It’s weird that something that I knew nothing about turns out to be pretty common. Everyone I told that I have shingles either has had it or knows several people who have.
I’d say I have a pretty mild case…on my face. It burned and itched and tingled and hurt, but once I was on meds, it really mellowed out.
I’m about to turn 40. Forty is easier than 30. At this age, I figure that when I turn 50, 40 will seem really young, so I’m appreciating it. Shingles, though…even though people in their 20s get it, I still had the misconception that it’s for old people, and was feeling old.
But last night I was at a friend’s house. Her three year old son was watching a DVD, and he wanted a new one, and asked (demanded) his mom to change it. I asked him if he wanted me to do it. He said, “No. Only grownups can do it.”
I had a friend in high school who had it. I recall she was quite the hottie, the shingles (on her arm and back) just being one of those little things that made her more interesting.
Congratulations on having something which makes you a member of that elite group of Interesting People!
Mine was soooooooooo small. It swelled my lower lid so it hurt whenever I blinked, but, really, at any given time it was very small. Some people get it in square feet. As much as the pinky-nail-sized spot hurt/burned/itched, I can’t imagine having half my back or butt feel like that.
Shingles is caused by the Herpes zoster virus-the same virus that causes chicken pox.
If I want to feel old I just go to work. Most of my colleagues are twenty years younger than me-I feel like I’m from a totally different planet sometimes. One coworker has parents younger than me. Ugh.
The only person I’ve know who has gotten them was a teacher in her 40s. We felt bad because they obviously hurt, but they were facinating. They looked liked puzzle pieces coming up through her skin.
I had them when I was 25. I think I picked it up from the neighbor kid who had chicken pox, and then a couple weeks after that my three-year-old got chicken pox. I got lucky, though. I had one patch on the back of my leg, about three inches across, one blister between my toes, one on the back of my knee, and one on the back of head. I can’t even imagine what it’s like to have it all over. For two days my leg hurt so bad I couldn’t walk. I think I will take the advice and get the vaccine when I’m a bit older.
My pharmacy won’t release meds until you have a consultation with the pharmacist. In my case, a lovely Asian woman to whom English was a second language.
There was a huge line of impatient people behind me who’d been waiting a long time. When it was my turn, I went up to the window, and the pharmacist went over my meds one by one.
“This is steroid,” she said quietly. “You know how to take it?”
“Yes, I’ve had this before for something unrelated.”
“This next one…it antibiotic. Just take with food.”
“Great.”
Then, for some reason, her voice got really loud as she went on to the anti-viral med. “This one…THIS ONE FOR HERPES. YEAH. IT NOT FOR ANYTHING ELSE. JUST HERPES. YEAH. FOR BIG, UGLY BREAKOUTS OF HERPES. JUST HERPES.”
I got shingles when I was fourteen. It was a relatively mild case, by my understanding, and I didn’t suffer all that much, though I missed nearly a week of school because I got it on my butt/groin area and it hurt to sit. The scabs were painful/itchy and it took several years for the scars to fade completely.
My grandmother got it after chemo and she suffered dreadfully.
A friend of mine said she got it in high school on account of stress, though I don’t think it was all that painful for her either.
I’ve had it twice as an adult, but both times there were anti-virals for it. Acyclovir from the first time I had it is more effective in my opinion than the newer one more closely targeted to herpes zoster. I forget the name, but it is wildly expensive and less effective. IMO. Caused by stress and being run down and not taking vitamins. IMO.
One of my closest friends had shingles over the winter, at age 53. He has pretty bad scars on his face now, and I understand that it was pretty excruciating. The worst, though, was that it actually threatened his eyesight.
My Hubby just got over a nasty bout of shingles. It flares up when you are run down and he was just beat from stressing over his job and working to hard.
It has knocked him for six though - It was over his head neck and down his shoulders so it was impossible for him to sleep. He was in a lot of pain and 2 sets of anti-virals, codiene and 6 weeks later he is almost back on top form.
I had it on my face and scalp when I was in my thirties. Excruciating. Weeks in hospital, lots of pethadine, massive blisters and permanent scars. I was kept in a darkened room, because any light was unbearable. Plus damage to my eyesight, but that’s also linked to an auto-immune issue. There were a few days I wasn’t expected to survive, I was later told. Twenty years later, the scars still itch. Yeah, it can be serious at a young age.
BUT - that awful experience also taught me a huge amount about what was important in life, at a good age to find out. Family and friends showed their true colours, which were far brighter than I had appreciated. Serious illness has some benefits.
I had never even heard of shingles (Rosengurtel in German) until I lived in Germany. People would tell me about it, and I understood it was quite serious, but thought it was some kind of myth until a guy I knew (about 20 years old) was admitted to the hospital and came close to death. Supposedly, if that red rash ring around your waist went all the way around, you could die.
Still…doesn’t seem as common here as when I was living in Germany, but maybe I traveled in different circles back then.
That’s a favorite myth (I was told) because it never does go right around. I am happy to be corrected on this! Shingles is some kind of attack of the nervous system on itself, due to antibodies from chicken pox. It attacks only one nervous system segment, and so never goes to both sides of the body. Mine was one side of my face and head. Someone better qualified should qualify this. I am quoting what I remember my doctor telling me. Death, scarring, bad stuff comes from secondary infections and other secondary effects.
I had it just a few years ago on my forehead, right on my hairline. A little cluster about the size of a golf ball. I really don’t know why or how it came about; I’d had chicken pox as a kid, but I wasn’t particularly stressed and I hadn’t been exposed to anyone with it, to my knowledge.
I got lucky, though. Mine wasn’t painful at all. The first day, I thought it was either a blistery burn of some sort or a bunch of zits. By the second day, I was convinced it was early ringworm, and I only went to the doctor because it was so ugly. Was very surprised when they prescribed me Valtrex. :eek: They did refer me to a dermatologist, though, because it wasn’t presenting with the usual extreme discomfort, so they weren’t quite sure that it was shingles. (The dermatologist confirmed.)
So, I had to wear a giant band-aid on my head for the next week, and get weird looks from my coworkers as I popped Valtrex every 6 hours, but that was the extent of the discomfort for me.
Edit: forgot to mention I was 25 at the time. Apparently my mom was prone to getting shingles when she was in her twenties and thirties too, but she got the painful and prolific kind. shrug
I had Shingles in late 2005…not long after Hurricane Katrina.
I felt something on my back that felt like a poisonous spider bite. I could see a red spot in the mirror that got bigger and more painful over a few days. My neighborhood dermatologist had severe damage from the hurricane and I had to drive all the way across town to their other office. Driving was painful because of the way I had to lean back in the seat.
Anyway, I get into the examining room and this German doctor with a very heavy accent comes in. He checks out the affected area and says “I see ve have zee Herpes”.
WHAT!!!
He finally explained that it was shingles and that anyone who has had Chicken Pox can get it and it can be brought on by stress. The herpes from the Chicken Pox lies dormant and can come back at any time…you don’t necessarily have to be exposed to anyone. As lynne-42 said, it can only affect one side of the body. I think he used the term “hemispherical” but I may be wrong.
After a week on Valtrex, it went away and hasn’t returned.
Shingles, though…even though people in their 20s get it, I still had the misconception that it’s for old people, and was feeling old.
