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

[scotrace]

Ugh... wisdom tooth removal is no picnic at that age. It's a good thing they got all four at once for me: I'd never go through that again for love or money.

 

[imoldfashioned]

Ugh... wisdom tooth removal is no picnic at that age. It's a good thing they got all four at once for me: I'd never go through that again for love or money.

Yeah--I got the other 2 out when I was around 25 and it was a piece of cake. Not so this time! Last night was a nightmare. Feeling somewhat perkier today but, still, I've definitely felt better.

 

[Story]

Rabies plagues Scranton in the mid-1930s

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/rabies-plagues-scranton-in-the-mid-1930s-1.790405

"Situation Serious," read the June 1934 headline. Eleven dogs picked up by the Scranton pound had rabies, according to Charles Elsby, chief clerk for the Public Safety Department. Mr. Elsby reminded area residents that the city would strictly enforce its ordinance calling for all dogs to be muzzled.

 

[Puzzicato]

Beginthebeguine,

I'm also sorry to hear of your malady. A speedy recovery.

Speaking of smallpox, I hear (not joking), cow pox is a good antidote.

I have heard that that is where the expression "Pretty as a milkmaid" comes from - dairymaids had prolonged exposure to cow pox, so developed an immunity to smallpox, so they were less likely to have their faces marred by smallpox scars.

One of the women in my office has pleurisy. I thought that was a very old-fashioned ailment!

 

[Sincerely-Dee]

My little sister just recovered from scarlet fever.

I remember being told to stay away from this little girl who has TB once when I was little..

 

[Shangas]

A classmate of mine had scarlet fever once as a child, that's the only vintage illness that I ever had any 'personal contact' with. An aunt of a friend of mine used to be a nurse in a country hospital and she witnessed outbreaks of Consumption (that's 'tuberculosis' to you modern medicine folk) there during the 1950s and 60s. If this counts as vintage, I had my wisdom teeth taken out.

 

[vitanola]

I had Rubella as a kid; they put my in an 'oxygen tent'. My Mother had Scarlet Fever as a child; she could never be in a room painted green since that time! My Dad survived the Influenza epidemic of 1917 in Philadelphia but many of his neighbors were quaranteened and died.

Currently I have friends with the 'vapors', the 'Bazooties', 'dropsy' and 'whooping cough' - no 'consumption' yet though!

(Oddly enough though, they just found 'Black Death' alive and well near Flagstaff AZ, just a week ago! That's Bubonic Plague to you homeopaths out there!)

-dixon cannon

"Dropsy"? Congestive heart failure? I hope that they are under the care of a cardiologist!

 

[miss_elise]

one of my parent's friends had TB... they said "Oh, guess was XXX has?" I jokingly said "TB", and they were amazed at my perceptiveness...

admittedly she had just come back from Thailand.

Shingles has been going around recently as well...

hope you're feeling better Imoldfashioned

 

[kamikat]

One of the women in my office has pleurisy. I thought that was a very old-fashioned ailment!

I had pleurisy about 10 years ago. It was awful!!!
I just got over a case of pink eye. I know my sister had had several times when I was little, but it missed me. I don't think it's as common as it used to be.

 

[December]

I got mumps five years ago.

It's not vintage as such, I know, but I thought it was pretty much a goner since the MMR jabs came into effect.

Apparantly though, my year was the last year to get only one jab as a baby, rather than two, and that weakened the effect. There was quite a bout of it in people my age.

My little brother had scarlet fever a couple of years before that too.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

My great-grandfather had TB in the 20s, and his rich in-laws left him for as good as dead. He recovered and lived to be 94.

My brother had whooping cough so badly when he was young that he had completely stopped breathing and we just about lost him.

My dad, has the vaccine scar on his left arm. Guess he meets the 40s and 50s deadline barely. He was born December 28, 1959.

 

[Chas]

Grandad - VDG (Gonnorhea) World War I. How do I know? Sent for his service records, and there it was. Bad boy...that's ok; Canadian soldiers were paid twice what the Brits were, and all those ladies of the night down in Picadilly...death tugging at his elbow....what the heck...."why yes, lady, I happen to have a match right here...". To make up for it he survived the Somme, Vimy, Hill 70, Passchendaele, The 100 days and served again in WW2. He was sniped at Passchendaele while out laying wire, was hit by shrapnel at the Somme (Courcelette) and had a hole in his back you could put a fist into. Stayed in the hospital and went AWOL to rejoin his unit. Semper durus.

My mum's kid sis spent a year in a TB sanitorium.

I've had mumps, chicken pox, tonsils, adenoids and appendix out. Once upon a time doctors considered it routine maintenance. I had pink eye really bad, once. It was brutal; I was for all purposes blind for a couple of days. It was gross.

 

[Puzzicato]

I've had measles, mumps and chickenpox. I get conjunctivitis (is that what pink eye is?) about once a year.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Tonsillectomy at age 4 -- a very unpleasant memory, especially the mean-old-nun nurses, who were terrifying to a little Methodist kid. Pinkeye in the first grade, and I had to be quarantined for a week. Impetigo at age 8, caught at a Brownie swimming lesson at the municipal pool. Chicken Pox at 11, and I gave it to everyone else in the house. Share and share alike, that's how I was raised.

I was also a very colicky baby, and was constantly being dosed with Coke syrup and paregoric. Giving either of those things to a baby today would probably land you in the jug.

I also have *two* vaccination scars, one on my shoulder and one on my elbow. I picked the first one and spread it.

 

[scottyrocks]

I have a vaccination scar on my left upper arm area. Dont remember for what, though.

I had German Measles. Isnt that the same as rubella? Also had a tonsilectomy.

I also have what the old timers, at least in my family, used to call, 'sugar,' iow, diabetes.

 

[Gracie Lee]

Not something I've caught, but how's this for vintage? I'm currently being considered for a research position in a lab in Delaware that specializes in studying Vibrio cholerae. That's right, cholera is still an active research subject.

 

[KittyT]

imoldfashioned, I'm sorry to hear about your shingles, but am glad your job interview went all right! Shingles are actually not that uncommon - I've known quite a few people who have them.

Did you know they have a shingles vaccine now? My mom just got one a few months back. It's highly recommended for older folks, whose immune systems are weakening as they age. EDIT: doh! someone beat me to it lol

I have a friend my age who no longer has the use of her legs and walks on crutches - she had polio as a child in India before she was adopted. She did the Boston marathon last year in a wheelchair and last I saw her, she was training to start doing triathlons.

 

[scotrace]

Of all the vintage things which have made something of a comeback since the start of The Fedora Lounge, the return of dangerous childhood illnesses which had been largely wiped out is something we could have done without.

 

[Zombie_61]

I realize we're all necroposting at this point, but at least I didn't start it this time.

Ugh... wisdom tooth removal is no picnic at that age. It's a good thing they got all four at once for me: I'd never go through that again for love or money.

It's no picnic at any age. Mine were extracted when I was in my late teens; actually, two impacted wisdom teeth and two 2nd molars. I was so heavily sedated that I was still feeling the effects the next day. To add insult to surgery, the next morning my mom woke me up to ask, "Where did you park your car yesterday?" When I told her and her response was, "But it's not there," all I could think to say was, "Call the police." Yep, four teeth pulled and someone stole my car that night. I have to admit, the thieves' timing was perfect because they could have walked in and asked me for the keys and I was so doped up that I probably wouldn't have remembered it.

Of all the vintage things which have made something of a comeback since the start of The Fedora Lounge, the return of dangerous childhood illnesses which had been largely wiped out is something we could have done without.

Part of the problem was/is that the people issuing the inoculations for these illnesses in the 1950s and 60s didn't bother to tell us they were only good for 10-15 years. I haven't met anyone who got re-inoculated when they were in their late teens or early 20s. I've heard and read the people responsible for these inoculations/vaccinations have become more diligent about such details in recent years, but at this point it seems a bit like closing the stable door after the horses have escaped.

 

[sheeplady]

I had a titer test for measles every pregnancy to be sure I was still immune. I asked for the first one in 2013 (I read it was recommended), now it's apparently standard practice in pregnant women. You can have immunity one year, and lose it the next, hence they test each time.

I'd love to be updated on my childhood vaccines, but I've been told that titers aren't typically covered by insurance unless you've been exposed to something or are pregnant (and in pregnancy only a measles titer is covered).

My husband's aunt died in childhood due to having measles and scarlett fever at the same time. I also had an aunt die in infancy. We vaccinate.