A Story About How I Got Shingles.‏

Blackmores

 

First up, there is something you should know about my mum: She is a doctor. Well, she's not actually qualified as a doctor – as in she never got a certificate from a proper university authorising her to practice medicine – no, my mum doesn't need a degree. She's that good. And she juggles being a doctor with all her other trades, including but not limited to dietetics, law, financial planning and her actual profession – teaching.

So when I came home from school one afternoon in year 11 with a rash on my back, Dr Harrington had my shirt up for an examination faster than you could say "Is it itchy?" Her conclusion: shingles. Now, as much as I respect my Mum's "diagnosis", I did decide to go to an actual doctor (you know, the ones with the fancy degrees) to get a second opinion. "It's shingles," the doctor told me. Great. 

At first, I was reluctant to tell my somewhat smug mother that she'd been accurate in her finding, but in the end, I have to admit, I was lucky. Lucky my mum knew what shingles looked like. Lucky she told me to get to "another doctor". Because the thing about shingles is, if you don't start the medication within 72 hours of the symptoms appearing, the painful rash can last up to five weeks. So what are you looking for? Body & Soul published a good article on shingles last weekend that you can read here, but these are the highlights:

• Shingles is caused by the varicella zoster virus – the same strain that causes chickenpox. When you get chickenpox, the virus stays in your nerves and can come back as shingles. So if you had The Pox when you were a kid, you could be at risk.
• Symptoms begin with pain, itching or tingling of the skin and it may develop into a painful rash that blisters. For me, I initially noticed that the fabric of my school shirt was painfully irritating against my back.
• The silver lining: You can't "catch" shingles from someone else. (Which means you can still go to work. Yay.)

And on a final note,  "Shingles is sometimes mistaken for other conditions, including dermatitis or a bacterial skin infection." Spare a thought for my poor uncle who went to the doctor about his itchy scalp, only to be told he had nits. Unlikely. He is bald. Turns out, it was shingles, but the misdiagnosis meant he missed the 72-hour window of opportunity for the anti-viral meds and was struck down for several weeks. So if you suspect you might have shingles, be pro-active and raise it with your doc.