Any experiences with Chicken Pox (herpes) virus.

I think its wise to be cautious. My mother had chicken pox as a child (as did I) and she had a revisitation of it in her 50s when she was exposed to someone who had it. She ended up with some pretty painful shingles from it though never actually got the chicken pox spots. It’s something you should bounce off your doc since you’re on immune suppressants, better safe than sorry right?

Julie

Interesting question!
I had chicken pox as a child, diagnosed with CIDP about 12 years ago, took steroids for a few years, but only IVIG now. When my kids were little and I was on steroids, their pediatrician had concerns about them getting the vaccine while I was on steroids. It’s worth a phone call to a local pediatrician. They seem to be very helpful with questions like yours.
Many blessings,
Kristen
[url]www.cidpandme.blogspot.com[/url]

Hi Kiwi Chick
I thought I would jump into this one because my mother has shingles right now…a function of having ckicken pox when she was 3 years old. She is now 84. Apparently the virus can lay hidden and dormant for years and suddenly flare up, possibly due to stress or a weakened immune system. Check out the web site [url]http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/shingles/DS00098/DSECTION=1[/url] which gives a good explanation of shingles. I guess you can’t get chicken pox again after having it once, but you certainly might get shingles.
BTW, I love your country. I go to Invercargill frequently and last year my wife and I spent several days in Queenstown. What a great place to visit!!
We have friends in Auckland too which is a great city. Some really nice yachts there to drool over. Take care
Andrew

Chickenpox is one of the most concerning viruses in people that are immunosuppressed especially because of things that affect lymphocytes (especially steroids). The worry is that the chickenpox can spread throughout the body including to the liver (causing liver problems) and to the lungs (causing breathing problems) or even to the brain. Normally people contain chickenpox that returns to one area of skin as shingles (herpes zoster), but if someone is immunocompromised, the chickenpox can disseminate outside of that area and to other parts of the body. About 100 people a year in the US die of the chickenpox virus. The first child I ever helped to care for that died, died of chickenpox, so I have always treated this disease with respect. I do not mention dying to be scarey, but to say that this can be serious. I work with children with cancer and we are very cautious about chickenpox because of this. we recommend that people stay away from anyone with chickenpox. Usually healthy people are safe around people with shingles if this is covered, but we tell our families to not let the immunosuppressed children be around people with shingles because it is not worth the risk or possibly getting chickenpox/shingles and having to get treatment for this.
I have helped to take care of one child who had chickenpox (not shingles)four times, so it is not true that you cannot get it again–it is just incredibly rare and the person has to not have a normal immune system. The most common reason for someone to get chickenpox a second time is the fact that someone had it as an infant less than a year old and did not get protective antibodies.
Any infection can cause a flair in the immune system and potentially cause worsening of GBS/CIDP, but I think the bigger worry is the fact that chickenpox can be really serious in itself especially for people on immunosuppressants that affect lymphocytes.
WithHope for cure of these diseases.

Hi

I had an experience with chickenpox last summer when I was in Canada (I am a Canadian living in NZ). My nephew came to visit with my son, and while he was there he was diagnosed with chickenpox. The doctor was EXTREMELY concerned when he heard that I had CIDP and was on immunosuppressants; there was discussion of having to move to a hotel, and Christopher going home immediately, etc. Interestingly, Christopher’s episode was a result of vaccination which he had received about 10 days previously. I believe that once the spots come out, you become “less” infectious, but even my homeopath was keen to give me a remedy to try and make me less suseptable. I was fine, but there was quite alot of reaction.

With that in mind, I am quite careful around small children — there is a propensity here to have “chicken pox parties” so that one infected child can infect well ones to build their immunity!! My son is still quite young so I am around kids all the time.

Be well
Debs

I’ve had chicken pox twice. Once when I was 13 months old & again when I was about 9. Not fun!

Emily got the chicken pox vaccine when she was about 2. She can’t get the booster shot, so I’m extremely worried about her exposure to the pox at school.

If you are not on steroids & only on IVIG then I’m thinking (hoping!) that the IVIG would prevent a horrible episode.

Kelly

Yes I agree. It is unusual to get it more than once but it does happen. My grandaughter got it 2 times. My daughter-in-law was expecting and I wouldn’t let my grandaughters family come to see them while visiting with us. My son-in-law swore she did not have them but I stuck to my guns . I was able to see them before my company came plus they took her to the doc and yes she had them. She did have a mild case first time.

Also, my husband got the shingles very bad about 6 months after he had started symptoms of cidp. He said the shingles came later but it sure did not make sense as shingles can cause cidp. And yes it can also happen due to stress which we were building a house at that time and had problems with the builder never showing up. I would not be around someone who is sick at all while you are taking steroids. Even just getting the flu can knock you down harder if you have an autoimune disease. I would think being on ivig only would help you if you came into contact with someone sick but definately not chicken pox. I did not get the shingles when my husband had them but my 8 month old grandson came down with chicken pox after visiting with us even though my husbands shingles had not shown up until they left.

I hope I am not too late to post. I just recently joined the forum. My husband was hospitalized last year with the shingles. We think it was because he was around our grandchild who just got over the chicken pox. The infection caused him to go into diabetic acid ketoneses. The Dr. said that is what caused his sugar to be elevated. He was in the hospital for 10 days. I know it was because his immune system was low. He has had cidp for over 3 years may be longer.

I just went to the Dr’s office with my daughter, and she had a chickenpox vaccination.. I acked the Pediatrician regarding this, but she never mentioned any possible problems.. I guess A person has to be careful. I’ve kinda taken too much for granted perhaps.. You would think the neuro’s would inform us if there were serious risks on this.. Deanop

There is presently a shingle shot you can get now. Very expensive I have been told but worth it if you do not want to ever get the shingles. My husband Bill was told that he should not get the shot now since having shingles but I should.