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Rubella? Terrible rash


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Our family had cold-like symptoms about a week & a half ago. Friday night my two littlest ones broke out in a speckled sort of rash. By Saturday morning, my two oldest boys had it. By Sunday night my DH & I had developed it. My daughter just began hers Tuesday morning.

 

Poring over the internet descriptions & pictures, this fits the description for rubella closer than anything else except that it has been starting on our trunks & radiating outward rather than the usual starting from the head & working down to the toes. Also, 5 of the 7 of us have been immunized for rubella, plus, my ds18 just had his rubella titers checked a few months ago & they were higher than the highest end of the lab range - and he seems to be having it worse than any of us (and he's usually the one who doesn't get symptoms when we have a virus going around, other than increased tics). But I can't find anything else that fits our symptoms & rash so closely as rubella does.

 

Poor ds18 has been doing very little more than laying on the floor of his room wrapped in a sheet for the past 2 days. The itching was so bad that it was interfering with his tics and he finally gave up trying to move outside of his room. Today, the itching is finally starting to subside somewhat (the spots became so many that they have blended together & he looks sunburned), but now his tics are really going crazy. I've been giving him 50mg of benadryl about every 4 to 6 hrs since Saturday night.

 

Tried calling our dr in Dallas on Mon., but his nurse almost never returns my calls for who knows what reason. I thought this time might be different since we were there just last Thursday so we have exposed their office staff to this virus which I pointed out in my message, but nope, still no call back. (I tried asking her about it at our appt & she deflected my question rather than answering it)

 

I'm hoping the increase is just a rebound effect from having something interfering with his tics for so long, but I am worried. Last night, ds18 declined to eat rather than hassle with trying to come to the table (from a boy who is perpetually hungry that says a lot). Tonite, my DH called him down to dinner at 6pm and he did not make it to the kitchen table until after 11pm. (I considered bringing it to him, but his tics are so bad that he is a very messy eater & everything is carpeted. He has been eating nuts up there though so he's not starving completely)

 

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do or might try to help him?

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I failed to mention that I also talked to our family dr's office on Monday. My dh had to go in for a blood test & he took our camera with the pictures I had taken of our little ones so they could see how the rash started & then developed. They were surprisingly indifferent.

 

Not sure if the dr. figures it's that unlikely or just thinks it's no big deal. And if that's the case, he may be right - I would have thought if it was rubella, those of us who have been immunized would get it more lightly than those who have not, but it has made no difference whatsoever. (My only child to have a light case is the one whose immune system is usually the most over-reactive, go figure!)

 

I've been trying to find out if there are virus rashes that are not so common but resemble the better known rashes & I've seen some articles that seem to hint that there are, but cannot find anything definite.

 

It does not seem at all consistent with what I'm seeing about scarlet fever - no sandpaper rash, no tiny bumps, no high fevers, scarlet fever usually starts on the face & this started on the trunk. And it is resolving on its own - the rash peaks on about the 2nd day & by the 3rd the spots begin fading. My ds7 who had the first spots show up last Friday has just faint pink traces of them left now. This is very perplexing...

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No, this can't be a contact dermatitis rash - it has hit all 7 of us and follows the same pattern. It isn't hitting in patches here & there, more like waves spreading outward from the trunk, & there are no blisters though the spots (which start out ~freckle sized rather than pimples like scarlet fever) are very slightly raised.

 

Our symptoms fit rubella the closest: cold symptoms (& the two youngest had brief low grade fevers one evening) and a rash that begins shortly after the cold sx's begin to resolve. The rash begins on the trunk & moves outward toward the head & limbs. The spots (& itching) peak on day 2 and on day 3 the spots that first showed up on day 1 begin to fade. Yesterday was the peak day for me & my rash, & my body felt achy similar to having a flu bug.

 

All of this is consistent with the typical symptoms of rubella, except as I said before, the rash starting on the trunk instead of the neck & head. Not saying that makes it rubella - only that our sx's match it closer than anything else I can find in the Merck manual or on the internet. I am wondering if it's possible that it might be a mutated strain of rubella?

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DH says the dr just shrugged his shoulders & said 'no telling!' just recommended the usual itchy rash remedies. :blink: All I could think was that he must be totally convinced this couldn't possibly be rubella (actually, knowing my DH, he probably didn't even bring the possibility up with the dr) <_<

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Fifth's & roseola are possibilities, but we did not have the characteristic "slapped cheek" rash of Fifth's that's supposed to come first, not even in the younger ones, at any point & we did not have the high fever that's supposed to be characteristic of roseola (plus it's supposed to be mild in adults if they even catch it, & both my DH & I got it, & mine was as bad as the kids).

 

Whatever it is, if it's a known disease, it's not following a completely typical course for any of them; & if it's an unknown, then I figure we should treat it with the same caution since it has so many of rubella's characteristics, it may also have the same terrible effects on babies in the womb.

 

We'll be asking the dr to rule out all possibilities though, including those diseases, when we get our unvaxed kids tested. Thanks!

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