By BadLuck - 21/12/2015 11:45 - United Kingdom - Bicester

Today, four days before Christmas, I discovered a rash on my daughter's shoulder. The doctor took one look and said, "It's chicken pox. Merry Christmas." FML
I agree, your life sucks 22 945
You deserved it 2 051

Same thing different taste

Top comments

Merry Christmas to your daughter! Once she's healed, she'll have the best gift ever! Immunity from chicken pox!

Comments

Happens to everyone, don't worry about it, op. It'll go away eventually. Be happy she got it early. Merry Christmas op!

Why would you be happy to get chicken pox early I'd prefer not to have them at all

I think as an adult it is worse to get Chicken Pox so it is better to get it over with if possible

I've at least heard that chicken pox is more dangerous to an adult than a child.

PinkGlitterBunny 8

For anyone asking, chicken pox turn into shingles if you catch them as an adult.

As a kid chicken pox doesn't really do anything.

except cause horrible pain and sores everywhere, I had scabs for months after having chicken pox. They have a vaccine for it now, you don't need to catch it early.

Well not everyone has painful scabs, i had a fever for a day and nothing more lol the scabs were itchy but i felt fine the entire time

Why do so many people dislike this? Is someone offended by it? It's a fact that it is better to get chicken pox as a kid than as an adult. He (or she) is just consoling OP.

Wrong. Chicken pox turns to shingles as an adult no matter what age you get them.

UhHuhHoney 20

Lately the doctors mentioned on these FML posts have been d-bags lol

How is that being a d-bag? Do you want your doctor to sugarcoat everything they say? And it's chicken pox, not leukemia.

MonstreBelle 28

Personally, I prefer doctors with a sense of humor

hipposteve 21

Your daughter comes first! Make her feel comfortable :) patience, and good luck!

Publikwerks 14

Actually, a good time to get it. Your daughter can hopefully recover without missing a bunch of school...

Well missing school is typically only bad higher up I'm assuming op's kid is pretty young

Truth. There was nothing better than missing school when I was little. And now. I love missing school now, too.

It's more the parents having to miss work too.

My brother missed 2 weeks of school when he had the chicken pox. I got them the day after winter break started and missed zero days of school. I also had to stomach flu on Christmas that year and couldn't celebrate with the rest of my family because my 3 month old triplet cousins were there. Worst. Christmas. Ever.

#70 must be a college student hahaha I'm right there with you tho!

Merry Christmas to your daughter! Once she's healed, she'll have the best gift ever! Immunity from chicken pox!

rabid_otaku 29

Or she could just get the vaccine.

Vaccine is restricted to seniors age 55+. Most doctors won't even consider giving it before then, and even if they did, isurance would fight covering it. Add that shingles can occur far earlier than age 55, and suddenly chicken pox is a much more troublesome illness long term.

Not entirely. It is possible to get them over and over and over. Its also possible it can land her in the hospital, or she could have scars like most of us do. You make think scars are no big deal but to someone going through puberty, it is. And i still hate mine.

My son had chicken pox when he was a little over a year old and he didn't have a clue about scratching yet (plus we made sure to keep his fingernails super short during the rash). He doesn't have a single scar. Scars only come when you disturb the rash by scratching.

countryb_cth 38

Sadly you don't have to be that old to get shingles. I have an autoimmune disorder and because of it I ended up getting shingles and I'm only 19. Thankfully for me it was very mild but still very uncomfortable. But I can't get the vaccine till I'm over 50.

Mathalamus 24

minor illness, really. dunno if its severe for adults, but, at least she wont miss school or anything.

Chicken pox is very bad for adults. "Adults are more likely than children to die or have serious complications if they get chickenpox. - See more at: http://www.adultvaccination.org/vpd/chickenpox/facts.html#.dpuf" "If a pregnant woman gets chickenpox during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy, her baby has a one in a 100 risk of having serious birth defects such as shortening and scarring of limbs, cataracts, small head size, abnormal development of the brain, and mental retardation. - See more at: http://www.adultvaccination.org/vpd/chickenpox/facts.html#.dpuf" Assuming the parent has already gotten chicken pox as a child, she'll be okay.

Mathalamus 24

Thank you for the explanation :)

Minor illness? Tell that to the hundreds of families whose children die each year from chicken pox. Not even including the pain she will be in with the sores. And the extreme possibility of getting shingles, not even when they are older. That can make you go blind. Minor my ass. There is a reason we have a vaccine for it in the states.

ndnpride88 25

Hopefully your daughter will get cleared of it and still enjoy her holidays. Cheer up have a Merry Christmas.

When I was little, chicken pox made its rounds through the elementary school I attended. My friend's mom decided to take her daughter and have her vaccinated (the chicken pox vaccine was still pretty new then) but didn't realize that she had already been infected. It made her chicken pox much worse. I'm glad they have a chicken pox vaccine, but there are situations in which it doesn't work perfectly.

They have a vaccine??? Where was this when I was a child!??

it happens when you don't vaccinate your children.

Mathalamus 24

I wasn't aware that there were vaccinations against chicken pox. Or that it needed one.

tonya34gabrielle 7

Very true! Vaccinations are soooo important. Now her child is suffering. Be glad it's only chickenpox.

Actually, immunizations aren't 100%. Children vaccinated against chicken pox can still get it, it is usually milder and goes away faster. Maybe you should know what you are talking about before you let your fingers do the talking. The vaccine was introduced in 1995 and the combination vaccine MMRV was introduced in 2005.

what happnes if the kid is t young for the vaccination...or what if their still the 15/20% range that got the vaccine but still got it anyway.

I personally don't think it is necessary as it is usually a minor illness but it was created because some people have complications that can be serious. About 105 of the 4 million people who get chicken pox die in the US every year from complications.

Omfgitsmia 15

I knew two guys who had been vaccinated as a baby and caught it twice.

I had the vaccination when it was available and I was only one in my 3rd grade class to not miss school because the other children were not vaccinated.

The chicken pox are a very rarely deadly virus (unless the child is very young, or had a compromised immune system). Getting the vaccine is a matter of choice and convenience. There are several instances where it doesn't actually prevent chicken pox, and you can still get shingles as an adult even if you have gotten the vaccine. There are several diseases which The vaccine should be should be given/ smallpox, rubella, German measles, polio... However chicken pox is not one of them. Perhaps less judgy next time.

Yes there is a vaccine in the shot schedule for kids in the US it's called Varicella. They give the shot around 1 year. My daughter had it at 6 months. It happens.

RoseFox0029 22

I was vaccinated. It doesn't completely wipe out the possibility of getting chicken pox, and I got it anyway. But it was only a small bump under my eye and it cleared up very quickly. So worth it.

askullnamedbilly 33

To all the people boasting about how chicken pox is only a minor illness and it's not necessary to get vaccinated: Maybe to you it is. Other people can straight up die from it or have other serious complications. Some of those same people are unfortunately not able to receive a vaccination because their immune system isn't strong enough to handle it. So honestly, you're not an especially smart cookie for avoiding a needle sting, you're a dick who's totally okay with spreading a virus around that might end somebody else's life.

There is a HUGE difference between chicken pox and other diseases we give vaccinations for. I am completely pro vaccination, however, the chicken pox vaccine is not always effective, as other have pointed out, and it doesn't protect you from shingles. Most people born before the 90's didn't even have the option of getting a vaccine because there wasn't one. I got the chicken pox twice. There are complications from most illnesses- and they generally effect a very very small percent of the population. There is a difference between making informed decisions and spreading fear and propaganda...

rabid_otaku 29

Babies get it when they are born. The chicken pox vaccine also protects against rubeola (measles), mumps, and rubella (German measles)

63 you are completely ******* wrong in everything you said. Varicella is given at one year old because it is a live attenuated vaccine. It does not protect against measles mumps and rubella (German measles), this is a separate vaccine.

Look at the country. Chicken pox vaccine isnt common there. It will be now that the government is realizing how much work parents have to miss when their children get it, and heaven forbid they have complications that require hospitalization.

Firstly, OP is from the UK, and what I've been reading from other people's comments, the UK doesn't offer the chicken pox vaccine. Second, here in the US, while you still technically have the option to vaccinate your children, if you want to send your children to public school, you are required, by law, to make sure your children have all of their vaccinations. That includes the chickenpox vaccine. Lastly, the two main reasons people even get the vaccines is, obviously, to keep people from getting the diseases; but also to wipe out those diseases. Because of the Smallpox vaccine, nobody ever catches Smallpox anymore, and even if you didn't get the vaccine, you still probably wouldn't catch it, cause who are you going to catch it from? Smallpox has been nearly wiped out, and the only places that you can still find the virus is in small underdeveloped countries, and in government research facilities where it is locked up, and nobody can touch it except professionals in hazmat suits.

Or ya know, Disneyland... Cause that happened in the USA... This year... There is currently only 1 US state that requires mandatory vaccinations and that is California. All other states have religious and personal objection exemptions for vaccines. Small pox is technically "eradicated" in first world countries. However due to the new wave of anti- vaxxers, there have been several recent outbreaks.