need advice re chicken pox

[heartandhands]

my 2 yr old DD was exposed to cp today at daycare, which is fine with me. i would rather she get it and get it over with. however, a couple concerns...i am 24 wks pregnant. i have heard i have an increased risk of cp related pneumonia. is this just the usual fear mongering?

also, is there anything i can do wrt diet (we do eat very healthfully) or minerals or vitamins or homeopathics to lessen the effects (itching etc)? any tried and true natural remedies?

she is not vaccinated for CP or anything, for that matter.

thanks in advance

[Arduinna]

Have you had CP yourself before? If you so you should already have antibodies, although I know my mom had it more than once for some reason. Exposure doesn't mean she will get it, my daughter was exposed and never did.

[Marnica]

Well if she does get it, if it is a normal case, you should just let it runs it's course. DO NOT TREAT THE FEVER if she gets one. This can lead to complications. A normal case of the pox looks like a mild to moderate number of pox a runnynose, a low-grade fever & perhaps some small drop in energy that may last a few days. If thats' all it looks like, no need to do anything in terms of medications. As for supplements you can certainly support the immune response. Certain Vitamins are very useful for viral infections like Vitamin A and Vit c so give extra of those.If it is a more severe case - e.g. excessive itching, horrible-looking eruption, a disturbing cough, emotional difficulties such as excessive irritability or clinginess or difficulties with sleeping, I would use homeopathy. 8 remedies will cover about 95% of the cases of chickenpox. I have a homeoapthy book, but find this excert from Dr. Taylor says the same thing.

ok...can't link to it so PM me if you want the link

[fyrwmn]

dd got the cp when i was 27 or so wks pg with ds. my dr said that because i had had cp before, i could potentially get shingles which would pose no threat to the baby, but that it was highly unlikely that i would get cp again. i ended up not having any issues whatsoever!

[Deborah]

exposure to CP lessens the likelihood of shingles.

[tanyalynn]

Originally Posted by heartandhands

my 2 yr old DD was exposed to cp today at daycare, which is fine with me. i would rather she get it and get it over with. however, a couple concerns...i am 24 wks pregnant. i have heard i have an increased risk of cp related pneumonia. is this just the usual fear mongering?

Pregnant women getting sick with just about anything are more at risk of complications than non-pregnant women. I don't think it's fear-mongering so much as not being up-front about how normal this is while pregnant.

also, is there anything i can do wrt diet (we do eat very healthfully) or minerals or vitamins or homeopathics to lessen the effects (itching etc)? any tried and true natural remedies?

she is not vaccinated for CP or anything, for that matter.

thanks in advance

I'd have nutritional support stuff on hand, for either or both of you. Lots of vitC, vitA, a B complex, zinc, maybe magnesium.

[broodymama]

I'm also 24 weeks pregnant, and about 3 weeks ago all 3 of my kids came down with the chicken pox. I was fine (I've had them before), and for the kids I just treated the itchiness with oatmeal baths, and occasionally weight-appropriate doses of liquid Benadryl when it got really bad. It was a rough week or so, but I'm glad they got the immunity!

[heartandhands]

I have had cp myself. I hope dd gets them soon and gets it over with.
Thanks for all yourcresponses and suggestions re vitamins, baths etc

[traycanadian]

Extra vitamin C and cod liver oil. I used homeopathic Sulphur when the itching got bad. After one dose of that, the itching stopped and it was pretty much done. Honestly, CP was a lot easier for my son than a common cold.

[SoCaliMommy]

I've been told by drs it's only a concern if you yourself have never had them.

I was exposed to CP a bunch as a child and never got it. I'm not immune to it either.

[amnesiac]

Since this is about dealing with an illness rather than vaccines I'm moving to H&H.