Chickpea Pox

Some interesting things about chicken pox...and how it relates to me, because this stupid blog is all about me after all.

Chicken pox has absolutely nothing to do with chickens. The name is based on the Latin word cicer, meaning chickpeas, as the blisters were thought to resemble chickpeas on the skin!...Well, my pox look alot more like chickpeas than they do chickens.

It is most common in children between 5 and 9 years of age...I had it at 14 and 40. I just love to be atypical.

Crops of blisters appear for 2 to 4 days, gradually spreading over the entire body, including the scalp, penis and inside the mouth, ears, nose and vagina....yep, yep, nope, yep, yep, yep and a close miss.

Incubation is usually 14 – 17 days...so that means as much as I would like to blame Thailand for my current misery, the truth is I probably caught it from my much beloved students (aka disease factories).

Ninety percent of the world's population will contract chicken pox within their lifetime...that doesn't exactly ease my current situation.

Some researchers speculate that sunburn and other, unrelated stresses that can affect the immune system may also lead to the viral reactivation of chicken pox known as shingles....Wait a minute. That's me. So the little disease carriers may not have given it to me.

People with shingles frequently suffer from spontaneous pain (or pain for no explainable reason). This pain can be characterized as stinging, tingling, numbing, or throbbing, and can be pronounced with quick stabs of intensity....well, that would explain the feeling of pins and needles I had during the worst times.

Shingles almost always presents on only one side of the body...Gosh darn it! I have it everywhere. So do I got Shingles or Chicken Pox?


Well, I hope you found it all very informative. It confused the crap out of me.