Chickenpox and CF

M

Mommafirst

Guest
Has anyone had any experience with chickenpox?  My five year
old son whose CF status is unlikely but unknown right now seems to
have chickenpox (we aren't sure, he's been vaccinated, but the doc
"thinks" that is what his rash is).  My 6 month old
daughter w/cf has not had the vaccine yet.  My PCP called the
CDC and they said that if she gets a fever and start of the rash to
get her on acyclovir (sp?) right away and it should make it more
mild.<br>
<br>
Thus far my daughter has had no symptoms other than an MI at birth.
 But I read that chickenpox could created related pneumonia,
and I'm guessing that would be particularly awful in a CF baby.
 I already thought I was purell crazy, now I might have to
bathe us all in it, LOL!!!
 
C

chipper28

New member
I actually was talented enough to have the chicken pox four times,
all documented by doctors... Prior to the fourth case, the theory
was that I would never get immune to the things.  I had one
light case, just pox and not heavy, then a medium case with some
systematic symptoms, followed up by another light case and then a
killer attack which included ye olde hospital.  While it's odd
to say that chicken pox put me in the hospital, that case cured me
of it. . .  The last case I was six (no cf diagnosis at the
time)...<br>
<br>
Not really relevant, but can't pass on a chicken pox story!
 (Kids today miss out!)
 
T

thefrogprincess

New member
I don't want to scare you but I had chickepox when I was 9 before they had a vaccine and I had it bad. I had every symptom you can have and I don't remember this but my mom is 100% positive that I had the lesions in my lungs because of the way I was breathing. It was the middle of winter after a big snow storm, the power was out and my dad had the car at work. So since she couldn't throw me in the car to get me to the hospital she sat up and watched me sleep to make sure I didn't stop breathing. The moral of the story is: if there is anything you can do to make it less serious for your kids you need to give it serious thought. Chicken pox can be serious for a normal kid too.
 
W

wuffles

New member
I had chicken pox when I was 11 and used an antiviral (might have been acyclovir but I'm not sure). I ended up with moderate symptoms so perhaps I would have had a worse case without the antivirals - who knows.
 
J

JazzysMom

New member
I never had chickenpox, but I did have a scare of exposure while I was pregnant & still working at our local hospital. I had to track down an adult dose of the vaccine & have it administered with 96 hours of exposure because my CF doctors didnt want to find out the hard way how I would react (pneumonia etc) if I actually contracted the pox virus. Granted as an adult its said to be more difficult & I was also pregnant......
 
B

bmombtoo

New member
Josh is on the maybe CF side of things. He had chickenpox at age 3,
and because he had a lot of respiratory problems it was a difficult
for time It didn't help that the three boys broke out within five
days or so of each other. Took so many Aveeno baths that we cause a
flood from a hidden plumbing problems that all the bathing
exposed.The vaccine was not out yet. Pneaumonia is a risk because
as we all know chicken pox is a viral infection and virus make
wheezers wheeze more in most case. This is why we all get the flu
vaccine is we have respiratory problems.  Additionally,
pneumonia is a problem with little ones when they get chicken pox
even if thy don't have preexisting respiratory problems. What we
did with Josh and still do is when he gets sick we treat his chest
preventatively....start the nebulizer and all asthma meds. The
acyclovir is an antiviral and will shorten the course of the
virus.<br>
Josh had a tetanus booster yesterday and a pneumonia vaccine and
today had a temp. of 101. His peak flows also dropped. Doc is not
sure if its a reaction to the shots of another infection so we are
using the machine every four hours and took the Advair up from 250
to 500.<br>
Having sick kids is a challenge but it sounds like you stay on top
of things and will do just fine.
 
T

thelizardqueen

New member
I had the chicken pox when I was 8, and really didn't have much of a problem with it. Mind you, I broke out like crazy (I had pox in places you would think you would never get it), but I never got fevers or infections with it.
 
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