anyone had a child who had chicken pox twice?

[fryalot]

ds had it when he was 1.5 and today the doc has said he has it again.

The first time he had it it was quite mild, this time he is covered in spots on his face, arms and legs, but none on his back or chest/tummy.

The spots do look chicken pox-y but afaik he hasn't been in contact with anyone with it.

How likely is it that the doc is wrong or that ds has got it twice?

[hotcrossllama]

The doc is almost certainly right

we had chicken pox 14 months and shingles aged four

it hangs around in the system.. not like measles, get it and that's it, it's in the herpes family

[fryalot]

I wondered about shingles, tbh - the rash looks more like a shingles rash than chicken pox spots.

But he has it on both sides and I've googled shingles and he doesn't have it in the distinctive pattern that shingles tends to go in.

Is this time round likely to be worse, or is he likely to shrug it off, do you know?

[missingtheaction]

I had it twice myself - once when tiny then again at 14. Was really very poorly the second time round.

[Claire2009]

I had it twice myself, then shingles at 17.

DD & Ds have had it once, at 13mths & 2yo.

[gomez]

DD1 - once at around the year mark very mild and then again around 4 when she was quite ill - but with no where near the number of spots you would have expected given how poorly she was.

Hope your DS isn't too bad.

[TrinityWino]

gecko had it at 4 weeks and then 14 months

[onepieceofcremeegg]

I had it twice. Once aged around 7 and once as an adult. I had it fairly mildly second time round.

dd2 had it age 8 months. She has been exposed to it since then but been fine.

One theory is that if you have it quite "mildly" first time round you don't get full immunity so are susceptible - didn't apply in my case though!

[fryalot]

thanks you guys. I was hoping (against hope) that the doc had got it wrong - supposed to be going to visit my dad early next week and if ds has chicken pox none of us can go (he's severely immuno-suppressed due to heavy duty chemo)

It sounds, from what you say, that he's in for a bad time of it. I shall cancel all other easter holiday plans and dig myself in for "poorly child television"

Trinity - love the name!

[shinyshoes]

My eldest had it twice. The first time, literally head to toe covered. It was everywhere.

Second time only half a dozen spots.

I got it too as a child and TWICE as an adult. Once when I was about 20 I was working at KFC at the time. Then again about aged 31. I literaly had 2 pots on my face that's it

[Lilyloo]

Scarletina doing the rounds here

[fryalot]

have googled scarletina but it doesn't look like that sort of a rash

[Musukebba]

It's theoretically possible to get chickenpox twice, but it would tend to be milder second time around IMO. And shingles is very different.

But squonk; distribution of rash on your DS sounds not really right for first or second episode chickenpox: classically it is more dense on trunk and sparing on the extremities like arms & legs.

Even so I definitely wouldn't take the risk with your father being immunosuppressed.

[LadyGlencoraPalliser]

Could he have hand, foot and mouth?
BTW, hotcrossllama, you can get measles twice - I did. I know it's unusual but it is possible.

[easterchickfordinner]

You can have chicken pox lots of times according to our doctor. So might be a 2nd case. I did.

[seeker]

My ds had it twice. Equally mild but distinctive and unmissable both times. My dn had measles even though vaccinated. But that's another story.

[Donk]

yes - DS had it twice, once aged 2 1/2, once aged 4. Very mild the first time, quite mild the second time, but unmistakable (if few) spots on both occasions.

[ShowOfHands]

I had it as a baby and again as a toddler. Much milder the second time round.

[kentmumtj]

my daughter had chicken pox 3 times each time confirmed by the doctor