Do you know what pain can be even worse than a heart attack? The answer may surprise you, but it’s shingles pain! We all know the itching, burning and discomfort of the chickenpox virus that we endured as kids, but this experience does precious little to prepare us for the horror of shingles later in life. In fact, the pain is so bad it was one of two things (other than heart bypass surgery) to keep late night talk-show host David Letterman out of work in over 20 years. The night of his return, Letterman described his experience as follows: “The BLEEP suckers are so BLEEPING painful, every minute you pray some giant son-of-a-BLEEP will shove a red-hot poker up your BLEEP!”
The first sign of a chickenpox virus reactivation is a burning sensation on the nerve paths where the virus is traveling. Since the nerve paths run in half-circles around the body, the burning, itching, tingling shingles pain occurs on one side of the face, chest or abdomen only. Within the first 24 hours, patients will notice a fever and enlarged lymph nodes. Within 48-72 hours, the skin rash appears like small blisters on top of swollen, red skin. Unlike chickenpox, which spreads all over the body from finger tips to toes, shingles are confined to smaller areas on the face, abdomen and chest. After three to five days, the rash has reached its peak and is now beginning to burst, turn into sores and slowly scab over. After two to three weeks, the scabs fall off, leaving the skin to heal. For many people, the rash region is extremely painful for weeks or months after the scabs have gone. Something as simple as having a shirt touch the skin can send waves of nerve pain radiating around the body.
Shingles pain is often much worse than it needs to be because many patients don’t get to the doctor soon enough for antiviral therapy. Dr. Karl Beutner explains: “On the first day they have a little back pain, and then on the second day they notice a little rash and think maybe it’s a spider bite. On day three, they notice more pain and the rash gets worse, so they call the doctor and maybe get in on day six or day seven.” However, the most effective treatments are administered 48-72 hours after the onset of shingles symptoms, he says. So just when should patients call a doctor? Beutner says, “If you have pain, and then a rash, that’s an important signal. There are very few other rashes that are actually painful. If you have a painful, blistering rash, that means you need to get in to the doctor sooner rather than later.”
Many patients wonder, “Are shingles contagious?” They also wonder if they can get shingles pain more than once in their lifetime. Doctors can say with certainty that a person cannot catch shingles from someone who has shingles, but if they’ve never had the chickenpox before, they can catch that form of the herpes virus. So far it seems, almost without exception, that people will either never get shingles or will only have it once. Recurrent and persistent blistering is usually the herpes simplex form, not the varicella zoster virus.
Tania Hurtis is a professional in home improvement ideas. She has been doing this craft for many years already and is still doing up to now. She can show you different styles and looks that you can choose from. Check her website for a list of her creativity and her recommended tools such as tape measures, drills and so on.
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