Chicken Pox

Johnny - posted on 09/10/2012

If you are quite young when you get the chicken pox or do not have a very virulent case, you can have it twice. I got it when I was 3 and again when I was 10. This was long before the vaccine was invented. The first time I had a fairly bad case and had to go to the hospital for day treatments. The second time it was much more mild. It is not common but it does happen. I am not the only person I know who has had it twice, so it can't be all that rare. From what I understand, it is generally more mild the second time and is referred to as a "breakthrough" infection, so perhaps it is not documented as frequently as it occurs. I'm fairly sure my parents didn't even take me to the doctor during the second event.



There are legitimate concerns about the efficacy of the chicken pox vaccine as well as the need for repeated boosters and the shingles vaccine. But none of those concerns legitamize making your child sick on purpose. As Sherri mentioned, given the low rate of infection in many regions, it would be quite easy for a kid to get to their late teens without contracting chicken pox. I would rather view this as an advantage and just wait to get the shot for a while until more research has been compiled. Why make your kid sick, even when the potential for serious outcomes isn't huge?

Dove - posted on 09/10/2012

What I find funny is that she went on and on about us 'pushing' the vaccine and not one single person told her she SHOULD vaccinate..... There is a huge difference between pushing a vaccination and telling someone they shouldn't deliberately get their kid sick.....

Tena - posted on 09/10/2012

You can get chickenpox more than once. My son had it at 10 months old and we took him to the doctor because he did not have many pox only about 10 at the most over his body. The doctor confirmed that it was chickenpox and a very mild case. The doctor also told me that since it was so mild that he would most likely get it again in life. True enough at 1 1/2 years old he did get it again (thanks to his granny who is a good germ carrier - her co-worker had it) at which point I caught it - the doctors said that I had one of the worse cases they had ever seen. I even had pox internally and developed pneumonia too. That ended up being a 3 week ICU stay.



Getting them more than once, though rare, was common if the person was under a year when getting it the first time or if only having a very mild case.

Michelle - posted on 09/10/2012

We're now talking to ourselves since it looks like she has deactivated her account since her last post. I guess some people should add in that they only want comments that agree with their view.

Jodi - posted on 09/10/2012

"There has never been a case of someone getting chicken pox twice (unless they were vaccinated). "



Um, yes there has! I have twin cousins who both ended up with it twice. This was pre-vaccination days. Not sure where you get your info from, but that information is not on the World Health Organisation website.



"Complications in children are pretty much unheard of"



Tell that to these people:

http://www.news.com.au/sport/more-sport/...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/articl...

I could add more - there are many more.



I could continue to make a list. It happens. Admittedly, these are extreme cases, but there are many more who are hospitalised every year. Children are one of the most vulnerable individuals in our society. Children and the elderly. Because their immune systems are still building. Complications are not unheard of.



And just for the record, I am quite educated, thank you. I would suggest, given that you seem to think children don't die or are not hospitalised because of complications, that you are the uneducated party in this discussion.



And aborted fetal cells? Um, no. There are cell lines of a couple of aborted fetuses that have been used to grow cultures and develop the vaccines, but there are no cells of aborted fetuses in vaccines. None. And just for the record, the ONLY vaccine that this is now used for is the rubella vaccine. And even the Catholic Church has acknowledged this information. Look it up and check YOUR facts. Where did you do your research? Educated? I don't think so. I have DONE my fact checking.



And just for the record, our doctors in this country don't give out the shots, we have free health clinics that do that for us. No-one is making any money out of it here.



But this isn't about the vaccine. The vaccine is irrelevant. You are suggesting DELIBERATE exposure of a disease to your children. If you decided to deliberately expose your children to the flu, I would consider you just as irresponsible.



Ignorant much?

Sherri - posted on 09/10/2012

Also purposely exposing them to Chicken pox gives them a much higher rate of them contracting shingles when they are an adult. I would seriously think twice about your decision.

Sherri - posted on 09/10/2012

Nope since most kids get the chicken pox vaccines now since it is required by the schools as one of the vaccines they have to have almost all kids won't ever have chicken pox. I actually in the 15yrs I have had kids have never even seen one case of chicken pox even in the schools.

Michelle - posted on 09/10/2012

Yes it's true you can't get chicken pox twice but once you have had chicken pox you can get shingles. It's the virus that lays dormant in your system for years and will rear it's ugly head in times of stress or indulgence.



Shingles and chicken pox are the same virus! Also would you really want your child scarred for life? I had chicken pox as a child because they didn't have the vaccine back then. I have 7 scars over my body because I was too young to not scratch. You then give your child a higher risk of getting shingles over and over again as an adult.



To me it's not a very responsible decision at all. Your job is to protect your children, not give them a virus for life.

Betty - posted on 09/10/2012

Ok everyone you all need a reality check, go to the world health organization website, its accurate and in depth. There has never been a case of someone getting chicken pox twice (unless they were vaccinated). The first vaccine didn't work, that's why there is now a second shot to get five years later and until that has been fully tested they don't know if they will be a third shot. Complications in children are pretty much unheard of, while they can be severe in adults. everyone i know as an adult has had it ONCE and no side effects.



Stop reading information put out by the drug companies, it's propaganda that apparently is doing its job perfectly. Talk about scare mongering.



Chicken pox is highly contagious and if you don't get it or don't get a vaccine before you become an adult then you are at risk of getting it. My sister got it last year at 32, unpleasant but she didn't die or have anything bad happen besides an itch and a temp. It's not SMALL POX>





Ok this is not what i was hoping to hear from other moms, i was hoping for moms that are supportive and educated, not puppets for the drug industry. Doctors make a fortune dishing out shots.



Also the chicken pox vaccine is made from aborted fetal cells, so those pro-lifers out there might want to know that. And before you say thats not true - try doing some fact-checking to find out what it is made of.



Thanks Y'all.

Jodi - posted on 09/09/2012

This isn't about whether you vaccinate or not. As I said earlier, that is your choice. This is about DELIBERATELY exposing your child to a disease that can have serious complications. Your example of tobogganing is not synonymous. Why? Because I have never heard of a child dying from tobogganing in a controlled environment.



People you've spoken to have never had more than mild symptoms. That's great! I've personally spoken to people whose children had pox inside their penis, inside their vagina, up their nose, in their mouth .....mild? I don't think so. That's risk of infection, it's painful, why create that situation deliberately? It is incredibly uncomfortable, painful and can cause scarring (that is quite common). And yes, these are YOUNG children.



You know, if they are not vaccinated and they happen to contract the disease, so be it. But deliberately? Would you deliberately take your child to contract the season's flu because then they will be immune to it? That's what this is about. Someone DELIBERATELY exposing her child to a disease that causes discomfort, pain and potentially severe side affects. Yeah, that sounds a lot like abuse to me. If it happens, it happens. Doing it deliberately is abuse.

Elfrieda - posted on 09/08/2012

I don't know, Jodi. This whole argument is starting to remind me of my aunt who wouldn't allow her kids to go tobogganing because when she was a teenager, her friend was in a terrible sledding accident and broke her neck. She always demanded to know why anyone would take that risk for something that has no gain. We never knew what to say... um, it's fun? Probably we'll be fine? Sorry about your friend? These reasons always seemed stupid to her, so we just quickly put on our hats and scurried away. I have the same feeling about this, you either focus on the okay normal or the horrible exception.



It's not exactly the same, but if everyone I've spoken to has had a neutral to only mildly unpleasant (low fever, a few spots) experience with young kids and chicken pox, and there are things in the news about how maybe the vaccine isn't effective for life but we all know that chicken pox is VERY bad for older kids (especially boys) and adults, it makes me think that it's better to get it over with permanently when my son is most likely to do very well with it. Yes, some people get the chicken pox more than once, but that's the exception. I don't feel like a child abuser at all.

Jodi - posted on 09/08/2012

Deliberately choosing to expose your child to a disease that can have complications (and children DO die from it) is child abuse IMO.

Lacye - posted on 09/08/2012

Oh by the way Betty:



I found this while looking at some information another person asked about chickenpox and I think you need to look at it.



http://www.vaccineinformation.org/varice...



ETA: It didn't put this in the first time I tried so we are going to try again.



Isn't it better for a child to get chickenpox naturally?

Some parents purposely seek to get their children infected with varicella virus, even promoting "chickenpox parties" for this purpose. The belief is that it's better to be infected when young, a time when the infection is ordinarily less severe. Some parents also believe that something "natural" (the disease) is better than something "artificial" (the vaccine), or that immunity derived from the disease will be more permanent than that from the vaccine.



However, when a safe vaccine is available, parents need to weigh the supposed benefits of infection against its potential risks, including severe disease with complications such as infection with flesh-eating bacteria. No one can predict which child will develop a life-threatening case of chickenpox; in fact, most serious cases occur in previously healthy children. In addition, in a recent study, 7 out of 10 children said given the choice, they'd rather have the shot than have the natural disease.

Dove - posted on 09/08/2012

I never told you to get the vaccine. Not once. I didn't jump at all. Your lack of comprehension skills are not my problem. I was simply informing you that whether or not you get the vaccine or go out and intentionally get your kid sick... there is no guarantee that he won't get sick again later... so your 'reasoning' to go get him sick now to avoid him getting it when he's an adult is 100% pointless.



Personally speaking... I never once said my kids had the vaccine or not. ;)



I SAID.....As for the shot.... get it, don't get, whatever.... but to intentionally get your child sick when THAT could (potentially, even if the risk is small) kill them... or they could end up just getting sick again later anyway.... that baffles me.



Learn to read. There... Now you can accuse me of 'jumping'. lol

Lacye - posted on 09/08/2012

Betty once again, even if you have the chicken pox as a child, it doesn't mean you won't catch it as an ADULT. Either way your child would still be at risk anyways. You seem to be missing that point.



What the ladies are saying is, you are trying to purposely get your child sick with this virus and that makes no sense to us. If you don't want your child to be sick, then why are you trying to get him sick? He would still be able to catch it later anyways. It could possibly cause some neurological damage to your son or even cause him to die.



If it happens then it happens but don't try to purposely get your child sick for just that reason alone. It's not worth it.

Tena - posted on 09/08/2012

Why would people have to get the vaccine every 5 years? Has there been an outbreak between 1995 and now for children that are currently in the 16-18 year age range since they were the first to receive the vaccine? I know that some receiving the vaccine will still get sick but that can be found with all vaccines pretty much

Betty - posted on 09/08/2012

Dove you did the jumping first, you responded to me not the other way around.

All doctors and nurses that i have spoken to agree that the vaccine wears off,

so are you going to make sure your kids get the vaccine EVERY FIVE years for the REST of their lives???

I don't want my child to get chicken pox. But if he doesn't get it as a kid, he is at risk when he's an adult.(unless he gets the vaccine EVERY FIVE YEARS) That's the point everyone is missing.



The vaccine will not eliminate the disease as it is not world wide. (polio vaccine is world wide)



The vaccine does not prevent shingles. Only a shingles vaccine can. And it is not available to everyone.



Chicken pox has worse side effects for adults and sick people than it does in children.



I got this information from the Health Department directly so can't exactly "fire" them.



Thanks for everyone's input. There's a lot of misinformation out there.

Dove - posted on 09/07/2012

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/shing...



Interesting information I found... granted, it's mainly much older adults and I was in my mid-teens, but I don't consider 25% of adults to be exactly rare.... And what do you know... the shingles vaccine wasn't available to older adults until about 5-6 years after I had the shingles outbreak... and only became available for slightly younger, older adults last year.... that link doesn't even mention giving the vaccine to people under 50 (though it's probably done) and what do you know.... I'm only 35.



Looks to me like someone could stand to do a bit more research before jumping down someone's throat who was trying to offer helpful input. ;) Granted....she hasn't been back since jumping down my throat, but who knows....

Tena - posted on 09/07/2012

Children are contagious if freshly vaccinated because it is a live virus. My grandmother ended up with shingles right after visiting with my 1 son the day he got his vaccine. With my daughter we went isolation mode as far as family was concerned because shingles are worse on older adults and her grandparents and great grandparents are seniors

~♥Little Miss - posted on 09/07/2012

I don't care if your doctor is the dali lama. You should NEVER intentionally get your child sick. You know what I would do if my doctor gave me that advice? Fucking fire her!

Amanda - posted on 09/07/2012

I'm sorry but I'm with everyone else, why would you want your child to get sick????



My kids are 2 and 4 and have been in contact with kids on a few occassions who have a few days later come down chicken pox. They have never caught it. I just found out that 2 kids they were playing with Tuesday broke out in spots Thursday, we'll see in a couple of weeks if they caught it or not. I really hope not because I know my daughter will be horrible with it and I hate it when my babies are sick.

Dove - posted on 09/07/2012

How is it an overreaction to not understand why someone would intentionally want to get their child sick? Especially since getting the chicken pox once is no guarantee that they won't get it again.... Do you also intentionally take your kid over to someone's house every time they have a cold, the flu, a stomach virus? How about whooping cough (I probably shouldn't use that one since my friend's baby recently almost died from that, but... oh well)?



Personally I try to avoid having sick kids whenever reasonably possible.

Johnny - posted on 09/07/2012

Serious complications from chickenpox include



dehydration

pneumonia

bleeding problems

infection or inflammation of the brain (encephalitis, cerebellar ataxia)

bacterial infections of the skin and soft tissues in children including Group A streptococcal

infections

blood stream infections (sepsis)

toxic shock syndrome

bone infections

joint infections



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.



Before vaccination for varicella became widespread in the United States, this disease affected approximately 4 million children per year, caused as many as 100 deaths in children annually.



Not to mention the discomfort children face from a serious case of the chicken pox. Why would anyone CHOOSE to put their kid through that unnecessarily??????

Elfrieda - posted on 09/07/2012

Wow, okay everybody. Over-reactions much? Chickenpox is not a big deal if you get it early (but not too early).



I think the best way is just to see who is dealing with chickenpox among your facebook friends, and then go visiting them. My nephew just had them and my son had already been exposed just because we see them a lot, but to be extra sure we went over there again and they played together just like they normally do. That was almost 3 weeks ago, and today I noticed a red spot on my son's cheek, but if that turns out to just be an insect bite or something I think he just didn't get it. If not, I'll wait until the next time I hear about someone coming down with it. If my son doesn't manage to get it before he's 7, I'll get him vaccinated because I really don't want him to get it as a preteen or teenager or adult, but hopefully we can get it out of the way permanently before then.



If you hear that someone has just gotten their child vaccinated, I would go over there, too. I've heard that kids who are freshly vaxed can be a bit contagious, but I don't know how true that is.

Tena - posted on 09/07/2012

Lacye is right just because some one has gotten chicken pox DOES NOT mean that they can not get it again. My oldest son was not vaccinated (they were still testing the vaccine) and got chicken pox when he was 10 months old. A year and a half later he got them again and gave them to me.



And they did have chicken pox parties when I was young and I was exposed constantly as a small child - all my cousins caught it as well as my brother - I never got them until the 2nd time my oldest had them

Lacye - posted on 09/07/2012

Ummm....... This is a joke right? Is this an online version of Punk'd?



Why would you want to get your child sick? You do realize that it is a myth that once you catch chicken pox it doesn't come back, right?



ETA: By the way, lose the attitude. You asked for advice, and Dove gave it to you. Don't bite her head off because she gave you what you wanted.

Dove - posted on 09/07/2012

Oh... and did I mention we don't have a Walgreen's here? lol

Johnny - posted on 09/07/2012

My daughter has not yet been vaccinated for the chicken pox. Nonetheless, I would never purposely expose her to the virus and would actually seek to avoid having her exposed if I knew someone had it. It is incredibly rare here now, thanks to the vaccine. My main concern is actually the shingles, not the chicken pox, because I've seen some pretty horrible cases of shingles in amongst my friends and family. But getting the chicken pox vaccine or getting chicken pox regularly, you have a similar chance of getting shingles. All of the people I knew who have had it had chicken pox as young people before the vaccine was invented, so getting chicken pox the old-fashioned way does NOTHING to change that. My goal was simply to ensure that when she was vaccinated she would be provided the greatest protection through the vulnerable teen years until the shingles vaccine is available.to be used. Currently, I am planning to vaccinate her just before she enters primary school.

Jodi - posted on 09/07/2012

I can't believe that you don't realise that people DO die of chicken pox. It is rare, yes, other complications are more common, but it happens. Other complications can include neurological side effects (eg. because chicken pox affects the nervous system, some people have permanent difficulty walking, talking, etc), respiratory infections, bacterial infections, and liver complications.



You would DELIBERATELY expose your child to that by taking them to a "chicken pox" party? I ask you, would you take them to a polio party?



I don't give a shit if you don't want to vaccinate your child against chicken pox, that's your choice, but to DELIBERATELY then go out of your way to make sure your child gets the disease is irresponsible IMO.

Dove - posted on 09/07/2012

Wow. OK.... so when you said 'any help is appreciated' you weren't really serious. You actually just wanted suggestions on the best way to get your kid sick.



Do whatever the hell you want then. It's your kid. I never told you to get the vaccine. I don't give a rip if you do or not... I just think intentionally getting your kid sick is STUPID.



Did they have a shingles vaccine over 20 years ago?

Betty - posted on 09/07/2012

Thanks Dove. But I don't want a lecture, and btw vaccines have killed children and been documented as such, and some vaccines have been pulled off the market in the past after adverse side effects were widely discovered and reported. Shingles is pretty rare, maybe you should have gotten the vaccine for that, they "sell" it at Walgreens.

Dove - posted on 09/07/2012

Why would anyone intentionally want to get their kid sick? I know 'back in the day' chicken pox parties were a 'big' thing, but really?



Nothing is 100%. There are people who have gotten the shot and never gotten chicken pox. There are people who have gotten the shot and HAVE gotten the chicken pox. There are people who have never had the shot and never had chicken pox. There are people that have never gotten the shot and have had chicken pox more than once. There are people who had chicken pox, but it was so mild that no one knew they had ever had it until they got shingles later on in life (hey, that was ME!)... shingles is a nightmare, by the way.



As for the shot.... get it, don't get, whatever.... but to intentionally get your child sick when THAT could (potentially, even if the risk is small) kill them... or they could end up just getting sick again later anyway.... that baffles me.