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| More than 3.14! |
“Shingles”. “Shingles”. Say it. What a horrible word! Why am
I writing about shingles? I am currently (end of November 2015) getting shot of
a bout of these/this thing. Herpes Zoster.
Shiver. NOT Herpes Simplex (the
genital ones), thankfully!
I have had chickenpox, not as a kid though. I was treat to
getting that aged 26 in a hotel, catching it when working near Blackpool; but
that’s a different story (haven’t been back to Blackpool since). So that opened
the doors to allow shingles to develop. Wonderful! Or not.
Shmingles Basics
What is shingles? Otherwise known as Herpes Zoster, is
a skin manifestation of the dormant chicken pox virus. Chicken pox, once
an expected rite of childhood (not me), causes a respiratory syndrome with a
widespread rash. The infection eventually resolves and the virus remains in the
body, dormant in the roots of nerves at the level of the spine. How dare
it.
The virus finds a home in the cells of these
nerves, alive and usually quite contained. In the event of a weakened
system (hm(s)m(s)m(s)), the virus can re-emerge in a single nerve root and
travel along the nerve path to the skin. This "break-out" may be
caused by caused by some stressor to the body such as illness,
injury, cancer or may even be caused by emotional stress. Often, there is no
predisposing factor.
The symptoms of shingles may begin with fatigue – saying nowt! From there a very sensitive patch develops
on the skin along the nerve pathway. It is actually the skin that is
sensitive and painful*, often even to light touch or presence of clothing atop.
Finally, the tell-tale red rash with blisters develops. Typically, symptoms
resolve after a couple weeks. Typically.
Don’t believe me? Have a squiz, not my best look! These were quite early in the shmingle process before I had it formerly
diagnosed. Then they were a bit
itchy, but not unbearable. But, and it is a big but. Then when it got hold of
me, I felt rotten, absolutely rotten. Energy? Nope. Desire? Nope. Sleep? Of
course not. Why, how, not sleep? It is something I’m hardly good at anyway, let
alone the shmingles nerve pain!*
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| My MS ribbon! |
I had no idea of that element of the virus. Yes, what I am
used to with MS pain is not particularly welcome; but this! The “I’m getting
eaten alive by invisible creatures” to the hard to describe acute painful
sensation while sitting or especially laying, FAR from welcome! But I am
winning the battle with the end in sight!** Shmingles battle, the MS war is
on-going yet with belief under control J
**Into December at the time of posting, and I am winning!