Who has had Chickenpox?

[pokerfan]

Pox outbreak at one of the local schools today.

A few years ago one of my coworkers thought it would be a good idea to expose his children to Pox. Yadda yadda yadda, he wound up in the hospital.

[LeftinOH]

1. I did...but I didn't think kids get that any more.. inoculations and all.

[China_cat]

26. More and more kids are getting chickenpox

and measles and whooping cough because the anti-vaccination lobby is growing and use every scare tactic they can think of to keep people from immunizing their children.

As a result, even the immunized ones have a higher risk of getting sick because the herd immunity is lowered.

I truly expect to see polio epidemics recurring in the next 10 years or so.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. I did. I think my kids were innoculated, but I would have to check with the doc to be sure

[Tektonik]

3. I got it in tenth grade and was out of school for two weeks

I've never been more miserable in my life :(

[asteroid2003QQ47]

6. Twice!

Once when I was a child and again when I was in the 10th or 11th grade.
I can most certainly empathize with you, SE17.

[pokerfan]

7. The older you are the worse it is

I had it when I was eight and remember not feeling bad at all, just wondering if these polks dots were ever going to go away.

[Mezzo]

4. I was too little to remember it, but I am sure my mother had a lot of fun. nt

[TZ]

5. I did when I was about 11, and it wasn't too bad for me.

However, my poor mother got it at the same time...And she got it while out of town handling funeral arrangements for her mother. She was REALLY sick. That's why you DON'T want to deliberately expose yourself. Its bad in adults.

[MorningGlow]

8. Oh cripes yeah--at 17 years old

MAN was I sick. I was out of school for more than a week and had delirium-level fevers. Still got a few scars (I picked at the first few that showed up before I knew what they were).
:scared:

I'm so glad they have a chicken pox vaccine nowadays.

[lizziegrace]

9. Lelapin got them when she was 4 (at Easter time)

I got them, along with my two sisters, at Easter when I was about the same age. Still have a few scars from them.

[Nevilledog]

10. I got Chicken pox 5 years ago... when I was 37.....it sucked.

I never had the Pox growing up, neither did my sister. In fact, my mother has never had it. 5 years ago I woke up on a Monday morning and was getting ready to go to court when my husband remarked that I had some funny red bumps on my shoulder and chest. I was feeling kinda feverish, but I really didn't think much about it. I headed to court and the judge said, "Oh, that looks just like chicken pox." I laughed and actually joked about hugging all the prosecutors I disliked to pass it on. I got into the Dr. right away though, just cause it kinda freaked me out. As soon as the nurse stopped laughing, the Dr. confirmed it was the Pox. I have never been so sick or miserable. I was covered head to toe with the stuff, but the worst part was the headache that I swore was going to kill me. I spent about a week in the fetal position holding my head in my hands. At least it kept me from scratching the blisters.

Oh yeah, and I had a couple of friends call and ask if they could bring their kids over to be exposed. I absolutely refused.

[ScreamingMeemie]

11. Oh that poor baby...look at those eyes, pure misery.

WannaB got them at 3 and I still feel bad about it to this day. I was practicing a wedding do at a client's house and Nik was complaining that her "butt itched"... she had been whiney and complainy all day so I told her to cut it out. An hour later I heard my friend's mom say,"I think you need to show those 'bumps' to your mama, honey..." I felt horrible about blowing her off as just being a brat all day. :(

[Xithras]

12. I did. Not as bad as it looks.

Chickenpox is one of those diseases that looks worse than it is (btw, I had pimples outbreaks as a teen that looked worse than that kids face). It's a bit itchy, but it fades off quickly and gives most people a lifetime immunity. Chicken pox, when compared to other diseases, is pretty minor.

By the way, the problem with the innoculation is that it DOES NOT provide a lifetime immunity to ANYONE who takes it. The immunity from the shot can fade in as little as 5-8 years, so kids taking the shot today will be getting boosters the rest of their lives. An adult with chicken pox is nine times as likely to develop a severe case requiring hospitalization than a child is, and has almost a 50/50 chance of developing a severe case of shingles, which can lead to severe permanent scarring, male infertility, and even death. Chickenpox is always more severe (and painful) for adults than it is for children.

My two older kids got chicken pox the old fashioned way, and will never have to worry about any of that. My youngest sons pediatrician gave my 3 year old the immunization without our authorization during a round of shots (he "assumed" we wanted it) and we're still debating whether to sue him over it. He's otherwise been a good doctor to my three kids, but as far as I'm concerned he just compromised my sons health for the rest of his life.

[asteroid2003QQ47]

22. Not as bad as it looks, for you and...

for that I am sincerely glad.
For me however, it was much WORSE
than it looks! Thought I'd lose my mind
for about two weeks before it started to abate.

[KitchenWitch]

13. I had them when I was 6

Neither of my children have had them, but they both had the Varicella vaccine.

[geardaddy]

14. You might want to put a warning in the title.

I had it when I was five. I got shingles years later. Ouch.

[meow2u3]

15. I had chicken pox--when I was 29!

I'm lucky to be alive, and that was only a "mild" case. I was in bed for 2 weeks, with no one to help me shop. I was a nontraditional college student then.

[ceile]

16. At 3, I think.

I can still smell that pink lotion.

[Greyskye]

17. Had CP in my early 30's

I was a bachelor at the time, and had badly dislocated my knee. Some friends had pity on me, and had me over for dinner a lot. Unfortunately, I got exposed to chickenpox from their kids, who didn't have any visible symptoms yet.

Since my leg was in a foam brace, that's where the eruptions first appeared. The idiot Dr. I saw through my health plan told me it wasn't chickenpox, as chickenpox blisters always start on the torso. Hey, genius, they usually start on the torso because that's where the body's core temperature is highest. Since my leg was in a foam brace, guess what? :eyes:

That experience was pretty freaking miserable. :(

[FloridaJudy]

18. I've had it and didn't know

I had to have antibody levels drawn when I was exposed many years ago - I was working in a hospital, and believed I'd never had it. My bloodwork revealed I was immune, so I must have had chickenpox at some point, though neither I nor my parents remembered it.

Some people have very mild cases. My own son only had about six lesions, and two days of sleeping more than usual, but no fever or crankiness. I thought the lesions were mosquito bites, until a pediatrician recognized them (she was sitting next to me at the beach, while I watched my kid cavort nekkid). On the other hand, I've seen people get miserably sick from them - one of my pregnant patients wound in the the intensive care unit, which is when I had to have my own immune status checked. Another colleague was out for weeks, and even had lesions in her mouth and throat (ouch!).

It does tend to be milder in small children than in teens or adults, so it did make more sense to get them over with early in the days before we had an effective vaccine.


(edited because I can't proof read for squat)

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

19. Had it at age 1 1/2

Mumps at 5, measles at 6. Am I covered? I THINK so.

[MrsMatt]

20. I had chickenpox at age 34, and

was 7 months pregnant.

I spent a night in the hospital, with a huge "CONTAGION" sign on my door.

Fortunately, my sister diagnosed it very early (over the phone) and I went to the urgent clinic and was given a course of acyclovir which lessened the severity of the disease drastically.

[Mugu]

21. Parents made sure that my sister and I were both exposed. n/t

[scrinmaster]

23. Never had it,

neither have my brothers or my mother.

[youthere]

24. I've never had them, but your coworker is monumentally stupid.

[pokerfan]

27. Well, he thought as do a lot of parents

that's it's best to simply get it over with. While it's usually a minor childhood illness it can be life threatening in an adult. His stupidity is that he thought he was safe because he had been vaccinated. But vaccinations don't last forever.

But yeah, we all thought he was pretty stupid.

[LeftyMom]

25. When I was three. No big deal at all. The kid had them last winter.

He was kinda tired for a day or two, and that was it. They weren't bad at all, we didn't even have to break out the oatmeal baths.

[Karenina]

28. If you're a kid

it goes away. If your're adult... My two contracted it one after the other and I tell you that was one of the worst months in my life.

[hippywife]

34. I can just imagine!

You poor thing! :hug:

I can't remember how old I was when I had them but I do remember that my four sisters all got them, too. Same with mumps and measles. We all got everything at the same time. We even had our tonsils out at the same time. They wheeled a fifth bed into a ward and there we were!

I don't have any kids. Wonder why? LOL

[Karenina]

36. OMG! Your poor MOM!!!

:hug:

[bikebloke]

29. In grade school

One kid would catch something, then most of the class caught it. Chicken pox (pronounced then as "pops"), mumps, measles and German measles.

[asthmaticeog]

30. Had it in my mid-20s.

Oh, that sure did suck mightily.

[laconicsax]

31. I had it when I was 3 or 4 years old.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

32. When I was a kid.

It sucked. The doctor came to our house(!!!) because he didn't want us spreading it around his waiting room. Same thing when we got the measles.

[Mike03]

33. I had CP when I was about 7 or 8 yrs. I think the reason it is a good idea to expose a child

to Chicken Pox (as well as Mumps and Measels?) is because children are less dangerously affected by these diseases than they will be if they fail to develop antibodies to them when they are young and develop them as adults. Some infectious diseases are far more damaging to adults than children.

[lost-in-nj]

35. I had them in kindergarten

my neighbor/friend got then first so my mom and her mom decided to let her sleep over so me and my sister would get them and not have to worry about it......

It worked..... :rofl:


I will never forget when my son got them...
he came out of school (6th grade) and said he had a bump on his head and a little headache... by the time we got home his face was a mine field.... less than 5 minutes.


I had Scarlet fever, mumps on one side, pneumonia 2x's and a very mild case of
Mono in my teens....


lost

[bigwillq]

37. I have.

Wasn't so bad though.