My skin hurts **update it's shingles

[kymom99]

You can have a shingles outbreak literally anywhere on your body, even in your eyes. It follows nerve pathways which are all over.

Yep my friend had them on her head

 

[Plague]

Yep my friend had them on her head

I believe it can be quite nasty, even dangerous on the head.
My dad had it there and had one droopy eyelid for the rest of his life.

 

[DLgal]

I believe it can be quite nasty, even dangerous on the head.
My dad had it there and had one droopy eyelid for the rest of his life.

Yeah, if it affects your facial nerve branches, you can have lasting effects like that.

 

[Cadiewampus]

I've never heard of a shingles outbreak on arms (although maybe it can happen), but there is definitely a nerve band around the back/under the ribs that is a common location. Here's hoping that's not what you have, OP.

One of the ladies in our office actually had been battling a case of shingles in her eye yikes

 

[Pea-n-Me]

My care team told me that post-Covid shingles is on the rise, to watch for it (after I was sick), and to come in for any rash. My twenty-something DD got shingles about a month after she had Covid. It was diagnosed in part because it ran along her dermatone on her leg (In her case 12/13). I bet a lot of people dismiss it. The only reason she even went was because I had to go there for something else and she came with me, so she decided to have it looked at. It wasn’t super painful like shingles usually is, not sure why but it wasn’t a huge or angry rash, just some red bumps (eta and we thought just one had a vesicle).

 

[Dan Murphy]

My care team told me that post-Covid shingles is on the rise, to watch for it (after I was sick), and to come in for any rash. My twenty-something DD got shingles about a month after she had Covid. It was diagnosed in part because it ran along her dermatone on her leg (In her case 12/13). I bet a lot of people dismiss it. The only reason she even went was because I had to go there for something else and she came with me, so she decided to have it looked at. It wasn’t super painful like shingles usually is, not sure why but it wasn’t a huge or angry rash, just some red bumps.

View attachment 717348

Can you get shingles without previously having had chicken pox?

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Can you get shingles without previously having had chicken pox?

This is what the CDC has to say about that:

https://www.cdc.gov/shingles/about/transmission.html

”Quick Facts

• • You cannot get shingles from someone who has shingles.
  • You can get chickenpox from someone who has shingles if you have never had chickenpox or never received the chickenpox vaccine.

Shingles is caused by varicella zoster virus (VZV), the same virus that causes chickenpox. After a person recovers from chickenpox, the virus stays dormant (inactive) in their body. The virus can reactivate later, causing shingles.

Most people who develop shingles have only one episode during their lifetime. However, you can have shingles more than once.

If you have shingles, direct contact with the fluid from your rash blisters can spread VZV to people who have never had chickenpox or never received the chickenpox vaccine. If they get infected, they will develop chickenpox, not shingles. They could then develop shingles later in life.

The risk of spreading VZV to others is low if you cover the shingles rash. People with shingles cannot spread the virus before their rash blisters appear or after the rash crusts.”

 

[DLgal]

My care team told me that post-Covid shingles is on the rise, to watch for it (after I was sick), and to come in for any rash. My twenty-something DD got shingles about a month after she had Covid. It was diagnosed in part because it ran along her dermatone on her leg (In her case 12/13). I bet a lot of people dismiss it. The only reason she even went was because I had to go there for something else and she came with me, so she decided to have it looked at. It wasn’t super painful like shingles usually is, not sure why but it wasn’t a huge or angry rash, just some red bumps.

View attachment 717348

My 41 year old sister got shingles a couple months after her covid infection last December.

 

[Dan Murphy]

This is what the CDC has to say about that:

https://www.cdc.gov/shingles/about/transmission.html

”Quick Facts

• • You cannot get shingles from someone who has shingles.
  • You can get chickenpox from someone who has shingles if you have never had chickenpox or never received the chickenpox vaccine.

Shingles is caused by varicella zoster virus (VZV), the same virus that causes chickenpox. After a person recovers from chickenpox, the virus stays dormant (inactive) in their body. The virus can reactivate later, causing shingles.

Most people who develop shingles have only one episode during their lifetime. However, you can have shingles more than once.

If you have shingles, direct contact with the fluid from your rash blisters can spread VZV to people who have never had chickenpox or never received the chickenpox vaccine. If they get infected, they will develop chickenpox, not shingles. They could then develop shingles later in life.

The risk of spreading VZV to others is low if you cover the shingles rash. People with shingles cannot spread the virus before their rash blisters appear or after the rash crusts.”

Thanks., PnM. Wouldn't your 20 something daughter have had the chicken pox vax as a kid?

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Thanks., PnM. Wouldn't your 20 something daughter have had the chicken pox vax as a kid?

Funny you should mention that because I was thinking about that as I was writing.

She did have the chicken pox vaccine. But when she was in first grade I noticed (having worked in a pediatric ER) that she had a pox-like rash (which include a vessicle), so I brought her in, and sure enough, she was diagnosed with a break-through case of chicken pox! Usually those cases were much milder than cases without the vax - maybe this accounts, too, for why her shingles was mild, too, idk. (DS, otoh, never got a break-through case.) If it’s weird and unusual, DD will get it!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Funny you should mention that because I was thinking about that as I was writing.

She did have the chicken pox vaccine. But when she was in first grade I noticed (having worked in a pediatric ER) that she had a pox-like rash (which include a vessicle), so I brought her in, and sure enough, she was diagnosed with a break-through case of chicken pox! Usually those cases were much milder than cases without the vax - maybe this accounts, too, for why her shingles was mild, too, idk. (DS, otoh, never got a break-through case.) If it’s weird and unusual, DD will get it!

Ahh, I see. Well, as we certainly know, no vaccine is 100% effective.

And here with us, Vince is 45, Natalie, 42. Both before the vaccine, both had chicken pox. A year or so ago, Natalie got a severe case of shingles on her back. She said it was on both the left and right sides of her spine which is both unusual and very painful. Sadly, she is still dealing with it, along with a diagnosis of unrelated and very painful fibromyalgia.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Ahh, I see. Well, as we certainly know, no vaccine is 100% effective.

And here with us, Vince is 45, Natalie, 42. Both before the vaccine, both had chicken pox. A year or so ago, Natalie got a severe case of shingles on her back. She said it was on both the left and right sides of her spine which is both unusual and very painful. Sadly, she is still dealing with it, along with a diagnosis of unrelated and very painful fibromyalgia.

Aww, I’m sorry to hear that about Natalie, Dan.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Aww, I’m sorry to hear that about Natalie, Dan.

Thanks, PnM.

 

[kymom99]

My husband supposedly didn’t have chickenpox. Either my mother in law forgot or he had a mild case that wasn’t diagnosed at the time. Because he definitively has shingles. And he’s never had Covid. I, on the other hand, had it twice.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

My husband supposedly didn’t have chickenpox. Either my mother in law forgot or he had a mild case that wasn’t diagnosed at the time. Because he definitively has shingles. And he’s never had Covid. I, on the other hand, had it twice.

When I was young, my sister (7 years old) had shingles. At the same time our youngest sibling (5 years old) and I (9 years old) had chicken pox.

It's logical to think that the middle child had had chicken pox (VERY mild case) sometime prior to that. Possibly just prior. But there's no record that she had it.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

My husband supposedly didn’t have chickenpox. Either my mother in law forgot or he had a mild case that wasn’t diagnosed at the time. Because he definitively has shingles. And he’s never had Covid. I, on the other hand, had it twice.

When I was young, my sister (7 years old) had shingles. At the same time our youngest sibling (5 years old) and I (9 years old) had chicken pox.

It's logical to think that the middle child had had chicken pox (VERY mild case) sometime prior to that. Possibly just prior. But there's no record that she had it.

I think it can be VERY easy to miss. For example, in my daughter’s case, only one of her chicken pox lesions had a vesicle, and I had to point it out to the doctor. Many people don’t even go to the doctors for little things like that - especially years ago. So more people probably had these things than they realize. My DH was unsure if he had chicken pox, but he probably did (growing up with a houseful of kids). I had a whopping case, and still have the scars to prove it. (Mine you couldn’t miss!) Another hallmark is that the lesions are super itchy! I had Covid recently, and thankfully, no shingles! (Yet! [knocks on wood])

 

[Christine]

I think it can be VERY easy to miss. For example, in my daughter’s case, only one of her chicken pox lesions had a vesicle, and I had to point it out to the doctor. Many people don’t even go to the doctors for little things like that - especially years ago. So more people probably had these things than they realize. My DH was unsure if he had chicken pox, but he probably did (growing up with a houseful of kids). I had a whopping case, and still have the scars to prove it. (Mine you couldn’t miss!) Another hallmark is that the lesions are super itchy! I had Covid recently, and thankfully, no shingles! (Yet! [knocks on wood])

My mother said I had a very mild case. Basically one mark on my forehead. She only knew it was chickenpox because my 2 cousins had it right before me and I was with them all the time. Otherwise I think she would have missed it.

 

[mrsstats79]

Got a rash on my back yesterday. Then on my arm. Went to doctor today and it is shingles. Gave me anti viral medication to help. Says it should clear in about 1 week. Not really having any pain, it is just annoying and itchy.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Got a rash on my back yesterday. Then on my arm. Went to doctor today and it is shingles. Gave me anti viral medication to help. Says it should clear in about 1 week. Not really having any pain, it is just annoying and itchy.

And the Dis called it! Sorry to hear you have shingles, but hope it’s a mild case and it doesn’t last too long. Curious if you had Covid recently, if you don’t mind sharing? (If you do, no worries!)

 

[mrsstats79]

And the Dis called it! Sorry to hear you have shingles, but hope it’s a mild case and it doesn’t last too long. Curious if you had Covid recently, if you don’t mind sharing? (If you do, no worries!)

No, I have not had covid at all. Have all the shots except for the last one.