The Chicken Pox
The Saga Continues...
Let me just state right now, for the record and all that, that having
the chicken pox at the age of 25+ for the first time has been one of the most
horrific experiences of my entire life.
In fact, the lingering side effects are just now becoming apparent.
When the nurses warned me my immunity system would be low for 6 months or longer,
they didn't tell me it would be so low that I would catch viruses so mild that
my roommate could drink after me and not catch them. Pretty entertaining, that was!
For any of you that have not had chicken pox before adulthood, or know someone
who has not had it: tell them to be very careful!! They only have to be in the
same room with someone that is contagious for a short time and they could catch it!
I'm now going to approach this section of my site in such a way that hopefully I can
help keep a few people from getting this damn sick. I gave it to one person, so if I can
help 3 or 4 from getting it, I'll feel better.

Helpful Tips for Adults with Chicken Pox
Well, if you're not on an antibiotic, you might want to try and get one
out of your doctor. It seems the largest problem is the secondary stuff
that comes with it. It builds up fluid throughout your body, and can
hence make you very susceptible to sinus infections, ear infections,
upper respatory infections, and the like. Everyone I've known that had
antibiotics got over them better without as many side-effects.
Also, if they do break, try peroxide on them. It helps keep the
infection of the actual pox from building up. Also, if they do break,
take a clean tissue and dry up the fluid. Be very careful not to smear
or rub it anywhere else. That's a good way to spread them. Also, heat
will make them worse. If you've already broken out everywhere, you
don't have to worry about heat making them spread, but they're like
blisters: heat is bad, something cool is good.
Also, while you still have them actively, don't go out in bright
sunlight without sunglasses. The darker the better! Your eyes are very
sensitive to sunlight while these things are active. You can damage
your eyes more easily than you would think right now.
Ice chips will help if you have them in your mouth/throat.
After you get over this, there are plenty of secondary effects, too.
For one, your immunity system will be as low as if you just had a very
bad case of mono or similar virus (because you have). You'll probably
also be low on the potassium and vitamin counts. A good multi-vitamin
will help overcome that much quicker. I had mine 5 months ago, and I'm
still useless if I don't take a multi-vitamin every other day. And I've
NEVER taken vitamins, so its not like my body was used to having them.
I just went to a GNC store (any decent health-food store should do) and
got whatever they thought was their best all-purpose multi-vitamin. In
my case, it was something called Ultra-Megas. They're horse pills, and
make you pee gatorade green, but they work.
Good luck, and much sympathy. If you can sleep, it helps. Oh, yeah. We have a theory that afterwards if
you can get a good base tan, what few scars got past the treatments
should fade out pretty quickly.
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