Shingles?? - Boulder,CO

Updated on January 25, 2012
E.M. asks from Boulder, CO
9 answers

My kids attend the daycare at the YMCA when I work out. A couple of weeks ago, we were told a boy there had been diagnosed with shingles and my kids had been there on the same day. Last night I noticed this weird rash under her arm on one side that looked little white head bubbles. Today many of them have scabbed over. She hasn't been complaining about them or anything. And I'm pretty sure she has had her initial chicken pox vac. but not the booster at 4 years. She turns 4 in April. I can't figure out if you can get shingles if you've been vaccinated for chicken pox or not. I know the two are related. Either way, she's skipping preschool and off to the doctor as soon as I can get an appointment. Thanks, Mamas!

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R.K.

answers from Boston on

Good for you. She needs to see the doctor asap, because if she has shingles and if it is caught early enough, there is a medicine that can make the shingles less painful and heal quicker. But she needs to see the doctor tomorrow.

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A.S.

answers from Dallas on

In order to get the Shingles you need to have had a case of the chicken pox. You can get the chicken pox from someone that has shingles but you can't get shingles from someone that has it. I'm not sure about getting shingles after being vaccinated for chicken pox but I don't think so. From what I was told though you have to have direct contact (touching) with the actual non-scabbed bumps in order to spread. For instance if the rash is covered it is fine. Definitely a check with the doctor situation.

Shingles, while it starts as raised bumps with fluid it usually takes several days to scab over. I had it a few years ago and it took 6 days on medication to scab over and then another week to heal completely. I covered mine with a couple of large bandages. It is also very itchy (or twitchy - best I can describe it).

2 moms found this helpful

E.B.

answers from Seattle on

You can.....And they will tell you(at least some) that you CANT.

Last year around the end of May we had gone over to my MIL's house.

She did not bother to tell me until half way through our visit that she had Shingles...she told me what it was and said the kids should be ok...They had their Chicken Pox Vaccines....and had not touched the blisters or rashes.....or so we thought.

Less then a week later my middle man had them(shingles)....and he also got these horrible herpes cold sore in his mouth in relation to the Shingles. Called Herpangynia Stomatitis(spelling maybe wrong....maybe no IT IS wrong).

He ended up spending three and a half days at Childrens Hospital. The sores in his mouth(that came as a friend of the Shingles)were so big and so many that for four days prior to being admitted he just hung his head over a bucket to bleed in. Because that and vomit was the only thing coming out of his mouth. We could not get him to EAT or DRINK anything for four days....It finally tok me going in to Childrens crying because he was so dehydrated and malnourished at that point. I felt so helpless..because the other three times he had been in to be checked out there...They said come back when/ if they look infected. until then he should be fine!!?!! The day he was admitted I told them I was not leaving until he had some fluids and they helped me out a bit....they then looked into his mouth a bit more seriously and saw what I was dealing with. they had him upstairs in a room in less then an hour and on all this medication.

Our Doctor's only explanation was that his body must have at some point fought off chicken Pox and that made the shingles possible for him to get...He is only five though...and I would think if he did get even a small case of the Pox.....I would have seen it...and I never did.

I would go get kiddo checked out just to be safe. My kiddo had an extreme case of shingles. So it is hard to tell if you could expect the same thing or it goes case by case.

You never know what a kid is capable of getting..EVEN when you think it is impossible. Anything can be possible...We have no real control over what we do and do not get.....Sad that the parent had their kiddo there sick. Maybe they had no idea that the kid was sick at the time!

1 mom found this helpful

B.C.

answers from Dallas on

Shingles are very rare for children to get and I'm pretty sure you can only get them if you've already had the chicken pox. But, what you are describing as far as the rash, sounds like either shingles or chicken pox. Good thing you're having her checked on. Keep us posted on what the pedi says.

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A.G.

answers from Dallas on

I can't tell you if it's possible or not, but her rash certainly sounds like shingles. My son had shingles last summer. The rash is usually on one side of the body and looks like what you described. My son was 13 at the time, and the rash didn't bother him too much. It hurt sometimes, and it itched other times, but he said that overall it wasn't too bad. His was along his waist line on his back. I hope your daughter doesn't have too bad a time with it (if that's what it is). Good luck!

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M.M.

answers from Minneapolis on

Not sure if you can get shingles after getting chicken pox vaccine. I thought the reason to get that vaccine is not to get chicken pox, because once you get chicken pox you are at a risk for shingles later in life. Your kid can't get shingles from another kid who has shingles. She can get chicken pox if she hasn't had it before. But since she has already been vaccinated , she should not.
The rash you have described does sound like shingles though. Do let us know what the doc says.Hope she feels better soon.

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K.K.

answers from Denver on

both my younger kiddos had shingles once they hit middle school. My daughter had the chicken pox as a baby and my son had gotten the vaccine. If you suspect shingles, get your daughter to the Dr. There is medications they can gie early to help. Shingles are VERY painful. If its been too long, and they can not give the meds that help, here is what we did to help our kids and it worked incredible for both.

What worked AWESOME for us was to make a tea with Horsetail root and let ii cool enough to use a rag as a compress on the infected area 2 times a day for 30 minutes each, changing out the cloth several times in the 30 minutes. She loved the way if felt, as it is very soothing, We used calamine lotion during the day, Oatmeal baths at night. We gave her Echinacea tea and 1/2 a clove of garlic everyday to boost her immune system. The few times after starting this treatment she actually had any pain or itching, we did Advil and Benadril. The Horse tooth really has done wonders and she was virtually pain free and the affected area almost completly gone within a few days !!! Everything I read and have heard, this is was early for healing!! We continued the Horsetooth until all leasions were healed and the garlic & echinacea for 2 weeks after just to make sure her imune system was high

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A.R.

answers from Dallas on

Shingles is not contagious as shingles, it's contagious as chicken pox. Kids can get chicken pox even if they've had the vaccine, so it's possible she got chicken pox from him.

You can only get shingles if you've had chicken pox, or the vaccine. Shingles is your body reacting to the leftover chickenpox in your system; something (stress, environmental, too many attacks on your immune system, etc) sets off your immune system and the chickenpox virus in your system attacks the nerve endings - it's why you always see shingles in a pattern along the nerve path. Mine was from the middle of my back to the middle of my chest in a 2 inch wide band on the left side only.

Hope she's feeling better soon!

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C.B.

answers from San Francisco on

You most definitely can get Shingles after having chicken pox vaccine. I've had it three times and it's miserable. It's an old wives tale that you only get it once like chicken pox. Like I said, I've had it three times!

The rash you describe sounds just like it! What you will also find is that she will have small, painful lumps, mine went right down my side and boy were they painful!

I am sooooo sorry for your LO if it is shingles. Like I said, they are extremely painful!

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