles vaccine now. It's expensive, but so is having shingles, which often strikes more than once.

I had it when I was about 33. I looked like a cheetah, lost about 3kg, and took about 10 days to scab over. I was sick at home and able to see Our Joan emote throughout Humoresque when it played on the TV one afternoon, so there's always an up side to these things.

Do the bumps itch or just sting?

This is true -- when I was in kindergarten in the late '50s, mothers would purposely expose their children to chicken pox, mumps, and measles. The rationale was to get them over with. No vaccines then, I do not think.

The kindergarten would pin a note to each child informing them of an exposure received in their care. Or sometimes if a kid on the street caught one of these, the other mothers would arrange playdates with the infected kid.

How 'bout it? Any other senior DLers remember this procedure?

R11 More like stinging/prickly for now.

OP=Famous hypochondriac.

Maybe just try to relax and rest for the next week. Be good to yourself. Soon you'll just wake up like you never had it.

Had them as a fit 27year old. Took the antiviral within a few days which helped control the amount of spots supposedly, but it was still awful. That was the first time in my life I understood what true fatigue felt like, as it lasted well after the the spots were scabbed over and I was no longer considered contagious. Doc warned me not to push too hard to get back to regular pace during that phase as I guess other complications can arise.

Oh no! Feel better Sylvia.

I’m surprised EHS wasn’t eager to give you a shot. I also never got chicken pox as a child despite all my siblings getting it and I started at my job before the chicken vaccine was approved, but when I was mandated to get a measles vaccine a few years ago they looked at my chart and had the pox vaccine in the other arm before I had a moment to ask to space them.

How did you avoid a measles vaccine way into adulthood?! Those are usually mandated when you are a child. I’m a little bit shocked.

I didn’t avoid a measles vaccine as a child. After a certain number of decades they can wear off though which isn’t usually a problem unless there is a measles outbreak which unfortunately there was in New York in 2019.

I hope you are on the mend soon OP.

For the itching, try taking Benadryl or Zyrtec or any antihistamine along with a Pepcid. I get occasional hives and it helps me a lot.

I had chicken pox as a kid and I had my second Shingrix shot on Friday. Don’t put off getting it as soon as you can. During the heart of the pandemic, I was more afraid of getting shingles than COVID as stress can bring on the former.

[quote]I feel like my face is going to crack.

I hate to tell you, Sylvia, but your skin makes the Rockies look like chiffon velvet

I had no idea adults could get chicken pox I thought it was a childhood thing

R19 I had to have a measles booster when I enrolled in college in 1990, but no chickenpox vax. (When exactly did the chickenpox vaccine first come into being, anyway?) Later, after becoming a University employee, no vaccines were required and nothing was offered to us but the annual flu shot.

I think 1995 Sylvia.

How are you feeling now? Any better?

I caught it my senior year of college in '86. I'm pretty sure I caught the CP in a small, packed overheated classroom. The only thing I remember is the horrific itching I absolutely could not scratch. Caladryl and benadryl were God sends. The latter knocked me out, fortunately.

I had chickenpox when I was 15. Awful.

The antacid Tagamet supposedly helps lessen the severity and duration of shingles. Might it help with chickenpox?

I had chicken pox as a child, and shingles as an adult, but my partner recently recovered from chicken pox which he caught from my 90 year old great aunt. Both have recovered, but it was no party for either of them.

R24 Thought so. Too late for it to be required for my college admission.

The Valtrex (Yes, the one they give for Herpes. Also for shingles and monkeypox.) seems to be working. I've only had one day of serious itchiness, and now 2/3 of my pox are at the scabbed over stage. So now my face is one big scab instead of one big pox. I'm getting some of my energy back, but trying very hard not to overdo anything. One brief walk with partner and dog yesterday was a first.

R27 How long did it take for your partner's pox to recede?

The beauty of antivirals - also new since we’ve been adults.

I caught the chickenpox as an adult from a patient who had the shingles.

Will never forget: was in the Operating Room when a call came through my beeper about a patient with dizziness, vomiting and severe head pain in the ER. I told my senior resident, “Sounds like Ramsey-Hunt Syndrome (shingles of the ear)”….I’ve never had the chickenpox, so shouldn’t we send someone who has….to check out the patient?”. My wicked (and ignorant) resident accused me of not wanting to see the patient and insisted I do so.

Welp, turns out, the patient did indeed have RH Sundrome, and 2 weeks later, I awoke feeling as though I was hit by a truck. Sure enough, developed the chickenpox. Not only that, I had to be quarantined, and all my contacts at the hospital traced and quarantined. Many were impacted and it was a huge ordeal….a bit like Typhoid Mary. Some other docs had not had chickenpox, so they received a two week quarantine “holiday”. And the resident who insisted I see the patient initially had double the workload because of everyone having to take time off for the quarantine.

I had it rough: really ill for some time. Was referred to an infectious disease doc, had pneumonitis, and was almost hospitalised.

Good Times….an adult with CP can be a slog.

Hope you feel better soon, Sylvia.❤️

I hope you feel better soon. Chick pox in adults is so damned painful.❤️🙏

No thank goodness. I had my case in the early 50s when I was too young to even know I was sick. And now at the age of 69 I can still show you a couple chicken pox scars that remain.

Not to scare you, but chickenpox is much more severe in older children and adults. I had a patient I the 1990s who caught chickenpox from her 3 you'd children. The kids were all OK, but mom died of encephalitis, secondary to the virus. Such an outcome is rare, but it can happen.

I had it when I was 20. And it was nothing, but really really itchy. My grandmom boiled water with coriander for me to bathe everyday, and it kind of helped. No scars or whatsoever afterwards.

Growing up in Texas, I never knew any kid who got Chicken Pox. In Europe, all kids catch it. I think it's not a hot climate disease. I finally caught chicken pox when I was 30 after being accosted at Fontainebleau by a bunch of gypsy - sorry, Roma - kids who were trying to steal my wristwatch and wallet while claiming they wanted to pet my dog. A couple of them were covered in awful sores and I wondered if they had syphilis or something. A week later I found out they had Chicken Pox cause so did I. It was awful.

At least you have a colorful story to go along with yours, R35.

I know, R33, I know.

Just to be morbidly curious, how long did it take for your patient's encephalitis to set in? (Please don't say, "It developed two weeks after she thought she'd recovered!")

Hope you recover soon, Sylvia dear.

I thought adult onset chicken pox was shingles? Or is it just that those are related in some way? Hmm.

R37 Shingles and chickenpox are caused by the same virus (varicella-zoster). Shingles are what happens when, once you've HAD chickenpox, the virus reactivates decades later.

One cannot have shingles without first having had chickenpox.

Thus endeth the lesson.

Hope your feeling better now Sylvia. Um. Just checking. Can I have your stuff? TIA

RIP, OP. Hope you have a will for your 500 bucks worth of crap in your 10X20 sized "apartment".

Well Sylvia, you old ratty thing, it’s been almost 5 days now — light at the end of the tunnel?

I'm going in for my Shingrix vaccine on Monday. I had shingles when I was 12, in 1965. Haven't had any more problems with it in the 57 years since. This will be the first time I've taken the vaccine. I figured I might just be running out of good luck.

There was a study that showed the MMR vaccine helps protect against covid but I no longer have the link. With the resurgence of measles, skipped childhood vaccinations due to the pandemic, and anti-vaccine parents, I'm going to see if I can get a booster. Two birds, one stone. I'm scheduling my shingles vax for the start of the new year, as well. I hope you have a speedy recovery, OP.

I got it when I was about 35. People were literally shrinking back from me. I was put in quarantine. It got everywhere except the soles of my feet.

The patient got encephalitis in a couple of days after the breakout of the lesions.

Had it when I was a kid so I'm immune. Had my two shingles shots last year so that's that.

R45 Whew!

Yikes, good luck, OP.

Chickenpox in adults is very dangerous and can turn to chickenpox meningitis. People can die from it!

R47 Sylvia I asked you a question

Sorry, still alive!

Glad to hear you survived, Sylvia! Hopefully you'll be fully recovered by Winter Break.

R12? Yes, my mother did that. She took the three of us kids (I'm the oldest) over to a neighbor's house who had a child with chickenpox so we all caught it together. I believe I was 5. She may also have done that with measles. I've never had mumps even though both my sisters did -- so there's that to look forward to.

Also, my mother and my middle sister both had shingles, and my mother's case was very serious. I have asked the VA for Shingrix, but they won't give it to me until I turn 70. Bah.

My mom was born in a country where she never received the vaxx for chicken pox, OP.

She came down with it as an adult. My poor mom. She was so miserable when she became infected.

Get well soon, OP!

Whatever you do, don’t scratch! Those scars are very difficult to treat, especially around the chest, neck & face area.

When I was a kid, you could add soothing stuff to the bath to help the chicken pox be less itchy.

I remember when I had it in my 20’s the worst itching was from the ones that were on my scalp. I still remember that. I got the anti-viral as soon as I realized I had it.

I didn’t get many spots because of the antiviral but gosh it was awful. My doc was very strict with me about not getting back to normal activity as soon as I was no longer contagious, telling me that in adults it can easily become very serious still. - I don’t recall the secondary illness. A few have been mentioned upthread. He was quite emphatic. I was so so tired for about 10 days after I was no longer contagious. And that was while being fit and in my 20’s. Be careful op. Not out of the woods right away when the scabs heal.

This is really good. I can get uncontrollable itching in wintertime. I use 5his to get it under control.