Last week, my son (age 14 mo) had a fever of 102.5. I gave him some Tylenol and he was better the next day. Two days later my two-year-old daughter had the same fever, and it went away the next day. Well, on Monday I felt fluish all day and like I had a fever (could I find an adult thermometer? Of course not.)...still felt under the weather on Tuesday. Now I have blisters breaking out in my mouth, and on my hands and feet. I am dreading that I may have hand, foot and mouth disease. I've heard it's super contagious and am now afraid that I'm going to have to hole in with my kids for days with stupid sores all over my hands and feet! Anyone had this, know anything about it, know what I can expect, or have advice on whether I can be around other people? I was so excited about going to the zoo with friends and kids tomorrow, but I'm thinking I have to quarantine myself. Is that true? I am guessing my kids had it but just didn't show other symptoms (that happened to my niece last year) and now I have it. Maybe they picked it up at the Y or wherever. Anyway, I am a mom who gets out with my kids every day and am worried about what's coming next. Thanks for reading this and for any advice!!
Thanks for your responses. Didn't go to the zoo today. It sounds like I shouldn't be contagious for too long, so that's good. My kids seem fine, and hopefully they've already had it and just didn't get the blisters. The ped said they might still get it if this is a different mutation that what they had. Sure hope not! I rinsed my mouth with Mylanta and it did seem to help. Just hoping these blisters go away soon. Thanks for all the advice!
My daughter had it and the doctor said that 24 hours after the blisters started healing, she was no longer contagious. So she was not out very long and I panicked because I had never heard of such a disease before and we had no clue as to how she contracted it. But you may have to reschedule your zoo visit.
call your childs ped to make sure, but I believe that it is contagious until the blisters are gone - my daughter had it when she was 2 and I seem to remember that it was contagious until they were gone, so I think you need to skip the trip, sadly. feel better!
Yes thats excatly what it is. I now live in Japan and its a common thing in the cdc over here. I had never hard of it before we moved here. They say its usually contagious until you start getting the blisters and then its not contagious
My son had this, and it is a very common disease in the US, especially duing late summer and fall. If you still have the blisters, you are still contagious. However, it is not that serious, really! Just treat it like any other virus. Unusual for an adult to get the blisters though, I read that most adults have had it as children and have some immunity to it. Take tylenol/motrin for the pain and fever. And, stay home if you or your kids have fever or "weeping" blisters (I think it's okay if they're dried up). It should clear up in a few days.
Micah had this. It was particularly bad for 24 hours, and lasted in total for 3 or days. He refused to eat or drink, and even went on a nursing strike!
It is very contagious, so I would definitely skip the zoo trip. You should be back to normal in a few days though.
Oh yuck, I'm so sorry you're feeling bad! I had this too... it was AWFUL. I was super sick when it hit, my entire body ached from head to toe worse than any flu I've ever had. I slept for several days, my throat felt like I had swallowed glass shards or something. You can also get spots in other warm places too, my sis had it at the same time I did (our children got it and gave it to us) and she got spots on her butt that made sitting down tough, but she wasn't as sick as I was with the fever (it was over 104 for me) and body aches. We think it may be because I'm diabetic that it hit me as hard as it did.
Yes, it's highly contagious, yes, as sucky as it is, stay home and plan a trip to the zoo for another day. Even if you do feel well enough to go, there could easily be other children or adults there who have compromised immune systems (like me being diabetic) who could get extremely ill from it.
I'm lucky. I keep excellent control over my diabetes and am generally in good health, but a nasty virus like that had the potential to send me to the hospital. I'm lucky I didn't have to go.
The kids will likely recover from it a lot faster thanyou do, honestly. But I sure hope you feel better soon!
