DD unvaxed for CP, my mom has shingles

[shorty313]

Hi, I'm new here and could use some information!

DD is 14 months, and we delay/selective vax. We are set to go on vacation with my parents on Saturday for a week with my parents, and my mom called me yesterday she just got shingles. I know DD can get CP from contact with my mom's infected areas. Even though I have wanted to DD to get CP naturally, I didn't want it to be this early OR while on vacation! Besides the obvious of her not touching the infected areas (should be OK, it's under clothing), what else should I do to prevent her catching it? How long do I need to keep them apart? Can we swim in the pool together? I feel so bad for my mom!

Thanks! Debbie

[taterbug1999]

To my knowledge to get CP from shingles you have to come in touching contact with a shingle flare that is oozy not all dried up and healing and I would think it would have to be pretty considerable contact. My ds has been in casual contact with a couple adults who had shingles and sadly did not get CP. Pool should be cool too. I would imagine chlorine would wipe out any real chance, on the off chance that maybe a blister burst and floated toward your kiddo. (totally crazy odds there). Have fun on your trip. Plus I have read that honey is good to put on the blisters for your mom! Helps them heal.

[Ophelia]

I also read that it is fairly hard to catch CP from someone who has shingles. I wouldn't say 100% for sure it wouldn't happen, but unlikely. If you go, just make sure your Mom washes her hands a lot.

I think my MIL has shingles all the time, literally. Or very often. She stays over for holidays and DS hasn't gotten CP from her. But he's also not touching open sores on her, and I think if she did have any sores they are on her back under clothing.

[Gitti]

Poor mom!
I would dabble pure apple cider vinegar (with the mother in it like BRAGG vingegar) on the sores several times day. Maybe like 100 times....the more the better.
Take Vitamin C (good food source type) in large dose. Like 4 times the daily recom. amt.

Like everyone said, your dd won't get it that easily. She would have to touch the sores. Swimming in the pool is OK (so much chlorine - not good for mom's sores).

For your mom :

Here are some things that can leave a person vulnerable for shingels: Stress, Medication, Antibiotics, Chemotherapy, smoking, poor nutrition.

[brendaziz]

Yep- agree w/ everyone that she'd have to have contact w/ her. My boys got is from my DH but it was on his arm and they had contact w/ it a lot.

Also- for what it's worth- my boys got them at 10 months and almost 3 years and both I think were great ages. And it also took them 3 weeks from date of exposure to actually breaking out so just b/c they're exposed on vacation doesn't mean that they'll have it on vaca.
If you want her to get it at some point I would at least consider purposely exposing her. It is not that often that you get a chance w/ someone so close to the family.
But that's just my opinion :-) obviously do whatever you prefer.

[roxyrox]

Chickenpox has an incubation period of about 10-14 days. Even if she does touch your mom's sores, shes not going to get sick when you are on holiday yk? I would be ok with a 14 month old having chickenpox, sometimes it's easier when they are younger!

[junomama]

Originally Posted by Gitti

Here are some things that can leave a person vulnerable for shingels: Stress, Medication, Antibiotics, Chemotherapy, smoking, poor nutrition.

Super -- that about describes me, except for the smoking and the poor nutrition (except when I can't eat from the chemo nausea).

Anything I can do to protect myself anyway? And am I at a higher risk for shingles if I'm exposed to chicken pox? We haven't vaccinated our 2-year-old against it.

[Gitti]

Originally Posted by junomama

Super -- that about describes me, except for the smoking and the poor nutrition (except when I can't eat from the chemo nausea).

Anything I can do to protect myself anyway? And am I at a higher risk for shingles if I'm exposed to chicken pox? We haven't vaccinated our 2-year-old against it.

Oh gosh. I think are at risk. And if you would vaccinate your 2 y.o., don't forget the vaccine sheds. Not a good idea for so many reasons.

I would use a good grade CLO (cod liver oil). It has lots of Vita A which is a good deterrent for any virus.

[shorty313]

Thanks ladies! I feel so bad for my mom, she says it throbs, what a bummer on vacation! She's a breast cancer survivor, so I'm assuming the anti-estrogen meds she takes make her more susceptible to things like this.

If you want her to get it at some point I would at least consider purposely exposing her. It is not that often that you get a chance w/ someone so close to the family.

Believe me, I've been considering it. I know the chances of finding a way to expose her later are slim, but DH isn't really on board. He never had the pox (luckily he got vaxed just last month) so I think he's a bit scared of it. I will try and talk to him again. Plus we both work, so someone would have to take off work - I'm ok with that, especially considering there's a few days off for the holidays anyway, but he's not a big fan.

Thanks for the treatment tips, I'll pass them along!

[shorty313]

Also, she goes to daycare and 2 kids in her class are under 1 year, so they aren't vaxed yet. If I intentionally expose her and thereby expose those little babies (I think the youngest is 7 months) I'd feel terrible if they came down with CP. I know those are the chances you take when you go to daycare, but I'd still feel bad.

[balancedmama]

My mom visited us when she had shingles. I had a newborn and an unvax 2yo. Basically from everything I could find, as long as no one came into contact w/ the shingles we were fine. Mom had the lidocaine patches she put over them to control the pain.

[Realrellim]

Originally Posted by junomama

Anything I can do to protect myself anyway? And am I at a higher risk for shingles if I'm exposed to chicken pox? We haven't vaccinated our 2-year-old against it.

From what I've read, you can only get shingles from yourself (if you had chicken pox, you're always at risk for shingles), so you can't really catch it from being exposed to someone else with either shingles or chicken pox. DH's uncle had it recently, and the "cause" seems to be his own auto-immune issues. If you are exposed to chicken pox and haven't had it, of course, you're at risk for chicken pox.

In response to the OP: shingles aren't air-born (like chicken pox), so as long as you avoid direct physical contact with the affected area and don't drink out of her glass or anything like that, everyone should be fine.

ETA: DD was exposed to DH's uncle with shingles over Thanksgiving. She didn't have direct contact with him, but I'll edit back if she shows any symptoms over the next few days. We researched it carefully because BIL never had chicken pox (and isn't vaxed for it) so he and his kids didn't go to Thanksgiving dinner. Apparently they thought we were a risk just being in the same room--without doing any research of their own--so they completely avoided us the next morning until we left for the airport (we were all at MIL's house).

[Sijae]

Originally Posted by roxyrox

Chickenpox has an incubation period of about 10-14 days. Even if she does touch your mom's sores, shes not going to get sick when you are on holiday yk? I would be ok with a 14 month old having chickenpox, sometimes it's easier when they are younger!

:

[kriket]

I got CP from my grandma that had shingles, I don't know how lovey I was but I preceded to give it to the rest of my sisters.

I wouldn't worry about it, you will be home before she starts to get sick, and sometimes it is easier they younger you are. I was 10 and thought I was going to die. My youngest sister was 3 and you wouldn't think there was anything wrong with her if it wasn't for the crusties.

[Shelsi]

Well personally having experienced shingles I would suggest your mom not go on vacation. Seriously. It's the worst most horrible pain the world. At first it seems manageable and then the serious pain sets in. It's about 10 million times worse than labor pain. When I had it all I could do was sit on the floor and rock back and forth and cry. I couldn't even wear clothing because it hurt so bad.

When I had shingles I basically RUBBED my then 3 yr old unvaxed ds all over my body. I had him kiss my blisters. He helped put creme and stuff on me. He didn't get the pox It totally sucked...I figured if I was going through all that pain at least one good thing was going to be him getting the chicken pox but nope.

[CookAMH]

We are almost sure DH got CP from our pastor who had shingles in August who did not have direct physical contact, unless the sores were on his hands, which is unlikely knowing shingles.

How long is your vacation? With the incubation period, your DD probably wouldn't come down with it until you got home anyway. I wouldn't be concerned about her age either, in my personal opinion.\

By the way, Vit A had a HUGE impact on DH not itching much *at all*.