Crohn's flare up and Chickenpox

[KitKate85]

Hi all,

I have tried searching for this but everyone seems to be on some kind I medication when they experience a flare up.

Basically I am experiencing a flare up currently and as I am allergic to all the medication I have tried I am not taking anything but rest... Well that was until unforeseen circumstances meant that I am looking after my nephew. Today he woke up covered in chickenpox but I looked after him yesterday as well before the spots came out.

Can someone let me know if, although I am not on medication, I am likely to get shingles (I have already had chickenpox as a child) from being in contact with him?

Thanks

 

[FruitLoop]

no- my little boy had chicken pos a month or so back and i am on infliximab and steroids so was concerned so my gp rang the microbiologist specialist and he said as long as i had definately had chicken pox as a child it was not an issue.

hth

Clare

 

[Gwen pippy]

I think it will be one of those things as to whether you get it or not. I have known of people who are on immune sup that have waltzed by without any issue and others who have IDB and are in remission have had chicken pox as a child and unfortunately came down with shingles.
I had chicken pox as a child but in 2006 while in remission but following a pretty bad flare 3 months earlier I got shingles, GP said that the fright/ stress I got finding out my father in-law had had a heart attack was probably a trigger.
If you do get shingles get plenty of rest and fluids, my gp said she could give me meds but because they were already visible on my body it would only serve to reduce to length of time I suffered by about 24 hours and the meds could possibly cause more upset to my system.
Long story short I fought it on my own as my hubby was with his father and I couldn't get any help as other family members would have been at risk. I made a good recovery after about 3 weeks but I still get tingling at the site of the shingles years later, if that area of my back gets cold. DONT SCRATCH IT or it will spread.
I hope it all passes and you don't have to worry about it yourself.
Gwen xxx

 

[KitKate85]

Thanks for getting back to me. I guess fingers crossed I'll be ok! X

 

[DustyKat]

You get chicken pox from chicken pox not shingles. The danger is if you haven't had chicken pox you can get them if you come into physical contact with shingles.

Since you have already had chicken pox you already have the virus, although it is possible to contract it more than once, and it then lays dormant within the your body and has the potential to reactivate into shingles given the right circumstances...stress?, run down?, compromised immune system?...no one really knows why. Of course for many people the virus never reactivates.

Dusty. xxx

 

[StarGirrrrl]

I would contact your Dr to be on the safe side. As Dusty says, although rare people can get Chicken Pox twice, I did, as a baby and as an adult, and it is so much worse when you are an adult!