Sooo. Mama's of AW. What do you know about Chickenpox?

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EFCollins

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I've survived the first eleven years of motherhood without ever running across this nasty little virus. I had the chickenpox as a kid, and never really thought about them again.

But it seems my luck has run out and my oldest son has somehow contracted the chickenpox.

Give me tips. My boy says it sucks butt hole. His exact words.

If I remember correctly, it did suck major butt hole. But I can't remember what my own mother did to relieve me and sadly, neither can she. I've googled, but the most common things that come up are Tylenol, oatmeal bath, and calamine lotion.

Is there nothing else to do about the chickenpox?
 

COchick

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I had them when I was 17...and they were extremely awful. I can remember taking cool showers and keeping mittens on my hands so if I did scratch, I couldn't do it with nails. Hopefully someone else comes along and gives some good advice, because they do suck butthole.
 

Ambrosia

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I didn't have a child with it. I had it as a kid and I remember the calamine lotion. It was very miserable. That much I remember, and considering my age, that means a lot. Cool compresses were important too. Cool baths. Whatever gives a little relief to that rash.

I most remember my mom telling me not to scratch, which was impossible to do. If your child scratches, the rash could become infected. You will need to keep on top of that.
 

EFCollins

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Thankfully, he's not a scratcher. He likes to rub at itchy spots. Caught a break there. Cool baths. I can do cool baths and showers. Cool compresses in between?

What about putting alcohol on them? This was my son's suggestion (he thinks isopropyl alcohol is the solution to everything) and he seems to think that it'll sting a little, but still do something for the itch? I suppose because he puts alcohol on bug bites and bee stings? I don't know.
 

Ambrosia

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I would not put alcohol on them. Even if it did work for a short period of time, you might be poisoning him by the amount of alcohol it would require to cover all the areas. The skin is porous.

I would think it also wouldn't be a long lasting relief, if at all. And would dry the skin out too. Which would cause the lesions to break open.

I would go with the oatmeal baths and calamine lotion.
 

Goldenleaves

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Just get oats and muslin, make a bag of oats in muslin and smush it in a small bowl of cold water to make a creamy fluid of the water. Smear this water on the skin and leave it to dry (Or you can use the bag to dab it on the spots). Soothing. Chicken pox sucks.

Be careful the temperature of the child doesn't go up too high. If it does then you can often get it to go down some by taking tepid water and bathing the pulse points (neck, groin, armpits, back of knees, inner elbows) or gently placing the child in a tepid bath.

Using cold water for this isn't recommended because you can cause shock syndrome.

I hate it when they get ill. It's scary. Most get through chicken pox no bother, but do watch the temperature, high temperatures can cause fitting and all sorts.
 

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I like Witch Hazel compresses for soothing itch. It would be similar to what he's thinking with alcohol, but it's a soothing herb.

Ask a doc stuff:

Lidocaine OTC burn spray? Would the lidocaine numb it? I love that stuff, but of course ask a doc!

I wonder if they give prednisone shots for Chicken Pox like they do for bad cases of poison ivy? That stops the itch for sure, but prednisone has immune system effects, so it might not be something they do.
 

mscelina

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Calamine, definitely. Keep him out of clothes as much as possible; clothes bothered my girls almost more than the pox did. I just let mine run around in their underwear.

One thing I did that really helped was to get small towels (like hand towels) wet and then put them in the freezer. Once they were frozen, they felt great on that itchy skin and covered a sizable area. He can't have too many baths, that's for sure. And Benadryl or some other anti-histamine in pill form really helps with the itch too, but for that I would check with your physician first. Mostly because I'm not one. And my kids stayed pink for days. I PAINTED them with calamine lotion. Lay in a big stock of it.
 

EFCollins

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Underwear. Okay. Just shorts and nothing else. No alcohol on the lesions. Witch hazel? I don't have any of it, but I'll get some asap.

Regarding fever... I have to be careful there anyhow. When he was a baby, my boy had fever-induced seizures several times. His doctor told me that each seizure decreased his tolerance of fever and by the time he outgrew the seizures, he could barely tolerate a fever of 100. Which is still a fairly low grade fever. Now that he's much older, he doesn't convulse, but he does react to fevers severely. A fever of 99.4 will make him tremble all over and he gets lethargic. Very strong reactions to fevers.
 
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