chicken pox?!

[Anonymous]

Lori – I hope the kids in daycare don’t have chicken pox, as we already work so hard to keep our non-eater to be sick free as possible. Please keep us posted, I will be thinking about you and Hailey (we are changing internet company, so I wouldn’t be able to go online until Friday), good luck!

[Anonymous]

Well, the saga continues. The daycare worker says it wasn’t chicken pox but they’re still waiting for the diagnosis. In the meantime, Hailey woke up this morning burning hot with a fever of almost 103. It’s probably unrelated but who knows. Now I’m petrified as this is her first fever, and Sarah’s neurologist told me that Hailey has a 50 percent chance of also having febrile seizures. Keep your fingers crossed for us. If she also inherited the febrile seizures on top of her other issues I think I’m going to need to be committed.

[Anonymous]

Oh no Lori. Do either you or your DH have the febrile seizures? Or is one of

you a carrier? Keep an eye out for any sores in her mouth, etc – coxsackie

does start with a fever and the fever usually lasts 2-3 days I think. I hope

she feels better soon and doesn’t have the seizures on top of everything –

you need a break! We’ll be thinking of you.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Karen. No, neither dh nor myself have had febrile seizures, so we don’t know where it came from. I don’t know if it’s genetic or familial, but in any case, when you have one child with them, the neurologist said each child has 20 times increased risk (the normal risk is 1 in 20 children will have a seizure due to fever). Anyhow, we’re praying she doesn’t have them. And also for no coxsakie…. oh the horrors, I can only imagine!

[Anonymous]

Lori, We just feel that we should let it run its course. We both had chicken pox when we were younger and we were fine. I guess we just don’t think it is necessary. Who knows we may change our minds later

[Anonymous]

Lori – I hope it’s nothing. I agree with Karen though….Zach had
the coxsackie virus about a month ago. It started with a fever of
about 103 (we took him to the doctor because we thought he had an ear
infection), then the blisters came on his mouth, and slowly he got them
on his fingers and toes. The fever lasted about 36 hours and then
he was back to himself – the blisters didn’t seem to bother him but
maybe that’s what Hailey has. We’ll keep our fingers crossed that
it’s just a virus. Keep us posted! HUGS………………

[hellbennt]

I’m the wacko who gets weird things… I had the chicken pox twice 1st time was mild then I got them again@16. No fun at any age, but certainly not when you’re older!!!

[Anonymous]

A little off the topic, Alexis had her chicken pox vaccine at 12 months but the Peds MD just informed me that a new vaccination guideline just came out and now all children need 2 chicken pox vaccines until they already had the chicken pox prior to the start of school. They have found out that 1 vaccine is not working on immuning the child versus 2. They use to only give 2 shots for adults who didn’t have the chicken pox as a child, I had the vaccines prior to entering college a long time ago. Now they are highly reccommending Hep A series 2 shots most likey by the time my little ones goes to school it will be required. I am so tired of all these vaccines!

[Anonymous]

Laura, I’ve heard that if you get a mild case as a child you don’t get the immunity and can get it again.

Lori, I hope Hailey’s virus is gone soon, and it’s not coxsakie.

Sue, That’s interesting….I’ll have to ask my children’s doctor. My girls both only got one chicken pox shot and I haven’t been told to get them another one yet. Yeah, I’m sick of all these shots, too.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone. Right now we’re trying to control the fever with advil and tylenol, and just hope that she doesn’t have the seizures. The first 24-48 hours is usually when they happen if they will. I hope it’s not coxsackie, but really what can you do.

It seems like they’re recommending double vaxes for lots of shots now. I’ve never heard that for the varivax shot, but I know that they do two MMR series now- One at 12 or 15 months, and the other at 2 years old. It is annoying, but at least they’re learning what it takes to control outbreaks of these diseases.

[Anonymous]

Lori, I hope that she’s feeling better soon.

I’ve heard the same thing about the chicken pox vaccine. We actually had a school in the area this past year where over 50 children came down with chicken pox within a 2 month period. Almost all of them had the vaccine. They had to call the CDC and report it because it had affected so many kids.

[Anonymous]

Interesting. I just looked at the research on the Canadian Pediatric Society’s website, and as far as I can tell, they’re still only recommending one shot for children under 12 years of age (I think it was 12). Over that, they recommend 2 shots to achieve the same levels of immunity. Follow studies of immunity are also cited, but nothing looks at long-term immunity. We also don’t have a combined shot for chicken pox and MMR, and the details said not to give any salicylates for 6 weeks after the chicken pox shot. (I don’t know what that means to be honest, but our doc told us that Sarah couldn’t have any other shots for 6 weeks after she got the pox shot, so who knows).

[Anonymous]

My 8 year old had his chicken pox shot at 12 months. Not a problem. He only had 1 and our doctor has never suggested getting another.

Salicylates are pain relievers, aspirin. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/drug-information/DR202515

Jen

[Anonymous]

Thanks Jen. So you can’t use pain relievers for 6 weeks afterwards? Don’t most people give some pain reliever a few hours after a shot?

Right now I’m stumped though. Last night I gave her tylenol even though she felt fine, and this morning she still doesn’t have a fever. But last night she was up crying almost all night long. She didn’t even want to be held. She was thrashing and stiffening up her body, like a Sandifer’s type thing, but I think intentional. No rash or anything. I’m wondering ear infection.

[Anonymous]

I’ve honestly never heard not to give it because of the vaccine. The only thing I could think of as far as not giving aspirin would be because of the risk of Rye syndrome which is an illness that (rare) kids and teenagers can get when they seem to be recovering from the flu or chicken pox.

As far as 2 shots or not, I have no idea. My older boys both had chicken pox and I went ahead and got my 8 year old the shot. Here, as far as I know, the doctors I work for recommend 1 shot for kids ages 12 months to 12 years old and older than that they recommend 2 shots 4 to 8 weeks apart for those who have never had chicken pox.

Josh never had any kind of reaction from the shot that I can recall and so far, neither of the older 2 have ever had it again after their first episode when they were young!

Frankly, even though I understand the reasoning behind the shots, I am tired of them coming up with more. The poor kids are turning into pin cushions!!

Good luck and I hope she’s doing better today!!!

Jen

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