Can anyone help with Chicken Pox questions?

Question

My 7 year old son broke out on the 18th of this month. So far he has missed 9 days of school. I've been getting conflicting information regarding how many days he should continue to break out with new pox, and also how long he is contaigious. It's been 11 days, and he is still breaking out with new pox. His Dr. says that he could continue to break out for as many as 14 days. Yet a week ago they told me he would only break out for 4 days. And every web-site has different information. Which one do you trust?

Does anyone out there have the a similar story? What did you do? Did you keep them out of school? How long did they actually break out? Did they all crust over, or were they red bumps that just went away?

THANKS FOR ANY HELP!!

Answer 1

Breaking out can last a few days to a few weeks... Each of my children broke out at different rates over different periods of time... Your child is no longer contagious when there are no new pox and all the old ones are crusted over...

My oldest had the chicken pox at 11 months she broke out for nearly 3 weeks and had them so badly you couldnt put a finger tip centered on one without touching 4-5 others as well... It took nearly 5 weeks for them all to crust over... She is now 19...

My middle child had them at age 3 he broke out for 3 days had a very mild case less than 100 pox total all crusted over within 2 weeks... He is now 17...

My youngest has never gotten chicken pox she recieved the vaccine.... She is now 9...

You can put him in a warm bath to encourage the break out and sooth the itch use Aveeno oatmeal bath it makes a mess in the tub but sooths really well... Caladril lotion is great we used the pour it on and smear it around method with our daughter the cotton ball dab method with our son...

Each child is different and will show the signs and symptoms at diferent rates Dr. can only give a best guess and they are sometimes wrong... If you don;t trust the opinion see another dr.

Answer 2

Yuck... I remember it well. I caught it as a 24 year old!

I missed 2 weeks of work, and if I remember right, I broke out horribly in the first couple of days, had a fever and felt awful. At the time, my doctor said that I was contagious probably before I ever knew I had anything, and remained contagious until I no longer ran a fever (about a week). You guessed it... I infected my younger brother and sister and who knows who else before I knew I had it!
Over the weeks I did continue to get new bumps, but it was late spring and it seemed I broke out worse on the warmer days. Most of them did crust over, and some were just small red bumps. I had the pox EVERYWHERE, and a ton of very big ones on my scalp. For some reason when the scabs started coming off -- so did my hair. Be sure he doesn't scratch at them! I have scars from some of them even though I didn't scratch. Luckily my hair did grow back but it took 6 or 7 years before I noticed improvement.
The worst part for me was that I had pox also inside my throat and in my eustachian tubes. The ones in my throat were so painful I could hardly swallow and only some food and drink didn't irritate it further.
Hopefully since your little guy is only 7, it won't be as bad for him. Benadryl tablets helped the itching, Tylenol helped my head and body aches, and a medium-warm soak in Aveeno oatmeal bath did help calm the itching skin too.
After going through all of that, I wish my mom had let us catch it while we were little, it probably would've been less severe.
As far as keeping him out of school, if he's already been out 9 days it seems like he shouldn't be contagious by now. If he's had fever in the last 24 hours, he probably still is contagious though. There are so many different things we're told about that and I don't know who to believe either.
Maybe ask his teacher if he/she thinks it's alright to come back. If your son feels fine, and the teacher's okay with having him back among the other kids, I think it should be okay!
Good luck! Hope he feels better soon!

Answer 3

My daughter is only 6 1/2 months old and hasn't had chicken pox, but I can tell you my personal experience. I got them way back when I was 7 as well, and I was out of school for 2 weeks. Some of my spots crusted over, some of them just went away, and some of them I still have scars from because I couldn't stop scratching them! My mom was running a bath for me every day, which helped with the itching and the runny nose, and I was constantly being blotted with calamine lotion. Most of the kids in my class got it as well and were all out for 2 weeks or so. The

I'm sure not much has changed in the nearly 20 years since I had them!

If he's had it for 11 days there's a chance he's not contagious anymore; my Dr told me that you're most contagious BEFORE the rash shows up, and it gradually goes away as the spots appear.

Answer 4

Every child is different. Some with a more severe case can continue to break out for that length of time. If the child is very active and in a place that's warm it will cause more break outs and prolong the healing time. As long as the child is breaking out he is still contagious and can't go back to school. When all of the bumps are crusted over then he is safe to go back.
If you are worried about missing school, you can pick up his school work and he can stay on task from home.

This is a long break out period, but as long as you don't notice anything that looks infected don't worry about it. If you do notice any unusual redness , puffiness or your child begins to feel ill, have him looked at again, it could be a sign of a secondary infection. Best of luck to ya.

Answer 5

while I was lucky and my child only had 4 - 7 total pox, I have heard and have been told that they can break out for as long as two weeks. He is contagious until everyone of his pox's has crusted over and he is no longer running a fever. The school will not let him back in unless he has a note from his doctor saying he is no longer contagious. Trust in your doctor and let him just ride it out...hopefully he doesn't have any major scars.

Answer 6

My son was out of school for a week only, once all the spots were out and started to heal he was okay to go back. You are only contagious before the breakout and during (I think). I got the pox after him and I was also out of work for a week.

I guess as with anything else it depends on the person who has it and the severity of it. My sons and my own chicken pox was mild, we werent covered from head to toe in spots, just enough to be uncomfortable.

When the spots start to dry he can go back to school.

Answer 7

My boys had the chicken pox within days of each other...they were out for over a week and my youngest had it so bad that they were in his mouth. A lot of sites might conflict with each other so it is important to look at ones who are reliable such as a medical site or educational site....you can usually figure this out by looking at the URL address... .edu .gov .org (etc). I have found an educational web page that covers chicken pox for kids...http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/health_problems/infection/chicken_pox.html
Good luck! And if he is still itchy you can give him an oatmeal bath...Aveeno makes these oatmeal tabs that you can drop in the tub and it is for rashes that result from chicken pox, poison ivy and poison oak.

Answer 8

I think your son needs to be out until every last one of those things have crusted over. That's what i was told when I had them. I had them twice..the second one was really bad and I was out of school for what felt like a really really long time. They say 14 days but it's just a general guideline.

Answer 9

i don't think of you should agonize now in case your 5 year previous has the poultry pox now your son receives them even if if he would get the shot. My emotions the poultry pox at the prompt are not as undesirable as measles the only ingredient even as my ladies were given the change into the itch each and every of the time yet supply baths in baking soda or they have oatmeal that you install the bathtub water and that permits and then there is the benadryl strong success.

Answer 10

My doctor told me to give my baby a bath and put some baking soda in the bath tub while the water was running.He told me that would help stop the itching.That's weird that hes still breaking out i have heard of couple of days but not 11 days.My thought of view if your doctor told you 14 days maybe you should wait till the 14th day and if they haven't done away maybe you should consider taking him to the E.R good luck and keep him under observation.