Overcoming Shingles Symptoms

how long it lasts varies from case to case and it is affected by whether or not the person was treated with any antiviral medications.
Shingles is only "contagious" to someone who has never had/been vaccinated against chickenpox. So, if a 2 yr old touches grandma’s shingles, the 2 yr old can quite possibly get chickenpox, not shingles. the same virus causes both conditions.it goes like this; let’s pretend that we have a 5-year-old child who contracts chickenpox. The virus replicates through his entire body, and then his immune system figures out how to fight this particular virus. Unfortunately the virus is not completely eradicated from his body. The virus is able to hide in ganglia located at each vertebral level from your tailbone all the way up to the top of your neck, and some ganglia in your head as well. While the virus is inside these ganglia it is protected from the immune system, but they aren’t causing symptoms, they are held dormant. Unfortunately later in life if there is something that causes the immune system to waver slightly, such as a cold, sleep deprivation, stress, or even taking a long vacation and crossing four or five time zones, then what occurs is that the dormant virus living in the ganglia creeps down the nerve(the virus which causes shingles is in the family of viruses called herpes viruses. A herpetologist is someone who studies snakes, the Greek word herp means to crawl) and causes symptoms of blistering and pain in the skin which is served by that one particular nerve. these blisters contain the virus which causes shingles and chickenpox.

What’s left of the rash is mostly on my forehead and temple. There has been no pain but still a lot of itching.

Once all the spots are gone then you are not contagious anymore.

Also, is shingles contagious only if the person has blisters on them?

Hi Will,
Yes, you can get chicken pox twice. Once vaccinated, this is essentially the same thing. It’s a rare occurrence, though. Patients w/shingles shed virus before & after eruptions. So yes, they can still be contagious. I’d advise you to get the Varicella vaccine. Chicken pox can be dangerous, & shingles are for life.

Okay today I noticed a very uncomforitable pain on my left hip in one spot sort of, and I noticed what looks like the begging of blisters. So I’m assuming I’m getting shingles again for the third time. Anyway, my question is, is I know it’s contagiouse, but I have a 4 year old daughter who has never had chicken pox before but has had the vaccine. Can she still get chicken pox if I truely am getting shingles again?

Yes, she can. Children who have had the chickenpox vaccine can get chickenpox again. People can get chickenpox if they are exposed to the fluid from shingles blisters. But she can’t get chickenpox from you from you coughing, etc. There needs to be actual contact with the infectious fluid from the blisters.

My son is due for his 12 month shots today. That includes the varicella vaccine. It supposedly contains a live virus. A girl I know told me that this vaccine that he is about to take may affect his grandfather, who is on kidney dialysis and takes plenty of meds. She said something about it could give him Shingles if I take my son around him. Is this true? What are the risks of this shot towards other individuals?

If he’s had chicken pox he’s immune to getting chicken pox. If your son gets a rash from the vaccine he’d need to stay away from pregnant women and children who haven’t had chicken pox or people with compromised immune systems. Older people get shingles from the virus lying dormant in their body since they had the chicken pox. They don’t know why the virus reappears except it seems to do it in older people and people with compromised immune systems. They have a shingles vaccination available now recommended for people over 60.
Here’s a link to who shouldn’t get it.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/shingles-vaccine/AN01738

Friend just found to be at our superbowl party

"Shingles" is what many people call herpes zoster. Herpes zoster itself isn’t contagious at any point. You cannot "get" or "catch" h. zoster from someone else. So the answer to your question is: never.

The varicella-zoster virus, or VZV, is the virus that causes chicken pox. Say you had chicken pox when you were a kid. You got over it, right? But if your body was unable to clear the virus from your blood, you still carry VZV and over time it retreated to spinal nerve tissue and went dormant. Many of us are lucky and we never hear from VZV again but not everyone is that fortunate.

Now you don’t have to be an older adult to develop h. zoster. A lot of folks think it’s an "old" person’s disorder but it can show up at any age, even in children, although it usually reawakens (reactivates) after 50.

It’s the virus, varicella-zoster, that’s contagious — NOT the condition. If someone’s having an h. zoster outbreak, the virus can be transmitted during that outbreak. If you’ve already had chicken pox or were vaccinated against it, you have nothing to fear. You have antibodies and will be immune.

Friend just found to be at our superbowl party

"Shingles" is what many people call herpes zoster. Herpes zoster itself isn’t contagious at any point. You cannot "get" or "catch" h. zoster from someone else. So the answer to your question is: never.

The varicella-zoster virus, or VZV, is the virus that causes chicken pox. Say you had chicken pox when you were a kid. You got over it, right? But if your body was unable to clear the virus from your blood, you still carry VZV and over time it retreated to spinal nerve tissue and went dormant. Many of us are lucky and we never hear from VZV again but not everyone is that fortunate.

Now you don’t have to be an older adult to develop h. zoster. A lot of folks think it’s an "old" person’s disorder but it can show up at any age, even in children, although it usually reawakens (reactivates) after 50.

It’s the virus, varicella-zoster, that’s contagious — NOT the condition. If someone’s having an h. zoster outbreak, the virus can be transmitted during that outbreak. If you’ve already had chicken pox or were vaccinated against it, you have nothing to fear. You have antibodies and will be immune.

my friend has the shingles right now and she went to the doctor on wed of last week
she had had it a few days before going to the doc but she didnt realize it/ she had the chicken pox in kindergarten and shes 14 now and i guess its just a virus that came from the pox
shes been on medicine for about 3-4 days now though.
however, i went over to her house today just to like hang out for a few hours because she missed school for two days last week and missed friends so i went over. she said her doctor said the shingles werent contagious………..and if she said they were, i wouldnt have gone over there hah. and my mom wouldnt of let me. but my friends mom said the doc said they werent contagious.
but i searched on here and some people say they are! wtf now am i guna get shingles??!??!?!
i didnt like touch her or anything lol so you can only probably get it if you touch the blisters and stuff right?
ive never had the chicken pox….i got the vaccine when i was little. of course ive never had shingles either.
could i possibly get one of the two now? even if im vaccinated and never had the pox?
PLEASE help. now im worried.
thanks :]
any doctors in the house??

by having the vaccination/immunisation you will only receive a smaller dose of the illness than if you hadnt been immunised. My understanding is that if u touch the blisters or if ur friend has a cough which makes it airborn there is a chance that you could contract shingles just keep an eye on ur temp or if u start to get any cold or flu like symptoms, as thats what will show first before any blisters (but not necessarily in all cases)
Good Luck

We know someone with Aids and they have shingles , just being cautious.

Shingles cannot be passed from one person to another.

However, the virus that causes shingles, VZV, can be spread from a person with active shingles to a person who has never had chickenpox through direct contact with the rash.

The person exposed would then develop chickenpox, not shingles.

The virus is not spread through sneezing, coughing or casual contact. A person with shingles can spread the disease when the rash is in the blister-phase. Once the rash has developed crusts, the person is no longer contagious. A person is not infectious before blisters appear.