by Suzi George

Created on: March 29, 2009

Chickenpox has been around since Biblical times I'm more than sure and as of this date, I have never heard of anyone dying from it. Sure, there are complications, possible scarring and sleepless nights but so what? All five of my children had it and survived. I had it with Rubella, also known as German Measles. That was a memorable two weeks for me as a child.

Working with children for the past 23 years, I can share with you the downside to getting the vaccine. The children who have received it have gotten chickenpox with ten years of getting the shot, not once, not twice but sometimes three times. Two children continually get shingles. Shingles is an outbreak that can be just about anywhere on the body and is very painful. It appears as a rash at first then blisters and is so painful you cannot have anything touching it at times. This makes it a little difficult when it runs along your stomach and around your back.

Chickenpox is a herpes viral infection. All virus must exit your body somehow. When you go to the doctor for vomiting and diarrhea, he tells you it is a virus but doesn't explain that's how it runs it course. To get rid of the virus, your body expels it in some form, vomiting, diarrhea, rashes or sometimes just a fever. Chickenpox, Fifth Disease and things like Roseola are some of those types of viruses that exit your body strangely. Fifth Disease is dangerous to pregnant mothers, that would be a vaccine that would be helpful but they haven't developed that yet. This particular virus can hang on for several weeks making your child sleepy, cranky and leaving red, raised rash on the face, arms and torso. Roseola is also a virus that exits the body through a fine rash on the stomach and back. Many often mistake that for measles. Again, it is just a viral infection. Chickenpox causes a slight fever, runny nose and cough before the onset of the blisters. That is the worst part of course, the blisters. They itch, your child wants to scratch but you don't want them to for fear of scarring or infection.

All you can do is give them an anithisitmine, keep them cool and apply calamine lotion as often as needed. Oatmeal baths work too but when all of this fails, your doctor can call in some Atarax to quell the itching.

The shot is unnecessary because the doctors themselves told me personally when I asked what would happen to my child if they had the shot when they hit their twenties and they told me, they didn't know. They said they might get a bad case of the chickenpox or a horrible case of shingles, there was no way to know. I said forget it. I was not putting my kids through that.

I feel sorry for those that to do it. Chickenpox is not life altering or threatening, let them get it. The worst that could happen is some slight scarring and you might have to miss a week of work. Wait, that last part might not be a bad thing huh?!

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