Wherein I Contract an Ancient Disease

[Crai]

I was out in England about 6 years ago and my Shop supervisor walked up and says there is a Trouble Call at the CDC. I look at him and say "We have a center for Disease Control here?" he responds with a confused look then says "No the Child Development Center" to which I responded with "No I think that's about the same thing" after that the whole shop referred to it as the Center for Disease Control.

[Shangri-laschild]

The chicken pox vaccine happened between my sister and me so she got it and I instead got chicken pox when I was very young. I'm definitely not thrilled about the potential for shingles but on the plus side I had a mild enough case of the chicken pox that I don't even remember having it so that's good I guess.

[otter]

When I joined, we were all lined up and sent down a hallway with nurses stationed on each side with needle guns... That was fun. All vaxxed now! And then, 6 at a time, by gender, we leaned over a gurney, pulled down our pants to expose a hip/buttock and got our first " peanut butter" shot. I think I'm good for a while, lol

[nutraxfornerves]

Mr. Nutrax had shingles on his face, near his eye. Besides the horrible pain, it can permanently damage the eye. Fortunately, quick diagnosis by his primary doc and a consultation with an ophthalmologist got him on antiviral meds & eye drops right away, and his sight was fine.

The day before obvious symptoms developed, we attended a holiday gathering where someone brought 5 uninvited guests, including a toddler. Although it's uncommon, a person can shed chicken pox virus in the pre-symptom stages of shingles. We had to call the hosts & ask them to notify the toddler's family that he'd been exposed to chicken pox--the lovely people that brought all the uninvited guests. They yelled at the poor host, and accused us of coming to the party specifically to disseminate chicken pox throughout the land.

[Argus]

I wonder what the statistics are for people who don't develope antibodies when vaccinated

I've seen numbers in the 1% to 3% range.

[Seshat]

Bast got chicken pox a few years ago.

That was fun. Trying to keep her quarantined from me, when we live in the same house.

[AccountingDrone]

Hope you feel better Gaki.

Since we're sharing disease stories, I got the stupid chicken pox in 7th grade (about age 13). The older you are the worse it is. I was out of school for two weeks and got them everywhere, including on the inside of my throat and couldn't eat because it hurt. It happened to be fall and eggnog was available in stores; that was the only way I got any calories. Definitely going to get the shingles vaccine when I'm old enough.

Always baffled by all the people who never manage to get egg nog unless it is the holiday season. The freaking stuff is milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon or nutmeg ... I make it all the time with splenda vice sugar, and sometimes I splurge and add rum or brandy!

[I have cachexia issues with my medications and it can be a struggle getting enough calories down to avoid my body going into panic mode. My brother just got hospitalized for lack of ability to breath, his pneumonia kicked into overdrive and was filling his lungs with fluid. He couldn't eat for pretty much the past 3 weeks and his body went into panic mode and he dropped 15 pounds in about 2 weeks. Not good for a diabetic.]

[Aria]

Mr. Nutrax had shingles on his face, near his eye. Besides the horrible pain, it can permanently damage the eye. Fortunately, quick diagnosis by his primary doc and a consultation with an ophthalmologist got him on antiviral meds & eye drops right away, and his sight was fine.

The day before obvious symptoms developed, we attended a holiday gathering where someone brought 5 uninvited guests, including a toddler. Although it's uncommon, a person can shed chicken pox virus in the pre-symptom stages of shingles. We had to call the hosts & ask them to notify the toddler's family that he'd been exposed to chicken pox--the lovely people that brought all the uninvited guests. They yelled at the poor host, and accused us of coming to the party specifically to disseminate chicken pox throughout the land.

My doctor told me that shingles is very non-contagious, you actually have to scratch the sores and touch something to spread it. Quite unlike the real chicken pox.

[WishfulSpirit]

Always baffled by all the people who never manage to get egg nog unless it is the holiday season. The freaking stuff is milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon or nutmeg ... I make it all the time with splenda vice sugar, and sometimes I splurge and add rum or brandy!]

We didn't make it ourselves because mom was lactose intolerant (hubby is too, so I still don't cook with real milk). Plus, nobody in the house had the time or energy to make it when Lil Sis and I were both horribly sick at the same time. We happened to have commercial eggnog because dad loves it, so the Parental Units just bought more when they found it was a good way to get calories into their sick kids. Had we fallen ill some other time of the year, mom probably would have gotten Ensure or some other protein drink. She also fed us blended chicken soup (which hurt but wasn't too bad), applesauce, ice cream, the usual "sore throat" stuff.

Gaki, if you're itching, an oatmeal bath will help. Nothing fancy, just put oats (the same kind you'd eat for breakfast) in the water.

[nutraxfornerves]

My doctor told me that shingles is very non-contagious, you actually have to scratch the sores and touch something to spread it. Quite unlike the real chicken pox.

True, not extremely contagious at all. We just felt that notifying the toddler's family was the Right Thing to Do.

[sirwired]

FYI, Gaki, if you don't live in CA, FL, or TX, your doctor has neglected to report your illness to the local health department (to pass it on to the CDC), you should probably self-report immediately. (If you do live in one of those four states, congratulations! You are one of 4; count-em 4! reported cases nationwide since the start of the year not involved in a recent outbreak in TN (reports there state they have all been unvaccinated individuals (including several infants too young, and one adult.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/27/he...est-of-us.html

[vikingchyk]

I had chicken pox as a kid. A few years back, what appeared but a very mild (thankfully) case of shingles, on my lower left abdomen. Yes, it itches, yes it hurts. I genuinely hope you never have it. ETA: Gaki, get well soon!

I also had mild shingles, back in 2007, I think. I got to the doctor right away (I called my mom when I first broke out, and she recognized what it was right away, since she had gone through her own bout a few years earlier - I thought I was too young to get shingles, but I was under a lot of job stress them, and can be a factor in an outbreak) They put me on an antiviral, which really helped. I never got the severe nerve pain they talk about sometime, and it limited the blistering to my tummy and back - but I do have permanent scars on my abdomen

I also had the measles in '~78, due to a ineffective vaccine. That was gross, because I had them in my throat

[vikingchyk]

As for the rash, after I visited Panama I developed a rash. I was in the hospital for several days while they pondered over what it might be. They finally decided it was a mono rash and I went home.

When I was in high school, I got very sick (the weekend of my college placement testing - ugh! Took them anyway.) with liver pain, and by Monday, I was peeing dark brown. Well, that can't be good. My mom had sent me to school, since the doctor's office wasn't open yet. I get a note in my 3rd period class to report to the office ASAP- my mother was there to pick me up. Oh boy. Went to the doctor, and he diagnosed it was hepatitis, but the first blood test was inconclusive, so it was "probably nonviral" I was out of school 6 weeks. My mom didn't want to pay for another very expensive blood test, so for years, I thought I'd had hepatitis of undetermined type, whatever that meant

It wasn't until the early 90s, when my new internist was going over my history, and he about hit the roof when I told him I had hep, but didn't know what kind. Yeah, that's rather important to know. Hmm, no one ever told me, my family doctor acted like it was no big deal, so I was clueless for ~10 years. So he did a blood test, and it turns out I never had hep, I had mono - the Epstein Barr virus was still detectable in my blood. That was just a few years before I started having fibromyalgia symptoms, and probable Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Aside: I saw on the news last night there are now mumps outbreaks at several universities, like Harvard They think it is due to ineffective vaccine.

[Android Kaeli]

(I'm lucky that mine seems to be bulletproof, I get sick, like sick-in-bed, sick, once only maybe every 8 years or so)

This is me in a nutshell. The last time I got this kind of sick was early last year and thankfully I was only in bed for maybe a few hours at the most. The last time I had gotten sick like that had been about four or five years prior, I mostly get a twelve hour bug then I'm fine.

[Argabarga]

Now that you remind me, I literally cannot remember the last time I got sick and puked...

I remember the embarrassing time I barfed on the bus, in the aftermath of Hoagie Day at lunch, no less, but that was 1989.... I know I've done it since, but can't remember when or where....