Chicken Pox Follow Up

Just a final word on my PSA....

I think what is important to remember is that chicken pox is a CHILDHOOD disease, that is uncomfortable, inconvenient, and potentially able to cause serious secondary infections/complications. It is terrible and scary when your child has it (trust me, I know!!), but with proper nutrition, access to quality health care, and medications such as calamine/caladryl lotions, Benadryl, oatmeal and/or baking soda baths, and acetaminophen and/or ibuprofen, most children can recover from Chicken Pox with little more than a few unsightly scars. (Hi Chelsi!)

Adults and teenagers on the other hand, do not handle the disease well, and are prone to complications from high fevers, sores, skin infections, excessive scarring, bronchitis, pneumonia and encephalitis to name a few. Of course children can suffer from the above problems too, but they are less likely(under the above mentioned conditions). I

It is also important to remember that the chicken pox vaccine is new, and still rather experimental. If any of you are familiar with the polio vaccines, you know that there used to be two versions: the live one, and the "killed" one. The live vaccine was discontinued after it was discovered that most of the new cases were actually caused by the vaccine. (Kind of sounds like the chicken pox one, eh?)

Soooooo....maybe in another 10-15 years, the drug companies will be able to find a safe and effective chicken pox vaccine, and it can be eradicated like a lot of other childhood and non-childhood diseases. My PSA was just to make people aware of the possible side effects and complications of the immunization, and you don't have to agree with me. :)

I am all about informing yourself, and not just doing something because the doctor says to do it. This being said, you must do what makes YOU comfortable too. I just wanted to remind people that 10-12 years ago, before the vaccine came out, chicken pox was seen as a rite of passage through childhood...an unfortunate and icky one, but one none the less.

PS-I am not contesting the efficacy of other childhood immunizations that have been around for YEARS, and have successfully helped to almost eradicate several diseases. (Except for pertussis, because it is occurring in immunized children, so obviously something is going on there)

Thanks for all of your well wishes for Miss Katie!! She is finally starting to feel much better. And a big thanks to my mom for helping me out so I could keep going to school!! :)