How to know if you have herpes zoster (shingles)

The term "shingles" comes from a Latin word, "cingulum", which means belt. Also called Herpes zoster, shingles is a painful rash caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. The virus lives inside the nerve cells for years. The rash usually appears as a band mostly on the skin of the trunk. It only occurs in people who have had clinical or sub-clinical chickenpox.

Follow the steps below to diagnose this condition.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Look for severe pain that is limited to the skin of one side of your body. This is the potential area for the development of the shingles.

2. Look for any unusual sensations such as burning, itching, or tingling in an area of skin on one side of the body. Some people will have fever, malaise, and headache. Within one to two days blisters may appear on one side of the body in a band like pattern.

3. Expect within three to four days blisters that can develop into ulcers.

4. Watch out for a serious complication of shingles- Post Herpetic Neuralgia (PHN). It causes mild to severe pain or unpleasant sensations that continue for four or more months after the appearance of the zoster rash.

5. Look out for other complications such as skin infections, eye and ear inflammation. Widespread or disseminated herpes zoster can lead to infection of the lung, liver, pancreas, and brain. Herpes zoster can also cause meningitis.

6. Send scraping or swab of the blisters to a laboratory for analysis.

[westernmom]

on 5/11/2009 Very good information on identifying shingles. 5*