Angela Jolie has chicken pox! No, really.

[Baitball Blogger]

This has not been her week. Snubbed by the Golden Globes for Unbroken, and now unable to promote it.

- - - - -

Angelina Jolie has chicken pox and has pulled out of promotional events for her movie Unbroken. The news was announced by Universal Studios on Friday, accompanied by a YouTube message from the ailing Jolie. Watch the video below.

In a statement, Universal said, “Angelina Jolie will be withdrawing from public events scheduled over the coming days due to a mild bout of chicken pox. She intends to resume her schedule and press engagements at the earliest opportunity. We all wish Angelina a speedy recovery and look forward to her returning to her work very soon. She is in very good spirits, considering after two years of hard work, she will not be there the night it finally premieres.”

“You have to laugh at the timing,” said Jolie in a statement. “I was sure nothing could stop me from supporting Unbroken. I am heartbroken to miss our premiere, most of all the chance to be there with [real-life hero Louie Zamperini’s] family, Phil’s daughter Karen, veterans and all the guests who are coming.”

In the video, a disappointed-looking Jolie says, “I just wanted to be clear and honest about why I will be missing the Unbroken events in the next few days. I found out last night that I have chicken pox, so I will be home itching and missing everyone, and I can’t believe it, because this film means so much to me. I just can’t believe it! But such is life.”

http://www.gossipcop.com/angelina-jolie-chicken-pox-video/

[Mosby]

1. she never got the vaccine?

It's a lot more likely she has shingles.

[avebury]

14. It is also possible to get chicken pox a second time

if you had a really light case the first time. I had a really mild case as a child and then got a really nasty case of it again when I was 20. Believe me is it no fund to get it as an adult.

[NightWatcher]

2. I'll volunteer to dab her with cotton balls dipped in calamine lotion

Sorry Brad

[hunter]

3. Adults are more likely to suffer complications from chicken pox than children.

I hope Jolie has someone looking after her.

From the CDC:

Some people with serious complications from chickenpox can become so sick that they need to be hospitalized. Chickenpox can also cause death.

Some deaths from chickenpox continue to occur in healthy, unvaccinated children and adults. Many of the healthy adults who died from chickenpox contracted the disease from their unvaccinated children.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=post&forum=1018&pid=700062

[Frank Cannon]

4. I got it in my 20s, and it was it was absolutely horrible.

I was afraid I was going to die. But I was so miserable, that I almost hoped I would.

Here's hoping Angelina has a speedy return to good health.

[OldEurope]

16. Yes, exactly what I thought when I got

it a second time at 40: I almost hoped I would die just to stop feeling so miserable!
Poor Angelina Jolie, she surely has a hard time.

[Raine1967]

18. I was 16. IT was horrible. On top of the misery — Did I mention I was 16?

OMG, I Was horrified when my mom said I was well enough to go back to school. The misery on top of the mortification of chicken pox marks on my face.

I hope she returns to health soon.

[hedgehog]

5. Agreed.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

6. The antivaxers here seem strangely quiet this morning.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

[astral]

7. Are normal childhood diseases still normal?

When i was between the ages of 3 - 8, I'd had measles, mumps and chicken pox.
#1 i thought almost all kids did and that it was normal and expected;
#2 i thought if you catch it as an adult it is always called shingles.

I also thought that you are immune to shingles as an adult if you had chicken pox as a kid.

Does vaccination mean kids dont normally catch these things anymore?

[Still Blue in PDX]

12. Yes, now there are vaccines. nt

[OldEurope]

17. You can catch chicken pox a second time.

I also did not know that until I got them the second time. And that was some five years after my children had them.

[catbyte]

23. You can also get shingles multiple times. I am recovering from my EIGHTH GODDAMN bout of them

in the last 15 years. Yes, I did get the vaccine. My doc said that all it does is trick a normal person's body into thinking it's had shingles. I am not normal. Multiple bouts of shingles runs in my family. It could be worse, it could be cancer. Sure is excruciating, tho. I have permanent damage down my right sciatic nerve because that's where most of my outbreaks occur.

[tblue]

25. Oh catbyte

I'm sorry for all those outbreaks. Eat well and take good care of yourself. I've got my own set of craziness going on and my heart goes out to anyone thrown into life's stress pit. You hang in there and do take care.

[catbyte]

27. Thanks, tblue. I've had my immune system tested & it's fine. I haven't had a

cold in over 2 years, but shingles are another story. I can even tell when I'm about to get an outbreak. I feel very tired & the skin on top of my left foot becomes really sensitive--which is weird because most of my outbreaks occur on my right sciatic nerve. I did have a nasty outbreak last year over Thanksgiving, which was down the front of my left thigh from spine to groin. OW! My doctor has me take an antiviral every day, but it's still not enough to keep them at bay. Well, please take care you yourself, too! Health challenges are never, ever easy.

[Mosby]

29. Take more pills when you think it's starting

Acyclovir has almost no side effects and the dosing is all guesswork anyway.

I got shingles (on my forehead) but self medicated right away. no pain at all.

My pills are 400MG though, which helped a lot.

[geardaddy]

26. Oh, god.

I'm sorry. I had them once. Absolutely horrible disease.

[catbyte]

28. Aren't they the worst?

At least I've never gotten them on my head. My aunt almost went blind during one of her bouts (she's had 6). It attacked her right trigeminal nerve & it went towards her eye. Very, very nasty place to have them. I'm glad you got over them--folks have no idea just how painful they can be. If they did, they would run--not walk--to their doctor for the vaccine.

[marzipanni]

32. Perhaps your family needs more of the amino acid lysine, less of the amino acid arginine.

I have to go out now, but you can read my post (#31) to csziggy, below with links.

[csziggy]

19. You are more likely to get shingles if you've had chicken pox

Shingles is caused by the Varicella Zoster virus, the same virus that causes chickenpox.

Only someone who has had chickenpox – or, rarely, has gotten chickenpox vaccine – can get shingles. The virus stays in your body, and can cause shingles many years later.

You can’t catch shingles from another person with shingles. However, a person who has never had chickenpox (or chickenpox vaccine) could get chickenpox from someone with shingles. This is not very common.
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/vis/vis-statements/shingles.html

I keep track of this - not only did I have chickenpox as a kid, I have a resident infection of herpes zoster that has lived in my left hand for over forty years. It flares periodically and is extremely painful. I got the shingles vaccine in hopes it would stop that recurring flare up but it has not. So I know I am certain to get shingles someday - but I will not spend the money for the shingles vaccine again since it does not seem to be effective against my resident variety of herpes zoster.

[marzipanni]

31. Have you ever tried the amino acid Lysine?

I like The Peoples' Pharmacy. If you aren't familiar with it read about the couple who started it first, it will reassure you they are legit.- http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/about/

One reader with positive things to say about lysine-
http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2014/06/09/l-lysine-helped-ease-readers-painful-rash-from-shingles/

http://argmatrix.com/HerpesSimplexVirus.htm

[csziggy]

33. No - I hadn't heard about lysine or its effects with herpes

I'll have to try it. It might not hurt for my husband and me to take it anyway - he has a family history of osteoporosis and i've come back with some worrying bone scans. I'll add it to the list of supplements we take and see what effect it has. Thanks!

[Brigid]

8. I got chicken pox back in the '70's.

I was 15. So my brother and two sisters got it too. I don't think there was a vaccine back then. Isn't that one fairly recent?

[nirvana555]

9. If you didn't get the Chicken Pox while you were a child, it is the Chicken Pox. However,

if you had the Chicken Pox as a child and get the same (I guess virus) it's Shingles. I had a case of Shingles about 12 years ago.

[Brigid]

11. Shingles is called herpes zoster.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickenpox

After you get chicken pox, the virus remains dormant in nerve tissue. Decades later, a depressed immune system or severe stress can reactivate it. That's shingles.

[avebury]

15. Not necessarily. I was diagnosed with a mild case of chicken

pox as a child and then diagnosed with an extremely nasty case of it at the age of 20. I was working at a hospital at the time so had access (at not cost to me) to go through the Emergency Room. I was the "lesson" of the day for the ER Doctor with the Interns. It was rather embarrassing.

[csziggy]

20. 1974 First vaccine for chicken pox

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_vaccines

The vaccine for shingles was approved in 2006.
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/vis/vis-statements/shingles.html

[RebelOne]

10. I got it when I was 13,

and my two younger sisters had measles at the same time. My mother really had her hands full with three six kids. Luckily, I did catch their measles and they didn't catch my chicken pox.

[Still Blue in PDX]

13. I had back-to-back measles and chickenpox and came very close to dying. nt

[astral]

21. wow.

I didn't even think of it as a danger as a kid.

[Still Blue in PDX]

22. Yeah, complications in kids are rare.

That was one time it sucked to be me, I guess!

[Arkansas Granny]

30. My kids all had chickenpox in the pre-vaccine days. I was told at the time that the worst common

complication was a secondary infection from scratching the itchy bumps. My pediatrician had me give them Benadryl to reduce the itch. To my knowledge, I've never had chickenpox.

[tblue]

24. And wasn't she just in a car accident?

Poor thing. I love and admire her. Get better soon, Angie!!!

[CrawlingChaos]

34. Well this is awkward

I saw this story various places today -- Sony execs have been talking to reporters, saying the chicken pox story is fake:

http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainment/ci_27140526/is-angelina-jolie-faking-chicken-pox

I have to say, I thought that video was odd. If you're trying to save face, you could just make an announcement that you're ill (whether you are or not) and leave it at that. To make a video like this, it's like you're sending the message that you know people won't believe you, so here, look at these spots ... see? And you wind up looking even less believable.

Very strange move, whether she actually has chicken pox or not (and my money's on *not*). She did not do herself any favors here. Now will she contract another disease to avoid answering questions about the phony chicken pox accusations? Seems like everyone involved in the Sony scandal is collapsing under the weight of their own sense of self-importance.