Fifth Disease (Really, that's what it's called)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

If your kid has had this thing, you know what it is. If not, then you think I’m just making things up. Fifth Disease? It’s like I’m not even trying with the name.

There’s:
First Place
Second Thoughts
The Third World
The Fourth Estate
so why not
Fifth Disease?

But it’s real. Oh yes, it’s real.

Since Summer Vacation just started, the boys thought “Gee! Wouldn’t it be fun to get sick? And not with a regular disease, some obscure thing with a stupid name!” So they picked up Fifth Disease. It has a real medical name: erythema infectiosum which sounds like some spell Harry Potter would cast. Or rather, Hermione since she’s better at magic than Harry. I mean, what’s Harry’s deal? Just because he was raised outside the Wizarding Community he’s no good at doing magic? He’s supposed to be just oozing natural tallent. But at least he’s better than Ron. That Ron…

Huh? Wha? Oh yeah! Fifth Disease.

It started with Soupo being a big ol’ grouch and Katcha just being a huge whiner. This was way-fun. Then Soupo started with the pink blotches on his cheeks. What’s this? We’ve never seen this before. Consulting the Big Book of Diseases Your Kid Could Have turned up nothing. Oh yeah, Fifth Disease was in there, (Oddly enough, not on page 5.) it’s just they lied to us. Right under a illustration of where to find the rash (All over the back of the child. It’s a shy rash and doesn’t want to put itself forward and be on the front.) it says, and I quote: “Apart from the rash, there are no symptoms.”

Wrong, wrong, wrong and WRONG!

How about a giant fever? Huh? That was a symptom. And the headaches? (The boys had a headache and what with the whining a griping, they gave me one too.) There’s another symptom right there. What about Soupo’s runny nose and cough, huh? What about that? And lets not forget Katcha’s monumental puking jag. (Like I’ll ever forget that. I’ll take that memory with me to my grave.) He managed to get puke everywhere, including the back of his head and the underside of the car which was, per usual, in the garage and he was in the upstairs bathroom. It was… I have no words for it.

Since what these boys were doing didn’t jibe with what the Big Book of Diseases Your Kid Could Have said should be going down, the Little Woman though a quick call to the pediatrician was in order. Well, yeah, duh! They wanted to see the boys because it could have been strep. But the boys didn’t have a sore throat. So?! Kids don’t always have a sore throat with step, silly! But I thought that’s what strep was, a real bad sore throat as the flesh eating bacteria do a number on the back of your throat. As it turns out, not always.

And it wasn’t strep after all. It was Fifth. It’s just they had their weird symptoms because no matter how benign the thing is, it’s still a viral infection and you can gets bad stuff going on.

Oh, under “Home Treatment” for Fifth Disease in the Big Book of Diseases Your Kid Could Have it says “Check that there is no fever (fever is very unusual with fifth disease).” Stupid book. We have two cases of Fifth and they both had a huge fever. I guess my kids are just unusual. (Like I didn’t know that.)

And the good news is: even after the fever is gone the rash hangs on and on for a couple weeks.

This is one fun childhood disease. I give it Two Thumbs Up!
-Rue.

2

When it passed through our household (many years ago) I remember one of the nicknames it had was ‘Slapped Child’ because of the rosy cheeks which accompanied it. I got it too and my cheeks were like Bette Davis in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.’ But none of us were that sick, my case was over before I really knew what happened. Sorry it was rougher for you guys.

3

They just have to be different, don’t they? No normal diseases for the De Day kids!

Monday morning is not the best time to hear about the Monumental Puking Jag. But that’s better than having to clean it up–glad it was you and not me, Rue!

I hope Soupo and Katcha are feeling all better! They should look at the bright side–at least they didn’t have to miss any school!

4

Isn’t there a “lacy rash” somewhere? If I recall when Hallboy had it years ago, in addition to the rosy cheeks (which really didn’t register to me, since any type of physical activity makes Hallboys cheeks pink, and at three years old ALL activities were physical activities), there is a lacy rash on the trunk of the body. It’s really weird looking.

5

Interesting name. I have several theories:

–Only journalists get it
–It is the disease most likely to make parents drink vodka
–It refuses to answer questions
–Beethoven had it
–Lisping kids throw a fit during it

Why bother with the truth? It is so limiting.

And…where are the puppy pictures!

6

Does Fifth Disease affect adults? Cause I got a rash on my shoulder, and I did do some puking late Friday night/early Saturday morning.

Now that I think about it, the puking was probably from the shots of peppermint schnapps that a former roommate of mine bought me.

7

Do you have any recollection of what might have caused the rash… or pictures?

8

Whent he five year old had Fifth Disease last year (no hardcore symptons, just like the book says) our pediatrician gave us a rather mundane reason for the name.

It was the fifth disease described by that team of pathologists. They hung the name ‘Fifth Disease’ on it and it’s stuck.

Veracity? Unknown. But certainly plausible.

9

The pink cheeks. Soupo had some really pink cheeks, but Katcha not so much. The rash isn’t a regular rash either. It’s that “lacy rash” phall. Not a bunch of red bumps like usual, but a mottled effect on the skin. You can’t even feel it. It’s just a rash to look at. It doesn’t even seem itchy.

You can get Fifth Disease as an adult Sean. If you’ve never had it as a kid. And it’s super-way contagious, so odds are you’ve had it. But maybe the alcohol in the schnapps killed all the little germs before they had a chance to really getcha.

10

The Princess[sup]TM[/sup] and Lil Lestat[sup]TM[/sup] obligingly contracted chicken pox during visitation with the Klingon…on separate weekends. :smiley: I didn’t have to deal with the puking that generally heralds chicken pox and they were virtually on the mend by the time they got home. There is an Og! Nobody ever got Fifth Disease that I recall. Did it ever get called anything else? We did all come down with strep throat oncet though.

I had a busy and rainy weekend. Saturday, Mr. Anachi and I went to the Home Depot and picked out carpet samples and paint. I think it’s obligatory to get paint when one visits Home Depot. The carpet will go in the living room and the paint will go on the bottom of the old diningroom hutch which will then be transfered and transformed into the breakfast nook sideboard.

Later Saturday I met the Princess at Penney’s to buy her a new comforter and bedskirt for her bed and four sets of sheets for the Grumpuses. Then I made some homemade beefaroni which we ate with some crusty eyetalian bread. Plain food but somehow comforting for a rainy night.

The sun is finally shining but it’s still humid and gonna be hot. Oh, well, this is Flawduh in June afterall.

Tupug

11

So we’re back to puke again? Makes for a change from all the poo of recent weeks, I guess. Puking kids is one of the many reasons I’m glad I’m a boy who likes boys. I don’t have to deal with stuff like that. I do have a dog puke story though. Y’all remember Joe Dawg, right? Well, my friend, who is Joe Dawg’s daddy, told me that Joe Dawg started making pukey noises in his kitchen and decided it would be best to walk into the living room and do the actual puking on the carpet. Wasn’t that thoughtful of Joe Dawg? He didn’t want to mess up the kitchen linoleum. :smiley:

This weekend was a weekend of rain. Lots of rain. Then some more rain. I let water out of the pool at six different times. Oh, and the tarp on the gazebo (it’s cloth) likes to hold rain cause it’s loose like like it’s supposed to be so rain gets trapped along the edges cause they sag under the weight of all the water. Especially when it’s big huge ginormous rains like this weekend. I had to stand in the gazebo several times over the weekend and push up on the tarp to let trapped rainwater sploosh off of it. Then I got the bright idea of using a broom handle to push the tarp. It worked real good and I could stand back from the edge while doin’ it and didn’t get all wet.

Yesterday afternoon ACBG and me actually got in the pool for about 45 minutes! Then the rain started again.

-swampbear (waterlogged)

12

Speaking of odd diseases – how about Roseola? or Pittoriasis Rosea?

My first daughter contracted Roseola. It’s a disease that apparently only children of about 2 or younger get. Symptoms start out with a somewhat high fever. This was what sent us to the doctor. On the 2nd or 3rd day, a rash ensues and the fever breaks. Then the rash goes away and the child becomes incredibly irritable and cranky for about another day. Nobody knows why the last symptom, since the disease is generally found in kids who can’t explain what’s wrong. Could be a headache, body aches, anything.

Pittoriasis Rosea was the choice of my younger daughter. Its characteristic symptom is a rash, on the back, in a particular bilaterally symmetrical diagonal pattern. It goes away and is not dangerous.

Thank goodness we had a very excellent pediatrician who recognized both of these bizarritudes, and did not attempt to treat eather of these viral diseases with antibiotics.

BTW, I’ve read that “Fifth Disease” was because there were already 4 common childhood illnesses with a rash as the main symptom, and this was the 5th one.

13

I hope you’re not pregnant. Fifth disease also can cause miscarriages. If you are, contact your OB immediately.

14

I’d heard that after Measles, Mumps, Rubella (German Measles), and Chicken Pox came Fifth disease.

Heck-for a good read on diseases, curl up with a Merck Manual some evening. I’ll take Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura for $100, Alex!

15

Just a night out with some friends. Nothing incriminating. I just can’t hold my shots like I could when I was younger. Just a beer guy now.

As for the rash, it comes and goes with summer. I call it my Sweat Rash, and usually it’s beaten back by applying a generic equivalent of Lotramin. But I don’t think it’s athelete’s foot on my shoulders.

Thanks for asking, though!

And Rue neither Katcha or Suopo are pregnant, are they? I hear tell that it’s bad for the boys if they’re preggers when they got this disease! :wink:

16

I think it’s safe to assume Rue is not pregnant. I think he got fixed. :smiley:

17

I just checked in my Merck Manual, and by golly - there is a Fifth Disease. I did not turn to the page because, as an adult who never had it as a child, I was afraid of catching it. Right now, reading this thread, I am dressed in a Haz Mat suit just in case. Anything with “erythema” in it, I don’t think I want to be involved.

(Hijack, skip this part if you are squeamish or have no interest in me)
This will be my last MMP for awhile. This time next week, a skilled surgeon will be removing the head of my femur and drilling a hole into the bone, scraping the hip socket and replacing everything with a cool titanium prosthesis. And the best part is - I will be (somewhat) awake while they do it! I have chosen door #3, epidural with IV sedation. Unless they sedate me heavily, I will most certainly hear some bone saw action and smell some cauterized flesh. No big deal, since I’m a nurse and I’ve seen and heard and smelled everything there is on the human body. But wait, it’ll be me that they are hacking into! Sigh. Believe it or not, my 2 biggest fears involve insertion of a Foley catheter and getting stuck with an 18 gauge needle (larger than normal, so they can transfuse me).

scout, sadly I will miss the SD Dopefest next weekend. Actually, I’m not even sure you are still having it, since I haven’t seen the thread for awhile. But everyone should carry on and have some chips and salsa in my honor, and for Og’s sake please get a picture of silenus’ crazy shirt!

See you all in a few weeks. Rue, no more obscure diseases this summer, OK?

18

This is what I have heard as well. Both my kids have had it and had no other symptoms other than the pink cheeks (that kind of looked like slap face measles)and the lacy rash that appeared on their backs. Our doctor told us that by the time the rash appears they are no longer contagious. The rash lasted a couple days and then just went away.

19

We’ll miss you! Hope the surgery goes well. You’re much calmer about it than I would be. Just think of all the fun you’ll have with your stylish new hip! It’s just like the 6 Million Dollar Man (but cheaper and not quite as bionic).

20

Boy, there’s another reason I don’t want kids! That and the 43 hours of labor a friend’s cousin went through on Friday. :eek: So far, I can’t come up with any reasons TO have kids!

The weekend went well. My parents seem to like KeithT. We wowed them with lotsa good food: balsamic roast pork tenderloins, potato salad with sweet peppers, and pesto pea salad. (All are Food Network recipes so just search for those names on their website if you want the recipes.) It was really really good. And then Dad made ice cream for dessert. How could everyone not get along with a menu like that??

And KeithT and I met one of his college friends who works for Big Corporation in this area doing research. She gave us a tour and told us about her work and said she thinks that the department KeithT would be interested in working for is hiring so maybe he could get a job for Big Corporation. Now me, I like working for small companies. But Big Corporation would certainly pay better. And they have opportunities that small companies don’t. So hopefully in a year, once he graduates, he’ll get a job out here. Yay!

So good weekend. But I’m really really tired AND the coffee maker at work is broken! :eek: Boy, Mondays like this suck.