Looking for your thoughts on this situation.

[mommymilkies]

Do you mean that many of us consider a pox party to be THAT important to our children's health? :confused: :001_huh: And that her friend should be congratulated for skipping the pox party? Oookay.

 

I do. I want my kids naturally exposed, as I had bad reaction to mine. I have many friends who feel the same. If I was offered a pox party, I personally do not know any other non-vaxers who wouldn't make it a priority to attend (barring other illnesses). And if I needed a friend after a very bad time, and she passed on a pox party (which she was hosting? so probably felt strongly about), then I would think that was a very nice thing to do. Sorry if that's clear as mud I just got done driving 3 hours and I have a toddler going nuts on me. :lol:

[8circles]

:iagree: Egg-zactly. Better yet, I'll just avoid the whole lot of them. We're not super active in groups because I work during the week and have sports on the weekends. But, still.... I just can't handle one more thing right now. Not one more, I tell ya! :tongue_smilie:

 

Something that's been bothering me a bit is the assumption that any of the people at the pox-party would not care about exposing your family & guests. Did someone try to actually do this? Im sorry, I can't keep straight what really has happened. It seems like you are bothered by something that hasn't actually happened. Or did I miss something?

[I.Dup.]

I do. I want my kids naturally exposed, as I had bad reaction to mine. I have many friends who feel the same. If I was offered a pox party, I personally do not know any other non-vaxers who wouldn't make it a priority to attend (barring other illnesses). And if I needed a friend after a very bad time, and she passed on a pox party (which she was hosting? so probably felt strongly about), then I would think that was a very nice thing to do. Sorry if that's clear as mud I just got done driving 3 hours and I have a toddler going nuts on me. :lol:

 

I'm a non-vaxer and I wouldn't go. :D I don't WANT my children to get sick, for any reason. I know of many cases of "wild" childhood CP that went horribly wrong, and I don't believe it's any more harmful to have in adulthood.

 

Also, we talked earlier in the thread about the fact that having "wild" CP in childhood just increases the risk for developing shingles as an adult. Someone just here on the thread knew someone that went blind from shingles, my sister struggles with it on and off and it's a horrible, long lasting, debilitating illness. My sister did not have the CP vaccine, and I doubt many adults over the past few decades that go on to develop shingles had the CP vaccine. I am only 30 and I did not have the vaccine.

 

So from another non-vaxer, no, I don't believe pox parties are worth it. At all.

[8circles]

Do you mean that many of us consider a pox party to be THAT important to our children's health? :confused: :001_huh: And that her friend should be congratulated for skipping the pox party? Oookay.

 

It isn't that important to me, but I can imagine it might be to some people. Everyone has a different vax/immunity/medical history situation. Not sure why you would mock someone else's situation.

[8circles]

I'm a non-vaxer and I wouldn't go. :D I don't WANT my children to get sick, for any reason. I know of many cases of "wild" childhood CP that went horribly wrong, and I don't believe it's any more harmful to have in adulthood.

 

Also, we talked earlier in the thread about the fact that having "wild" CP in childhood just increases the risk for developing shingles as an adult. Someone just here on the thread knew someone that went blind from shingles, my sister struggles with it on and off and it's a horrible, long lasting, debilitating illness. My sister did not have the CP vaccine, and I doubt many adults over the past few decades that go on to develop shingles had the CP vaccine. I am only 30 and I did not have the vaccine.

 

So from another non-vaxer, no, I don't believe pox parties are worth it. At all.

 

I don't believe that's true at all. The risk of shingles does NOT increase with wild CP vs the vax. All research that I've seen points to that. If you have a link Id love to see it.

[Desert Rat]

Something that's been bothering me a bit is the assumption that any of the people at the pox-party would not care about exposing your family & guests. Did someone try to actually do this? Im sorry, I can't keep straight what really has happened. It seems like you are bothered by something that hasn't actually happened. Or did I miss something?

 

My OP was that this pox party was posted on a homeschool group's website and someone I knew replied she was attending (which she later declined). I am hosting a party for my dh this weekend and was worried about her children's attendance (we host family parties). There is assumption that they are not contagious until at least 10 days after exposure so it's okay to be in group functions until they actually start showing symptoms. I will not argue this point's validity. I don't want to be around people who have been exposed to a virus which will put myself, my husband, my children out of commission for up to 2 months. I can't do it.

 

As this situation has resolved itself and I thank you all kindly for your responses (I've learned a lot!), if you'd like to continue this conversation, please start your own thread and let this one die out. It's starting to turn ugly anyway and I'm going to be forced to go find a picture of a kilt or cupcakes, or men in kilts eating cupcakes.

Edited October 24, 2012 by Kalah

[I.Dup.]

I don't believe that's true at all. The risk of shingles does NOT increase with wild CP vs the vax. All research that I've seen points to that. If you have a link Id love to see it.

 

There are no current adults that would have had the CP vaccine. It only became licensed in the U.S. in 1995. So the cases of shingles we have seen are from wild CP.

[Matryoshka]

I don't believe it's any more harmful to have in adulthood.

 

It is a very well-documented fact that it's much more dangerous to get CP post-adolescence. People didn't used get it much as adults because virtually everyone got it when they were kids.

 

Personally, I think there's going to be a huge uptick in adult cases as the current crop of vaxed kids grow up and don't keep up their boosters...

[stripe]

I did have a 16 year old babysitter who had to stay far away when I had it. I have no clue why she hadn't caught it. It used to be so commom.

[StephanieZ]

Yes, I think that her hosting the party totally OK and good. :) I would have gladly gone when my kids were little and not-yet-vaccinated.

 

Since chicken pox is relatively innocuous when caught as a young child, but more dangerous to older people, it only makes sense to try to catch it young if you don't want to vax.

 

I didn't do the chicken pox vax my kids until my oldest was nearly 10. I wanted them to catch it young. Once my oldest was closing in on 9 or 10, I went ahead and vaccinated all of them, as for older kids and adults, I felt that the risk/benefit analysis supported vaccination if not already immune from the disease itself.

 

ETA: the REASON I originally chose not to use this vaccine was that it was unclear how long immunity would last. I felt the risk of the vaccine wearing off and folks getting pox as 30 year olds was more dangerous than the risk of going ahead and contracting the disease as a child. The vaccine is out longer now, more data is out . . . and I don't pay any attention now since my kids have long since all been vaccinated.

[Catwoman]

I'm a non-vaxer and I wouldn't go. :D I don't WANT my children to get sick, for any reason.

 

:iagree:

 

FWIW, I know several non-vaxers and we discussed pox parties after one of the moms read an online article about them. Every single non-vaxing mom I know said that they would never intentionally expose their children.

 

Maybe it's a regional thing or something, because I have never known anyone who has done it in our area. It sounds positively barbaric to me.

 

I think that anyone who is considering attending one of those parties should see what their doctor, the CDC, or any reputable health organization has to say about it.

[I.Dup.]

 

I think that anyone who is considering attending one of those parties should see what their doctor, the CDC, or any reputable health organization has to say about it.

 

Well the people I know who would go to parties like this really couldn't care less what doctors, the CDC, or any reputable health organization have to say, lol.

[8circles]

:iagree:

 

FWIW, I know several non-vaxers and we discussed pox parties after one of the moms read an online article about them. Every single non-vaxing mom I know said that they would never intentionally expose their children.

 

Maybe it's a regional thing or something, because I have never known anyone who has done it in our area. It sounds positively barbaric to me.

 

I think that anyone who is considering attending one of those parties should see what their doctor, the CDC, or any reputable health organization has to say about it.

 

My doctor wasn't concerned with the idea. These used to be commonplace everywhere AFAIK. My pro-vax father (retired ped) didn't bat an eye when I told him my friend was coming to expose her children.

[Catwoman]

These used to be commonplace everywhere AFAIK.

 

I had never heard of them at all until I read about them on this forum a while back. When I was talking with the other moms about them, only one other mom (besides the one who had read the article) knew they existed, and she had never known anyone who had actually had one or attended one.

 

That's why I was wondering if it was a regional thing or something.

[Elizabeth in MN]

I don't believe it's any more harmful to have in adulthood.

 

This is not at all true. Having Chicken Pox as a teen or adult has a higher likelihood of killing you. My best history teacher in high school died from CP in his thirties.

 

Cat - I am a Californian living in Minnesota. So in those two regions it's totally normal.

 

In other news we are being "threatened" with cupcakes and kilts.

[stripe]

Well the people I know who would go to parties like this really couldn't care less what doctors, the CDC, or any reputable health organization have to say, lol.

 

My kid's doctor said something in passing to me about having taken her kids to a pox party, which ended up not resulting in infection anyway. However, I look at them with a great deal of trepidation.

 

Ever seen the short film Chicken Pox Pal?

[WishboneDawn]

I don't believe it's any more harmful to have in adulthood.

 

This is one of those cases where what you believe has no bearing on the reality of the situation. It's been established scientifically that CP IS more dangerous for adults.

[I.Dup.]

This is not at all true.

 

This is one of those cases where what you believe has no bearing on the reality of the situation. It's been established scientifically that CP IS more dangerous for adults.

 

Chicken pox is RARELY a life threatening condition, even for adults. And with medication and the vaccine, there is no reason why adults should have a more severe case than children.

 

Again, this is a risk vs. benefit that we all must weigh. I still do not believe it is better for my children to contract 'wild' CP than it is for them to get the vaccine. The vaccine will STILL lessen the severity even if they do get it as an adult, and wild CP can produce shingles. There really is no clear better option in this case, IMO.