Oh no ! Its Chicken pox !

Yes, you can get chickenpox twice but it is rare. The DGD have just had it (one worse than the other, it was in her mouth and everywhere, although the other one had a goodly amount of spots too.)
Apparently! you cannot catch shingles from chickenpox although you can catch chickenpox from shingles - only if you touch a shingles blister and transfer it that way.

However, a nurse told me she always sees a rise in shingles cases when chickenpox is doing its rounds, but the doctor said no. Shingles is very painful.
I haven't kept away, despite having had shingles twice, because i had been with the little one when she was at her most infectious - before the spots erupted. So fingers crossed.

They had the calamine ointment (forget its name), antihistamine and a porridge bath. When DGD2 told me she had had a porridge bath i envisaged her sitting in porridge and it gluing up the waste system, but you put the porridge oats into a muslin bag and drop that into the water and swish it around.
I think it helped.

Here it is N&g, it is apparently quite wellknown:

m.wikihow.com/Relieve-Itching-from-the-Chicken-Pox-with-Oats

Hi I have had chicken pox twice, once when I was a child and again when I was 40 when it was awful. Recently had shingles but luckily got medication within .72hours and have not had any pain. Please please shoot off to doctors if you get any blisters as the meds really worked for me.
When I had chicken pox I used to sit in a tepid bath and let the water cool and the heat used to go from my spots into the water and stop the itching and pain for a couple of hours. Worth a try !

My DD had chickenpox twice - once really mildly (about 6 spots) and again, quite mildly, but then her little brother caught it and was really poorly - he still bears the scars 30 years later! Worst of all DH got it! We thought it was quite funny at first, especially when the Doctor (remember the days when you could see a Doctor on the first day you were ill?) told him he'd need 3 weeks off work. Boy oh boy there was nothing funny about it at all - at first he was afraid he was going to die, then he was afraid he wasn't, he had spots UNDER HIS EYELIDS! We're now at the stage when both of us have suffered some quite bad episodes of poor health, but he still puts chickenpox as the worst ever.

Porridge Oats!!! Seriously this WORKS. My sons practically had spots on spots when they had CP & I was told his method & they got better twice as fast as their class mates with no scars at all.
You get a muslin bag or leg of a pair of tights & fill it with dry oats. Tie it up & run a tepid bath. Swish the bag in water until it goes milky. Bathe the children & when they come out squeeze the bag & you get a sticky paste coming through the holes. Dab this on all the spots - yes -it takes time- & let it dry. I did this twice a day & the spots dried up really fast with very little itching. My doctor was amazed & used it when his children got CP a few weeks later.
Only 2 of my GC have had CP but we used this method then too & it is brilliant.
I have no idea how it works- I seem to remember something about it going through the scab to heal skin but I may have got it wrong.
Once word got round the local shop ran out of porridge oats.

Plus porridge is good for them once the spots have gone if you have any oats left!

I contracted shingles from a child with chickenpox (see Anya's comment, above). If you can get Acyclovir from your doctor within 72 hours, it usually prevents too bad an attack. My DD told me to get St John's Wort oil (I got it from Neal's Yard) and rub it gently into the affected part. I did this and it eased the pain and healed the spots without scabs forming, so no scarring. I also had hardly any post-herpetic pain. DD used it on the DGG when she caught chickenpox, with the same results. I also use it for neuralgia, simply rubbing the oil into the affected nerve. St John Wort's feeds the nerves.

Craftycat, l forgot the oats, a great remedy! Plus it is very helpful with eczema.

I knew there was something about oats, so thank you craftycats and Jalima.

I popped in this morning because I have already been exposed to him so I didn't see the point in not, but will keep a close eye out in case the dreaded shingles gets me.

I'm still feeling a little under the weather but nothing specific.

He is looking like a little dot-to-dot puzzle this morning , very spot heavy on his body and scalp , but not too much on his arms or face yet. His little brother is still spot free.

His poor mum seems to be suffering most after a week with both boys at home for half term. I made a chicken pox spotty treat bag and filled it with bits and bobs , lots of fruit etc and a car, and Grampy bought him new pjs .

Ive sent Grampy out for oats and that will be in their bath this afternoon.

Don't forget that if you are 70 or 79, you can have the shingles vaccine free on the NHS. Husband has had it, I am too young and to get it done privately is prohibitively expensive. If the NHS was properly funded, those from 65 upwards would be given it, would save so much misery.

DGS had CP over his third birthday last May. It wasn't too bad and he seemed to get over it. But ever since, he's been very tired, only has short bursts of energy then just lies down where he is, hasn't grown as much as was expected ie gone from average height/weight to small for his age. After umpteen blood tests, plenty of iron, vitamins etc he's been diagnosed with post viral syndrome and we're waiting to see the specialist. Apparently it's quite common in children so keep an eye out.

I think that the age for the shingles vaccine is coming down now. I had mine last October and was just over 78 H had his the year before also at 78, it is worth asking at your surgery if you have reached this.

"From September 1 2015 the shingles vaccine is routinely available to people aged 70 and 78. You become eligible for the vaccine on the first day of September 2015 ""after"" you've turned 70 or 78 and remain so until the last day of August 2016.

In addition, anyone who was eligible for immunisation in the first two years of the programme but has not yet been vaccinated against shingles remains eligible until their 80th birthday. This includes:

people aged 71 and 72 on 1 September 2015
people aged 79

The shingles vaccine is not available on the NHS if you are aged 80 or over."

From the above, I just hope they continue the programme after August 2016, the way the NHS finances are going, who knows!

"I've never had chickenpox although DC and DGDs have all had it. I'm hoping I'm immune - don't fancy getting it at my time of life!"

I don't think it's necessarily bad if you get it as an adult. I had it at about thirty, but I felt well enough to have gone back to work after a week if I hadn't still been covered in scabs.

I had chicken pox as a child and then shingles very badly in my 50s. It is so painful and I was really ill, I didn't feel right for three months, and certainly lowered my resistance for some months beyond that, so ended up with very nasty flu and cold viruses. Knocked my energy levels for a few years and I am normally enjoying rude health. so definitely to be avoided.

It is important to get the right medication very quickly, especially if it is in your head. After my attack my ophthalmologist told me that I was lucky my French doctor diagnosed it instantly as the rash had spread between my eyebrows. He said a rule of thumb was that if the rash got to the end of the nose then the optic nerve would probably be damaged and therefore possible sight problems. The drugs are very expensive, at the time I was not under the French healthcare system and they cost me over €100. I have since been told that due to their cost in the UK it is a postcode lottery if you get prescribed these particular drugs.

My DS has chicken pox mildly aged 6, but when he was nearly recovered the remaining few spots came back with a secondary infection and he was then very ill for a couple of weeks.

Not a virus to be ignored however mild it seems to be.

I found putting a good tulip of bicarb in their bath helped the itching.

The oats bath didn't work well for him, he was very itchy after the bath, so popped him back in a plain warm bath and new pjs and he's fine now .

Poor little lad.

Sorry the oats bath didn't work, I had never heard of it until a nurse told DIL to try it with the DGD and it seemed to help.

If you have a compromised immune system for any reason apparently it is not good to have the shingles vaccine (unfortunately).

Shingles occurs in people who have already had chickenpox, usually many years later.

Shingles is very contagious. You can catch chickenpox from someone with shingles through contact with their secretions or their skin rash.

You cannot get shingles from someone with chickenpox.

The incubation time for C P is between about 10 to 21 days

My 3yrold DGS1 had it a few weeks ago he was first and passed it on to his 10mnth old brother. DGS1 had a really bad time he felt very poorly and was covered in spots. Baby brother was much less badly affected.

I wonder if that was partly due to any immunity passed through his mums breast milk as she is still feeding. Or if the virus was modified by itself.

My mil had shingles and some time later I came down with chickenpox,being pregnant at the time it was awful, especially as the skin is already quite sensitive during pregnancy, I've still got the scars on my stomach,which, being quite large at the time, look pretty horrible now. Worse was to come, my husband caught it. Palms of hands, soles of feet, throat and mouth, the sores were everywhere, he really went through the mill. If cp is around it's better to have it when you're young. One more thing, my mil BLAMED ME for giving her shingles, nasty old cow!, and I mean that most sincerely.

DGD had the spots everywhere, inside her mouth and throat, round her eyes; she is only 7 so it doesn't mean that having chickenpox as a young child you have it more lightly (poor little thing.)

All 3 DDs had chicken pox, the youngest was only 14 months. When she was 8 she developed shingles, albeit it a mild case. Both her DCs have had chicken pox and I was concerned that she might develop shingles again, but luckily not [phew]

I had chickenpox when I was nine and shingles twice as an adult both times on my face in the same place. Felt really awful both times. GP gave me anti viral tablets to take an monitored me as he said if the rash went any nearer my eye I'd have to go to the eye clinic at the hospital, shingles on the face can affect your eyesight so be careful. My granddaughter had chickenpox very badly when she was 3 you couldn't put a pin between them, they were everywhere, in her hair, mouth, genitals and bottom poor child as well as all over her body and face. She was crying with the soreness of it all. Calamine cream and cool baths helped a bit but not as much as we'd have liked. Her twin sister had it really mildly

Chickenpox can take three weeks to incubate so little brother could get it at the last minute after big brother is better

I am one of the rare people to have had chickenpox twice. Once as a young child and the second time in my teens after babysitting a child who had it. I now have shingles. I was prescribed Aciclovir within 72 hours of the first spots/blisters appearing and that seems to have helped to keep the symptoms quite mild. I was planning to visit four month old grandchild next week but as he has not had chickenpox, he could catch it from me so visit is off . Read yesterday about the possible side effects of giving Ibuprofen to children with cp. Calpol recommended instead.