Shingles Symptoms

Shingles Symptoms 

Do you want to know what shingles symptoms are?  Read on to understand shingles symptoms and more importantly why you may have them!

Shingles is the reactivation of the same virus that causes Chickenpox called Herpes Varicella Zoster.  You can only get shingles symptoms if you have previously had the Chickenpox virus or even the vaccine!  The virus remains dormant in your nervous system and for 1 in 5 people who have had Chickenpox, the virus can ‘wake up’ causing tremendous pain to the sufferer.

I know how much this hurts as I recently had shingles and experienced the pain at first hand.  So what are shingles symptoms?

1) Firstly you may feel sensitivity in a broad band on one side of your body. 

This sensitivity can include aching, itching, tingling, burning, deep/shooting and sudden pain.  Other symptoms include headache, fever and chills, upset stomach or abdominal pains.

2) Then a rash will appear in the area of the discomfort. 

This can be in a band from the middle of you back, around one side of you chest to your breast bone.  Shingles symptoms can also appear around the eyes and down the neck.  There are occasions when people have had the pain associated with shingles but not the rash, which makes diagnosis very hard.

3) Once the rash appears, fluid filled blisters will start to form which will eventually burst and crust over. 

Try not to scratch these blisters, the fluid inside the blisters it how you can spread the chickenpox virus to others.  A person with shingles symptoms can pass on Chickenpox and must avoid pregnant women who have not had the Chickenpox virus. Also, if you scratch these blisters you can cause scars

Please Note: You can not catch shingles or pass it on to others but you can pass on the Chicken pox Virus!

At first, when I got shingles symptoms I thought I had just strained some muscles below my ribs which was a little strange.  Then the aching followed around my body.  The rash on my rib cage was the give-away clue.  I was 33 when I got shingles which was worrying.  Shingles is expected more in the older generations.  This is due to its relationship with the immune system.  The virus lies dormant, and can only ‘wake up’ when the immune system is not strong enough to fight it.  For me as a 33 year old male this was worrying.  What was wrong with my immune system?  Well I had to find out what I could do to improve my immune system.

After my research I found some information that has now boosted my immune system.  And to this day I have felt healthier and fitter and happier in the knowledge that the shingles symptoms will not come back.  I really do not want to experience that pain again!  My doctor was not very helpful, and would only prescribe pain killers to ‘help’ control the pain.  They didn’t help very much!  But rest assured there is help out there.

If you want to improve your immune system and prevent shingles re-occurring, then you need to understand more about Herpes as I do now.  Only by understanding this can you protect yourself from it happening again.

Good luck and I hope you limit the pain  and suffering of your shingles symptoms to a minimum.