Molloscum Contagiosum

**UPDATE on my Change First Principle--It has been two weeks since I decided I needed to make some changes in me in order to improve my relationship with my husband. I wanted to let you know that the difference is astounding! The peace, love, harmony, companionship, friendship that now prevails in our home is palpable. It is amazing how simply choosing to be more grateful and more vocal about that gratitude leads to me seeking ways to show my gratitude as well as find ways to serve my spouse as well as leads him to truly WANT to serve and give more. It has been wonderful! How are you doing?**

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MOLLOSCUM CONTAGIOSUM

Have you ever heard of that big word up there? Molloscum contagiosum. It is a viral infection of the skin caused by a pox virus, as in the same family as small pox and chicken pox. However, it is normal and common among children. Most children will manifest it with a wart or two. At least they look like warts, though technically, they're not. Most children won't complain about it and, for most children, the warts will just go away on their own. In 1-3 years.

Of course, warts are nothing to be afraid of so if they don't go away for a while, it's not bothering anyone. And for a lot of people, they never diagnose the molloscum contagiosum because they figure its just a wart and they get it frozen off by their doctor. Problem solved.

Unless you have eczema and you itch a lot. Then the problem spreads. Sorry these pictures aren't the best quality. It was hard to photograph and keep my daughter still.

On January 14, 2011, I noticed a bunch of pimple looking bumps on Noelle's shoulder. A few days later, I took this picture because the bumps were spreading to her neck. I know they are hard to see. But they were just like pimples.

It took me a full month of observation before I decided to take her into the doctor. I thought at first it was just a skin irritation or maybe a reaction to the chlorine in her swimming lessons that she had just started. But when they weren't going away but were in fact getting worse, I finally took her in on February 13th. The doctor had just heard about a new medication called ZymaDerm that is over the counter. But when I went to pick it up at Walgreens, the pharmacist said they didn't have it and that it is only available online. I got online to find it, only to discover that the website claims it IS available at Walgreens. So I called Walgreens again, but got the same answer. I went in to see for myself and couldn't find it where I thought it would be.

A full week passed before I was able to get her the medication. Finally, I tracked it down and found out that indeed, it was available at my Walgreens, and in fact sits on a shelf directly outside of the pharmacists' window. It's in the first aid section, rather than in the skin care section. By the time we finally started the medication, this is what her bumps looked like.

You probably can't tell too well, but they were growing, breaking, bleeding, and spreading. She now had them on her torso and some on her legs. My other daughter started showing some on her legs and arms too, but about 7 compared to Noelle's 160 bumps. As soon as we got the medicine, we started using it.

It is all natural and is a liquid. You just put a little dot of it on each bump (again, she had 160 of them, so it took a few minutes to do). It doesn't hurt or burn and she actually laughed because it tickled. We did it twice a day for a week and saw a huge improvement.

That may not seem huge to you, but it was. Half of the dots were no longer bumps, but were flush with the skin. Many had disappeared. Those that remained were getting smaller and scabbing over.

It has now been 4 weeks since we first got the medicine and I have hardly put it on her in the last 1 1/2 weeks. Now we do it according to when new ones pop up, which they do occasionally. But for the most part, she doesn't have the problem anymore.

If your child has this or comes down with it in the future, look for ZymaDerm at Walgreens. It's $25 but a little goes a LONG way. We probably used 1/8 of the bottle. While some critics (actually advocates for other products) say that ZymaDerm may make the problem worse in children with eczema and dry skin (like Noelle), we didn't have a single problem. I'm just so glad my doctor told me about it so we could zap it before it spread to her face.

Hope this helps someone out there!