Information on popular complementary and alternative medical topics

Babies under three to six months usually have protection gained from the mother if she has previously had the disease.

The rash starts on thw trunk but soon spreads to the face, the scalp and the upper parts of the limbs.

It may also involve mucous membranes and pock marks may develop in the mouth, the eyes and in the vagina.

The individual pock mark starts as a red spot which becomes raised, then a blister forms containing clear fluid. This breaks leaving a scab.

Sometimes the blister may be filled with pus.

Successive crops of pocks develop over several days or a week or two.

Chickenpox is infectious for one to two days before the onset of the rash and continues to be highly contagious until no new pock marks develop.

Sometimes the lesions develop secondary infection with bacteria and may then require treatment with antibiotics.

Occasionally, pneumonia may develop.

Another complication is encephalitis or inflammation of the brain. This may also occur with the virus infection of measles.

Shingles or herpes zoster appears to be due to reactivation of the virus lying in the tissues. It affects the sensory nerve cells in the spinal cord.

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Another problem that can arise when practitioners become preoccupied with ‘treating’ the cancer is that they may not pay enough attention to your other needs. You should expect and demand attention to your symptoms, and social and emotional problems. If you have pain, a cough, bowel or bladder problems, nausea or any other uncomfortable symptom, tell your practitioner. Whether or not the cancer itself can be controlled, the symptoms it produces can be treated separately. I’m not saying that you should expect your practitioner to completely rid you of all discomforts by the wave of a magic wand. I am saying that there are ways of reducing and dealing with many of these discomforts.

I know one symptom that many people do not expect to be controlled is pain. This is not something that everyone with cancer gets by any means, but if it does occur it can be treated. Don’t just put up with uncontrolled pain. Ways of tackling it include radiation treatment, nerve blocks and many different painkillers. Your practitioner should be prepared to persevere in finding the right dose and type of painkiller for you.

Some patients don’t think it ‘right’ to ‘trouble’ their practitioner with family, emotional, financial and other such problems. You have a right to help and support in these areas. Your practitioner will be interested if he or she is treating you as a person, and not just a cancer. Don’t hesitate to ask. If your practitioner is not approachable and sympathetic, you may have to look elsewhere. Consider your local doctor, priest, social workers (through a public hospital, local council, or community welfare) or community organisations and self-help groups.

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