Have you ever heard of shingles? Of course you have. It's that weird virus that old people get, RIGHT?? Well yes and no. The first time I really heard anything much about shingles was when a good friend of mine was going through some stress of things and she started talking about it and told me about this weird rash and told me about some other symptoms that she had and I was just like that's kinda weird.
Well it's been about 6 months or so since she's had that and my husband started getting like these weird pains and kept saying like back behind the shoulder hurt shoulder blade hurt and this rash popped up and it was only on one side of his body and kind of wrapped around from the back to the front and I immediately thought of shingles because of the description my friend had given. We ended up going to the doctor, and that was indeed what he has!
So what exactly is shingles? According to WebMD a website that I go to all too often:
Shingles, or herpes zoster, is a viral infection caused by the chickenpox virus. Symptoms include pain and a rash on one side of the body. Shingles most commonly affects older adults and people with weak immune systems.
So why the heck did my husband get it?
Why the heck did my friend get it?
What they heck is going on?
It's stress!!!
My husband is a stress-aholic! He can take any teeny tiny thing and stress about it. He was going through some stressful days at work and that is when it popped up. So is it contagious or dangerous for kids to be around? These are the things that we're going through my mind because we have 3 year old and 1 year old.
From what I understand, and please correct me if I'm wrong, shingles is NOT contagious to a person who has a had the chickenpox virus previously or had the varicella (chicken pox) vaccination that has taken before. I say it like that because it IS possible for you to have had an immunization and it doesn't do its job in creating antibodies. My younger brother and sister both have been tested at different times and they didn't have certain antibodies from things that they were vaccinated against.
My youngest son has not yet vaccinated against varicella and my husband's primary care doctor made it seem like a pretty bid deal. So of course I started freaking out because nobody could get us in to give my kid that vaccine. I started doing research and the consensus is that the virus is only contagious to anyone who may touch the rash.
So, if you have it, keep it covered and you're not going to infect anyone. Our 1 year old has been fine. No signs of chickenpox and he still hasn't been vaccinated against it and it's been a week already. My husband's doctor did give him a week off of work for being contagious, however she also said it was brought on by stress and she needed him to relax. So you can be prone to getting shingles if you are stressed--so cut out the stress!
There so many crazy things that are body does when it's stressed. Being able to relieve that stress in a constructive way is so critical for my own mental and physical well-being and I know it's important for everyone else as well. My top stress reliever is exercise, or eating but I prefer to utilize exercise because I know it's better for me than eating a box of donuts. haha!
SO if by chance you do contract shingles:
#1 go to the doctor, just to be sure
#2 keep the rash coverred
#3 treat it somehow There are numerous over the counter medications available to stop the spread of viruses, the one my husband got was also named for use on genital herpes(sexy!!).
I have also seen home remedies with oils. Check out a few great reads below that go into more detial on that.
http://www.holistichealthherbalist.com/home-remedies-eliminate-shingles/
http://www.enjoynaturalhealth.com/essential-oils-for-shingles/
https://www.instagram.com/p/7we4FFGYBw/
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