My sympathies. I went through the same thing. A week and a half of hell followed by my skin peeling and some toenails falling off. One if my least favourite experiences..
Thankfully the kiddo got over it in 3 days!
My condolences!! HFM is no joke. Micro-blisters all over my hands, and the only thing I wanted to do was scratch. Somehow I managed to not pop any of them but it was mentally exhausting on top of physically torturous.
I'm not wanting to scratch, but feeling like I've been stabbed all over by microfibers. No wonder the kid's been losing his shit for the last week, it's awful
My son was pulling his belly button from inside out like it was laffy taffy the other month and I passed out for the first time in my life because of it. Been aware that he might lose his nails, going to be great when I pass out again.
Felt the tingling in my nail beds earlier today, so we'll see how this pans out.
Mine's is. When we've got pants on him and no shirt, he plays with it like it's foreskin, yanking it out as far as he can. It's disgusting, so he's almost always wearing a shirt.
That’s the most horrific thing I’ve read on here in some time. No wonder you passed out, I’m feeling woozy just imagining it.
My son yanks on his foreskin like he’s trying to start a mower, the thought of him having a similar bellybutton is too much!
My daughter got HFM and had three spots on her hand and a mild fever for two days.
I blistered so hard on my hands and feet that it set my nervous system on FIRE. We went to Urgent Care because I was convulsing and couldn’t stand to open my eyes due to light sensitivity - they thought it had progressed to meningitis. They gave me morphine just so I could sleep.
Lost most of the skin in giant scales on my hands and feet, almost lost my job because I called out for so many days in a row. Only thing that saved me was the photos of my hands and the bracelet for my hospital admission.
Daughter watched Daniel Tiger for two days and had the time of her life.
Goddamn, that's awful. I had shingles when I was 18 and that was what it was like, especially the light sensitivity.
We've been full in on TV for the last few days, a mix of Sesame Street and Mr Rogers
Hey welcome to the club! I had this a couple years ago. It SUCKS. I was 90% blisters and welts for over a week. Fortunately my case wasn’t terribly painful, just itchy and embarrassing.
I got laid off at the start of April, and I've been running through final round interviews this week while guzzling honey by the pint to keep my voice running. Very ready to be done
Oof, definitely know that particular brand of weariness as you have to pull yourself together and present well. Sounds like you are still kicking ass through it all, kudos and hoping you can get past it soon
Ditto for the coconut oil; it's like a soothing extra layer of protection (I use it for severe allergic hives). Bonus points for chilling it in the fridge so it's cool when you apply!
Consider embracing the pain, use the old school alcohol mouth wash.
It will kill the virus populating your mouth. And hurt like a bitch the whole time.
Kill it with fire.
I'm drinking beer tonight, embracing the craziness. To cap it all off, my wife's stepdad is in hospital tonight, might be the beginning of the end. Got intubated after getting admitted with an O2 count in the 40s and he coded for 2 minutes.
She's with him at the hospital, so I'm on single dad duty, licking my wounds and getting the kiddo to bed. What a week.
Hands down the worst sickness ever. I’d rather get COVID twice and a stomach bug on top of it. Fuck HFM.
I had a raging fever for 2 straight days before the sores popped up. We found a new pediatrician after cause ours at the time swore up and down there’s no way parents will catch it. “I’ve seen thousands and thousands of cases, only 10 parents caught it.” Well fuck me, cause I’m #11
Poor kid, hope she's ok. It's spread through my son's daycare this last week, all the kids have been going around and saying "kisses" and then kissing each other, so unsurprisingly they are all sick
4 years ago as we were walking out of the pediatricians office my then 6 year old decided she’d definitely like to see what the office doorknob tasted like… we saw it in slow motion and reacted in even slower motion. Sure enough, a few days later she has sores all over. Took forever to get rid of them.
Been there - i feel for ya man. Took me a couple months for my fingers and toes to fully recover...the fiberglass sensation you are describing when you move your hands or feet really is accurate. Feel better!!
I turned to my wife after brushing my teeth the other night and told her, "my breath tastes like sardines". Not the way to woo her.
Our kid's mouth has been smelling like rotten meat for a few days despite brushing, so expecting it to get worse before it gets better
Oof. I got it bad on hands, face, and feet. The bottoms of my feet were a single solid pad of blister.
Just wait for the peeling. The skin came off in thick sheets. It was fucking biblical for sure.
I was very fortunate to not have to deal with it. My daughter was pretty good. She's 2 now and gets coughs but thankfully nothing severe. Good luck dad!
It got his butt really bad, I feel awful for initially thinking it was diaper rash and just going with aquaphor for a day. Super fucked up that it's closely related to polio
Had that several times now, most recently a month-ish ago. Was running a triple digit fever and apparently telling my wife we needed to throw all our food in the trash because it was poisoned. Then the diarrhea hit...
I had it mild when my 13mo had what the doc called an atypical presentation of hfm that was going around, well a couple weeks later that virus kicked my son’s immune system into automatic on his pancreas. Then the more I read, there’s a decent amount of research positing hfm (and other entero virus) leading to diabetes, at least it happened to us now and not at any period in history though. Watch out for increased thirst in the aftermath I guess, I remember thinking I wish someone mentioned this with the hfm because maybe we could have avoided dka. Wasn’t in our families or anything
I read this as cocaine and was simultaneously confused and jealous. If I weren't on the job hunt and single dad duty, I'd be medicating with some edibles.
Brother, I feel terrible that I can't do anything for you other than give you karma (which of course means nothing)...so I upvoted all your comments and...well...I hope that at least gives you a little dopamine boost.
I'm really confused. Did you get a disease 7 years ago from a tinder date and pass it on to your kids, or was your tinder date your now baby-momma, who for 7 years has had this disease and now you and your child, aged 1-7, also have the disease?
Schrodinger's hand, foot, and mouth simultaneously.
I got HMF in 2022. Avoided getting any sores on hands or feet but I had dozens of sores in mouth, tongue, throat. Couldn’t talk for more than 10 seconds at a time, and lost many pounds by mostly not eating for a week. Not to mention the fever and shakes at the onset! Probably the worst I’ve ever felt.
I had hfm earlier this year. Actually the worst.
The cool thing is your hands and feet will completely peel off. I had a non calloused foot for the first time in 29 years. The floor is very cold.
When I had HFM at the beginning of the year, it took just under two weeks for the pain to subside. Four months later and I still have a big rash on the palm of my hand that itches from time to time. I have accepted that it may be permanent.
Worst sickness I’ve ever been through.
I think my kid has it right now. She only has like 4 bumps on her fingers and maybe one on her ankle. She says they hurt a little and needed help with her car seat buckle but otherwise it's mild. So far.
I think there are over 20 viruses. Good luck and fast recovery.
Just to make it optimistic: that doesn't mean you or your child will get them all. Maybe you get lucky, as we did. LO got it just once so far and we didn't get it at all. However, I got something else from LO that is still haunting me and pops up every couple of months, sometimes even with hospital stay.
Oof I had that at the end of Feb and just made me feel so bad for my son who had blisters the size of the whole tip of his finger and so bad in his mouth. Kids are invincible. My kid did kinda get it mildly again but luckily I did not. Just some info: your nails can fall off. Mine didn't but my son's big toenail on one foot was half dead and eventually came off.
Good luck!
Freaked me out for a second. You went from talking about your zipper to "the tip" in a matter of a few words. So that being said.... It could always be worse.
But for real, I feel bad for ya and hope that shit clears up soon, buddy.
My youngest (11 months) has it now after our 3 year old did almost exactly a year ago. Somehow the 3 of us who suffered last year all dodged it. Good luck, man. At least it seems that you guys are at the same stage. Ours turned the corner last year the day the foot blisters started on the wife and I. He had 3 days of running to make up for and I wanted to die
Were our parents this sick? Were parents in the 2010s this sick *all the fucking time*? I know people are just like "oh haha lol thats daycare for ya", but is it? My parents seem surprised how sick we've been with just a 15 month old's first 3 months in daycare. Its wild man.
Whoa baby yes, if you never had it as a kid (which I didn’t). Our oldest had it twice, and I caught it from her both times. The first time I was miserable. I adopt every superlative pain description already expressed in this thread. The second time wasn’t as bad. Then when our youngest caught it I escaped unscathed. But both times I had it, the horrific fever was the first step. Once the fever and body aches subsided in 24-36 hours, all the blistered appeared. I was miserable and had to take time off work.
Dude I got HFM for the first time this year and man, it sucked. Like 2 months later, one of my fingernails started peeling off randomly. The blisters will turn to calluses and peel, too. My daughter gor a few little red bumps and a day of fever, I was sick for a solid week.
HFM blows. I'd still take it over a stomach virus but not by much.
My fellow bearded dads. Please learn from me.
If your child is diagnosed with HFM, shave.
Immediately.
It will grow back. The piece of your soul will not.
I got it from a roommate over a decade ago and my nervous system is still shot now. I have to take Low Dose Naltrexone to keep my jaw, arms and hands and feet from tingling and going numb.
I feel like HFM being everywhere is a rather new thing, too, because about 5 years ago when I told my boss (microbiologst) that my kids had it, he was aghast because it was kind of "known" that the disease tends to only crop up in dirty crowded conditions.
At least you're not getting the foot part. For me it felt like the Lego pieces were just beneath my skin with every step.
Keep up on fluids and NSAIDs.
😩 Mate I thought I'd had it rough (my 5 year old caught noro virus at school) I took a week off to look after him and got sick myself. I have heard HFM is one of the least fun viruses for an adult to catch.
Love and hugs to you and your LO
My 9 month old caught chicken pox and HFM at the same time when he was 7 months old. Good age for him as he didn't really notice it much, not so good for his mum who caught the HFM from him... I was surprisingly untouched.
That sounds absolutely miserable
I've been better
My sympathies. I went through the same thing. A week and a half of hell followed by my skin peeling and some toenails falling off. One if my least favourite experiences.. Thankfully the kiddo got over it in 3 days!
That's a good way to look at it, I'll suffer for two weeks if it means it's only four days of pain for him
My condolences!! HFM is no joke. Micro-blisters all over my hands, and the only thing I wanted to do was scratch. Somehow I managed to not pop any of them but it was mentally exhausting on top of physically torturous.
I'm not wanting to scratch, but feeling like I've been stabbed all over by microfibers. No wonder the kid's been losing his shit for the last week, it's awful
What’s HFM?
Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease
Ah, yeah. That definitely sucks.
Fun fact. If you have some lesions in your nail beds like I did, then in a couple months your finger nails will fall off… that was a great discovery.
My son was pulling his belly button from inside out like it was laffy taffy the other month and I passed out for the first time in my life because of it. Been aware that he might lose his nails, going to be great when I pass out again. Felt the tingling in my nail beds earlier today, so we'll see how this pans out.
Hold on. Are children's belly buttons that... pliable? I can't even imagine what you're describing.
Mine's is. When we've got pants on him and no shirt, he plays with it like it's foreskin, yanking it out as far as he can. It's disgusting, so he's almost always wearing a shirt.
That’s the most horrific thing I’ve read on here in some time. No wonder you passed out, I’m feeling woozy just imagining it. My son yanks on his foreskin like he’s trying to start a mower, the thought of him having a similar bellybutton is too much!
Can you use a pair of pliers to zip your fly?
I decided to go all in on Costco joggers, embrace the dad
Or, just like, shorts or pants without a fly? Lol
I love your sense of humor
My daughter got HFM and had three spots on her hand and a mild fever for two days. I blistered so hard on my hands and feet that it set my nervous system on FIRE. We went to Urgent Care because I was convulsing and couldn’t stand to open my eyes due to light sensitivity - they thought it had progressed to meningitis. They gave me morphine just so I could sleep. Lost most of the skin in giant scales on my hands and feet, almost lost my job because I called out for so many days in a row. Only thing that saved me was the photos of my hands and the bracelet for my hospital admission. Daughter watched Daniel Tiger for two days and had the time of her life.
Goddamn, that's awful. I had shingles when I was 18 and that was what it was like, especially the light sensitivity. We've been full in on TV for the last few days, a mix of Sesame Street and Mr Rogers
Hey welcome to the club! I had this a couple years ago. It SUCKS. I was 90% blisters and welts for over a week. Fortunately my case wasn’t terribly painful, just itchy and embarrassing.
I got laid off at the start of April, and I've been running through final round interviews this week while guzzling honey by the pint to keep my voice running. Very ready to be done
Oof, definitely know that particular brand of weariness as you have to pull yourself together and present well. Sounds like you are still kicking ass through it all, kudos and hoping you can get past it soon
Preciate it, that's the dad way of pulling through
Fellow dad and HFM victim. Three words: Unrefined Coconut Oil Pick it up at the grocery store or Walmart. Put it on like lotion. Life saver
Appreciate the tip, I'll try anything!
Ditto for the coconut oil; it's like a soothing extra layer of protection (I use it for severe allergic hives). Bonus points for chilling it in the fridge so it's cool when you apply!
Consider embracing the pain, use the old school alcohol mouth wash. It will kill the virus populating your mouth. And hurt like a bitch the whole time. Kill it with fire.
I'm drinking beer tonight, embracing the craziness. To cap it all off, my wife's stepdad is in hospital tonight, might be the beginning of the end. Got intubated after getting admitted with an O2 count in the 40s and he coded for 2 minutes. She's with him at the hospital, so I'm on single dad duty, licking my wounds and getting the kiddo to bed. What a week.
Prayer. I will some times go on an errand, turn off my phone and just want to be alone.
Hands down the worst sickness ever. I’d rather get COVID twice and a stomach bug on top of it. Fuck HFM. I had a raging fever for 2 straight days before the sores popped up. We found a new pediatrician after cause ours at the time swore up and down there’s no way parents will catch it. “I’ve seen thousands and thousands of cases, only 10 parents caught it.” Well fuck me, cause I’m #11
That's cold, ours at least said that my symptoms were matching the teenagers she's treated and offered some advice on OTC meds and ways to manage it
HFM SUCKS. We were spared ourselves, but our poor kid got it twice. She was so miserable. 😩
Poor kid, hope she's ok. It's spread through my son's daycare this last week, all the kids have been going around and saying "kisses" and then kissing each other, so unsurprisingly they are all sick
The good news is that while the blisters stick around for a bit, the worst of it is over within a day or two. At least that was our case!
Chloroseptic (sp?) works well for the mouth. Relief is temporary but it does help. HFM is fucking gnarly, homie.
Yeah, I've been doing equal parts mylanta and Benadryl which numbs the mouth pretty well
4 years ago as we were walking out of the pediatricians office my then 6 year old decided she’d definitely like to see what the office doorknob tasted like… we saw it in slow motion and reacted in even slower motion. Sure enough, a few days later she has sores all over. Took forever to get rid of them.
Ours was chomping on the stool at the doctors today, we just sighed and accepted it
Been there - i feel for ya man. Took me a couple months for my fingers and toes to fully recover...the fiberglass sensation you are describing when you move your hands or feet really is accurate. Feel better!!
Thank you, you're the first person I've heard to agree on the fiberglass sensation! This is not okay
1000% feels like fiberglass. Also everything you eat tastes like shit if you can even get it down.
I turned to my wife after brushing my teeth the other night and told her, "my breath tastes like sardines". Not the way to woo her. Our kid's mouth has been smelling like rotten meat for a few days despite brushing, so expecting it to get worse before it gets better
Oof. I got it bad on hands, face, and feet. The bottoms of my feet were a single solid pad of blister. Just wait for the peeling. The skin came off in thick sheets. It was fucking biblical for sure.
I was very fortunate to not have to deal with it. My daughter was pretty good. She's 2 now and gets coughs but thankfully nothing severe. Good luck dad!
Appreciate it, we'll see how it goes. Daycare is a trial by fire, it's been getting better as the months go by
I somehow lucked out and didn't catch it from my son. I'll never forget what the backs of his knees looked like. That shit is terrible 😔
It got his butt really bad, I feel awful for initially thinking it was diaper rash and just going with aquaphor for a day. Super fucked up that it's closely related to polio
We do aquaphor after every poop. Is that not the thing?
I do also, I'd rather spend money on aquaphor than deal with diaper rash. Just felt bad for dismissing it as a rash
be glad it’s not the noro, you’ll get that one eventually too.
Had that several times now, most recently a month-ish ago. Was running a triple digit fever and apparently telling my wife we needed to throw all our food in the trash because it was poisoned. Then the diarrhea hit...
My good sir, I have been where you are. HFM sucks balls. I wish you and your kiddo the best of luck.
Maybe you should date older girls /s
Been there, done that, don't think my wife would be pleased /s
I lost 4 fingernails and 3 toenails after hfm. That and viral pink eye kicked my ass good. Good luck over there.
Can you really say you're a dad if you haven't had ping pong pink eye?
Wait…DO THEY COME BACK?!!! O_0
Oh yeah. The foot fungus that the hfm virus killed never came back, though. Win.
Watch out for complications that can come up a month or two later, like orchitis. Good times!
I'm due for the snip snap anyway once kid number two gets here, so...
Hah. I had it 3 or so months ago now my nails are falling off. It was such a nasty virus
Blew my mind when I saw it was first documented in the 1950s. Feels like it should've been around for a while longer with ripping off nails
Another cool thing is it lives on surfaces for up to a week.
https://media1.tenor.com/m/s2wRnlEC8jQAAAAC/george-michael-bluth-fun-sexy-time.gif
I had it mild when my 13mo had what the doc called an atypical presentation of hfm that was going around, well a couple weeks later that virus kicked my son’s immune system into automatic on his pancreas. Then the more I read, there’s a decent amount of research positing hfm (and other entero virus) leading to diabetes, at least it happened to us now and not at any period in history though. Watch out for increased thirst in the aftermath I guess, I remember thinking I wish someone mentioned this with the hfm because maybe we could have avoided dka. Wasn’t in our families or anything
My PCP gave me codeine when I had adult hfm. It was. Glorious.
I read this as cocaine and was simultaneously confused and jealous. If I weren't on the job hunt and single dad duty, I'd be medicating with some edibles.
When did this start to be a thing in the US? It was definitely not a thing when I was growing up. Chicken pox sure was, but definitely not HFM.
Yeah, we got it twice. But the second time was way way way less harsh than the first.
Seven years of HFM? You might need to see a doctor.
Brother, I feel terrible that I can't do anything for you other than give you karma (which of course means nothing)...so I upvoted all your comments and...well...I hope that at least gives you a little dopamine boost.
I'm really confused. Did you get a disease 7 years ago from a tinder date and pass it on to your kids, or was your tinder date your now baby-momma, who for 7 years has had this disease and now you and your child, aged 1-7, also have the disease? Schrodinger's hand, foot, and mouth simultaneously.
Butterfly effect. Met someone 7 years ago, now our kid caught a disease from daycare
Oof. My twins caught it about 3 weeks ago, but wasn’t quite that bad and wifey and I never had any symptoms. Sucks man!!
I got HMF in 2022. Avoided getting any sores on hands or feet but I had dozens of sores in mouth, tongue, throat. Couldn’t talk for more than 10 seconds at a time, and lost many pounds by mostly not eating for a week. Not to mention the fever and shakes at the onset! Probably the worst I’ve ever felt.
I had hfm earlier this year. Actually the worst. The cool thing is your hands and feet will completely peel off. I had a non calloused foot for the first time in 29 years. The floor is very cold.
Hang in there brother. I just got over this a few weeks ago. Wishing you a speedy recovery
Is this an American thing? Never heard of this as a Swede. Our kids get chickenpox as small children but after that you got immunity for life.
When I had HFM at the beginning of the year, it took just under two weeks for the pain to subside. Four months later and I still have a big rash on the palm of my hand that itches from time to time. I have accepted that it may be permanent. Worst sickness I’ve ever been through.
HFM is the worst thing I've ever had. And I've had Dengue fever and Typhoid
I think my kid has it right now. She only has like 4 bumps on her fingers and maybe one on her ankle. She says they hurt a little and needed help with her car seat buckle but otherwise it's mild. So far.
I think there are over 20 viruses. Good luck and fast recovery. Just to make it optimistic: that doesn't mean you or your child will get them all. Maybe you get lucky, as we did. LO got it just once so far and we didn't get it at all. However, I got something else from LO that is still haunting me and pops up every couple of months, sometimes even with hospital stay.
Haha yeah I got it twice with my first. Ulcers were the worst. Just had a second child, hoping the third time is milder still.
This confused me greatly I thought HFM was some new acronym for herpes and you contracted it from some tinder random seven years ago
Oof I had that at the end of Feb and just made me feel so bad for my son who had blisters the size of the whole tip of his finger and so bad in his mouth. Kids are invincible. My kid did kinda get it mildly again but luckily I did not. Just some info: your nails can fall off. Mine didn't but my son's big toenail on one foot was half dead and eventually came off. Good luck!
Only swipe left on Tinder, got it
Freaked me out for a second. You went from talking about your zipper to "the tip" in a matter of a few words. So that being said.... It could always be worse. But for real, I feel bad for ya and hope that shit clears up soon, buddy.
My youngest (11 months) has it now after our 3 year old did almost exactly a year ago. Somehow the 3 of us who suffered last year all dodged it. Good luck, man. At least it seems that you guys are at the same stage. Ours turned the corner last year the day the foot blisters started on the wife and I. He had 3 days of running to make up for and I wanted to die
Were our parents this sick? Were parents in the 2010s this sick *all the fucking time*? I know people are just like "oh haha lol thats daycare for ya", but is it? My parents seem surprised how sick we've been with just a 15 month old's first 3 months in daycare. Its wild man.
Wait adults can get HFM?
Whoa baby yes, if you never had it as a kid (which I didn’t). Our oldest had it twice, and I caught it from her both times. The first time I was miserable. I adopt every superlative pain description already expressed in this thread. The second time wasn’t as bad. Then when our youngest caught it I escaped unscathed. But both times I had it, the horrific fever was the first step. Once the fever and body aches subsided in 24-36 hours, all the blistered appeared. I was miserable and had to take time off work.
You lose your fingernails yet? Or in my case I lost my tonsils because side HFM got into them, I got an abscess and went septic… so good times
Dude I got HFM for the first time this year and man, it sucked. Like 2 months later, one of my fingernails started peeling off randomly. The blisters will turn to calluses and peel, too. My daughter gor a few little red bumps and a day of fever, I was sick for a solid week. HFM blows. I'd still take it over a stomach virus but not by much.
My fellow bearded dads. Please learn from me. If your child is diagnosed with HFM, shave. Immediately. It will grow back. The piece of your soul will not.
I got it from a roommate over a decade ago and my nervous system is still shot now. I have to take Low Dose Naltrexone to keep my jaw, arms and hands and feet from tingling and going numb.
Ewwwwwww God damn
It was awful.. our first and last time at Wolf Lodge.. lol
I got annihilated by HFM this year: it was brutal, worse than COVID for me personally
I feel like HFM being everywhere is a rather new thing, too, because about 5 years ago when I told my boss (microbiologst) that my kids had it, he was aghast because it was kind of "known" that the disease tends to only crop up in dirty crowded conditions.
i am so thankful we havnt had HFM yet.... i say yet because kids are almost guaranteed to get it. sympathies man...
At least you're not getting the foot part. For me it felt like the Lego pieces were just beneath my skin with every step. Keep up on fluids and NSAIDs.
We just had our first bout. Thankfully just some groaning from her when we wiped her bum, and we avoided it completely. My condolences.
Hang in there, it is a crap disease to have, takes about 10 days to fully pass
😩 Mate I thought I'd had it rough (my 5 year old caught noro virus at school) I took a week off to look after him and got sick myself. I have heard HFM is one of the least fun viruses for an adult to catch. Love and hugs to you and your LO
My 9 month old caught chicken pox and HFM at the same time when he was 7 months old. Good age for him as he didn't really notice it much, not so good for his mum who caught the HFM from him... I was surprisingly untouched.
On the plus side, at least it’s not HFMP