Shingles and Chicken Pox ?

pols090607 wrote:

Oh dear, my Mum has just rang and she has shingles ! I see her all the time - am I safe being on Metho ? Also, my daughter hasn't yet has chicken pox.

I had chicken pox as a child - am I safe ?

You are more susceptible being on MTX, you should try and avoid it but if you can't and you do catch it, you need to see you GP or phone your rheumy nurse immediately as you may have a worse reaction to the disease than others - its only a precaution though so don't panic just make sure.
Just to be clear you can’t catch shingles from somebody with shingles but you can catch chicken pox and as somebody with a compromised immune system you can catch chicken pox more than once in your life, so you won’t catch shingles from her but you may get chicken pox as may your daughter who may subsequently pass it on to you.

In rare cases (like me) some people don’t develop an immunity and therefore can catch chicken pox or shingles many times with quite severe results . This is why my son is immunised for chicken pox to reduce the chances of catching it and passing it to me, if I do catch it or even if i come in close contact with it I end up having to go to the doctors to be assessed for hospital admission.
:shock:

sorry don't want to worry you just make you aware
Chrissie

Hello That's a horrible thing, I'm told, I've never had shingles but I've known people who have. You must do what the others have said and get some of the anti viral tablets from the doctor. I hope that your Mum will get better soon and not have too much pain. Take care, love Suexxx

Err on the side of caution - as frogmorton said, lots of telephone natters until she is better! Meth does affect one's immune system, lowering it to negligible levels, so I reckon it's better to be safe than sorry. Take care. DD

hileena111 wrote:

Hi
Sorry I'm no help with the medication...
but I do know that you cant get chickn pox from shingles.......the other way round yes.....if a child{or adult} has chicken pox an older person can get shingles...
but not chickenpox from shingles.
Does that make sense LOL

Love
Hileena

sorry Hileena thats not quite true you can catch chicken pox from shingles , you can't catch shingles if you've not had chicken pox before, but you can still get chicken pox from it.
Shingles is the reactivation of the chicken pox virus which lies dormant in your body. It is therefore kinda the same in infection terms as chicken pox to those susceptible.
Shingles is not age related but it is more likely in an older person as their immune systems are weaker and they are likely to have had shingles as a child.
I was pretty sure of this but i did double check with our resident medic and he confirmed the albeit with longer words than i used.
Hope that is clear and its all a moot point anyway because everybody is ok
Chrissie

hileena111 wrote:

Hi Chrissie
I was dredging this info up from my nurse traing days which was quite a while ago......as you say its a moot point anyway

Love
Hileena

Sorry I didn't mean to tread on your toes, was just trying to make it clear as I know how confusing the subject can be.

I know curiosity killed the cat and that but if you don't mind me asking do you find having a nursing background helpful with your condition or a hinderance or do you find it makes no difference at all....please feel free to ignore the question as I know its a bit nosey parkerish, I was just wondering thats all - as I find having a Dr husband both a blessing and a curse where my RA is concerned.
Chrissie

I just know enough to be dangerous Ha I think my husband is in a similar position, sometimes his medical knowledge especially with regards to drugs is very useful but in terms of RA nowadays I probably know more as I’ve always strived to be an educated patient and I’ve got 12years or so of direct experience and because he’s cardiologist his changes of being sympathetic or empathetic are virtually nil....his logic is that I’ve ONLY got RA, it’s not as if I’m dying or anything!!!
There is also the double edged sword of being married to a medic, I think I probably get slightly favourable treatment once people know as my husband is relatively well known (he was big in medical politics for a while) but I also end up bumping into doctors in social situations....nothing so embarrassing as ending up having a drink in the pub with one of the medical team who were present at the birth of my son, they have seen far too much of me for social chit chat :shock:

registered nurse for mentally subnormals – no shouting here....its amazing how terms become quite so politically incorrect in relatively short periods of time. I’ve always taken the view if there is no malice involved then something’s we shouldn’t get too het up about, although once you know better you should avoid it, sensibility seems have been lost to the PC brigade on occasion. I had to take that view though as my Gran was a true old fashioned British South African and could come out with some absolutely shocking terms before she died, most of which she meant no harm it was just ingrained in her psyche, we learnt to just shrug them off.

Oh one more quick question that has just occurred to me....was it you who mentioned that you go to the Gateshead Arthritis group?
Just wondered as I work in Gateshead/Dunston although I live in Newcastle

Chrissie

I bought my wedding dress in Prudhoe
I'm in central Gosforth so should probably go to the Gosforth meetings but so far all the ones i've seen are in the day and I can't make them as i'm at work :roll:
Chrissie

hileena111 wrote:

Hi
Sorry I'm no help with the medication...
but I do know that you cant get chickn pox from shingles.......the other way round yes.....if a child{or adult} has chicken pox an older person can get shingles...
but not chickenpox from shingles.
Does that make sense LOL

Love
Hileena

Hileena,

I thought it was the other way around. Shingles is not caught, it's when the dormant varicella (chicken pox) virus is reactivated in someone who has had it before. If you have never had chicken pox then I thought that you could get it from either chicken pox or shingles as its' the same virus. It's similar to those who carry the herpes virus and get cold sores.

I would recommend phoning your GP either way as the incubation period doesn't have symptoms and you might need antivirals anyway if you've been in contact with your mother. You definitely need advice if you take mtx or any immunosuppressant.

hileena111 wrote:

Hi
The Civic Center one is the first Monday of the month at 7.00pm
That sound any better?

Love
Hileena

Hi that sounds good I might try and pop along if can get somebody to keep an eye on our little one until my husband gets home
thanks
Chrissie