Shingles, am I infected?

Shingles, am I infected?

On a hot summer night after walking the dog, I found several large, very irritating, mosquito bites on my back. This is not unusual, it was a particularly wet summer and I have always been a major target for mosquitoes. I went ahead and put a little cream fight against itchy bites and went to bed. I had heard of shingles and did not really know what it was. Unfortunately, I was about to find out.

According to the Mayo Clinic website "Shingles is a viral infection that causes a painful rash. Although shingles can occur anywhere on your body, it most often appears as a band of blisters that wraps from the middle of your back around one side of your sternum. " My bites do not fit this description. They really did look like insect bites. Insect bites biting painfully, certainly nothing to run to the doctor about.

The third day, I noticed that I had a nagging backache. The type of pain that makes you squirm around your chair to relieve the discomfort. I also felt uncomfortable tender on the same side of my body as bites and back pain. I thought it was time to look for these symptoms. What I learned is that shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus and it is the same virus that causes chickenpox. After you have had chickenpox, the virus lives in nerve tissue in the body and can appear as shingles at any age but most commonly in people over 60.

The symptoms of shingles according to the Mayo Clinic:

• Pain, burning, numbness or tingling

• A red rash that starts a few days after the pain

• The fluid-filled blisters that break open and scab over

• Itching

Some people also experience

• Fever and chills

• General aches

• Headaches

• Fatigue

I had most of these shingles symptoms and because the back pain was getting worse I went to see my doctor. She was quite certain that I was suffering from shingles, although my wounds looked nothing like the pictures I had seen. She pointed out to me that shingles usually follow a nervous and of course my wounds line was strung along two small straight lines as a result of my ribs are not clustered or scattered around like mosquito bites. Fortunately, I was just in time to start therapy antiviral drugs should be started within 72 hours for best results.

During my research I found online shingles several forums that indicates that many people confuse spider bites shingles. The thing to remember is to go to the doctor if you have a rash that is unusual and suffering from flu symptoms. I had the chance. I found that the shingles rash is painful for some people they can not get any clothing touch. Of course, if you have any strange or unusual bites or painful rash, you should see your family doctor.

Is shingles contagious?

You can not make someone shingles. Anyone who has had chickenpox the virus residing inside them so they can not catch it again. Be careful though, you can infect someone who has not had chickenpox, the virus. This person can come down with chicken pox and is therefore a potential risk for shingles. It is important to keep all of the fluid within the vesicles infectious contact with people who have not had chickenpox. Those most at risk for shingles people are the elderly, people with compromised immunity and people under great stress. There is currently a vaccine to help prevent shingles. Anyone at risk should discuss this vaccine with their doctor.