"Vintage" Illnesses aka "I'm Old Fashioned whines for a moment".

[Caledonia]

Hope you're feeling better ImOldFashioned. Ex hubby got the shingles. It all went away fine and dandy, no residual effects. He had to avoid people too, but I think he was told it was for Mumps.

Polio - I think we got that on a nice sugar lump. "Sugar helps the medicine go down" etc.

We've got a measles resurgence here at the moment apparently. Not exactly an oldie (I got it as a nipper in the 60s), but still one that was thought to be gone. Tuberculosis turned up in someone I knew about 10 years ago.

You don't often hear about tetanus. Until I started working outside with rusty nails and such, I had no idea you were supposed to keep up those jabs. Apparently we all get one when we're in nappies but if you don't keep up 8 yearly doses for at least 4 doses (or something like that), you're susceptible to infection. I think it's vintage'ly called LockJaw. As with the rabies jab, my arm comes up like a golf ball's been wedged under the skin. So, not my favourite then.

 

[Harp]

My husband told me they injected him and the other soldiers, before they were deployed to Baghdad, with actual smallpox so they would develop immunity to it. The only reason is that the Iraqis use smallpox as warfare, not because it is a disease amongst their population. The smallpox injection left a gaping half-inch festering hole in his arm which I saw in November, but which had healed last time I saw him in May.
Glad you are feeling better, imoldfashioned.

Best wishes to you and your husband, B-t-B

Glad to hear you're feeling better Imoldfashioned!!!

 

[HadleyH]

The ultimate vintage illness, and presidential to boot: POLIO.


.

Yes, that one and also TB. Like in Camille (1937) the movie with Robert Taylor and Greta Garbo, based on the novel 'La dame aux camellias' by Alexander Dumas. We cannot get more vintage than that in illnesses.

 

[pretty faythe]

They're not sure what it was, brain fever, scarlet fever, rubella, or menengitis.
Basically though, scarlet fever is associated with strep/soar throat. It is a rash etc.Scarlet fever is an exotoxin-mediated disease that occurs most often in association with a sore throat and rarely with impetigo or other streptococcal infections. Wikipedi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarlet_fever

On scarlet fever: that was the illness that caused Helen Keller to lose her sight and hearing.

 

[dostacos]

That oral polio vaccine was about the nastiest thing I've ever tasted. (I had it in the military.) For months after I took it, the thought of it brought back the taste and made me cringe.

On scarlet fever: that was the illness that caused Helen Keller to lose her sight and hearing.

did the military forget the sugar cube? I was "helping" pass out the meds as a kid [that means I had to go with my parents as THEY passed out the cubes] every day we did that I wanted another one.

 

[dostacos]

imoldfashioned time to get better

WELL little missy [putting on my "I'm old enough to be her daddy" hat] it is time to get better, I ORDER you to get better, otherwise we will not have the pleasure of your company at the Queen Mary, so you get better FAST! ok?


Santa Dan

 

[Trickeration]

ImOldFashioned - I hope you're feeling better and wish you a speedy recovery.

My husband had shingles a few years ago. When he arrived at the Dr's office, he didn't have a rash, just a fever and he said his face was a bit tingley (sp) feeling. The big clue was that his face was split right down the middle so one whole side was very faintest pink. That's what freaked me out and made me order him to go in. A very sharp doctor figured out what he had and got him on meds ASAP. Rob was well in about 2 weeks.

Shingles is indeed related to chicken pox. Our kids had had super mild cases (only a couple of 'pox' each) when they were really little and the doctor warned us that with Rob having shingles we may be in for another round. So even though it meant all of us going insane with cabin fever, I quarrantined the kids for the next 2 weeks (they can still be contagious during the incubation period). Exactly 2 weeks later, to the day, both kids were rashed and itching. That went on for about 2 more weeks. Needless to say, it was a long month, but we didn't infect a single other person.

Also, while we were stationed in Italy, the American community suffered through outbreaks of scarlett fever and measles. Italians are not vaccinated for measles, so it's not uncommon there. It turned out that all those who came down with measles were people who thought they or their kids had gotten all their vaccines but actually hadn't. Bummer.

 

[JazzBaby]

There are some illnesses I think of as sounding "vintage". For instance, when I was a child I had scarlet fever. My mother, knowing nothing about the disease except that Beth from "Little Women" died from it, went into a panic but, obviously, I recovered.

I have scarlett fever now. Why do I always fall ill when I'm on holiday? :eusa_doh:

 

[Harp]

I have scarlett fever now. Why do I always fall ill when I'm on holiday? :eusa_doh:

Best wishes to you, Rachel! Get well soon.

 

[scotrace]

That's why most kids who grew up in the 1940s and 1950s have a round dent of a scar on one shoulder....

And the 1960s and 1970s... I have one of those scars.

Shingles! I hope they go away fast. You're in good company though, Imoldfashioned:

According to Mr. Taylor, Dr. Harvey Klein, the former President's physician, said it was one of the worst cases of shingles that he had seen, but that Mr. Nixon, who is ambulatory, might recover in a month and a half.

''He's in an awful lot of pain,'' Mr. Taylor added. ''He doesn't complain about it much, but he says, 'Yes, it hurts like crazy.' '' (NY Times)


President Nixon had them in 1985 at age 72.

 

[Ecuador Jim]

Older illnesses can be a pain in the rear. Last winter I was laid up for a long stretch with pluresy (sp?). My mother laughed when she heard the diagnosis saying that she didn't know anyone was diagnosed with that anymore.

And yes, whooping cough is making the rounds again. I took over a classroom where both the teacher and her son came down with it. According to her, one version of the vaccine doesn't last as long as expected, so some people may need boosters.

I'm wondering though about the current smallpox vaccine. I know in the past they vaccinated people with cowpox for that. That's why most kids who grew up in the 1940s and 1950s have a round dent of a scar on one shoulder. It created a big sore kinda thing (like a giant chicken pox, sort of). Is that what they are still doing? Just curious.

The smallpox vaccine is a sub-cutaneous application, a fancy name for pricking your skin with the vaccine. You get a sore and the vaccination site, and it scabs over, and itches like crazy. You aren't supposed to scratch, or you risk losing the effect of the vaccination. I can't speak to the new, "weapons grade" vaccination, but I understand it is a nasty one.

My mom also had scarlet fever, and had thinning hair for the rest of her life. Interesting to read the variety of side-effects others have suffered.

Just for information, there is now a vaccination for shingles (aka herpes zoster). It is related to chicken pox, and if you've had chicken pox, you are more susceptible to shingles; especially as you enter middle age.

 

[Tourbillion]

One of my colleagues was out of the office with Dengue fever, which is spread by mosquitoes (similar to Malaria--another vintage disease). I understand that it is a horrible and painful disease. Don't get it.

Tuberculosis is making a comeback in the U.S. largely due to immigration. I've even heard that there are drug resistant strains, so we might get to see a resurgence of obscure diseases like scrufula (TB - related) or yaws (syphilis--another one with drug resistance).

I understand that leprosy is still around too, carried by some of the same wild creatures that carry bubonic plague.

Hopefully our antibiotics are up to the job.

p.s. hope you feel better soon, shingles suck.

 

[Joie DeVive]

The smallpox vaccine is a sub-cutaneous application, a fancy name for pricking your skin with the vaccine. You get a sore and the vaccination site, and it scabs over, and itches like crazy. You aren't supposed to scratch, or you risk losing the effect of the vaccination.

Thanks for the information. So it's similar to the more thorough TB test where they inject the stuff under your skin. (Teachers in CA needed either this or a chest x-ray every few years.) I hate it. The last time I had it done I told that to the nurse doing it. She said: "Good, I'd be worried if you thought it was fun!" lol

 

[Kishtu]

Tourbillion, I work in the criminal justice system in the UK, and we actually have people on our books who have been diagnosed with TB. And we're supposed to be a developed country [huh]

I'm also informed that poor nutrition and housing conditions have contributed towards the re-emergence of TB.

 

[Paisley]

did the military forget the sugar cube? I was "helping" pass out the meds as a kid [that means I had to go with my parents as THEY passed out the cubes] every day we did that I wanted another one.

It was a red liquid, and sickening sweet. Where's the gag emoticon?

 

[dostacos]

Thanks for the information. So it's similar to the more thorough TB test where they inject the stuff under your skin. (Teachers in CA needed either this or a chest x-ray every few years.) I hate it. The last time I had it done I told that to the nurse doing it. She said: "Good, I'd be worried if you thought it was fun!" lol

the chest xray is for when you blow a positive on the skin test. [all that means is that you have been exposed, not that you have TB]

 

[dostacos]

It was a red liquid, and sickening sweet. Where's the gag emoticon?

yeah they gave you the "juice" without the cube which made it easy to get down even little kids picky tastes

 

[Edward]

Hope you're feeling a bit better again today...

I think the most vintage of illnesses I've had I came down with at the age of 10 - April 1985, my first visit to London. A primary school trip. We flew - I was one of the very few kids who had actually flown once before, no budget flights in those days! - and stayed in the Barbican Hotel on Baker Street. Four days of sightseeing, Tussauds, the Planetarium, Cutty Sark.... and so on. And I got dyssentry.

 

[imoldfashioned]

Just for information, there is now a vaccination for shingles (aka herpes zoster). It is related to chicken pox, and if you've had chicken pox, you are more susceptible to shingles; especially as you enter middle age.

Interesting about the vaccination, I'll have to ask my doctor about it because I sure don't want to go through this again! The age thing fits too. At 39 I am entering middle age--hopefully anyway; one never knows when one's number will be up (my father died so young he was middle aged at 20).

Health report: The once enormous sore has shrunk to about the size of a silver dollar. I tried not taking the Percocet the other day to see if the pain had subsided but no dice. It's like a combination of the pain of a burn and what I imagine it would feel like if someone punched my cheekbone really hard--like the bone itself hurts, hard to explain. Overall, though the news is good.

 

[imoldfashioned]

Just back from having 2 wisdom teeth removed--not a golden age experience but a medieval one! My dentist is such a geek--he was so excited that one of my teeth had three roots. The novacaine is wearing off and the vicodin hasn't kicked in yet--ow.

Hopefully this is it for health stuff for awhile.