Duggars by the Dozen 33: In touch with gossip

[Carm_88]

I got chicken pox from my brother when I was 13. I was so itchy and miserable, on top of it I had my period as well. It was hell! 

[JordynDarby5]

I had chicken pox during Christmas break when I was seven and had to miss out on all the Christmas fun because not everyone in my family had chicken pox and some were up there in age.  I was so upset at having to miss all of the fun.   

[clueliss]

Chicken pox in 6th grade.  I missed the field trip to see the train that had the Liberty Bell on it (1976)  

[libgirl2]

I had Chicken Pox when I was 22. I had gone out clothes shopping and when I came home noticed the bumps. First I thought it was something I tried on. Then my mom saw my scalp. I was bathing in Valerian root tea and using calamine. 

My son was about 6 when he got them. We were on vacation visiting relatives in the Dominican Republic. He was so cute because (in his dramatic way) decided he looked horrible and tried taping napkins to his body to cover himself. We tried a itch remedy someone (an old friend of my mom's or cousin) told us about... spray starch. We also went to the beach and he swam, hoping the salt water would dry them out. It did help. 

[keen23]

Chicken Pox at 12. Had to miss a Girl Scout field trip to a skating rink. Bummer. Have a few scars where I scratched the scabs off, but only on my torso.

Poor Mr Keen got Shingles at 38. Now that's a miserable time and it lasts for months.

[Jilli]

My grandma(and her two oldest sons) got them the same week she gave birth to my dad. He luckily didn’t get it until he was 5.

[Nargus]

I've never had chicken pox. However my younger brother and I both remember him having the chicken pox. So no idea how he could have had them and I didn't catch them.  A friend said when her younger sibling had chicken pox, her mom said 'I'm only dealing with this once' and basically did everything she could to make sure both kids had it.

[Thorns]

On 25.4.2018 at 3:18 PM, SapphireSlytherin said:

OK - tying together the Harry Potter drift and the app drift:

The Harry Pottery Mystery game/app is available NOW for download!

But but I've already got Pokemon Go, and I can't do both at the same time! (Or can I...?)

[Sky with diamonds]

It's so weird. My younger sister, brother had chicken pox nearly at the same time, but I did not catch it. I couldn't figure out why. 

[SapphireSlytherin]

42 minutes ago, Sky with diamonds said:

It's so weird. My younger sister, brother had chicken pox nearly at the same time, but I did not catch it. I couldn't figure out why. 

I was exposed to it numerous times - this was back in the day of "chicken pox parties" where parents would take their kids to play with another kid who had chicken pox. They typically occurred over the summer, so the disease could be "scheduled" during school holidays. lol

I didn't get them until GryffindorDisappointment had them, though. I guess 24/7 exposure for a week  was what it took for me. 

[Jenn The Heathen]

I had chicken pox twice.  Turns out it’s not impossible.  As my biology professor explained, I probably caught different strands of the virus and didn’t have immunity for the second strand from my first bout with it.

I had it in kindergarten and 4th grade, for the record.

[Sky with diamonds]

16 minutes ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

I was exposed to it numerous times - this was back in the day of "chicken pox parties" where parents would take their kids to play with another kid who had chicken pox. They typically occurred over the summer, so the disease could be "scheduled" during school holidays. lol

I didn't get them until GryffindorDisappointment had them, though. I guess 24/7 exposure for a week  was what it took for me. 

My sister and I shared a bedroom at the time, even while she had chicken pox for a couple of nights, and I still didn't come down it.  I don't know if wish is the right word, but I would have chosen to have chicken pox in my younger years than now. 

 

[HermioneSparrow]

I had chicken pox in 5th grade, my sister was a preeschooler and got it at school, I got it from her. It was domino effect in our family, my dad, aunt and cousins got it too.. Thankfully my mom had it when she was 5.

I have a scar in my abdomen and one in my eyebrow, I remember the eyebrow one was so itchy! 

[mollysmom]

On 4/21/2018 at 8:25 PM, JermajestyDuggar said:

Johannah is actually Jedidiah's twin. Not Jer. They look so much alike. They might look the most alike out of all the Duggar siblings. 

Wow! You are absolutely right! I never noticed that before!! They look more alike than any of the kids!

[mollysmom]

On 4/26/2018 at 10:11 AM, singsingsing said:

 

The people who 'get' you, whether they're potential friends or lovers, will appreciate you for who you are. Anyone judging you for something as personal, complicated, and often random as relationship experience or lack thereof has very strange priorities and is probably not someone you want in your life anyway.

This! Yes! I love this! I just had a guy break up with me & one of his reasons was my lack of experience. I'm 40 and the only man I've ever been with is my ex husband and that was a problem for this guy. Said alot about him in the end (in my opinion)

[melon]

3 hours ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

I was exposed to it numerous times - this was back in the day of "chicken pox parties" where parents would take their kids to play with another kid who had chicken pox. They typically occurred over the summer, so the disease could be "scheduled" during school holidays. lol

I didn't get them until GryffindorDisappointment had them, though. I guess 24/7 exposure for a week  was what it took for me. 

My oldest son went to a 4 year old kindergarten.Chicken pox was going around like an epidemic.He never got them.I was pregnant at the time,a neighbor's child had them..another neighbor comes up..Melon,you can't be around him.I had the chicken pox as I small child..figured I was safe.
 

When my youngest son was 2,he got them.I did not know of anyone that had them!My MIL asked who I had him around that had the chicken pox.Unless my husband was a carrier,he knew someone at work who's child had them.

[littlehouse]

We were on vacation, I was pregnant with my second, and I got shingles on my face.  I still have the scars between my eyes and on my forehead.  On this same trip I also ended up with gout in my toe.  Good times.

 

[Nargus]

5 hours ago, mollysmom said:

This! Yes! I love this! I just had a guy break up with me & one of his reasons was my lack of experience. I'm 40 and the only man I've ever been with is my ex husband and that was a problem for this guy. Said alot about him in the end (in my opinion)

When I was 22, a guy I had started casually seeing broke things off because he was looking for someone 'on his sexual level'. We hadn't slept together yet, so he was just assuming that me only sleeping with one other person meant I sucked in bed.  He also seemed to think I was embarassed about my 'lack of experience' because he also told me that if I wanted, I could tell people I broke it off with him because he had an STI.

[Audrey2]

I was in fifth grade when I got chicken pox and it was the best week of fifth grade! I had a teacher who should have retired and didn't really like children. My mom was a room mother that year, and still talks about how eerie the Halloween party was. We just sat quietly at our desks, eating our cookies. I loved school every other year but that one.

[pandora]

5 hours ago, mollysmom said:

This! Yes! I love this! I just had a guy break up with me & one of his reasons was my lack of experience. I'm 40 and the only man I've ever been with is my ex husband and that was a problem for this guy. Said alot about him in the end (in my opinion)

Grrr.   You're right, that's one of those times you tell someone one thing about you, and they tell you everything you need to know about them.

[LiterallyBananas]

On 4/25/2018 at 6:29 PM, TuringMachine said:

Can you get vaccinated as an adult? I never had chicken pox either since I was vaccinated. 

Yes! Most healthcare facilities actually require this for their employees, unless immunity from a prior infection can be confirmed via chicken pox (varicella) titer. You are actually less likely to develop shingles (herpes zoster) later on if you are vaccinated vs if you had a natural infection.

Chickenpox - CDC

On 4/25/2018 at 12:17 PM, Bajovane said:

Sorry to keep jumping in.  A coworker of mine got chicken pox in her 30s.  As far as she knew, she never had it as a child but oh my - she had it all over the place, even the bottoms of her feet.  Shingles usually only affects one side of the body.  My doc had asked if it was like I drew a line down the center of my face.  Pain on one side, nothing on the other.  Yep.  Bingo.  Shingles.  I recall my chicken pox was all over.  I still have scars from it.

From what I understand, getting chicken pox as an adult tends to be more severe than a childhood infection. (source) Having it on the bottom of your feet sounds terrible, holy crap. It's bad enough to have a single itch inside your sock you can't scratch... but a whole bunch of them? Blech. 

Shingles is expressed along dermatomes, which is why the rash doesn't affect the body symmetrically. I think this has to do with where the varicella virus lies dormant after an infection, but don't quote me on that. It's still not fully understood why varicella reactivates and causes herpes zoster. It IS known that the new shingles vaccine, Shingrix, is 90% effective at preventing shingles from developing. So if you're healthy and over 50, get vaccinated! The vaccine also protects against postherpatic neuralgia, which is shingles-associated pain/burning that lasts (sometimes for months-years) after the rash has resolved.

Shingles - CDC

I'll get off my soapbox now.   Also, sorry for all the links. I just feel better backing up my claims with reliable sources... infectious disease can be a dicey subject.

Also, there's a pic somewhere of me slathered in calamine lotion as a preschooler. I was so mad my mom took the picture lol. Ironically, because I had chickenpox she had to cancel her first date with my (now) step-dad. I think she had to cancel a few early dates with him because of stuff going on with me. I'm pretty sure he thought she was just flaking out on him... obviously things worked out because they've been married for 20+ years now.

[mango_fandango]

I had chicken pox on my second birthday. My party (likely a family thing) had to be cancelled apparently. Brother got it at three (wasn’t born when I had it) and missed a week of nursery school, mum says it was really nice weather so he could spend time outside. 

My cousin got it when he was two... as did his little brother, who was about six months old at the time. It was also the time of my aunt’s 40th, and I just remember my six-month-old cousin’s face was covered in calamine lotion, he got it pretty badly. 

[Jessesgirl]

Ahh I got the chicken pox in 7th grade. Really horrible case. I have no idea who I got it from as I didn’t know Anyone else who had it. My math teacher actually had my whole class sign a card for me and she mailed it to my house. So sweet. I remember barely being over it and going to my confirmation. I still have scars. Lol 

[SweetJuly]

It's weird how anyone would assume that just because you have been with 1 person would necessarily mean that you are sexually less experienced than if you have, say, slept with 5.

You can learn a lot more about yourself, your own sexuality and how to please others with one person with whom you are really close and dare experiment than with 20 casual encounters.

[Tiny Bubbles]

I had chicken pox when I was 16 and spent about a week sobbing into a mirror.  My skin was so hyper-sensitive that I got huge itchy welts wherever the calamine lotion touched it, so calamine was out.  I did end up with a couple of minor scars, but nbd.  

 My two kids caught it at 4 and 6 years-- the week we moved from one city to another. Good times, ha!