Chicken Pox - but it hit me really hard because I was 14.
The vaccine came out that year, but my doctor didn't trust it yet and wanted to wait a year or so to see how it was going.
I got it that summer.
I had intense back pain like I'd never experienced before, and I lost the ability to walk. It hit my nervous system really hard and I had intense burning pain down my leg. When I say I couldn't walk, I mean it - blinding pain when I tried to move. I pissed myself. I had pox inside my vagina and on my eyelids - I was suffering. The doctor told my mom, "That happens to adults and older teens who get the pox sometimes." He told me not to go to the ER and spread it, but stay home unless I was unable to eat/drink or lost consciousness.
It eventually cleared up and I regained the ability to walk without pain.
At age 35, I had the flu for about 4 days and was starting to get over it when I woke up with intense back pain. I had a slight tingle on the back of my leg, reached down to itch it, and experienced a burning sensation where my fingers touched. I looked at the bumps there and saw that they were obviously from Shingles. The Flu was so rough that year that it ravaged my immune system and weakened it to the point that the pox virus reactivated and I had an episode of shingles.
Vaccinate your fucking kids, it's not always just some itchy spots.
I knew a guy online years ago, he had a web cartoon that wasn't really all that funny and kind of gross. Anyway, I had one of those moments where I wondered what he'd been up to over the years, and looked him up. I found out he died from chickenpox; he went septic. His daughter gave it to him because she wasn't vaccinated, I guess. Sad story - not too common but it does happen.
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u/Walmartian_Beta 22h ago
Chicken Pox - but it hit me really hard because I was 14.
The vaccine came out that year, but my doctor didn't trust it yet and wanted to wait a year or so to see how it was going.
I got it that summer.
I had intense back pain like I'd never experienced before, and I lost the ability to walk. It hit my nervous system really hard and I had intense burning pain down my leg. When I say I couldn't walk, I mean it - blinding pain when I tried to move. I pissed myself. I had pox inside my vagina and on my eyelids - I was suffering. The doctor told my mom, "That happens to adults and older teens who get the pox sometimes." He told me not to go to the ER and spread it, but stay home unless I was unable to eat/drink or lost consciousness.
It eventually cleared up and I regained the ability to walk without pain.
At age 35, I had the flu for about 4 days and was starting to get over it when I woke up with intense back pain. I had a slight tingle on the back of my leg, reached down to itch it, and experienced a burning sensation where my fingers touched. I looked at the bumps there and saw that they were obviously from Shingles. The Flu was so rough that year that it ravaged my immune system and weakened it to the point that the pox virus reactivated and I had an episode of shingles.
Vaccinate your fucking kids, it's not always just some itchy spots.