History of HFMD in the Family in the past week
My HFMD Timeline (to be updated progressively)
[Note: Pictures of rashes on feet included. Need to manage expectations here... There is nothing glamorous about HFMD at all... So you know what to expect...]
Day 1, Sat 27 Dec 2014
- Mon 22 Dec 2014 - My 1.5 year old nephew Dilly was diagnosed with HFMD. My sister brought her 5 month old baby, Emmy over to my house to stay, in hopes of keeping the germs at bay. I most definitely carried and played with cute baby Emmy while she was at my house.
- Tue 23 Dec 2014 - Sister decided to return home at 1am coz Dilly who was at home with my brother-in-law Andrew was missing her terribly and couldn't sleep. But still, we spent a lot of time with Emmy in the morning before I went to work, and during dinner and after.
- Wed 24 Dec 2014 - Went to Sister's house for a
Quarantine PartyChristmas eve dinner of pizza with the immediate family. Mum assured me it would be quite safe as long as I didn't carry the babies and constantly sanitized my hands, especially before eating.
- Thur 25 Dec 2014 - Sister came over with Emmy at 9.40pm to pass us a logcake. I must definitely have poked Emmy's fatty legs, arms and cheeks. She's just so cute.
- Fri 26 Dec 2014 - Mum and Emmy were diagnosed with HFMD.
My HFMD Timeline (to be updated progressively)
[Note: Pictures of rashes on feet included. Need to manage expectations here... There is nothing glamorous about HFMD at all... So you know what to expect...]
Day 1, Sat 27 Dec 2014
- Woke up with a darn painful sore throat unlike any other sore throat I ever had before. And since I just had a sore throat 2 weeks ago, I thought it was way too soon for me to get another sore throat. Fully aware that Mum, Dilly and Emmy already had HFMD, I decided to err on the side of caution and give my gift exchange with my friends a miss. (On hindsight, that was a damn good move on my part, if not we would have been exchanging germs in addition to gifts)
- My temp was 36.9 when I first woke up but went up steadily to 37.5 and the highest recorded was 38 degrees. After that, my thermometer unceremoniously died and I could no longer take my temperature .
Day 2, Sun 28 Dec 2014
- Woke up still feverish, in pain from the body aches. Dragged myself to the nearby doc who said it looked like (with my fever and red spots in my throat plus family's history of HFMD) but may not be HFMD yet as I didn't have the characteristic rashes. Sent me home with a 2 day MC and asked me to come back in 2 days time if the rashes appeared.
- Fever seemed to have subsided by the night after trusty paracetamol.
- Discovered some crusty spots around my nose and my chin area.
- Sore throat didn't seem so bad, and I was able to wolf down with no pain nonsense like ice cream, fishballs, chicken mushroom puff, cookies etc for my supper.
Day 3, Mon 29 Dec 2014
- Woke up with a goddamn painful throat (I thought it got better the day before). OMG. It was like knives tearing your throat apart in a million directions, whenever you swallowed your saliva. Even eating ice cream hurt. I decided the best is just not to talk and accumulate as little saliva as possible.
- Around 6pm, my feet felt tingly. If I just twitched my toes, I could feel the itch... like all the blood coursing through my foot and sending an itch over. However, I couldn't see obvious rashes yet. Certain parts of my foot were red though.
- Later at night, the itch from my feet started to kill me. Have you had mosquito bites on your sole before? That's basically how it felt, but a thousand times itchier. I kept twitching my feet in order to get some relief from the itch. I had to take an antihistamine to sleep.
- Noticed a few red spots on my knee, and some on my hands, particularly at "common pressure points" e.g. the sides of my fingers which I use often. The spots on my hands weren't itchy though.
Day 4, Tue 30 Dec 2014
Obvious red spots which were DAMN ITCHY.
Day 5, Wed 31 Dec 2014
- Sore throat still painful, but less bad than Monday.
- There were now obvious red spots on the soles of my feet which had itched like crazy. Basically all the parts of my feet which touch the floor when I stand, had rashes on them (so my arch is free of rashes, hopefully). The rashes also seemed to be "harder" so it was super itchy to walk, and kind of hurt to stand for long. Noticed rashes even on my bunions (that part was SUPER itchy), on the sides of my feet and in between my toes.
- More dots on my hands appeared.
- Took a miracle for me to hobble out to the doc's to show him my rashes in its full glory. Basically he said, "I'm sorry, it looks like HFMD. I will have to notify MOH and give you an MC for the rest of the week. I hope you can still enjoy your New Year though." Erm, thanks. I am now a statistic. And nope, I don't think I'll be enjoying the New Year.
- By night, the rashes (particularly those on my feet) started to turn a darker red. But they were still itchy.
- Noticed very miniscule ulcers on my lips. They are not painful for now. Hope it stays that way.
- Also noticed a few spots of rashes on my ears.
Day 5, Wed 31 Dec 2014
- Sore throat still painful.
- Feet are not that itchy anymore. The rashes have "hardened" and turned a deeper red. Most of the rashes on my feet are that deeper red so it doesn't itch that much but are tender to the touch. The rashes that itch now are the isolated brighter red spots on my feet.
- Noticed a cluster of rashes on my right elbow.
- Noticed one of the rashes on my knee has ruptured. Oh dear. I didn't even scratch it.
When I woke up, the rashes had hardened.
By night, they had turned a darker red. The darker red makes me look more diseased but they are actually healing and aren't itchy anymore!
Close-up of my right foot.. You can see there were lotsa rashes around my bunion. I feel like the parts that became a darker red in comparison to the rest were those parts that were supremely itchy.
Day 6, Thur 1 Jan 2015
- Rashes have lightened in colour - for both my feet and hands. Rashes do not itch or hurt when I wriggle my feet. Basically, there's no more sensation in them. I suppose that's a good sign!
- Throat feels much better than previous days, although there is still some pain when swallowing. But overall, it's quite manageable, considering I did not take paracetamol the entire day. Sometimes throat feels ticklish and I end up coughing. Is this a sign of healing?
- The rashes on my nose and chin area seem to have "hardened" and turned a deeper red, same as what happened to my feet. Some of the scabs have fallen off.
- Spots of rashes on my ears have "hardened" and are no longer itchy.
Definitely much lighter than the day before! So happy to see the healing progress.
Day 7, Fri 2 Jan 2015
- NO MORE SORE THROAT! Can you scream yay with me?! I ate a tiny piece of chocolate for the first time in forever... ahhhh.... such bliss! However, my throat does still hurt when I yawn.
- Throat still feels ticklish which makes me want to cough.
- Rashes on my feet have lightened even more.
- Overnight most of the scabs from the crusty spots on my face fell off. Yay!
Day 8, Sat 3 Jan 2015
- Since this is Day 8, my 7 day quarantine has been lifted!
- Same as yesterday, no more sore throat and can eat anything I want with no pain at all. Throat only hurts when I yawn.
- Throat still feels ticklish which makes me want to cough.
- Rashes on my feet have lightened even more than yesterday!
- Strangely, the skin on my feet has begun peeling. I read online that it has happened to quite a few people too.
Day 9, Sun 4 Jan 2015
- My rashes are lightening every day, and my skin on my sole is also peeling a hell lot. The skin on my thumb is also peeling (my mum's hands are also peeling). I suppose the peeling is part of the recovery phase.
- I have zero sore throat; doesn't hurt when I yawn... I feel completely normal!
- So this will probably be my last post on this blog, since I'm recovering fine and am going back to work tomorrow. :D
Jan - Feb 2015
- Took about 1.5 months before the skin on my sole fully peeled off (it was done peeling slightly after CNY)
- Skin on spots of rashes on my fingers took far shorter to peel in Jan.
Mar 2015 onwards
- Noticed in early Mar 2015 that nails started to peel. Please read the dedicated post on peeling fingernails here. Basically, it is very annoying coz it snags my clothes or my long hair gets trapped in the tear when I'm running my fingers through my hair, and it causes the tear to get even worse! Sigh.
- April - early May 2015: Most of my nails are peeling very badly. I have had to cut off the peeling part of the nail for 3/5 of left hand's and right hand's nails , which means very little of my nail is left. The remaining layer is extremely thin, soft and brittle. I have difficulty washing my hair and typing on the computer.
I am going on 2 months of what I believe is hand foot and mouth. It didn't attack my feet but did attack my hands,knees,elbows and mouth. The bumps will fade and new ones appears. My mouth has sores that come and go. Dermatologist said it was ecezma which i have never had. Thank you for your post. Im looking for adults like myself who has suffered with this crap and all the aches and pains that go with it
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DeleteYou might like to listen to your dermatologist, it probably is eczema. Everybody’s body goes through different hormonal changes. I was once with baby smooth skin but now have mild eczema which makes my skin dry and scaly :/ hfmd at this case affects the mouth, hands and the foot. If it aftects otherwise, it’s probably not hfmd. You may like to visit a hospital for thorough check considering the fact that it has lasted for 2 months!
Stories like yours has helped me so much. Let me tell you about my currently ongoing saga.
ReplyDeleteSunday - mild sore throat, thought I was catching a cold, ignored it.
Monday - we had just purchased a new house and it was move day. I thought my fatigue and just general feeling of being unwell was because of the stress of moving. I pushed on and we moved from one house to another. Multiple times during the day, I would just lay on the floor and cry because I thought I was getting the flu and had muscle aches and was exhausted. I also started to note small red dots on my hand, but thought it was an allergic reaction to pulling up some weeds. By the end of the day, I felt awful and my feet were killing me, just aching, but again I attributed this to being on my feet all day moving.
Tuesday - the sore throat felt worse and I noticed the red sores had increased on my right hand and had spread to my left hand. I called the Dr and went in to the after hours clinic. The NP was very confused by my symptoms but I had started reading about sore throats and red lesions on hands and kept coming up with HFMD. They tested me with strep and it came back negative. She also noted the lesions on my throat and agreed with the HFMD diagnosis but mentioned to rule everything out should get a syphilis test, OMG. I know I don't have syphilis. I was told go home, wait it out, take some ibuprofen. I was incredibly itchy all over my hands and feet and it hurt to walk and to put any pressure on my hands like opening boxes or even holding a cup. I went home and tried not to scratch my entire body.
Wed - the pain was worse, like I almost felt arthritic. I hobbled around the house and just tried to rest. I noted a sore in my ear that was crusty. I also felt the bumps on my back where I had recently had a sunburn. I agree that if you have areas on your body with any trauma, the lesions will appear there as well. I had sores on my bikini line where I often get ingrown hairs. I took an atavax to help with the itching and fell into a deep sleep hoping tomorrow would be better.
Thur - this is where I currently am and when I woke up I could hardly walk. It was easier to crawl due to the pain in my feet. As the day has gone on, I can hobble around. The sores on my hands are now a deep red color and some have combined into what I'm calling super sores. I feel lots of pressure on my nail beds as well, based on stories I imagine I am going to lose some. I did notice last night that there are a lot more sores on my soles and side of my feet and some on my legs. I want to cry. I feel like the skin on my hands and feet is too tight. It still is painful to grip or put pressure anywhere on my hands and feet. The one positive is that my sore throat has lessened and the itching is only mild. I tell myself every day that I've hit the peak and it can only get better so here's hoping I'm right. I would never wish this on anyone. The isolation sucks and not being able to unpack a new house is stressful on top of it all.
In conclusion, I think there is not a lot of info out there, even with medical professionals about adult HFMD. I keep reading how mild it is, hell no in my case. I also read how there is a strain of coxsackie virus called 6 and it is much more common for adults to catch and more severe. I have no idea how I got this as I am around zero children. Based on the incubation period of the virus I suspect I caught it from work from an adult that was asymptomatic. I was basically at work and home for the 3-6 days before onset of symptoms as I was packing the whole time. I have the deepest sympathies for anyone going through this and appreciate these blog posts so adults don't think they are going crazy and think they are dying, you will feel like you are. I can only hope that in the next few days things will get better.