The Healthy You Is the Better You

Posted on: 22 April 2020

Chicken pox is becoming a disease that no one ever gets anymore, thanks to vaccination. But it's not impossible to catch it from someone, usually a child, who is sick with it. If you think you might have the chicken pox, you should know that you need to take extra care because it's harder on adults than it is on children. Here's what you need to do.

Get Medical Attention

First things first: you need to see a doctor. Head to a medical center or another medical facility to get examined.

Your doctor will do a cursory examination to look at any pockmarks that you have to determine if it's chicken pox or not. They may also take a sample of the fluid inside your pock marks to have a lab test to ensure that it's actually chicken pox.

Once they know for sure, your doctor may prescribe an antiviral agent to you to help control the infection. This won't end your chicken pox, but it can make the symptoms lighter and more manageable. From there, it's time to head home and to look after yourself.

Monitor Your Symptoms

Chicken pox comes with some fairly common symptoms, like itchiness, skin swelling, lethargy, and fever. You want to keep an eye on your fever and ensure that it doesn't reach danger levels. A high fever is considered to be 103-104F or above. If your temperature reaches this point, contact your doctor and ask for advice. They may want you to head to a critical care center, like an emergency room for treatment if your fever rises too high, so keep checking your temperature every hour or so.

Avoid Scarring

Most people will get through the chicken pox just fine, but those bumps can leave behind scarring that you won't want. To avoid this, do your best to prevent yourself from scratching. This can tear open the pocks and cause damage to the tissue beneath them. It can also open you up to the risk of infection, which you really don't want to have to deal with right now on top of already having the chicken pox!

You can use anti-itching cream like hydrocortisone cream to help control the urge to scratch. Furthermore, consider wearing gloves when you go to sleep. You can't control yourself to keep yourself from scratching in your sleep, but gloves will help to keep you from damaging any of your picks. 

For more information, reach out to a medical center.