Shingles is a viral infection that causes a painful rash, that can occur anywhere on your body along with other negative symptoms. It is caused by the varicella-zoster virus commonly known as chickenpox.
For those who have had chickenpox, the virus stays in the body for the rest of their life. The virus can sometimes reactivate in the form of shingles. While not life-threatening, shingles can be very uncomfortable and cause additional complications over time.
The common symptoms of shingles are:
The pain that is associated with shingles can be very intense. Depending on the location of this pain, it sometimes can be confused with heart, kidney or lung problems. In some people, the pain is the first symptom and they never develop a rash. In those who develop a rash, its typically located along a nerve path in their abdominal region, chest, or face and neck.
Those who have had chickenpox before can develop shingles later in life when the virus becomes active again. This virus is part of the herpes virus category, which is responsible for diseases like cold sores and genital herpes. This is why the symptoms can be so widespread and might include problems with the skin and blisters.
Risk factors for Shingle are:
Shingles are diagnosed by taking a full history of the patient’s health, including a history of taking certain medications and having chicken pox as a child. The rash and blisters are often quite indicative of this condition as well. Tissue samples and cultures can be taken and sent to a lab to confirm a shingles diagnosis if necessary.
Prevention of shingles is possible if you have access to the shingles vaccine. If you do not have access to the shingles vaccine, you will not be able to prevent getting shingles if it should decide to cease being dormant in your system.
There is no treatment for shingles other than supportive care of the symptoms. Your doctor can prescribe pain medications to help with the nerve pain associated with the condition. You might also be given skin-numbing agents to help mitigate the pain from blisters and the rash. There are some antiviral drugs that might shorten the timeframe of your illness. These are Zovirax, Famciclovir, or Valtrex.
Your doctor will advise you about the best way to treat your specific symptoms, but you will have to wait for shingles to run its course. Remember that you can pass the virus on to other people while you are sick, if you have shingles do not come into contact with anyone with a weakened immune system.