Sunday afternoon I discovered this weird cluster of what I thought was bug bites on my right torso. On Monday evening my brother-in-law took a look and diagnosed me with shingles. I immediately started reading on webmd.com about shingles. This morning I went to the dr. and he confirmed it with one quick look that indeed, I have shingles.
What Causes Shingles?
- Shingles is caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox.
- If you've had chickenpox (over 90% of US adults have), the virus remains in your body and can cause Shingles.
- The chickenpox virus stays inactive in certain nerves.
- If the virus becomes active again, usually later in life (after 60), it causes the painful disease called Shingles.
How Do You Get Shingles?
- You are at risk for getting Shingles if you have had chickenpox. In addition:
Conditions that weaken the body's immune (defense) system, such as aging, cancer, or certain drugs.
- There is no way to predict who will get Shingles, or when.
- About half of the nearly 1 million Shingles cases in the United States each year occur in people aged 60 years and older.
I don't want to post a picture of what the 'chickenpox's' look like (they are nasty), but if you want to see click HERE.
So, it is a bit random that I got shingles at age 26...my dr. thinks it's because of stress. I am on 500mg of famciclovir three times a day. Today it wiped me out. I have been in bed since 7 (and I took two naps). Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
Random!
Can we bring you anything??? Chicken soup, another pillow--just let us know!
ReplyDeleteCamille-
ReplyDeleteThat is awful. Did he offer you the vaccine for shingles, because if you have gotten it at this young age it might be nice to have so that you can help prevent further outbreaks and some people say with the vaccine you won't experiance as much of the post shingles neuralgia or pain. That is crazy though because of your age!
Camille~
ReplyDeleteTo wierd & random for sure. Take your time recovering. Way to find the needle in a haystack. Keep me updated...
That is to bad. I hope you are feeling better. Is it contaigious? (sp)
ReplyDeleteTiff- I think you can only get the vaccination if you are over 60. What do you know?
ReplyDeleteI can't give someone shingles but I can give someone chickenpox...but only if they touch the sores. Just to be safe I am pretty much staying out of the public eye...I am to sick to my stomach (from the meds) to go or do anything :(
ReplyDeleteCamille~
ReplyDeleteThe shingles vaccine is called Zostavax. You are right about only being given to people over 60 years old. The reason for that is because studies for the vaccine was only conducted in patients older than 60. So the do not know if there is adverse effects in people younger than that. Also, the vaccine will not treat shingles, but only prevent further outbreaks. Hope you are doing okay. We were just talking about shingles again in class today. Is it hurting to breathe? I am guessing you are on some sort of narcotic for pain... you are in my prayers!
Those pictures make the rash sound SOOOO painful. You better be taking it easy. Dr. Tiff's orders.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear that Camille. We hope your recovery is swift.
ReplyDeleteI had them when I was a teenager. No fun!
ReplyDelete