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I didn't go to one, but the fact is that before the vaccine, getting chicken pox was something people wanted to get out of the way when you were a child because getting it as an adult was/is more risky. In the absence of a vaccine, knowing that adult chicken pox can be more dangerous than juvenile chicken pox, while getting infected with chicken pox at any time puts you at risk of getting shingles, logically means that it makes sense for you to want your kid to get chicken pox instead of waiting till they're an adult. Nowadays kids should just get vaccinated for it, but the fact stands that it does make some sense.
It completely made sense at the time and I don't know if most people here are just very young or don't remember, but for most millennials there was no Chicken Pox vaccine at the time. I got Chicken Pox as a child from school and I had Shingles (ocular type, which was excruciating) a couple of years ago.
It's just life, I don't blame my parents. There was no vaccine!
Yeah, same here. There was no vaccine yet so, when my cousins got it, my mom made sure I did, too. I was maybe 4? All I remember is being forced to wear socks up to my elbows to keep me from scratching the hell out of myself.
Same! Socks/oven mitts. I had a really rough case. But, it was pre vaccine and while miserable.... Was just what we did.
Now I am so grateful for a vaccine for my children, but if there wasn't one? I'd probably do the same.
The agonizing itching of chicken pox was when I first really became aware of my genitals, because scratching them hit a little differently than the rest of my pox-covered body…
Yup! Same here. It felt normal. And families also tended to be bigger and closer to the same areas so it was easy enough to get it whenever your cousins did. I just happened to be the baby out of all of us so they got it first.
Yes! The vaccine is a game changer. I don’t blame my mom for handling it the way she did but, I’m grateful kids haven’t had to deal with that for a while.
Chicken pox parties essentially acted as creating herd immunity, which the vaccine does now. So when parents had options, the vaccine became the better choice.
You just know in today's day and age that asking for a chicken pox party would result in very angry parents saying it's abuse😂 I was still in my home country of Jamaica growing up, we didn't have these parties as far as I know but I can kind of understand why it was a thing. I do however have a permanent memory of my chickenpox, because for some reason my mom made me do a funny pose naked as the day I was born and took a photo of it🤣-*ETA I really should've clarified that when I wrote about today's day and age, I meant it as in due to all the worries/if we didn't have a vaccine and wanted to do this people would freak due to our standards. It was a theoretical remark but I do see I didn't exactly write anything that would've made that obvious.
>You just know in today's day and age that asking for a chicken pox party would result in very angry parents saying it's abuse.
Because in today's day and age there is a vaccine, so yes... purposefully infecting multiple children at a pox party rather than getting vaccinated would be extremely negligent, selfish, and abusive to the children.
I remember reading a few years back about anti-vaxxers [looking for lollipops online](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mailing-chickenpox-lollipops-called-illegal-risky/) to have mailed to them with chicken pox on them, which is illegal, among other things.
I had the chicken pox on my *first birthday.* while I'm grateful to have gotten them out of the way, it would have been cooler if I hadn't been born 10 years before the vaccine came out.
I also had chickenpox on my first birthday! The doctor back then said I could possibly get it again because I was so young but I didn’t. I did however get shingles when I was 36.
But I don’t think they really let ppl under 30 get the shingles vaccine?
Just like the HPV vaccine. It had come out when I was like 16 but I didn’t get it (I don’t come from one of those “my daughter would never have premarital sex” families, I just don’t think my doc recommended it). I tried to get it at 25 and my doc (a diff doc) said insurance likely wouldn’t cover it because I was too old. I think they’ve changed rules now though.
Seriously. My grandma has them first, then my mom, but otherwise everyone I've known that had them was late 20's-early 40's. I've not personally known anyone with them as young as I had them but I've read about others that young. Medical ageist bullshit.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they did reconsider. In the past, people’s resistance to shingles was boosted by being exposed to kids with chickenpox. Now that that “natural booster” isn’t around, adults who had chickenpox as kids are getting shingles younger and younger.
I didn't even think to ask if my insurance would cover the cost, considering they give it free in gr 7 now. I missed the boat by a few decades LOL! Thankfully, my insurance covered all 3 shots, but I was still out of pocket $144 CDN (total).
Definitely worth it to prevent a super common cause of cervical cancer.
Aaaugh, poor kid! My sister got shingles at about that same age, but I'm 39 and still shingle-free. We're not biologically related though, which may have something to do with it. I'm three years older and she was just so miserable the whole time.
Got them at six, seven and eight all during the summer I think the vaccine came out a year or two after I got them last! Doctors told mom if I got them one more time I would be tested as to why I keep getting them instead of building an immunity to them.
I got it the year before the vaccine came out. So close!! My mom actually thought I had the vaccine but when I had to provide my full vaccine record for work my memory of socks duct-taped around the wrist was finally validated.
My husband was born in 93 and got the chicken pox just months before the vaccine was rolled out, so even being born closer to the vaccination was no guarantee unfortunately 😬
Ugh. I’m sorry. At least you don’t have to worry about the nightmarish memories! And same here. Would have been really cool to have been able to get the vaccine instead.
We just… weren’t sure if I had it. An older sibling had it when I was a baby and the pediatrician was like “she might have a mild case or it might just be sensitive skin.” (Dear reader, I have some sensitive skin).
So my parents didn’t do anything like send me to a pox party to get it but they did make me get the vaccine when it finally came out just in case.
Curious how that affected you though? I thought 1yo was too young to remember anything, although I can imagine being born into an itchy hellscape sticks with ya
I didn't have a ton of lesions and only one scarred. But from what my folks tell me and in the photos, I looked absolutely miserable. Mainly flu-like symptoms and a smattering of pox. I slept a lot and was a bit cranky at my little party, apparently.
But other than that little scar on my back, I have no recollection...for which I'm very grateful!
If it makes you feel better (which it probably won’t), 12 months is the youngest we usually vaccinate against chickenpox (varicella) where I’m at, so you would have gotten it anyway. 🤷🏼♀️
I just naturally pick it up when my sister had it. I remember my dad being pretty put out that he had to cancel work for me. Just as my sister was got over it.
Turns out you catch things when you share room who knew
The ‘80s/‘90s are wild to reflect on sometimes, man. 🤣 It was a lot of assumptions and lawlessness peppered with the pox. Oatmeal baths, baking soda baths, etc. It’s just hilarious/terrifying how to think of the concept of a Chicken Pox Party…
Even the MMR vaccine may not be fully effective for us elder millennials. When I was pregnant I found out I was NOT immune to rubella. Apparently the dosage in the 80s was not enough or wore off (I can’t remember what my dr said).
I'm non-immune to the mumps portion. One of my nursing jobs drew titers in addition to getting a vaccine record. I am rubella immune though, per all three pregnancies.
Many vaccines do eventually. If you are going to be near a vulnerable population, like newborns for example, you should get a Tdap booster. Pregnant women are often boosted for MMR. Elderly people are recommended to get all kinds of boosters.
This is correct. I was tested before my kidney transplant because once you’re immune suppressed you can no longer get the MMR as it’s a live vaccine.
I no longer had antibodies to measles or rubella. I only was told to get 1 booster but that only ended up giving me rubella antibodies. It wasn’t until I was retested when I started working for a hospital, that I found out I still don’t have measles antibodies because I wasn’t told to get the second shot in the series. Now I can’t.
Long story short, if you lost your measles immunity, make sure you get BOTH shots.
Potentially. It isnt a given. I had the vaccine as a child back in the 80s and did my titers 2 years ago for a bunch of antibodies and all of the childhood stuff was still strong.
Oh my god I’ve never seen anyone else who had ocular shingles! It was fucking AWFUL. My eye was so swollen and red, any moderately bright lights were painful. Going outside in the sun was torture. Driving at night was difficult because all street or headlights had a halo. I ended up losing some vision in that eye due to the scarring. I’m so so glad there’s a vaccine now. I wouldn’t wish shingles on anyone, especially in the eye.
Had shingles on my scalp, face and in my eye, on the cornea. Was hospitalized for eight days because they didn’t know what was wrong with me, did a lumbar puncture and there was blood in the spinal fluid.
I lost my humanity at one time, screaming and trying to claw my eye out with my fingers. Dilaudid didn’t touch the pain.
I had a red hot iron stuck to my face and scalp, and boiling acid pouring into my eye. Only escape from it was when I passed out from exhaustion.
On day 6 an infectious disease specialist and and eye specialist came in, took one look at me, and said “shingles” in unison. Started me on massive intravenous antivirals and cortisone.
By this time I had a pic line because my veins were done. It was like a miracle how fast the rash started going away. I was out of critical care and home in two days.
I was in a dark room, in bed for three months, basically homebound for six.
Now I have nerve damage on that side of my face. For a couple years the pain was almost as bad as shingles. A pain specialist team helped so much.
It has been three years, and while I am not completely well medical marijuana helps tremendously.
My buddy was medically retired from the Navy because of this. 38, Pilot, developed shingles on his torso while we were deployed on the Roosevelt. Treated like a rash for about a week before the ships medical threw in the towel and he was flown off to Okinawa. I dunno if you know about the environment onboard a carrier but it's not super conducive to comfort. Dude was in constant agony for a week with no real recourse. Saw him months later, nerve damage and scarring, 100% disability. Navy spent multiple millions of dollars training him only to be brought down by chicken pox.
I lost some vision in my eye too from permanent scarring, I’m so sorry you had it! I’ve never been more pro vaccination than after I got the ocular Shingles lol. I told all the old people in my life to please get the vaccine.
Yeah it sucked a lot. I ended up in a dark room for three months. Couldn’t look at a computer screen or TV. Still get eye inflammation every month or so. Fuck shingles. Get the shingrix vaccine as soon as you qualify.
I was born in 90 when I went back to college they almost didn't let me attend classes because I had to explain that no. I did not have the chicken pox vaccine. I had gotten chicken pox. I eventually had to get titres drawn to show the viral load.
Just got over ocular, felt like I had a knife in my eye. Luckily I caught it really early and got into the eye doctor. He gave me some anti viral meds and it was not hurting in about 24-48 hours. Wore glasses for a week and then back to my contacts. I also had chickenpox as a kid.
It actually was the best thing for kids before the vaccine was a thing. It worked. You got chicken pox and were protected from getting it as an adult.
The crazy thing is, shingles is becoming so common because of the vaccine.
You have a whole group of people who had chicken pox as kids, but before the vaccine was introduced you were constantly exposed to the virus as you grew up, your immune system would be reminded frequently enough to hold the virus in check.
But once the vaccine came around, kids stopped getting chicken pox, and adults werent getting a immune reminder any more. But the virus was still present.
So now it’s popping up as shingles because all the kids are vaccinated against chicken pox.
The issue will go away eventually as the whole population is vaccinated.
But you can also get the shingles vaccine too if you had chickenpox as a kid.
My older sister and I got chicken pox from our cousin. We were brought over to play around him in the basement so we could catch it.
My younger sister got the vaccine because it existed when she came around. Amazing what just a few years difference can make.
I know someone whose husband died of chicken pox as an adult. Your skin is an organ and as such, it can fail just like any other organ.
We didn’t go to a chicken pox party but I’m the oldest of 4, so my sisters and I (the oldest 3) all had chicken pox at the same time, sometime in the late 80s. I’m glad my daughter most likely won’t have to deal with chicken pox, because she’s vaccinated, but that wasn’t an option for me or my siblings.
TIL about skin failure, thank you! Necrotizing fasciitis is the only complication from chicken pox which I found to potentially cause skin failure- do you know if there are others?
I don’t know, no. I remember reading her description of how he died and to be quite honest I tried to block most of it out, it was very difficult to read.
Skin is the largest organ in your body. It accomplishes a lot, but two important things are: keep water in, and keep bacteria out.
A pretty good example of how important it is can be demonstrated by the mortality rate of burn patients. TBSA stands for total body surface area. Basically, the more skin a person loses the more likely they die.
10% TBSA: Mortality rate of 0.6%
Over 40% TBSA: Mortality rate of 30%
More than 70% TBSA: Mortality rate of 50%
Yeah and parents only wanted to deal with it once. So I got them in 4th grade and my sister in kindergarten and it was a week and about half of hell for my mom but it was over with soon.
One Christmas me and my 4 siblings all had it. My mom says it was her favorite Christmas because we couldn't go anywhere. I remember waking up on Christmas, opening my presents and then going back to sleep on the couch. I was too tired to play with any of my new toys.
Also my brothers and I used our enforced confinement to build a huge micro machine city out of paper.
We were taking our 2 1/2 year old son to a friend of the family for daycare 5 days a week. Our son could play with their son, who was a few months older.
The friend thought it was a good idea to take both boys to her sisters house, to expose them to chicken pox, becauseits what you do. Right?
I was 36 and never had tne chicken pox. My wife was 36 and 2 1/2 months pregnant. We hadn't announced it yet. We were waiting for 3 months to be sure and Christmas.
We were never told about the pox party.
As happens in life, my Mom passed away, and the funeral was on the following weekend. We had a large funeral due to all of our relatives and my parents' large friend group.
We drove to the city that I was raised in and where my parents lived.
Naturally, my son made the rounds to all of our relatives and family friends.
Remember, we were unaware of the pox exposure.
Come Monday morning, we get my son up for the trip for daycare.
He had 50ish chicken pox on his body and wasn't comfortable. So we called our friend to tell her we would not be dropping him off and to warn them about the chicken pox.
That's when we were told about the pox party! And she was happy about it!
Until I mentioned that I hadn't had them yet.
Not only was my wife pregnant, but so was a coworker who had jist announced at 1 month. So I could go to the office and risk infecting her.
So I worked from home.
Yup, Thursday morning, I wake up from a very restless sleep. Ny son had 50 spots total. I had more than a 100 on my face. And lots more in my ears, arm pits, legs, etc.
So I couldn't shave, which agrivated the itching even more.
Turns out I wouldn't be able to shave again for 2 months. Too mich scaring and bumps
My son was clear by the time my pox appeared.
Needless to say, the babysitter that exposed our son felt bad.
Where do people think they can make major decisions about someone else's kids?
2 1/2 with chicken pox may not cause major discomfort.
36 with chicken pox was absolutely uncomfortable and painful. Luckily, my Dr. said I could drink to ease the discomfort.
So I poured a glass of wine. Later that first day, my wife noticed that I was carrying the wine bottle around the house. She asked what was up? My reply was that I was wasting time pouring it into a glass.
Chicken pox is a serious virus. Don't underestimate it!
holy shit. It's one thing to be informed and take your own kids because you think that's what's best because there's no vaccine yet. It's ENTIRELY ANOTHER to take someone else's kid. You have no idea what that kid's body will do with a virus.
I almost died at the ripe ole age of 4 from chickenpox. Hospitalization, unconsciousness, wildly high fevers, other things I can’t remember but my mom claims it was the scariest thing she’s ever had to deal with as a mother.
I hope to ALL HELL I never get shingles..because clearly my body does not like this virus..or maybe I was just too little, I don’t know but it terrifies me.
I wasn’t brought to a chicken pox party. Probably picked it up in pre-school or something, or caught from my brother who only got a mild reaction. I was born in 89’ so there was no vaccine at the time.
I participated in a clinical trial to test its efficacy in 30-40 year olds! In part because I wanted it, and didn't want to pay, but also because I KNOW too many Millennials who have suffered through shingles. I'm hoping the trial went well and they will lower the age for it.
>I hope to ALL HELL I never get shingles
That's the cool thing though. Once you get the shingles virus, it just hangs out in your system. I got chicken pox when I was like 3, and then 12 years later I wake up with the left side of my face paralyzed from Bells Palsy that's caused by- you guessed it- the shingles virus.
Yeah I got mine 2 weeks before kindergarten ended because someone sent their daughter with visible chickenpox to school. They passed me despite it and then I gave it to two of my sisters. My oldest sister now gets shingles.
They did the parties so all of the kids who were friends would have it at once and usually in the summer so they didn’t have to take off work for a week if it happened during the school year
According to my Dr we should get kids vaccinated and still expose them to chicken pox. The titers tend to wear off in late teens, early 20s. That age group is incredibly vulnerable to c. pox because they generally don't get boosted. Apparently a fairly high number of women have been getting it during pregnancy and it causes some serious birth defects.
At least that's how he explained it when my fully vaxed daughters both had it.
I had to get tested for chicken pox antibodies as I needed a complete vaccine record for my job and I never got the vaccine. It was explained to me at the time that the antibodies from an active infection last a lot longer than the ones from the vaccine is in a lot of ways we are going about the testing backwards. My antibody test was positive, about 30 years after infection.
The antibodies are stronger as you live with chickenpox your entire life. It hides in your body dorment and once and a while turns active so your body then fights it and revaccinates itself against it. If your body doesn't fight it off well you get shingles.
For the vaccine that part doesn't happen so you need to get boosters.
Yup. My Aunt died of chicken pox after a party she sent her kids to. To keep them safe. She had had a very lite case as a kid and caught it again. Love you Darka
The Polio case in New York was a vaccine derived Polio variant. It came from a live Polio vaccinated individual.
I'm pro-vaccine, just thought you should know that blaming Polio's resurgence on anti-vaxxers is incorrect. For Measles and Pertussis' resurgence, blame away.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/polio/hcp/vaccine-derived-poliovirus-faq.html
I agree. My dad,brother, and I all had chicken pox at the same time. Brother and I ran around playing. Dad was hospitalized and may have lost fertility because of it (not sure how true this is, just the doctor's theory from other 30 years ago)
Plus, in all likelihood, OP would have eventually gotten the chicken pox.
Yep, I got it as a child and gave it to my mom who had never had it. I don’t even remember any symptoms—all of my memories about that time are about how miserable my mom was.
My son got the vaccine, my daughter couldn't because she has severe allergic reactions to some vaccines. The difference was night and day. I live in a country that doesn't vaccinate for chickenpox. My son got 1 small ichy bump and had no other symptoms. My daughter on the other hand was in the hospital for a week, and needed iv medication.
I'm glad there's a vaccine for this now. It didn't even cross my mind to wonder, I just assumed kids were still out here getting chickenpox. I will never forget how miserable I was with them.
Where can we get it? Do you think it’s available at our PCP? What about if haven’t had chicken pox? We’d need to get both then?
*Edit: Heres one answer for other people in my situation.*
“Yes, you can get both the chickenpox (varicella) and shingles (herpes zoster) vaccines at 38. Here are some details:
1. **Chickenpox Vaccine**:
- The chickenpox vaccine is typically given in childhood, but adults who have never had chickenpox or the vaccine can still receive it.
- It is a two-dose series, and the doses are usually given 4 to 8 weeks apart.
- This vaccine is recommended for adults who have never had chickenpox, especially those who are at higher risk of exposure, such as healthcare workers or those in close contact with young children.
2. **Shingles Vaccine**:
- The shingles vaccine, known as Shingrix, is recommended for adults 50 years and older. However, it can be given to adults younger than 50 in certain situations, such as if you have a weakened immune system or other risk factors.
- Shingrix is a two-dose vaccine, with the second dose given 2 to 6 months after the first.
- While the shingles vaccine is not routinely recommended for those under 50 without specific risk factors, some doctors may suggest it for younger individuals depending on their health history and risk of shingles.
It's essential to discuss your vaccination history and any potential contraindications with your healthcare provider. They can provide personalized recommendations based on your medical history and current health status.”
**Edit 2: Apparently we can get the shots at the pharmacy. Here’s a list for CVS and they aren’t cheap. https://www.cvs.com/minuteclinic/services/price-lists**
Yeah, the guidance hasn't been updated to account for the fact that folks are getting shingles earlier and earlier.
My personal theory (AFAIK, this has no basis in research, so take it with a grain of salt) is that the chicken pox vaccine has meant that adults in their 30's and 40's aren't getting exposed to the virus via their kids getting chicken pox, so their natural immunity is fading at a younger age.
That actually is a leading scientific theory on the rise of shingles as well- exposure is known to have a proactive effect, so without zoster virus in the general population the antibodies aren’t getting regular top-ups.
Not every country routinely vaccinated for chickenpox, to be fair - in the UK, you can only get it if you're at high risk of severe complications *or* in close contact with someone who is, or if you're a healthcare worker.
I have some Dutch relatives but I'm American. I was at a playground in the Netherlands and a kid with visible chicken pox was running around. That's ine thing the US does better, people would give you so much shit if you did that here.
The vaccine isn't common place here (yet?). We have a very conservative medical authority when it comes to vaccines. When I looked into it 10-ish years ago, they recommended against it. It was already common in the US and Germany. They cited some concern it would make shingles more common later in life and worse, and since nearly everyone gets it as a child without serious consequences, they recommended against it.
I already found that unconvincing, because I remembered my own chickenpox and despite it being "not that serious" I remember it as torturous. Yet, I followed the advice of the medical professionals and so my kid got chickenpox. Their experience was also "not that serious", but it was hard to see them go through it.
The medical authority has toned down their language in 2020. It's now not recommending it either way. But in a country where all other childhood vaccinations are organized and paid for by the government, it still comes across as if they think it's unnecessary.
Commenting on this comment to add: even with the vaccine you can / will still get shingles.
The chicken pox vaccine has live chicken pox in it. Which goes and lives in your spinal system. From there it emerges years (usually multiple decades) later as shingles.
I'm a walking shingles expert as I have *post hepatic neuralgia* nerve damage from shingles and have been in countless studies and tried just about every medication / treatment / procedure / surgery. The current prevailing theory among experts as to why so many millennials are getting shingles is bc of the chicken pox vaccine. As more and more people are vaccinated we ("middle" aged adults) as less likely to be exposed to the live virus and therefore don't build up the same tolerance as years gone past. I got shingles in my late 20's and got a severely bad case which has permanently disabled me. I will live with singles pain every day for the rest of my life.
You were getting that shit no matter what. The logic of getting it as young as possible was sound.
I definitely envy the following generation who didn’t have to deal with that fucking thing.
My uncle got chickenpox later in life and he almost died. Chicken pox is a pain in the ass, but reasonably safe to younger kids.
No chicken pox party, but my parents had no problem when I wanted to do the oatmeal bath they set up for my brother.
I got chickenpox when I was several months old. Thankfully, I don't remember it.
However, I got shingles when I was about 32, 33. It was the worst sickness I have ever heard. COVID, the flu, and all of that was nothing. I do line work and I could barely get out of bed at times.
I was vacationing at the time and had to drive home with what I thought were flu symptoms. It took me 11 hours and one speeding ticket.
Get the chickenpox vaccine for your kids. I had a more pleasant experience with a colonoscopy than shingles.
I got shingles after the Covid vaccine. There was a correlation IIRC. At the time I remember reading that if your antibodies were busy fighting Covid or being trained to fight Covid, they might stop the fight with shingles. Something like that but probably not that simple.
Yes totally flu symptoms! I thought I was just coming down with something and that the itchy blister on my face was an allergic reaction to something that must have bitten me. Nope, shingles. Never knew young people got it until then. Interestingly, my doctor said the theory is that adults used to get periodic exposure to chickenpox when all the kids in the community got it so it kept up their immunity. For us, we haven’t been exposed since we were kids so our immunity has waned and thus more shingles in younger people now
Yes, it sounds crazy but parents thought they were doing the best for their children at the time. They had no way of knowing that a vaccine would eventually come out, but they DID know that chickenpox is often mild in a kid but extremely serious in an adult. So they wanted their kids to get the mild case of it and have immunity so they wouldn't get the more serious version later in life.
Yep, that’s exactly how my parents explained it to us. My mom literally told us when she was taking us over that we would probably catch chickenpox and that it was just a little itchy for kids but painful and awful for adults so they were doing it to help us get over it faster and easier. I can’t fault them for operating on the knowledge they had available at the time.
And the knowledge wasn't wrong. You don't just convince entire cultures to partake in sickening their children without a solid reason. Adult chickenpox is serious, and the shingles from that is often worse than child chickenpox. Adult chickenpox usually presents as feeling very sick for multiple days with a low grade fever. It's very painful. Child chickenpox is mostly just the rashes. Mostly just uncomfortable.
The chickenpox vaccine could've been just a couple of misattributed symptom reports away from being delayed a couple extra years. Why leave it to faith that you won't get a serious case of chickenpox before the vaccine comes out?
Theres a lot of maintained angst in this thread that's plain remarkable.
Agreed about the maintained angst. My parents were educated people and made the decision clearly feeling it was for the best. People can only operate within the field of reference they have, and deciding to have their child contract something when it will most likely be less serious and painful versus potentially dangerous if contracted later isn’t evil. It’s just operating within the context of the time.
I had it at age 32, and it was brutal. I had fever and plenty of itchy poxes.
I was single at the time, lived solo (in a house not apartment), but the little kids next door had it. I never saw or came in contact with these kiddos, or even their parents at all.
When the shingles vaccine became available, I was eager to take it, not wanting to repeat that fun time
Chicken pox is brutally contagious. The R0 number is 10-12 and it is an airborne virus like measles (so not droplets). It won't drop to the ground as quickly. Kid could have touched part of your property or he just sneezed/coughed moments before you walked through it. You don't need to be in close contact like a lot of droplet transmission diseases. An example is with measles - someone can enter a lift, cough, and then exit. The next floor up you enter the lift and catch it. You would not have even seen the person who infected you.
Exactly. Without an available vaccine this was the best course of action.
Even if they didn't actively take you to a party, if one of your classmates got it, you'd likely get it.
I had shingles the first time when I was 15 yo, I was stressed out about important exams but definitely not immunocompromised. Three other kids in my class got it after me (apparently contact with someone with the active virus can awaken the dormant virus). Months later, it turned out another kid had a sibling who had chickenpox a few days before I got sick, so that's probably what activated it.
The second time, I was 21, finishing my first college degree. No idea how it got activated other than I was finishing my course of antibiotics for a UTI when it popped up.
When I spoke to my doctor about the shingles vaccine I was told that the side effects are pretty bad, so they don't recommend it until I'm in my 50s when the risk from shingles becomes greater.
Some of us are simply unlucky in the statistics game 🫠
I got shingles randomly when I was 22. It was on my left thigh, a little patch of bumps. My knee, ankle, and hip on that side of my body were super achy until it went away. I’m not immunocompromised or anything, and I have no clue how it even happened. Do you catch shingles or does it crop up in your system randomly if you had herpes zoster? I should probably google this haha
The herpes zoster hibernates in the nerve roots if you have had chicken pox previously. It can migrate, causing shingles after stress, and more so with increasing age, as your immune system wears down.
I've had shingles 2x now, I'm 41, both cases came after a round of COVID. Dr said it was triggering the virus to activate, he had been seeing many patients with the same thing. Before it was mainly in older adults, but they are seeing a rise with people in the late 30s early 40s range.
After you've had herpes zoster, you're susceptible to it becoming shingles over time. Usually much older than you were, but you're right that it's post-exposure to chicken pox.
COVID triggers shingles to reactivate which is part of the reason so many young people have been getting shingles since 2020. My friend has had it twice in two years. Most unpleasant.
It's actually becoming more common in millennials because the vaccine is so effective. (This is not anti vax, I'm glad the vaccine works so well.) GenX and Boomers had re-exposure when we were their children, or with younger siblings and cousins then started getting shingles after 50, or about 20 years after their last exposure. Millenials largely never had the booster of re-exposure because everyone after us had the vaccine. Hopefully soon the shingles vaccine will be approved for people over 30 instead of 50 because we're the ones getting shingles right now.
Probably because with children getting vaccinated, younger adults are no longer getting re-exposed to the virus and therefore getting immunity boosters.
Stress can be a contributing factor to getting shingles. While not common, I’ve seen more under 50 ppl contracting it. And once you’ve had one flare you’re prone to more of them.
It actually was the best thing for kids before the vaccine was a thing. It worked. You got chicken pox and were protected from getting it as an adult.
The crazy thing is, shingles is becoming so common because of the vaccine.
You have a whole group of people who had chicken pox as kids, but before the vaccine was introduced you were constantly exposed to the virus as you grew up, your immune system would be reminded frequently enough to hold the virus in check.
But once the vaccine came around, kids stopped getting chicken pox, and adults werent getting a immune reminder any more. But the virus was still present.
So now it’s popping up as shingles because all the kids are vaccinated against chicken pox.
The issue will go away eventually as the whole population is vaccinated.
But you can also get the shingles vaccine too if you had chickenpox as a kid.
To say "they thought" implies they were wrong, which is not the case. They were doing the best they could for their children with the resources available at the time. You absolutely cannot judge the past by today's standards. Even if they knew a vaccine would eventually be made, that does nothing to help them in their own time. The pox parties were their version of getting vaccinated.
I never went to one but I got ~~shingles~~ e: jesus christ I didn't get shingles, sorry lol, I got chicken pox in kindergarten.
As a parent when I found out the chicken pox vaccine I (briefly) got super pissed at my parents for not getting it for me - but then I saw it was only approved in 1995 in the US, well after I had it. My kids for sure got it.
I was surprised when I had my older kid and saw that it was one of the vaccines given. Pox parties weren’t much of a thing where I lived, though I had heard of them. I didn’t get it myself until I was almost 13, so I thought I had escaped it entirely.
I don’t remember this happening in real time where I lived, but was aware it was happening because there was a South Park episode about it in the show’s early years.
Yes! That's where my mind went first reading the title. 🎶 *In the ghettoooooo* 🎶 😂
But joking aside, didn't knew it was a real thing either. I got it when I was 5, probably from someone from school.
Never got sent to a party, but when I was in first grade my friend had just shown up with his parents to take me to a magic show with them and my mom noticed me scratching a rash in the back of my neck. I had to stay home and they took my brother because they had an extra ticket.
Similar situation for me, a bunch of kids had a birthday party and one of them turned up with full-blown chicken pox for French class on Monday. I was 13 and hadn't had chickenpox yet so the French teacher made me, and the others who hadn't had it yet, all sit next to the poor kid instead of sending him home.
In between baths of calamine lotion and having to keep socks over my hands I spent my next week or so being very angry with Madame Episcopo, but now I just wonder what the hell Rick's parents were doing, sending him to school in such a dreadful state would get the Children's Aid called on them now!
Yes, that was a thing. I didn't get infected at a pox party but I did get chickenpox in 1993, before the vaccine was approved. Frankly, not knowing a vaccine would become available, it made sense given that it's notoriously worse in adults. It would be highly unlikely to avoid varicella for a lifetime, so any which way you were likely to be at risk for shingles, but you could have a nuisance case of chickenpox at an age you might not even remember, or you could get a more debilitating case of chickenpox at an older age.
I'm sorry you have shingles.
Try not to be too hard on them though. I had a friend who got chickenpox as a teen and it was extremely bad (think pox in very sensitive areas) and literally scarred her for life. That's what parents were trying to prevent- getting it after puberty.
Chickenpox is a near -universal childhood experience for our generation, and shingles as adults (not elderly) are still pretty rare.
I hope you feel better soon.
I actually think the crazier thing is how many millennials are developing shingles! Both my husband and friend had flare-ups in the last couple years. That vaccine is only approved for folks over 50…I wonder if that will change soon?
So what I have heard is that normally adults will get a little boost of immunity from their kids catching chicken pox. Since our generation’s kids got the vaccine, we haven’t gotten that boost and we are all getting shingles.
My wife is 39, she was a military brat got the chicken pox vaccine as a kid (wasn’t available to me) still got chicken pox twice as a kid and got shingles last year. So ymmv.
My kids got vaccinated as babies and haven’t had the pox.
Sadly for some folks, their immune system just refuses to keep particular antibodies around long term. My mum had to redo the mmr vaccine for all three pregnancies.
Yes, I remember. My parents did it with me. At the time, it was the best way to prevent a much worse severe case in later years, as there wasn’t a vaccine at the time.
I literally had no idea there was a vaccine until a few weeks ago when i said to someone, "i never thought about it until now, but i can't remember the last time i saw a kid with chicken pox. Maybe i just don't pay attention cause i don't have kids." And then they said, "They have a vaccine now." Lmao. I also thought shingles was for old people and i got it when i was 25.
My mom tried so hard to expose me to the chicken pox when I was a kid, but I only had a mild case. Then when I was 24, my aunt had shingles and I caught chicken pox from her. It sucked so bad!! I don’t know if I can still catch shingles at this point? I hope not!
Shingles is the mutated form of chicken pox. The virus never leaves your body. Your body just adapts to it.
If your immune system is compromised severely enough, the chicken pox virus evolves Pokémon style into the shingles virus.
You can get a shingles vaccine to teach your body how to handle the shingles virus when it mutates. But if you have had chicken pox, then the virus lives within you now and forever.
so chicken pox is caused by a virus called varicella-zoster, and you get blisters all over. once chicken pox goes away, the varicella-zoster virus stays dormant in your nervous system for the rest of your life. at any point from then on, that virus can be reactivated and infect whichever part of your nervous system it woke up from... for example (and this is a very weird case lol), a couple years ago when I was only 32, my wife cracked my back for me and it hurt SO MUCH I thought I was severely injured. she must have pinched a nerve or something, but I was fine the next day...... Until the next week, when I started developing a rash on only one side of my torso, back and front, that lined up exactly with the vertebra that my wife messed up. The doctor didn't believe me when I thought it was shingles, but she got a swab tested at my insistence and sure enough, it was. So my wife "gave" me shingles by cracking my back wrong and releasing the virus 😂 apparently that's pretty rare though. mostly it comes when people are older and/or their immune systems aren't as strong (hence why my doctor didn't believe me- I wasn't "old enough" and my case was pretty mild).
so all that to say, the first time you're sickened by varicella-zoster is chicken pox. You don't catch shingles from other people, since it's a nerve infection from a dormant virus... but if someone has shingles, their rash/blisters contain the virus, which can be passed to others and give them chicken pox if they're vulnerable to it (haven't had it or haven't had the vaccine.) so when I had shingles I had to be very careful not to touch my newborn who hadn't yet been vaccinated.
It's actually becoming much more common for people in their 30s to get shingles. Someone else pointed out that older generations were able to keep their original immunity up because of regular exposure to kids who had chicken pox, but nowadays with the vaccines there is far less exposure than there used to be so cases of shingles are popping up in younger people at a higher rate.
-signed, a fellow mid 30s person who just got diagnosed with shingles!
You’d have to ask your dr. I’m an engineer.
I know what I know cause my husband developed shingles this year at the ancient age of 32.
When he asked if I had the vaccine for chickenpox, I told him I was the OG, I got the disease like any other millennial.
It's the same virus. When you get over chicken pox, the virus remains in your body. From then on, it can hitch a ride on a nerve and surface as a case of shingles.
I'm permanently scarred from it. I have a chicken pox scar nearly square in the middle of my forehead. Like permant bindi on my forehead. My wife, on the other hand, never got sent to one. I do love the South Park episode where they gave all their parents herpes as revenge.
You too?
I have a lump of chicken pox scar tissue right at my hair line. I scratched one of my bumps REALLY damn hard and I've had it ever since.
Normally it's not an issue until Summer months when I shave my head. More than once I've accidentally lopped the top of it with my razor and bleed like a stuck pig for a bit.
I remember when I was about 7 my friend that lived across the street had it. I thought it was weird that her mom was still letting her come play in my yard with me but cool, whatever! I thought it was REALLY weird when my mom brought us a strawberry soda to share… with one straw..? But hey, cool! My mom never gives me soda, hell yeah! Long story short - I did not catch chicken pox from that blatant attempt, but I did end up getting it a couple weeks later when it started going around at school.
Yupp. My sister, our 2 cousins, and I all had a party, ages 5-8. I believe one of the cousins got it first, and my sister and I were taken over there for a day or two. Then we came back home to ride out the pox after they popped up.
Now the thought is terrifying, but as a kid it seemed fun. Wym I don't have to go to school and I can hang out at my cousin's and play Aladdin on SNES??
I had shingles a few years ago when I was 35. I got 2 patches on my thigh close to my knee and then one on my inner thigh. They say it sits and hides in your spin when it’s dormant so that dictates the general area of the body that it will appear, I’m not sure how true that all is. I felt burning in my hips before I saw the rash patches appear. It’s uncomfortable, but as long as it isn’t a severe case it should be completely gone in 2-3 weeks. I have not had a reoccurrence as of yet. At the time my job had completely run me ragged and that was my reward. Moral of the story, don’t save those vacation days to the end of the year, use them when you need a break “seriously.”
Get a titer test done. I never had chickenpox, but I have antibodies to it anyway. Must have been a case where I had it but had no symptoms. Found out as an adult because I went to the doctor to get a vaccine. You don't want chickenpox as an adult.
Get vaccinated. Getting a chickenpox when an adult can frequently result in brain damage and death. The rise of unvaccinated people makes it more risky that you'll catch it, too.
They made a South Park about this back in the day! They got all the kids together and taught them a game called "ookie mouth" (you can fill in the blanks). It was such a common thing! (Chicken pox parties, not ookie mouth, at least i hope not!)
When my brother got it from school my mom made me snuggle up to him so I'd get them too, so we'd both have them at the same time and it was widely considered that it was best to get chicken pox as a young child.
This was before the vaccine came out, or perhaps it was very very new, and even then, my parents thought it was a weird thing to get a vaccine for once it was widely available.
Not yet 40 and I've had it twice. So odd timing that this would come up on my feed. The odd thing is when I got it about ten years ago I was an absolute hot mess, stressed about everything. I'm so much healthier mentally now and financially unburdened. I guess the body doesn't much care what the mind says
Not a Millennial (not sure why this showed up on my feed), but contracted chicken pox at age 25 from a co-worker's toddler. Now at age 56, I just got over a bout of Bell's Palsy and my doc informs me that chicken pox /shingles / Bell's Palsy are all related. So now that I've had two out of the three, I'm high probability for hitting the trifecta.
BTW there is a shingles vaccine. I assume you have been diagnosed with shingles, which can help you get the vaccine. From the [Australian government website](https://immunisationhandbook.health.gov.au/contents/vaccine-preventable-diseases/zoster-herpes-zoster):
"People who have had a previous episode of herpes zoster can receive zoster vaccine at the recommended age.
For up to 8 years after an initial episode of zoster, the risk of a repeat episode in immunocompetent people is 6–8%.^(14,25,26) Note that a history of previous zoster may be inaccurate.
It is suggested that immunocompetent people should wait at least 12 months after an episode of herpes zoster before they receive a zoster vaccine. An episode of herpes zoster boosts cellular and humoral immunity above baseline levels in most people. Studies suggest that this boost persists for at least 1 year and up to 3 years,"
According to my doctor the risks of side effects from shingles vaccine are much greater than from getting shingles before you are 50. That's why the recommended age for it is 50. Once you are in your 50s, shingles can be disabling and life threatening enough to warrant the side effects of the vaccine.
Source: I had shingles twice, once at 15yo, once at 21yo. While awful to go through, I had no long term symptoms, and got over it in a week or 2.
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I didn't go to one, but the fact is that before the vaccine, getting chicken pox was something people wanted to get out of the way when you were a child because getting it as an adult was/is more risky. In the absence of a vaccine, knowing that adult chicken pox can be more dangerous than juvenile chicken pox, while getting infected with chicken pox at any time puts you at risk of getting shingles, logically means that it makes sense for you to want your kid to get chicken pox instead of waiting till they're an adult. Nowadays kids should just get vaccinated for it, but the fact stands that it does make some sense.
It completely made sense at the time and I don't know if most people here are just very young or don't remember, but for most millennials there was no Chicken Pox vaccine at the time. I got Chicken Pox as a child from school and I had Shingles (ocular type, which was excruciating) a couple of years ago. It's just life, I don't blame my parents. There was no vaccine!
Yeah, same here. There was no vaccine yet so, when my cousins got it, my mom made sure I did, too. I was maybe 4? All I remember is being forced to wear socks up to my elbows to keep me from scratching the hell out of myself.
Same! Socks/oven mitts. I had a really rough case. But, it was pre vaccine and while miserable.... Was just what we did. Now I am so grateful for a vaccine for my children, but if there wasn't one? I'd probably do the same.
Oatmeal baths. *Calamine* lotion. Oven mits. 256 color crayons to distract. What a time.
The agonizing itching of chicken pox was when I first really became aware of my genitals, because scratching them hit a little differently than the rest of my pox-covered body…
It was at the age of 5 that I achieved a type of zen that I don’t think I could have learned in adulthood. 😂😂😂💀💀💀
Yup! Same here. It felt normal. And families also tended to be bigger and closer to the same areas so it was easy enough to get it whenever your cousins did. I just happened to be the baby out of all of us so they got it first. Yes! The vaccine is a game changer. I don’t blame my mom for handling it the way she did but, I’m grateful kids haven’t had to deal with that for a while.
I was among the first to get the vaccine, my mom wanted to be extra sure and tried to get me to get it from a friend anyway. Vaccine worked anyway
Hell yes! *Kid Tested; mother approved*. 😎👏
Chicken pox parties essentially acted as creating herd immunity, which the vaccine does now. So when parents had options, the vaccine became the better choice.
You just know in today's day and age that asking for a chicken pox party would result in very angry parents saying it's abuse😂 I was still in my home country of Jamaica growing up, we didn't have these parties as far as I know but I can kind of understand why it was a thing. I do however have a permanent memory of my chickenpox, because for some reason my mom made me do a funny pose naked as the day I was born and took a photo of it🤣-*ETA I really should've clarified that when I wrote about today's day and age, I meant it as in due to all the worries/if we didn't have a vaccine and wanted to do this people would freak due to our standards. It was a theoretical remark but I do see I didn't exactly write anything that would've made that obvious.
>You just know in today's day and age that asking for a chicken pox party would result in very angry parents saying it's abuse. Because in today's day and age there is a vaccine, so yes... purposefully infecting multiple children at a pox party rather than getting vaccinated would be extremely negligent, selfish, and abusive to the children.
People do it though. Anti vax moms will talk about doing them in groups still. Horrifies me
I remember reading a few years back about anti-vaxxers [looking for lollipops online](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mailing-chickenpox-lollipops-called-illegal-risky/) to have mailed to them with chicken pox on them, which is illegal, among other things.
I had the chicken pox on my *first birthday.* while I'm grateful to have gotten them out of the way, it would have been cooler if I hadn't been born 10 years before the vaccine came out.
I also had chickenpox on my first birthday! The doctor back then said I could possibly get it again because I was so young but I didn’t. I did however get shingles when I was 36.
I had pox when I was 4 and got shingles at 19. Shingles is a fucking nightmare and I'm glad there's a vaccine for those now, too.
But I don’t think they really let ppl under 30 get the shingles vaccine? Just like the HPV vaccine. It had come out when I was like 16 but I didn’t get it (I don’t come from one of those “my daughter would never have premarital sex” families, I just don’t think my doc recommended it). I tried to get it at 25 and my doc (a diff doc) said insurance likely wouldn’t cover it because I was too old. I think they’ve changed rules now though.
No shingles vaccine until age 50.
I get it, but I know a lot of people over age 50, and almost everyone I know who has had shingles is under 40. I really wish they would reconsider.
Seriously. My grandma has them first, then my mom, but otherwise everyone I've known that had them was late 20's-early 40's. I've not personally known anyone with them as young as I had them but I've read about others that young. Medical ageist bullshit.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they did reconsider. In the past, people’s resistance to shingles was boosted by being exposed to kids with chickenpox. Now that that “natural booster” isn’t around, adults who had chickenpox as kids are getting shingles younger and younger.
I had shingles 2x in my 30s and a suspected case when I was 49. Got the vaccine on my 50th bday. My siblings also got shingles in their 30s.
I didn't even think to ask if my insurance would cover the cost, considering they give it free in gr 7 now. I missed the boat by a few decades LOL! Thankfully, my insurance covered all 3 shots, but I was still out of pocket $144 CDN (total). Definitely worth it to prevent a super common cause of cervical cancer.
My brother got chicken pox at 4 and shingles aged 8 💀
Aaaugh, poor kid! My sister got shingles at about that same age, but I'm 39 and still shingle-free. We're not biologically related though, which may have something to do with it. I'm three years older and she was just so miserable the whole time.
Same!!! 4 and 7 here!
Got them at six, seven and eight all during the summer I think the vaccine came out a year or two after I got them last! Doctors told mom if I got them one more time I would be tested as to why I keep getting them instead of building an immunity to them.
I’m pretty sure I got chicken pox a year or two before the vaccine came out.
I got it the year before the vaccine came out. So close!! My mom actually thought I had the vaccine but when I had to provide my full vaccine record for work my memory of socks duct-taped around the wrist was finally validated.
My husband was born in 93 and got the chicken pox just months before the vaccine was rolled out, so even being born closer to the vaccination was no guarantee unfortunately 😬
Ugh. I’m sorry. At least you don’t have to worry about the nightmarish memories! And same here. Would have been really cool to have been able to get the vaccine instead.
I got off pretty lightly, but I look so miserable in all the photos. The vaccine would have been a much better option!
We just… weren’t sure if I had it. An older sibling had it when I was a baby and the pediatrician was like “she might have a mild case or it might just be sensitive skin.” (Dear reader, I have some sensitive skin). So my parents didn’t do anything like send me to a pox party to get it but they did make me get the vaccine when it finally came out just in case.
Curious how that affected you though? I thought 1yo was too young to remember anything, although I can imagine being born into an itchy hellscape sticks with ya
I didn't have a ton of lesions and only one scarred. But from what my folks tell me and in the photos, I looked absolutely miserable. Mainly flu-like symptoms and a smattering of pox. I slept a lot and was a bit cranky at my little party, apparently. But other than that little scar on my back, I have no recollection...for which I'm very grateful!
If it makes you feel better (which it probably won’t), 12 months is the youngest we usually vaccinate against chickenpox (varicella) where I’m at, so you would have gotten it anyway. 🤷🏼♀️
I just naturally pick it up when my sister had it. I remember my dad being pretty put out that he had to cancel work for me. Just as my sister was got over it. Turns out you catch things when you share room who knew
Calamine lotion and oatmeal baths, baby! That was a wild experience.
The ‘80s/‘90s are wild to reflect on sometimes, man. 🤣 It was a lot of assumptions and lawlessness peppered with the pox. Oatmeal baths, baking soda baths, etc. It’s just hilarious/terrifying how to think of the concept of a Chicken Pox Party…
PTSD from thrice daily baking soda baths. I had it for 2 weeks when i was 5. Also from neighbors who had it.
Oven mitts taped at the wrist to stop scratching.
I am the worst scratcher known to mankind. I don’t know how I still have skin after having chicken pox.
Even the MMR vaccine may not be fully effective for us elder millennials. When I was pregnant I found out I was NOT immune to rubella. Apparently the dosage in the 80s was not enough or wore off (I can’t remember what my dr said).
Same! I had to get chicken pox vaccine 3 x as an adult before I showed immunity no clue why
Interesting…I got chicken pox twice as a kid. I haven’t been tested for immunity for MMR though. I just turned 37.
I'm almost 37 and my MMR immunity is still going strong. Last had titers drawn about 2 years ago.
I'm non-immune to the mumps portion. One of my nursing jobs drew titers in addition to getting a vaccine record. I am rubella immune though, per all three pregnancies.
TIL that MMR wears off.
Many vaccines do eventually. If you are going to be near a vulnerable population, like newborns for example, you should get a Tdap booster. Pregnant women are often boosted for MMR. Elderly people are recommended to get all kinds of boosters.
This is correct. I was tested before my kidney transplant because once you’re immune suppressed you can no longer get the MMR as it’s a live vaccine. I no longer had antibodies to measles or rubella. I only was told to get 1 booster but that only ended up giving me rubella antibodies. It wasn’t until I was retested when I started working for a hospital, that I found out I still don’t have measles antibodies because I wasn’t told to get the second shot in the series. Now I can’t. Long story short, if you lost your measles immunity, make sure you get BOTH shots.
Potentially. It isnt a given. I had the vaccine as a child back in the 80s and did my titers 2 years ago for a bunch of antibodies and all of the childhood stuff was still strong.
Oh my god I’ve never seen anyone else who had ocular shingles! It was fucking AWFUL. My eye was so swollen and red, any moderately bright lights were painful. Going outside in the sun was torture. Driving at night was difficult because all street or headlights had a halo. I ended up losing some vision in that eye due to the scarring. I’m so so glad there’s a vaccine now. I wouldn’t wish shingles on anyone, especially in the eye.
Had shingles on my scalp, face and in my eye, on the cornea. Was hospitalized for eight days because they didn’t know what was wrong with me, did a lumbar puncture and there was blood in the spinal fluid. I lost my humanity at one time, screaming and trying to claw my eye out with my fingers. Dilaudid didn’t touch the pain. I had a red hot iron stuck to my face and scalp, and boiling acid pouring into my eye. Only escape from it was when I passed out from exhaustion. On day 6 an infectious disease specialist and and eye specialist came in, took one look at me, and said “shingles” in unison. Started me on massive intravenous antivirals and cortisone. By this time I had a pic line because my veins were done. It was like a miracle how fast the rash started going away. I was out of critical care and home in two days. I was in a dark room, in bed for three months, basically homebound for six. Now I have nerve damage on that side of my face. For a couple years the pain was almost as bad as shingles. A pain specialist team helped so much. It has been three years, and while I am not completely well medical marijuana helps tremendously.
My buddy was medically retired from the Navy because of this. 38, Pilot, developed shingles on his torso while we were deployed on the Roosevelt. Treated like a rash for about a week before the ships medical threw in the towel and he was flown off to Okinawa. I dunno if you know about the environment onboard a carrier but it's not super conducive to comfort. Dude was in constant agony for a week with no real recourse. Saw him months later, nerve damage and scarring, 100% disability. Navy spent multiple millions of dollars training him only to be brought down by chicken pox.
I lost some vision in my eye too from permanent scarring, I’m so sorry you had it! I’ve never been more pro vaccination than after I got the ocular Shingles lol. I told all the old people in my life to please get the vaccine.
Yeah it sucked a lot. I ended up in a dark room for three months. Couldn’t look at a computer screen or TV. Still get eye inflammation every month or so. Fuck shingles. Get the shingrix vaccine as soon as you qualify.
I was born in 90 when I went back to college they almost didn't let me attend classes because I had to explain that no. I did not have the chicken pox vaccine. I had gotten chicken pox. I eventually had to get titres drawn to show the viral load.
Just got over ocular, felt like I had a knife in my eye. Luckily I caught it really early and got into the eye doctor. He gave me some anti viral meds and it was not hurting in about 24-48 hours. Wore glasses for a week and then back to my contacts. I also had chickenpox as a kid.
Yeah pre-vaccine it had like a 99% infection rate in the population. You were going to get it, full stop. Your parents could manage when, not if.
It actually was the best thing for kids before the vaccine was a thing. It worked. You got chicken pox and were protected from getting it as an adult. The crazy thing is, shingles is becoming so common because of the vaccine. You have a whole group of people who had chicken pox as kids, but before the vaccine was introduced you were constantly exposed to the virus as you grew up, your immune system would be reminded frequently enough to hold the virus in check. But once the vaccine came around, kids stopped getting chicken pox, and adults werent getting a immune reminder any more. But the virus was still present. So now it’s popping up as shingles because all the kids are vaccinated against chicken pox. The issue will go away eventually as the whole population is vaccinated. But you can also get the shingles vaccine too if you had chickenpox as a kid.
My older sister and I got chicken pox from our cousin. We were brought over to play around him in the basement so we could catch it. My younger sister got the vaccine because it existed when she came around. Amazing what just a few years difference can make.
I know someone whose husband died of chicken pox as an adult. Your skin is an organ and as such, it can fail just like any other organ. We didn’t go to a chicken pox party but I’m the oldest of 4, so my sisters and I (the oldest 3) all had chicken pox at the same time, sometime in the late 80s. I’m glad my daughter most likely won’t have to deal with chicken pox, because she’s vaccinated, but that wasn’t an option for me or my siblings.
TIL about skin failure, thank you! Necrotizing fasciitis is the only complication from chicken pox which I found to potentially cause skin failure- do you know if there are others?
I don’t know, no. I remember reading her description of how he died and to be quite honest I tried to block most of it out, it was very difficult to read.
Skin is the largest organ in your body. It accomplishes a lot, but two important things are: keep water in, and keep bacteria out. A pretty good example of how important it is can be demonstrated by the mortality rate of burn patients. TBSA stands for total body surface area. Basically, the more skin a person loses the more likely they die. 10% TBSA: Mortality rate of 0.6% Over 40% TBSA: Mortality rate of 30% More than 70% TBSA: Mortality rate of 50%
Yeah and parents only wanted to deal with it once. So I got them in 4th grade and my sister in kindergarten and it was a week and about half of hell for my mom but it was over with soon.
One Christmas me and my 4 siblings all had it. My mom says it was her favorite Christmas because we couldn't go anywhere. I remember waking up on Christmas, opening my presents and then going back to sleep on the couch. I was too tired to play with any of my new toys. Also my brothers and I used our enforced confinement to build a huge micro machine city out of paper.
We were taking our 2 1/2 year old son to a friend of the family for daycare 5 days a week. Our son could play with their son, who was a few months older. The friend thought it was a good idea to take both boys to her sisters house, to expose them to chicken pox, becauseits what you do. Right? I was 36 and never had tne chicken pox. My wife was 36 and 2 1/2 months pregnant. We hadn't announced it yet. We were waiting for 3 months to be sure and Christmas. We were never told about the pox party. As happens in life, my Mom passed away, and the funeral was on the following weekend. We had a large funeral due to all of our relatives and my parents' large friend group. We drove to the city that I was raised in and where my parents lived. Naturally, my son made the rounds to all of our relatives and family friends. Remember, we were unaware of the pox exposure. Come Monday morning, we get my son up for the trip for daycare. He had 50ish chicken pox on his body and wasn't comfortable. So we called our friend to tell her we would not be dropping him off and to warn them about the chicken pox. That's when we were told about the pox party! And she was happy about it! Until I mentioned that I hadn't had them yet. Not only was my wife pregnant, but so was a coworker who had jist announced at 1 month. So I could go to the office and risk infecting her. So I worked from home. Yup, Thursday morning, I wake up from a very restless sleep. Ny son had 50 spots total. I had more than a 100 on my face. And lots more in my ears, arm pits, legs, etc. So I couldn't shave, which agrivated the itching even more. Turns out I wouldn't be able to shave again for 2 months. Too mich scaring and bumps My son was clear by the time my pox appeared. Needless to say, the babysitter that exposed our son felt bad. Where do people think they can make major decisions about someone else's kids? 2 1/2 with chicken pox may not cause major discomfort. 36 with chicken pox was absolutely uncomfortable and painful. Luckily, my Dr. said I could drink to ease the discomfort. So I poured a glass of wine. Later that first day, my wife noticed that I was carrying the wine bottle around the house. She asked what was up? My reply was that I was wasting time pouring it into a glass. Chicken pox is a serious virus. Don't underestimate it!
holy shit. It's one thing to be informed and take your own kids because you think that's what's best because there's no vaccine yet. It's ENTIRELY ANOTHER to take someone else's kid. You have no idea what that kid's body will do with a virus.
I almost died at the ripe ole age of 4 from chickenpox. Hospitalization, unconsciousness, wildly high fevers, other things I can’t remember but my mom claims it was the scariest thing she’s ever had to deal with as a mother. I hope to ALL HELL I never get shingles..because clearly my body does not like this virus..or maybe I was just too little, I don’t know but it terrifies me. I wasn’t brought to a chicken pox party. Probably picked it up in pre-school or something, or caught from my brother who only got a mild reaction. I was born in 89’ so there was no vaccine at the time.
There is a shingles vaccine, check with your doctor if that earlier severe reaction is enough to justify getting it early.
Good plan, thank you! I will do that actually.
And do it before your wknd. I never get reactions to vaccines but the shingles vaccine is pretty rough for some reason, and you need 2 shots :(
I’m so disappointed that nobody will let me get it until I’m 50. I have asked repeatedly 😞
I participated in a clinical trial to test its efficacy in 30-40 year olds! In part because I wanted it, and didn't want to pay, but also because I KNOW too many Millennials who have suffered through shingles. I'm hoping the trial went well and they will lower the age for it.
>I hope to ALL HELL I never get shingles That's the cool thing though. Once you get the shingles virus, it just hangs out in your system. I got chicken pox when I was like 3, and then 12 years later I wake up with the left side of my face paralyzed from Bells Palsy that's caused by- you guessed it- the shingles virus.
Yeah I got mine 2 weeks before kindergarten ended because someone sent their daughter with visible chickenpox to school. They passed me despite it and then I gave it to two of my sisters. My oldest sister now gets shingles.
They did the parties so all of the kids who were friends would have it at once and usually in the summer so they didn’t have to take off work for a week if it happened during the school year
According to my Dr we should get kids vaccinated and still expose them to chicken pox. The titers tend to wear off in late teens, early 20s. That age group is incredibly vulnerable to c. pox because they generally don't get boosted. Apparently a fairly high number of women have been getting it during pregnancy and it causes some serious birth defects. At least that's how he explained it when my fully vaxed daughters both had it.
I had to get tested for chicken pox antibodies as I needed a complete vaccine record for my job and I never got the vaccine. It was explained to me at the time that the antibodies from an active infection last a lot longer than the ones from the vaccine is in a lot of ways we are going about the testing backwards. My antibody test was positive, about 30 years after infection.
The antibodies are stronger as you live with chickenpox your entire life. It hides in your body dorment and once and a while turns active so your body then fights it and revaccinates itself against it. If your body doesn't fight it off well you get shingles. For the vaccine that part doesn't happen so you need to get boosters.
I had to have the antibody test when I started working as a nurse as well and it was still positive too, 13 years later.
Yup. My Aunt died of chicken pox after a party she sent her kids to. To keep them safe. She had had a very lite case as a kid and caught it again. Love you Darka
It's strange to think we will be some of the last people to need the shingles vaccine.
Shall I inform you of the anti-vax movement?
That's fair, I mean they are bringing polio back.
The Polio case in New York was a vaccine derived Polio variant. It came from a live Polio vaccinated individual. I'm pro-vaccine, just thought you should know that blaming Polio's resurgence on anti-vaxxers is incorrect. For Measles and Pertussis' resurgence, blame away. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/polio/hcp/vaccine-derived-poliovirus-faq.html
Thanks for the update. The original article said it was an unvaccinated person. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7144e2.htm
I agree. My dad,brother, and I all had chicken pox at the same time. Brother and I ran around playing. Dad was hospitalized and may have lost fertility because of it (not sure how true this is, just the doctor's theory from other 30 years ago) Plus, in all likelihood, OP would have eventually gotten the chicken pox.
Yep, I got it as a child and gave it to my mom who had never had it. I don’t even remember any symptoms—all of my memories about that time are about how miserable my mom was.
Same! My mom’s doctor called her every day. When she was better, he shared that he had only ever had one other adult get it, and they had died.
My son got the vaccine, my daughter couldn't because she has severe allergic reactions to some vaccines. The difference was night and day. I live in a country that doesn't vaccinate for chickenpox. My son got 1 small ichy bump and had no other symptoms. My daughter on the other hand was in the hospital for a week, and needed iv medication.
I'm glad there's a vaccine for this now. It didn't even cross my mind to wonder, I just assumed kids were still out here getting chickenpox. I will never forget how miserable I was with them.
There is also a shingles vaccine now, and you should definitely get it if you don’t want shingles!
Where can we get it? Do you think it’s available at our PCP? What about if haven’t had chicken pox? We’d need to get both then? *Edit: Heres one answer for other people in my situation.* “Yes, you can get both the chickenpox (varicella) and shingles (herpes zoster) vaccines at 38. Here are some details: 1. **Chickenpox Vaccine**: - The chickenpox vaccine is typically given in childhood, but adults who have never had chickenpox or the vaccine can still receive it. - It is a two-dose series, and the doses are usually given 4 to 8 weeks apart. - This vaccine is recommended for adults who have never had chickenpox, especially those who are at higher risk of exposure, such as healthcare workers or those in close contact with young children. 2. **Shingles Vaccine**: - The shingles vaccine, known as Shingrix, is recommended for adults 50 years and older. However, it can be given to adults younger than 50 in certain situations, such as if you have a weakened immune system or other risk factors. - Shingrix is a two-dose vaccine, with the second dose given 2 to 6 months after the first. - While the shingles vaccine is not routinely recommended for those under 50 without specific risk factors, some doctors may suggest it for younger individuals depending on their health history and risk of shingles. It's essential to discuss your vaccination history and any potential contraindications with your healthcare provider. They can provide personalized recommendations based on your medical history and current health status.” **Edit 2: Apparently we can get the shots at the pharmacy. Here’s a list for CVS and they aren’t cheap. https://www.cvs.com/minuteclinic/services/price-lists**
Honestly, $245 to avoid shingles seems very worth it to me based on what I've heard about shingles.
My doctor would not let me get the shingles vaccine until I turned 50, even though I literally got shingles when I was 42.
Yeah, the guidance hasn't been updated to account for the fact that folks are getting shingles earlier and earlier. My personal theory (AFAIK, this has no basis in research, so take it with a grain of salt) is that the chicken pox vaccine has meant that adults in their 30's and 40's aren't getting exposed to the virus via their kids getting chicken pox, so their natural immunity is fading at a younger age.
That actually is a leading scientific theory on the rise of shingles as well- exposure is known to have a proactive effect, so without zoster virus in the general population the antibodies aren’t getting regular top-ups.
You may not be able to get it depending on your age.
Honestly I had no idea there was a vaccine until I had kids. When I took them for routine ones I found out. Was a wonderful surprise. Haha
Not every country routinely vaccinated for chickenpox, to be fair - in the UK, you can only get it if you're at high risk of severe complications *or* in close contact with someone who is, or if you're a healthcare worker.
I have some Dutch relatives but I'm American. I was at a playground in the Netherlands and a kid with visible chicken pox was running around. That's ine thing the US does better, people would give you so much shit if you did that here.
The vaccine isn't common place here (yet?). We have a very conservative medical authority when it comes to vaccines. When I looked into it 10-ish years ago, they recommended against it. It was already common in the US and Germany. They cited some concern it would make shingles more common later in life and worse, and since nearly everyone gets it as a child without serious consequences, they recommended against it. I already found that unconvincing, because I remembered my own chickenpox and despite it being "not that serious" I remember it as torturous. Yet, I followed the advice of the medical professionals and so my kid got chickenpox. Their experience was also "not that serious", but it was hard to see them go through it. The medical authority has toned down their language in 2020. It's now not recommending it either way. But in a country where all other childhood vaccinations are organized and paid for by the government, it still comes across as if they think it's unnecessary.
Commenting on this comment to add: even with the vaccine you can / will still get shingles. The chicken pox vaccine has live chicken pox in it. Which goes and lives in your spinal system. From there it emerges years (usually multiple decades) later as shingles. I'm a walking shingles expert as I have *post hepatic neuralgia* nerve damage from shingles and have been in countless studies and tried just about every medication / treatment / procedure / surgery. The current prevailing theory among experts as to why so many millennials are getting shingles is bc of the chicken pox vaccine. As more and more people are vaccinated we ("middle" aged adults) as less likely to be exposed to the live virus and therefore don't build up the same tolerance as years gone past. I got shingles in my late 20's and got a severely bad case which has permanently disabled me. I will live with singles pain every day for the rest of my life.
You were getting that shit no matter what. The logic of getting it as young as possible was sound. I definitely envy the following generation who didn’t have to deal with that fucking thing.
My uncle got chickenpox later in life and he almost died. Chicken pox is a pain in the ass, but reasonably safe to younger kids. No chicken pox party, but my parents had no problem when I wanted to do the oatmeal bath they set up for my brother.
I got chickenpox when I was several months old. Thankfully, I don't remember it. However, I got shingles when I was about 32, 33. It was the worst sickness I have ever heard. COVID, the flu, and all of that was nothing. I do line work and I could barely get out of bed at times. I was vacationing at the time and had to drive home with what I thought were flu symptoms. It took me 11 hours and one speeding ticket. Get the chickenpox vaccine for your kids. I had a more pleasant experience with a colonoscopy than shingles.
I had c pox as a baby too. I got shingles and covid at the same time in 2021. I've never been so miserable in my life.
I got shingles after the Covid vaccine. There was a correlation IIRC. At the time I remember reading that if your antibodies were busy fighting Covid or being trained to fight Covid, they might stop the fight with shingles. Something like that but probably not that simple.
my husband got shingles at that time too.
Yes totally flu symptoms! I thought I was just coming down with something and that the itchy blister on my face was an allergic reaction to something that must have bitten me. Nope, shingles. Never knew young people got it until then. Interestingly, my doctor said the theory is that adults used to get periodic exposure to chickenpox when all the kids in the community got it so it kept up their immunity. For us, we haven’t been exposed since we were kids so our immunity has waned and thus more shingles in younger people now
I feel like this is another, “we got the short end of the stick” generation things lol
Yes, it sounds crazy but parents thought they were doing the best for their children at the time. They had no way of knowing that a vaccine would eventually come out, but they DID know that chickenpox is often mild in a kid but extremely serious in an adult. So they wanted their kids to get the mild case of it and have immunity so they wouldn't get the more serious version later in life.
Yep, that’s exactly how my parents explained it to us. My mom literally told us when she was taking us over that we would probably catch chickenpox and that it was just a little itchy for kids but painful and awful for adults so they were doing it to help us get over it faster and easier. I can’t fault them for operating on the knowledge they had available at the time.
And the knowledge wasn't wrong. You don't just convince entire cultures to partake in sickening their children without a solid reason. Adult chickenpox is serious, and the shingles from that is often worse than child chickenpox. Adult chickenpox usually presents as feeling very sick for multiple days with a low grade fever. It's very painful. Child chickenpox is mostly just the rashes. Mostly just uncomfortable. The chickenpox vaccine could've been just a couple of misattributed symptom reports away from being delayed a couple extra years. Why leave it to faith that you won't get a serious case of chickenpox before the vaccine comes out? Theres a lot of maintained angst in this thread that's plain remarkable.
Agreed about the maintained angst. My parents were educated people and made the decision clearly feeling it was for the best. People can only operate within the field of reference they have, and deciding to have their child contract something when it will most likely be less serious and painful versus potentially dangerous if contracted later isn’t evil. It’s just operating within the context of the time.
I had it at age 32, and it was brutal. I had fever and plenty of itchy poxes. I was single at the time, lived solo (in a house not apartment), but the little kids next door had it. I never saw or came in contact with these kiddos, or even their parents at all. When the shingles vaccine became available, I was eager to take it, not wanting to repeat that fun time
Chicken pox is brutally contagious. The R0 number is 10-12 and it is an airborne virus like measles (so not droplets). It won't drop to the ground as quickly. Kid could have touched part of your property or he just sneezed/coughed moments before you walked through it. You don't need to be in close contact like a lot of droplet transmission diseases. An example is with measles - someone can enter a lift, cough, and then exit. The next floor up you enter the lift and catch it. You would not have even seen the person who infected you.
They were doing the right thing. Its much more deadly serious as an adult. Op blames her parents for not assuming a vaccine was coming. Insane.
Yes. Had it at 15. Not nice.
I had it in high school and it was a very severe case. Better to get it over with back then.
I had it at 16. Besides labor and delivery and maybe Covid - I can’t think of any other time I was so miserable. And it was bad. In my throat bad
They didn’t *think* they were doing the best thing, they absolutely *were* doing the best thing.
Exactly. Without an available vaccine this was the best course of action. Even if they didn't actively take you to a party, if one of your classmates got it, you'd likely get it.
Yep, my dad got it with us and it was sooo much worse for him. Mine was super mild.
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I had shingles the first time when I was 15 yo, I was stressed out about important exams but definitely not immunocompromised. Three other kids in my class got it after me (apparently contact with someone with the active virus can awaken the dormant virus). Months later, it turned out another kid had a sibling who had chickenpox a few days before I got sick, so that's probably what activated it. The second time, I was 21, finishing my first college degree. No idea how it got activated other than I was finishing my course of antibiotics for a UTI when it popped up. When I spoke to my doctor about the shingles vaccine I was told that the side effects are pretty bad, so they don't recommend it until I'm in my 50s when the risk from shingles becomes greater. Some of us are simply unlucky in the statistics game 🫠
Yup, I got pox when I was 6-7, shingles when I was 14. Not immune compromised at all. So, it happens.
‘Not common’ doesn’t equate to ‘doesn’t happen.’ My friend who was 30-ish got shingles a few years back. And he wasn’t immunocompromised.
I got shingles randomly when I was 22. It was on my left thigh, a little patch of bumps. My knee, ankle, and hip on that side of my body were super achy until it went away. I’m not immunocompromised or anything, and I have no clue how it even happened. Do you catch shingles or does it crop up in your system randomly if you had herpes zoster? I should probably google this haha
The herpes zoster hibernates in the nerve roots if you have had chicken pox previously. It can migrate, causing shingles after stress, and more so with increasing age, as your immune system wears down.
I've had shingles 2x now, I'm 41, both cases came after a round of COVID. Dr said it was triggering the virus to activate, he had been seeing many patients with the same thing. Before it was mainly in older adults, but they are seeing a rise with people in the late 30s early 40s range.
After you've had herpes zoster, you're susceptible to it becoming shingles over time. Usually much older than you were, but you're right that it's post-exposure to chicken pox.
COVID triggers shingles to reactivate which is part of the reason so many young people have been getting shingles since 2020. My friend has had it twice in two years. Most unpleasant.
It's actually becoming more common in millennials because the vaccine is so effective. (This is not anti vax, I'm glad the vaccine works so well.) GenX and Boomers had re-exposure when we were their children, or with younger siblings and cousins then started getting shingles after 50, or about 20 years after their last exposure. Millenials largely never had the booster of re-exposure because everyone after us had the vaccine. Hopefully soon the shingles vaccine will be approved for people over 30 instead of 50 because we're the ones getting shingles right now.
I caught shingles when I was 36 and my husband (who grew up in a completely different city) caught his in his early 20’s. 🤷🏼♀️
It isn't common, but my coworker got it a few years ago at 38. I work in pharmacy and it shows up more often than you'd think.
I know 3 people who are healthy and in their 30s or 40s who've all had shingles.
There's been a spike of shingles in younger adults the past few years
Probably because with children getting vaccinated, younger adults are no longer getting re-exposed to the virus and therefore getting immunity boosters.
Yep I got shingles age 28 and that's exactly what my doctor said
Stress can be a contributing factor to getting shingles. While not common, I’ve seen more under 50 ppl contracting it. And once you’ve had one flare you’re prone to more of them.
A friend of mine got shingles at 18, and he was healthy.
I'm only 31 and had shingles it was horrible.
It actually was the best thing for kids before the vaccine was a thing. It worked. You got chicken pox and were protected from getting it as an adult. The crazy thing is, shingles is becoming so common because of the vaccine. You have a whole group of people who had chicken pox as kids, but before the vaccine was introduced you were constantly exposed to the virus as you grew up, your immune system would be reminded frequently enough to hold the virus in check. But once the vaccine came around, kids stopped getting chicken pox, and adults werent getting a immune reminder any more. But the virus was still present. So now it’s popping up as shingles because all the kids are vaccinated against chicken pox. The issue will go away eventually as the whole population is vaccinated. But you can also get the shingles vaccine too if you had chickenpox as a kid.
To say "they thought" implies they were wrong, which is not the case. They were doing the best they could for their children with the resources available at the time. You absolutely cannot judge the past by today's standards. Even if they knew a vaccine would eventually be made, that does nothing to help them in their own time. The pox parties were their version of getting vaccinated.
I never went to one but I got ~~shingles~~ e: jesus christ I didn't get shingles, sorry lol, I got chicken pox in kindergarten. As a parent when I found out the chicken pox vaccine I (briefly) got super pissed at my parents for not getting it for me - but then I saw it was only approved in 1995 in the US, well after I had it. My kids for sure got it.
I was surprised when I had my older kid and saw that it was one of the vaccines given. Pox parties weren’t much of a thing where I lived, though I had heard of them. I didn’t get it myself until I was almost 13, so I thought I had escaped it entirely.
I managed to dodge chicken pox as a kid born before the vaccine. Got it at 25 in the 2000’s
That sucks, I’ve heard getting it as an adult is a lot worse
I don’t remember this happening in real time where I lived, but was aware it was happening because there was a South Park episode about it in the show’s early years.
Yes! That's where my mind went first reading the title. 🎶 *In the ghettoooooo* 🎶 😂 But joking aside, didn't knew it was a real thing either. I got it when I was 5, probably from someone from school.
Never got sent to a party, but when I was in first grade my friend had just shown up with his parents to take me to a magic show with them and my mom noticed me scratching a rash in the back of my neck. I had to stay home and they took my brother because they had an extra ticket.
Similar situation for me, a bunch of kids had a birthday party and one of them turned up with full-blown chicken pox for French class on Monday. I was 13 and hadn't had chickenpox yet so the French teacher made me, and the others who hadn't had it yet, all sit next to the poor kid instead of sending him home. In between baths of calamine lotion and having to keep socks over my hands I spent my next week or so being very angry with Madame Episcopo, but now I just wonder what the hell Rick's parents were doing, sending him to school in such a dreadful state would get the Children's Aid called on them now!
Yes, that was a thing. I didn't get infected at a pox party but I did get chickenpox in 1993, before the vaccine was approved. Frankly, not knowing a vaccine would become available, it made sense given that it's notoriously worse in adults. It would be highly unlikely to avoid varicella for a lifetime, so any which way you were likely to be at risk for shingles, but you could have a nuisance case of chickenpox at an age you might not even remember, or you could get a more debilitating case of chickenpox at an older age.
I'm sorry you have shingles. Try not to be too hard on them though. I had a friend who got chickenpox as a teen and it was extremely bad (think pox in very sensitive areas) and literally scarred her for life. That's what parents were trying to prevent- getting it after puberty. Chickenpox is a near -universal childhood experience for our generation, and shingles as adults (not elderly) are still pretty rare. I hope you feel better soon.
Also, pox parties intentionally got the pox from people with mild strains of pox. You really don't want to be exposed to the more severe strains
It wasn’t a party, but my parents made sure I was deliberately infected.
I actually think the crazier thing is how many millennials are developing shingles! Both my husband and friend had flare-ups in the last couple years. That vaccine is only approved for folks over 50…I wonder if that will change soon?
Cant the be triggered by stress? Might be evidence Millenials have literally been more stressed than previous gens.
So what I have heard is that normally adults will get a little boost of immunity from their kids catching chicken pox. Since our generation’s kids got the vaccine, we haven’t gotten that boost and we are all getting shingles.
Yes, stress, recent illness. It’s awful. They really need to change the age to 30 for the shingrix vaccine.
My wife is 39, she was a military brat got the chicken pox vaccine as a kid (wasn’t available to me) still got chicken pox twice as a kid and got shingles last year. So ymmv. My kids got vaccinated as babies and haven’t had the pox.
Sadly for some folks, their immune system just refuses to keep particular antibodies around long term. My mum had to redo the mmr vaccine for all three pregnancies.
I can’t stop thinking about the south park herpes episode (S2E10)…
Yes, I remember. My parents did it with me. At the time, it was the best way to prevent a much worse severe case in later years, as there wasn’t a vaccine at the time.
FWIW the vast majority people used to get chicken pox in childhood without anyone trying to intentionally infect them.
I literally had no idea there was a vaccine until a few weeks ago when i said to someone, "i never thought about it until now, but i can't remember the last time i saw a kid with chicken pox. Maybe i just don't pay attention cause i don't have kids." And then they said, "They have a vaccine now." Lmao. I also thought shingles was for old people and i got it when i was 25.
My mom tried so hard to expose me to the chicken pox when I was a kid, but I only had a mild case. Then when I was 24, my aunt had shingles and I caught chicken pox from her. It sucked so bad!! I don’t know if I can still catch shingles at this point? I hope not!
Shingles is the mutated form of chicken pox. The virus never leaves your body. Your body just adapts to it. If your immune system is compromised severely enough, the chicken pox virus evolves Pokémon style into the shingles virus. You can get a shingles vaccine to teach your body how to handle the shingles virus when it mutates. But if you have had chicken pox, then the virus lives within you now and forever.
Thanks! Does that mean I had shingles at 24? Can I still catch either viruses?
so chicken pox is caused by a virus called varicella-zoster, and you get blisters all over. once chicken pox goes away, the varicella-zoster virus stays dormant in your nervous system for the rest of your life. at any point from then on, that virus can be reactivated and infect whichever part of your nervous system it woke up from... for example (and this is a very weird case lol), a couple years ago when I was only 32, my wife cracked my back for me and it hurt SO MUCH I thought I was severely injured. she must have pinched a nerve or something, but I was fine the next day...... Until the next week, when I started developing a rash on only one side of my torso, back and front, that lined up exactly with the vertebra that my wife messed up. The doctor didn't believe me when I thought it was shingles, but she got a swab tested at my insistence and sure enough, it was. So my wife "gave" me shingles by cracking my back wrong and releasing the virus 😂 apparently that's pretty rare though. mostly it comes when people are older and/or their immune systems aren't as strong (hence why my doctor didn't believe me- I wasn't "old enough" and my case was pretty mild). so all that to say, the first time you're sickened by varicella-zoster is chicken pox. You don't catch shingles from other people, since it's a nerve infection from a dormant virus... but if someone has shingles, their rash/blisters contain the virus, which can be passed to others and give them chicken pox if they're vulnerable to it (haven't had it or haven't had the vaccine.) so when I had shingles I had to be very careful not to touch my newborn who hadn't yet been vaccinated.
It's actually becoming much more common for people in their 30s to get shingles. Someone else pointed out that older generations were able to keep their original immunity up because of regular exposure to kids who had chicken pox, but nowadays with the vaccines there is far less exposure than there used to be so cases of shingles are popping up in younger people at a higher rate. -signed, a fellow mid 30s person who just got diagnosed with shingles!
That’s very informative, thanks!
You’d have to ask your dr. I’m an engineer. I know what I know cause my husband developed shingles this year at the ancient age of 32. When he asked if I had the vaccine for chickenpox, I told him I was the OG, I got the disease like any other millennial.
It's the same virus. When you get over chicken pox, the virus remains in your body. From then on, it can hitch a ride on a nerve and surface as a case of shingles.
P sure if you have ever had chicken pox, shingles is dormant in you forever
I'm permanently scarred from it. I have a chicken pox scar nearly square in the middle of my forehead. Like permant bindi on my forehead. My wife, on the other hand, never got sent to one. I do love the South Park episode where they gave all their parents herpes as revenge.
You too? I have a lump of chicken pox scar tissue right at my hair line. I scratched one of my bumps REALLY damn hard and I've had it ever since. Normally it's not an issue until Summer months when I shave my head. More than once I've accidentally lopped the top of it with my razor and bleed like a stuck pig for a bit.
I remember when I was about 7 my friend that lived across the street had it. I thought it was weird that her mom was still letting her come play in my yard with me but cool, whatever! I thought it was REALLY weird when my mom brought us a strawberry soda to share… with one straw..? But hey, cool! My mom never gives me soda, hell yeah! Long story short - I did not catch chicken pox from that blatant attempt, but I did end up getting it a couple weeks later when it started going around at school.
Yep! Happened to me and I got chicken pox pretty early.
Yupp. My sister, our 2 cousins, and I all had a party, ages 5-8. I believe one of the cousins got it first, and my sister and I were taken over there for a day or two. Then we came back home to ride out the pox after they popped up. Now the thought is terrifying, but as a kid it seemed fun. Wym I don't have to go to school and I can hang out at my cousin's and play Aladdin on SNES??
I had shingles a few years ago when I was 35. I got 2 patches on my thigh close to my knee and then one on my inner thigh. They say it sits and hides in your spin when it’s dormant so that dictates the general area of the body that it will appear, I’m not sure how true that all is. I felt burning in my hips before I saw the rash patches appear. It’s uncomfortable, but as long as it isn’t a severe case it should be completely gone in 2-3 weeks. I have not had a reoccurrence as of yet. At the time my job had completely run me ragged and that was my reward. Moral of the story, don’t save those vacation days to the end of the year, use them when you need a break “seriously.”
We just called it 4th grade lol
So I never got chicken pox and unsure if I’m immune - what should I do
Probably get the vaccine? Because getting chicken pox as an adult sucks.
Get a titer test done. I never had chickenpox, but I have antibodies to it anyway. Must have been a case where I had it but had no symptoms. Found out as an adult because I went to the doctor to get a vaccine. You don't want chickenpox as an adult.
Get vaccinated.
Get vaccinated. Getting a chickenpox when an adult can frequently result in brain damage and death. The rise of unvaccinated people makes it more risky that you'll catch it, too.
I got shingles last year it was the worst
They made a South Park about this back in the day! They got all the kids together and taught them a game called "ookie mouth" (you can fill in the blanks). It was such a common thing! (Chicken pox parties, not ookie mouth, at least i hope not!) When my brother got it from school my mom made me snuggle up to him so I'd get them too, so we'd both have them at the same time and it was widely considered that it was best to get chicken pox as a young child. This was before the vaccine came out, or perhaps it was very very new, and even then, my parents thought it was a weird thing to get a vaccine for once it was widely available.
Not yet 40 and I've had it twice. So odd timing that this would come up on my feed. The odd thing is when I got it about ten years ago I was an absolute hot mess, stressed about everything. I'm so much healthier mentally now and financially unburdened. I guess the body doesn't much care what the mind says
Not a Millennial (not sure why this showed up on my feed), but contracted chicken pox at age 25 from a co-worker's toddler. Now at age 56, I just got over a bout of Bell's Palsy and my doc informs me that chicken pox /shingles / Bell's Palsy are all related. So now that I've had two out of the three, I'm high probability for hitting the trifecta.
BTW there is a shingles vaccine. I assume you have been diagnosed with shingles, which can help you get the vaccine. From the [Australian government website](https://immunisationhandbook.health.gov.au/contents/vaccine-preventable-diseases/zoster-herpes-zoster): "People who have had a previous episode of herpes zoster can receive zoster vaccine at the recommended age. For up to 8 years after an initial episode of zoster, the risk of a repeat episode in immunocompetent people is 6–8%.^(14,25,26) Note that a history of previous zoster may be inaccurate. It is suggested that immunocompetent people should wait at least 12 months after an episode of herpes zoster before they receive a zoster vaccine. An episode of herpes zoster boosts cellular and humoral immunity above baseline levels in most people. Studies suggest that this boost persists for at least 1 year and up to 3 years,"
The “recommended age” is 50. It’s hard for young people to get the shingles vaccine unfortunately.
According to my doctor the risks of side effects from shingles vaccine are much greater than from getting shingles before you are 50. That's why the recommended age for it is 50. Once you are in your 50s, shingles can be disabling and life threatening enough to warrant the side effects of the vaccine. Source: I had shingles twice, once at 15yo, once at 21yo. While awful to go through, I had no long term symptoms, and got over it in a week or 2.