Here are the things you need to know about the symptoms of shingles
SHINGLES – These are the things you need to know about this viral infection that causes a painful rash on your body.
The varicella-zoster virus is the culprit of this condition. This is also the virus that causes chickenpox. Here are the symptoms.
Painful blisters
According to Tracy Lippard, MD, a geriatrician for Kaiser Permanente in Longmont, Colorado, some people mistake blisters this for spider bites. At some point, it is difficult to determine why the painful blisters appear on your body but it can be a sign of reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus.
Skin irritation on one part of the body
Randy Wexler, MD, a family physician at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Gahanna, Ohio, said that shingles only occur on one side of the body and it never crosses the midline.
Sensitivity to light
This condition can mimic the symptoms of migraine and one of those is sensitivity to light, whether it is sunshine or fluorescent lighting, according to Larisa Geskin, MD, an associate professor of dermatology at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. As this condition mimics the symptoms of migraine, the patient can also experience headache and pain around one eye.
Flu-like feeling
Dr. Geskin said that when you have shingles, you may feel the symptoms of flu such as body aches, fatigue, and chills without fever.
Line of red bumps
Red bumps could be one of the early symptoms of this condition. From red bumps, later on, the rash will appear and this usually takes a shape known as dermatomal (linear and the pattern related to the branches of the spinal nerve).
Chest pain
Sylvia Morris, a board-certified internist in Atlanta said that before vesicles (fluid-filled blisters) on the chest, the patient may experience sharp or burning pain. She added that chest pain accompanied by itch and pain could be an early sign of this condition.
Pain
Patrick Fratellone, MD, an integrative physician and registered herbalist in New York said, “One symptom that people might ignore is pain in a certain area even with no evidence of a rash.” He added that in some cases patients already have shingles but there is no rash.
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