THIS is most likely going to turn into a rant......Question about shingles.?

Desmeran (if you're still out there) I'm going to take your idea and implement it in my own way because it's a really good idea. So at least everyone is fairly forewarned.





Has anyone on here ever suffered from shingles? If so, would you still intentionally want to give your kids chicken pox?THIS is most likely going to turn into a rant......Question about shingles.?
I had chicken pox as a child -- long before the vaccine was even dreamt of. About three years ago, I had an attack of shingles, and let me tell you, that was the single most miserable experience I have ever had. I was literally crying at night because of the pain, and I NEVER cry. Luckily, we caught it early enough so that medication cleared it up quickly, but boy, shingles is NO FUN.





My children have had the chicken-pox vaccine -- hopefully, they will never have to deal with it.THIS is most likely going to turn into a rant......Question about shingles.?
ha. i think you're allowed to rant about diseases without a disclaimer. if it's a rant about people who do or don't choose the chickenpox vaccine though, i think it might be misplaced, because my understanding is that you can get shingles whether you had the disease or the vaccine, though the risk is apparently reduced with the vaccine. ( http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008鈥?/a> ; pretty far down in the article it says shingles can affect people regardless of whether they've had the chickenpox vaccine). But there's a separate shingles vaccination available for adults.
My husband had chicken pox when he was a child and, at age 28, got shingles (it was the year his father was dying from cancer). According to him, it was incredibly painful to just breathe because the nerve endings felt ';raw.';





I would never intentionally want my kids to get chicken pox. Not only because of the possibility of shingles later in life or complications, but also because I had the worst case the doctor had ever seen and the lotions and oatmeal baths made me itch even more. I had them in my hair, nostrils, ears, ';private parts'; and there wasn't a 1/4 in square on my body the was free.
Whats the deal with the connection? Please excuse my ignorance. I didn't get chicken pox when I was kid. I am fairly certain that I got the vaccine when I was a teenager though, because I heard it was worse to get chicken pox as an adult than a kid.


My kids aren't old enough for that particular vaccine and i have yet to make up my mind about it.


Do you have any useful places to research? I try and not do research on line for this stuff because too much stuff is slanted one way or another. I would however trust your judgment on the validity of the link.


sorry that I'm not answering your question, though.








EDIT - thanks! One more question - does the same then hold true for the vaccine? that you know of? I've seen a couple of questions about this and am not sure what to make of it. all my previous energy was about the MMR vaccine..
My husband got shingles when I was 7 months pregnant with our daughter. It attacked the left part of his head and eye leaving him with excruciating head aches and for a while, partial blindness. We were quite a sight at 2:30 in the morning with me waddling in with him into the emergency room (our doctor's recommendation based on the phone call we had given him earlier) and all the doctors wanting to attend to me when it was really my husband who needed the assistance (I can laugh at it now, however at the time it was upsetting). Both my husband and I have had chicken pox in the past (he had it once, I had it twice) so the doctor wasn't too concerned about it affecting me or our baby since my antibodies would be protecting her. We figured it flared up on my husband when his immune system was weakened by stress (he was working a stressful job during the day while going to school to become a firefighter at night, plus his father was sick at the time). While the doctor didn't think there was any danger to me or the baby, my husband still volunteered to spend the rest of my pregnancy on the couch since he would moan in his sleep from the pain. He still has some residual pain 6 1/2 years later.





That being said, the vaccine wasn't available to either of us when we were younger, so chicken pox was just a ';childhood rite of passage'; for us. I had no objections to my daughter getting vaccinated because I remembered how much I HATED having chicken pox and how terrible shingles were for my husband. I think she's better off for it.
Yes, I suffer from shingles. And I am a rare case because I am only 20 years old, and I was 18 when I had my first shingles outbreak. And they shingles typically affects much older people than myself.





And yes, I would intentionally give my son the chicken pox.


To me there is no difference than him ';catching'; them, except I will be able to plan when he gets them.


Chicken Pox are alot worse when you are an adult, and the vaccine wears off after 10 years, and they can still get shingles.
I have never had Chicken Pox and I am old. Four of my kids had them, my youngest didn't. I hear that its harder on adults so i hate the thought of being exposed. Though I took care of my kids and never got them.


One of my co-workers was just off work for 2 weeks with shingles. She has 5 kids at home too.
If your kids are healthy I strongly believe that they are better off to have the chicken pox than to get the shot. So to answer your question yes I would intentionally want to give my kid chicken pox. (As long as they are healthy children to start with)
Since both of my children were young, each grandparent has had shingles. We didn't visit until the rash was gone.