Shingles... waiting... waiting

I'm learning more than I thought I'd ever need to know about Shingles.

Like - it can be weeks of pain before you get the rash.

The doctor at the ER told me to stay away from any adults who haven't had chicken pox, pregnant women, etc. So I've been home.

But then I read that you can only spread chicken pox from shingles if you have a rash, and someone comes into contact with the fluid from the pox. So until the rash arrives, one is not contagious.

But my coworker has never had chicken pox. So I don't think I want to risk spreading it to him under any circumstances. It's too scary.

So I'm just waiting. It doesn't hurt much anymore - some discomfort, certainly. t not too bad. The waiting is driving me a little batty, though. I'm still not sure about going out in public, so I've been cooped up. I would hate to give chicken pox to a pregnant woman, you know?

Chicken Pox

The baby is coming down with chicken pox. They have to go through it, I know, but I hate it.

I do think the illness is better than the vaccination, especially since the vaccination might not last very long, and it's much better to get the illness when young than to avoid it and catch it in adulthood! But it's no fun to see baby getting sick.

One of his sisters had something like 3 spots when she had chicken pox -I'm hoping he gets away with very few, like she did.

I may actually have Shingles, which so far has been pretty painful, but no rash as of yet. Apparently up to 15% of people who get shingles never get a rash. And 10 - 20% of people who have had chicken pox end up getting shingles.

After an entire night in the emergency room, getting every test known to mankind - or at least a bunch of tests, including CAT scans of my vital organs, the doctor said that it pretty much HAD to be shingles - nothing was left! And my symptoms coincide pretty much exactly to prodormal shingles.

I know a whole lot more about the subject today than I did last week. Oh, how I miss the ignorance.