Do you think I will catch it if......

fedupnow

I've never had chicken pox. My daughter has had it at least three times (I forget). I cared for her and my other daughter through a nasty bout of it when I was pregnant with my third.

I rang the hospital before my appt to let them know I had been in contact with it and I had to use an alternative entrance and sit on my own until my turn to be seen. Then when I was called they were spraying and wiping surfaces with stuff and lotions and all sorts. They never gave me a blood test though. This is the first time I have heard the baby could be at risk. Needless to say, my son was born absolutely fine. When he was about 3 months old he caught it off my elder daughter as she had it again.

I think you can have it lots of times.

moggylover

I had it at around 42! Not a lot of fun at all. DS2 caught it at nursery, and some days later both DS1 and myself came out in spots and I was the one who was plastered all over:rolleyes: .

It wasn't the spots that were the worst bit, it was the aches and pains in muscles, joints and chest that I didn't like and they lasted ages (as in months) and also seem to come back from time to time. Also remember being incredibly tired with it.

Coolish baths helped to calm the spots down, as did calamine lotion.

moggylover

marshallka wrote: »

I had 7 apparently if thats any consolation. Then again my sister had them everywhere including in her mouth.

Is it not shingles as we are older though? Not sure... Same virus I think.

If you have not had chickenpox then you can catch it at any age. If you have had it then you are more likely to get shingles than chickenpox - but not always.

JoolzS

I caught it in my early 20s (about 20 years ago). I got two weeks off work and was a bit spotty and quite itchy - all my friends with kids who hadn't already had chickenpox visited me

Julie (just wanted to add a "not so bad as an adult" story).

pboae

marshallka wrote: »

I had 7 apparently if thats any consolation. Then again my sister had them everywhere including in her mouth.

Is it not shingles as we are older though? Not sure... Same virus I think.

Once you have had chickenpox the virus stays with you but dormant, and in some people it can flare back up again as shingles. It's not to do with catching it again, it just happens.

So you more commonly see shingles in adults, having had CP as a child. But it is possible for children to get shingles too, once they have had CP.

AFAIK it's not possible to get shingles without having had CP, but it is possible to have very mild CP with very few spots, in which case it can go unnoticed and misdiagnosed as flu or something at the time.