Shingles

No I'm not talking about my roof. My husband has the shingles! Seems like everyone has heard of them, and has a little understanding of them, but here is the low down. The shingles are caused by the chicken pox virus herpes zoster. After you have the chicken pox the virus layes dormant in the tissues surrounding the nerves. It becomes active in some people later in life causing a condition termed as shingles. Doctors still aren't positive as to what initiates an attack of the shingles. Immune suppression is suspected in some cases, but majority of people never identify what caused them to break out. Shingles can occur at any age, but is more common in people over 60. This bothered my husband making him feel "old." Anyway the main symptoms of shingles is a chicken pox like rash usually contained to one side of the body and extreme nerve pain. Other symptoms include fever nausea act, but those are less common.

Hubby's shingles actually started with pain. At first he thought he had pulled a muscle in his back. I rubbed him down and he took Ibuprofen, but nothing helped, the pain grew worse. Then 3 days later a small rash appeared on his right side. At first he thought it was an allergies flare up, cause he gets hives. He took his allergy pill, but by afternoon his rash was worse and blistering, definitely not a hive. He went to the Dr. who pronounced him as having the shingles. The Dr. prescribed anti-viral medication, supposed to slow the spread of the rash and prednisone to decrease nerve inflammation and help with pain. Over the next few days the rash worsened and the pain grew even worse. After finishing his 5 day course of prednisone and no change in the pain we returned to the Dr. who the prescribed Vicodan to at least help my hubby sleep. He hadn't slept in days due to the pain, and was still working. The vicodan dulls the pain enough for rest thank goodness, but the pain is still very real. It extends from his backbone to his sternum and down into his right leg. His rash is starting to crust and extends from his backbone to his sternum. The person is contagious while they have the rash before it crusts. At that point they can pass the chicken pox virus onto others who have never had the chicken pox before or who are immune compromised. They can not give you the shingles just a good case of the chicken pox. I fortunately have had the chicken pox before and the kids have been vaccinated so so far so good for us. However Shingles pain extends well past the rash phase. it usually lasts 3 to 4 weeks. It can even become a long term problem. We are hoping for the short term 3 to 4 week version. Shingles on your face can cause permanent nerve paralysis and hearing and vision loss. If shingles move internally they can cause organ damage and even death in rare cases. We are counting our blessings at this point and are hoping this will be a one time attack. You can get the shingles more than once. As I stated before the rash is looking better now just waiting out the pain with lots of drugs that really just dull the pain a little. So here is shingles in a nutshell, I hope you never have to get them.